January to May of 1996 was the worst fire season Oklahoma had seen in 51 years.
At least, that's what they say. Since most of us weren't around then, we took the older people's word for it, along with then-Governor Keating's (who is, come to think of it, an older person).
Fires swept through Silver
City and surrounding areas during that period (we were ALL here
for that), and a public meeting was called in June to determine
the level of community support and the feasibility of forming
a fire department.
Milestones:
At a public meeting held
at the Silver City Free Will Baptist Church on July 9, 1996,
the Silver City Volunteer Fire Department and Silver City Fire
District were officially formed.
With the first two of four Forestry trucks rigged and ready (and hundreds of hours of training on the part of our volunteers), Silver City VFD became operational at 12:01 AM on Tuesday, January 9, 1997, exactly six months to the day from the date it was born. At the time we became operational, we stored Brush 1 in the Fire Chief's barn:
We purchased 3 1/2 acres in October 1997 upon which to build a fire station, with room to spare for such things as helipads for air ambulances. A 60 X 70 barn sits on this property, which provides a convenient place to keep unsightly accumulations of VFD junk out of sight. The property was not what you would call "in good shape" when we purchased it.
We built the first three bays of our fire station in the foreground with a $20,000 grant. You can see the old barn in this photo, and believe me, it looks nothing like that now. The barn refurbishment project is an epic tale in it's own right, but rather than bore you with ALL of the details here, just look at the "before" and "after" pics here.
(You'll be impressed. Really. You will.)
We purchased our first pumper from Prairie DuPont Fire Department in January, 1998.
We finally occupied our new 3-bay fire station (designed for expansion) in August, 1998. It was spartan (and still is), but it got the job done.
In June, 1999, we technically qualified for ISO Class 9. It became official as of January 1, 2000. This was a major event in our history, as it resulted in an approximate $90 per year savings in local fire insurance costs for the average resident within five road miles of our fire station.
We understand that within a couple of years, the local Rural Water District may run a main right in front of our station, and otherwise generally throughout most of our fire district. Therefore, we probably won't try to gear up for water shuttle to qualify for ISO Class 8 or better, as we may very well be able to do it with HYDRANTS.
(Note to self: we MUST acquire more hose)
In June, 2000, we were awarded a $25,000 grant to expand our fire station. In May 2001, we occupied the expansion. Don't ask us why it takes a year to get stuff like this done. We honestly don't know. Believe us, if it were possible, we would have done it sooner.
As of January, 2002, we had acquired another 6x6 (from Forestry), another pumper (purchased cheap, old but reliable), and a Chief's vehicle (donated). We've already outgrown our station again. Good thing we have that old barn, ay?
In August, 2002 we were notified that we had been awarded a FIRE Act Grant in the amount of $19,350 in order to purchase new turnout gear. At this stage in the game, we have acquired pretty much everything we need. It took six years to get to this point. From here, we continue to train, and begin to concentrate on improvements and upgrades rather than acquisitions.
On October 26, 2002, we took delivery of this little baby which we put into service in 2003 as a First Responder/Rescue unit. This truck was PACKED with equipment. More equipment than we could use. We passed the excess to several other area fire departments.
With all due respect to fire departments that run yellow trucks, around here we could easily be mistaken for plumbers if we arrived at a scene in something that looked like this.
(There. That's much better.)
Along with a handful of First Responders and EMTs that we already had, these people completed a 54-hour EMS First Responder course on April 24, 2003. They will form the backbone of our medical/rescue mission.
Back Row: B. E. Beall, Ken Richards, Rob Christensen, "Moose" Fowler, Ken Christensen
Front Row: Grant Studebaker, Lonnie Stokes, Chris Townsend, Robin Brown, Paula Kaplan (instructor)
In September 2003 we were awarded a grant to acquire an AED (Automated External Difibrillator) for our First Responder program, and at almost the same time, we received our EMS First Responder Agency certification from the State of Oklahoma.
