Well another fair is in the books and despite all the bumps and problems and lessons learned it was a good one in the end. We had some good training and good participation. The equipment was exceptional as always and thanks to all the departments that donated to us. There were several vendors that gave us the best tools to go with the trucks to make our jobs and tasks as safe as possible. A special thanks to a special person, that usually goes above the rest to make sure we have every thing we need and want, Mike McNeil with Sentinel. Mike gives without any questions except one, “is that going to be enough Bubba?” Yes Mike, that’s enough. Let some others help also.
Mike also contributes to my history program. I ask vendors of the fire service to donate anything their company has for us to reward the personnel to keep moral high, and that comes in several ways. Mike has for several years donated a fire helmet and this year he gave me two of them to award. All the firefighters and EMS do look forward to that and he also gives a lot of other smaller things to draw for. Mike, thanks for all you do for the State Fair Fire and Rescue! You are special to us in many ways!
Also on that same note I received another helmet from Les Hinnen with Heiman Fire. This was their second year to donate a helmet and I look forward to several more. Thanks for your contribution Les. I also have another regular donation from Life Flight Eagle. I was able to build a corn toss game and the guys had a friendly game or tournament that involved ten teams. That’s a lot of corn tossed. Thank you John Duffy for your second year of donating.
The helmets were awarded to Lindsey McGrath from Southern Stone and Mark Scholle from North Central Carroll. Thanks again, Mike McNeil. The third one went to Terry Plumb from Southern Stone. Thanks again, Les Hinnen. I also have commitments for another that will be awarded when it arrives. The winners of the corn toss for first place was Joe Stocker from Eureka and Kurtis Willimetz from Lawson Fire, and second place was Jake Wade and Logan McCubbin.
Also a special thanks to Chief Darrell Wright from Chillicothe fire for helping get several donations in his area. One last thank you goes out to Kevin Mochel of VFIS for the many years of donations to the state fair firefighters. If you know of any one that would like to donate to this history program and help the department reward the volunteers for what they do please contact me, Steve Gentry at Little Dixie Fire, 573-473-4002, and I will get you the information you need.
Ok, it’s time to start thinking about next year so every one have a safe year and I look forward to seeing lots of you at other events. Thanks for making another fair a success.
FFAM
