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Milo Fire Department
Nevada Daily Mail
This is the second in a series of articles profiling the rural fire departments of Vernon County. Sheldon Fire Department was featured in the Feb. 6, edition of the Nevada Daily Mail.
The volunteers of Milo Fire Department are ready to go, day and night, year in and year out. The next alert from the pager could call them to a grass fire, or car wreck, and it is not outside the realm of possibility that they could be called to a train derailment, hazardous chemical leak, or airplane crash. Whatever the challenge, Milo's firefighters will be there.
According to Chief Steve Zoglmann, Milo Fire Department was founded in 1978 after a rash of house fires in the area. Zoglmann's mother and father were among the founding members which included: Leonard Curry, Eugene Farnham, I.F. Zoglmann, Steve Diggins, Lawrence Greer, Vincent Pisciotta, Lloyd Clark, and Tom Ast.
The original section of the station was built in 1978, with an additional two bays built in 1992.
Milo's first fire truck was a 1953 Chevrolet pumper, or engine. Zoglmann said that unlike their current brush trucks, the first engine required the firefighters to stop, engage the pump, put out all of the fire within the reach of the hose, disengage the pump, move the truck, and start the process again. The current brush trucks use pumps powered by gas engines separate from the truck's engine and can be operated while the truck is moving at slow speeds.
In 2003, the department applied for and received a grant from U.S. Department of Agriculture and bought a Kenworth tanker and Ford fire engine. In 2013, the department received a Freightliner truck from the Missouri Department of Conservation that has been turned into a tanker, and more recently an E-One Engine bought from Nevada Fire Department.
On May 22, 2011, an EF-5 tornado struck Joplin, Mo. The first night, three of Milo's firefighters took their own vehicles and went down to help. Milo deputy chief Chris Mason said they, "ended up assigned to a staging point in Duquesne for hours helping injured people who were walking in from the darkness. The next day we took both old ambulances and spent several days transporting canine search teams conducting block-by-block search and recovery operations."
The Firefighters
The department currently has nine active firefighters, two of which are medical first responders, and three are emergency medical technicians.
"Recruiting new people is next to impossible," said Zoglmann. Volunteer departments across the country are facing a shortage of volunteers as people experience more demands on their time and training requirements increase.
Mason said the department holds monthly training meetings in addition to other special events throughout the year. Their goal is to average 75 to 100 hours of training for each firefighter every year.
Mason is the deputy chief, board secretary and treasurer for Milo Fire Department. He had been semi active in several areas prior to 9-11, and then decided to get formally involved. Mason became a medical first responder through the Vernon County Ambulance District in 2001. He joined Milo Fire Department the same year.
Mason praised the department as a "dedicated volunteer group taking care of whatever we are called for. You call, we go."
Mason enjoys being able to help his neighbors saying, "You never know what the call is going to be until the pager goes off."
Sharing the story about the funniest call he had been on, Mason said, "We had a brush fire call in the southeast part of the county, a woman's dog was chasing rabbits displaced by the fire, dog got snake bit chasing a rabbit into a brush pile. A bystander jokingly told her to 'X' cut the wound and suck out the poison. She took that serious and was about to start, but we were able to convince her a trip to the veterinarian would be better."
On a more serious note, he said the worst calls are always the ones involving a fatality.
Mason's resume is extensive. He is a Vernon County Ambulance District first responder earning his Missouri Emergency Medical Technician-Basic in 2004. In 2005, he completed Firefighter 1 and 2 training, and has gone on to earn certifications in rescue, vehicle extrication, search and rescue, and more than 25 other disciplines from Missouri University Fire and Rescue Training Institute. He is also a hazardous materials technician, and a rescue/recovery diver.
He estimates he devotes 500 to 800 hours each year to the fire department, for which he receives no pay.
Despite his desire to help others, Mason said he, "learned years ago that I can't make every single call."
Work and family are priorities and Mason stays busy outside of the fire department as well. He was a computer programmer for Farm & Home Savings for 10 years and now has been with Jack Henry & Associates for the last 20 years. He is a father to three children who have been active in Scouts, FFA, school sports and traveling sports teams. He runs a beef cattle operation that he says, "some [call it] a hobby farm, but 100 plus head keeps you busy year round."
He is currently a member of the Milo Fire Department board, the Vernon County Ambulance District Board, and the Western Missouri 911 Dispatch board.
In many places around the country, firefighting runs in families, and western Missouri is no exception. Twenty-two year old Austin Greer has been around the Milo department his entire life. His father, Jimmy Greer, was a firefighter and grandfather, Dean Greer, was one of the first members of the department. Greer said he followed in his father's footsteps because he enjoys the job, and likes to help others. "I like to be someone people can rely on when they need something," he said.
