Photos and Article courtesy of the www.rocket-courier.com

                                

 

 

Members of the Lanton, Missouri Volunteer Fire Company pose with the fire truck that once belonged to Laceyville's Good Will Fire Company. Laceyville gave the truck to a Schuylkill County volunteer fire company, which in turn passed the truck along to Lanton firefighters. Those pictured include: (left to right) Char Brahic, firefighter/board member; Randy Spencer, board president and former firefighter; Pauline Sampoli, board member; Stanley "Moose" Mattes, III, board member and assistant chief, and Celeste Williams, board member. Assistant chief and board member Victor Bowers is on the truck. Lanton is located on the Missouri-Arkansas border.
 

 

Laceyville's Generous Donation Benefits Four Fire Companies - by David Keeler - 5/15/2008

When Laceyville's Good Will Fire Company donated its 1987 fire truck to a volunteer fire company in Schuylkill County just before Christmas in 2006, no one imagined that the truck would eventually wind up in Missouri. And no one had a clue how many other fire companies would eventually benefit from Laceyville's generosity.

It was on Dec. 20, 2006 when Laceyville officially handed over its 1987 KME pumper to the Clover Volunteer Fire Company, which is located near Minersville, PA. Laceyville firefighters had put their 1987 pumper up for sale after they took delivery of a new truck, but when they heard of the misfortune that had befallen the Clover Volunteer Fire Department, they decided to give them their old truck. The truck was equipped with a 1,000-gallon tank 1,250-gallon-per-minute pump, diesel generator, 600 feet of 1.5-inch hose and a 2,000-gallon portable pond.

Earlier that year, members of the Clover Fire Department had learned that a $137,000 deposit they'd placed on a new fire engine had been lost when the company building the truck went bankrupt. The lost money included a $112,500 federal grant and $25,000 raised locally. Clover's only other truck was a 1955 American LaFrance pumper which was on its last legs when Laceyville came to the rescue.

Clover Fire Company President Chris Kemmerling and three other members of his company drove to Laceyville on Dec. 20 and returned home with Laceyville's truck that evening. Kemmerling said members of his fire company were overwhelmed by Laceyville's generosity. "It showed us what is really meant when people talk about the brotherhood of firefighters," Kemmerling said.

Laceyville Fire Chief Scott Fisher said he felt Clover firefighters would have done the same thing. "I feel if the situation had been reversed, they would have helped us in the same way," Fisher said.

Laceyville's generosity didn't go unnoticed. A month later, State Representative Sandra Major presented the Good Will Fire Company with a commendation from the PA House of Representatives praising the company for its generosity. Laceyville Mayor Ken Patton and Borough Council President Don VanDeMark also presented the fire company with a citation from the borough.

But nobody at that awards ceremony could imagine just how far-reaching the impact of Laceyville's generosity would extend.

As it turned out, the Clover Fire Department ended up recovering enough of its money in 2007 to proceed with the purchase of a new truck, and the company decided to advertise Laceyville's 1987 KME for sale.

Blake Bowers, chief of the volunteer fire company in rural Lanton, Missouri, spotted the advertisement and contacted Chris Kemmerling in January of this year about the possibility of donating the truck to his company. "Lo and behold they said yes," Bowers told the Rocket-Courier.

Bowers explained the situation in his community that prompted the donation: "We are located in Howell County on the Missouri/Arkansas border and cover nearly 200 square miles of rural farmland and woods, where new construction is going on constantly," he said. "We also respond automatically to an additional coverage area of 400 square miles when there is a structure fire or we're called in on mutual aid.”

Like many other volunteer fire companies in southern Missouri, Bowers said Lanton operates on a very small budget. "Ours is just $6,500 a year, which includes paying for insurance, fuel, repairs and heat. Our county government holds a sausage and gravy breakfast once a year as their support. As you might imagine, insurance takes over half of our yearly budget," Bowers said.

The Lanton company also provides non-transport EMS service as well as Hazmat and rescue response, Bowers said.

It was learning of the limited finances facing the Lanton Fire Department that prompted Chris Kemmerling and his fellow firefighters at the Clover Fire Department to donate the 1987 KME pumper they had received as a gift from Laceyville.

Bowers explained that the Lanton Fire Company planned to replace its 1976 fire truck with the one donated by Clover and, in turn, would donate their truck to a nearby volunteer fire company in the community of Peace Valley White Church, which was operating with an even older truck. "This would mean that one donation from Clover (and Laceyville) would actually end up benefiting two fire companies in Missouri," Bowers said.

But here's where the chain of events took an unexpected turn. While the 1987 KME truck was being delivered to Missouri from Pennsylvania in March, Bowers said a tornado wiped out the nearby town of Highland, Arkansas, destroying the community fire department. "We moved quickly to get the former Clover engine ready for our department, and with the blessing of Peace Valley White Church, took our old engine to Highland so they would have something to fight fires with," Bowers said.

Before long donations started coming in to the Highland Volunteer Fire Department, and they were able to return the truck that had been loaned to them by Lanton.

Bowers said this entire chain of events would never have happened without Laceyville's generosity. "We had two fire departments in Missouri, one in Arkansas and one in Pennsylvania that have all benefited from the generous donation by Laceyville's Good Will Fire Company," Bowers said. "It's just tremendous.”

Kemmerling sums up the impact of Laceyville's generosity in one short sentence. "It’s sort of like a smile,” he said. "You give one and it keeps spreading."

               



The 1987 KME Pumper used by Lanton, Missouri firefighters still carries a placard identifying it as having once been owned by Laceyville's Good Will Fire Company.