Silver City Volunteer Fire Department

Silver City, Oklahoma

"If you page us, we will come."

Silver City  T-shirt, 2003

In August 2003 we were awarded a FIRE Act Grant to purchase a "new" pumper.

Photo by Bill Beall, 2003

In September 2003 we were awarded a grant to acquire an AED (Automated External Defibrillator) for our First Responder program, and at almost the same time, we received our EMS First Responder Agency certification from the State of Oklahoma.

 

Silver City VFD is one of only four or five fire departments in the state that are Certified EMS First Responder agencies, and are NOT  not affiliated with a municipality.

In November 2003 we donated the pumper we had acquired from Prairie DuPont Fire Department to Shamrock Fire Department. After so many people helped us to get started, it was nice to finally be able to reciprocate.

Photo by Bill Beall, November 2003

Shamrock Fire Chief Mike Rinehart (left) accepts the title from Silver City Fire Chief B. E. Beall (right).

AN AMUSING ANECDOTE:

 

Our first two fire calls came within 30 minutes of each other.

 

Call Number 1: En route to the fire, as they had to pull two trucks off of ANOTHER fire to respond, Mannford FD called us for mutual aid on a grass fire very close to the EAST side of our fire district. We responded, but as we were preparing to roll out, Mannford called and said that they had it under control.

 

Call Number 2: As we were sitting there in our spiffy-looking (in our opinion) but never-used (in their current incarnations, anyway) fire trucks, feeling stupid and savoring the anti-climax (all bunkered up and nowhere to go), Oilton FD called us for mutual aid on a grass fire very close to the WEST side of our fire district. Our mighty two-truck convoy rolled out, lights flashing and sirens blaring, and proceeded exactly one and one half miles toward the fire when Oilton called and asked us to stand by.

 

So we stopped in the parking lot at the local country store and sat there listening to the radios and watching the INCREDIBLE volume of smoke about four miles to our west. (We have since learned that what we were doing is called "staging".) Shortly thereafter, as they got it under control, Oilton released us, so we went home.

 

Every citizen within a five-mile radius must have driven by the store while we were sitting there. The really awkward part was watching them drive by while giving us those "Why aren't you guys at the FIRE?" looks.

 

After being haunted for months by visions of "Keystone Kops"-like behavior on our first run, it really went very well. Four volunteers responded almost immediately, and ultimately, nine of our (then) sixteen volunteers responded. Not too shabby for 4:00 PM on a Friday afternoon.

photo by Bryan Beall, 1997

This is a 1997 photo of courageous Silver City firefighters, wrapping it up and preparing to head back to the Fire Chief's barn after successfully suppressing the "1997 Rocky Canyon Ranch Fire" (not to be confused with the 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 Rocky Canyon Ranch Fires).

 

We’ve learned a lot since then.

MORE TO COME!

(this never ends)

Our Very Brief History, part II