Greer graduated from Pittsburg State University with a certificate in electrical technology and his night job is with Triple T foods as a maintenance electrician. Greer chooses to work nights so that he can respond to calls for the fire department during the day, when most of the other firefighters are at their day jobs. "We give up a lot of our time to help people," Greer said. Greer's brother Aaron is also a firefighter for Milo Fire Department.
Apparatus
In 2003, the department received a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and bought two trucks, an engine and a tanker.
The 1981 model Ford engine came from New Jersey. It has a 1,000 gallon-per-minute pump, and can carry 2,200 gallons of water. Having a water tank twice as large, and in some cases four times as large as other fire department engines allows Milo's engine a margin of safety and self-reliance until a tanker arrives with more water. It can also function as a tanker, and has a jet dump on the back for this reason. It carries a full complement of firefighting hose, tools, and ladders. It also carries self-contained breathing apparatus, which allows firefighters to enter areas filled with smoke or toxic gasses.
Also purchased with money from the USDA grant is a 1992 Kenworth that was bought locally and paired with a used body and 3,000-gallon tank that was purchased out of state.
Together, these two trucks allow the fire department to haul more than 5,000 gallons of water to a fire in one trip.
The department recently purchased a surplus 1982 Emergency One engine from Nevada Fire Department, which had been using it as a tanker until it was recently replaced with a newer truck. The E-One carries 1,500 gallons of water, and can pump 1,500 gallons-per-minute. It also has an onboard foam system that injects a liquid foam solution into the water stream to increase its effectiveness. Water-foam solutions are also used for fighting flammable liquid fires, by covering the surface of the fire and starving it of oxygen.
In 2013 the department acquired a 2007 Freightliner tanker with a 2,650-gallon tank. The cab and chassis were acquired from Missouri Department of Conservation as military surplus with only 8,900 miles on the meter. The bed, toolboxes, and plumbing were built by Steve and Lenny Zoglmann. Mason bought the polyethylene tank at a Missouri Department of Transportation auction. Unlike most trucks the same size; this one has an automatic transmission. "This permits a wider range of firefighters to drive it," said Greer
Milo Fire Department also has three brush trucks that are used for grass and brush fires. They are on a waiting list with Missouri Department of Conservation to receive an M1078 similar to Sheldon Fire Department's Brush 3 that had previously been featured in the Nevada Daily Mail.
Several years ago, Milo F.D. bought two surplus ambulances from Vernon County Ambulance District. VCAD replaced the two ambulances with newer, more spacious models that are used primarily for long distance transports. The department does not transport patients, but uses the ambulances as a utility or rehab unit. Both responded to Joplin following the May 2011 tornado.
Budget challenges
"We are totally volunteer and membership dues funded. No tax dollars go to the volunteer department," said Mason
Existing primarily on membership dues and donations, the department takes advantage of a state statute that allows non-tax supported departments like Milo to charge non-members for service.
Mason said that the department would always respond to an emergency whether or not the property owner is a member. He said, "Take care of the situation first, then worry about billing or membership. Some departments in other counties will not respond at all if [the landowner] is not a paid member."
The statute allows departments like Milo to charge $100 for the initial response, and $500 for each hour. For a building fire or a large grass fire, the costs can quickly climb into the thousands of dollars, a much higher cost than an annual membership with the fire department.
Their annual fundraising dinner was moved to the Vernon County fairgrounds three years ago because the department was out of room at the fire station. "People were lined up across the road for dinner." according to Zoglmann. The annual event serves not only as a fundraiser but also as an opportunity for members of the department to renew their membership.
"It would help if everyone in the county joined a fire department.," Chief Steve Zoglmann said in regards to the department's budget. A steady flow of income from membership dues is more manageable than unpredictable income from billing for service.
The specialized equipment used by firefighter is expensive. A new fire truck can cost $250,000 or more. A new ladder truck like the one owned by Nevada Fire Department can cost almost $1 million dollars. The coat, pants, helmets, and boots a firefighter wears will total almost $3,000. Even fire hose is expensive with 50-foot sections costing hundreds of dollars. Most engines carry more than 1,000 feet of hose of different sizes.
Future plans
Zoglmann said that the department needs to add on to the station. Because of the lack of room some of the department's equipment is being stored at member's houses. A Community Development Block Grant through the USDA fell through. It would have covered the cost of a 60-foot by 60-foot addition to the current 38-year old station allowing the department to have all of their vehicles under the same roof," said Mason.
Additionally, the department needs to purchase new or newer SCBA. They currently have seven serviceable units. A new SCBA can cost more than $5,000.
Mason said, "Volunteers must be at least 18 and have a clean criminal background and good driving record." Milo, like most volunteer departments, needs people who can do more than just run into burning buildings. Volunteers are always needed to help clean and maintain the equipment, help with fundraising, and other department events, and a variety of other activities. The fire department meets on the first Tuesday of each month at the fire station in Milo at 7 p.m.