Firehouse up in smoke By JESSICA HARTLEY Published: Wednesday, January 2, 2008 11:16 PM CST At 9 a.m., Wednesday, Charles Smith, president of the Union Township Fire Department Board, received a call that the Union Township Fire Dept. in Pickering, Mo. had smoke coming from the chimney. Ralph Conz, who lives adjacent to the building, made the call as soon as he noticed, but the fire moved quickly. When fire chief Travis Smith arrived minutes later, he said the building was fully engulfed in flames. It s a total loss, T. Smith said. We are going to have a hard time trying to replace it. Union Township firefighter Jubal Smith said he tried to pull one of the pumper trucks out with his snow plow, but the fire made it impossible to get to. There s nothing we could do, J. Smith said. I just had to stand their and watch it go. Those working to put out the fire suspected the furnace was the cause, which was later confirmed by investigators. The rafters and bricks around the furnace were either burned away or more heavily charred then the rest, Mark Fechtig, Investigator for the Division of Fire Safety, said. No one was injured, but four firetrucks and all the equipment in the building were lost in the blaze. With no equipment to put out the flames, the Union Township Fire Department paged stations in Hopkins, Maryville, Ravenwood and Burlington Junction for mutual aid. I hate seeing this happen to a brother fire department, Charlie Standiford of Jackson Township Fire said. When the fire was under control, firefighters, community members and volunteers tried to keep a good spirit. Donna Smith, Sandy Smith and J. Smith served coffee and soda, while people clustered together discussing the incident and plans for the future. There s just something awful about watching your own station burn down, Union Township Firefighter Dustin Smith said. But we wanted to remodel, I just wanted to wait until the spring. A meeting took place at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Maryville ambulance barn to discuss which departments in neighboring towns will cover what areas. All neighboring stations work together and get along well, C. Smith said. So we re not too worried as far as coverage goes.
Union Township is separated following fire By JESSICA HARTLEY West of Icon Rd. covered by West Nodaway & Clearmont North of Pickering covered by Hopkins Pickering East of EE covered by Parnell & Jackson Township South of Pickering covered by Maryville A bright red fire truck turned white from the heat, the paint from an ax handle melted down a truck grill, equipment melted into a hard, plastic ball and a district left without a fire department. The Union Township Fire Department in Pickering, Mo. burned down Wednesday, leading to more problems than no building and equipment. Loss of coverage for rescue teams has forced departments from all over Nodaway County to agree on mutual aid. Representatives from all fire districts in Nodaway County met Wednesday night to discuss the best way to divide the Union Township District. Everything west of Icon Road will now be covered by West Nodaway and Clearmont, anything north of Pickering will be covered by Hopkins, everything south of Pickering will be covered by Maryville and areas east of Route EE will be covered by Parnell and Jackson Township. The fire that occurred Wednesday morning destroyed two brush trucks and two pumpers, at least 10 sets of equipment, a computer, along with other items and the building. Charles Smith, president of the Union Township Fire Department Board, said their next plan is to get bids on the cost of a new building and build on site where the previous building stood. He estimated it could be late spring or early summer before anything could be built for use. Jubel Smith of the Union Township Fire Department said they plan to clean up the mess and start over. He estimated the cost to rebuild at approximately $300,000 to $350,000. We re going to have to start from scratch, Jubal Smith said. We ll probably rebuild onsite and apply for grants, loans and do fundraisers. Spare equipment has been offered up by many area fire departments, but Union Township District has no leads for a building to house the donations. Christy Forney, Nodaway County emergency management coordinator, said she spoke to the state regarding the tragedy and said if the Union Township Fire Department can get a list together of
what was lost, a statewide call can be put out to find turnout gear - even things like radios - that can be utilized without a building. Jubal Smith was most appreciative of all the help received from his brother fire stations. Having their own building under flames was hard enough to watch, he said, but it made it even harder to fight it when they couldn t get to their equipment. When everyone can pull together and work together like this it s a good deal, Jubal Smith said. We all have mutual aid agreements set up anyway. This is what they are intended for. Brandy Gast, firefighter for West Nodaway Fire Department and Union Township Fire Department, says 911 dispatch will still be utilized and that anyone with an emergency shouldn t hesitate to call. All calls outside of Maryville will go directly to the Nodaway County Sheriff s Department, who will then page out the fire departments most relevant to that area. For calls within Maryville city limits, they will be sent to Maryville Public Safety and then paged out accordingly.