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The Mid-Michigan Community Fire Department provides fire protection and medical first responder services to the City of St. Louis, portions of Bethany and Pine River Townships and all of Jasper Township in Midland County. The fire district encompasses 83 square miles and is served by 25 paid on-call fire fighters. The department currently holds an ISO rating of 6. The department, operated by a five-member Fire Board and housed in St. Louis City faciliities, recently celebrated its 130th year of service to the community.
Fire fighters use six pieces of apparatus to perform their duties. These include a 1978 Almont tanker-pumper carrying 3,000 gallons of water and a 500 gallon per minute pump; a 1983 E-One pumper-tanker with a 1,250 gpm pump and 2,000 gallons of water; a 1994 Luverne pumper with 1,250 gpm pump and 1,000 gallons of water; a 1985 Chevrolet grass rig (for fighting grass and car fires) with 200 gallons of water; a 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe Chief's car; and a 2002 Spencer Rescue. The rescue carries 300 gallons of water, hydraulic extraction tools (jaws of life), air bags, traffic control devices and a full array of emergency medical equipment and supplies. Recent improvements in breathing air supply, self-contained breathing apparatus, communications equipment, traffic management devices and other projects have been made possible by a number of grants and contributions. Upgrading equipment is an ongoing goal of the department.
Emergency runs total about 300 each year with 200 runs being medical first response calls and the remainder being fires, mutual-aid calls, dive rescue, jaws of life, tornado spotting and helicopter land zones. Average response time is around five minutes. Mutual-aid agreements to provide and receive services are maintained with departments in all surrounding communities.
An aggressive training program is pursued to improve and maintain skills while complying with OSHA and other required training. Construction of a small training facility is a goal being actively pursued.
For the past two years, fire fighters have been testing and installing smoke detectors for residents who need them. Nearly 100 smoke detectors have been installed and dozens of batteries have been installed to replace missing or dead batteries. The fire department has responded to fire incidents in two home where they previously placed smoke detectors.
Mid Michigan Community Fire Department Home Page
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