Logan Creek Volunteer Fire Department is one of the earliest formed in Ripley County, back in the 1980s. Most of its charter members have since passed on. However, the current district fire chief is now in his 29th year of service to the Logan Creek VFD.
Terry Slayton recalls, “I had to wait until I turned 18 to join up. At that time there was a big group of firefighters who came onboard the departments. Most are now in their upper 40s or 50s, and some are pushing 60 years old.”
He says, “I was just an eager young kid back then, but I’ve been with the district ever since.”
Slayton is one of several “dyed in the wool” firefighters who remains committed, but that brand of dedication to duty is becoming a rare commodity, indeed. It was much easier to recruit help back in his early days, reflects Slayton.
“Recruitment and retention of firefighters is now our greatest challenge. Logan Creek is certainly not unique in that sense. Every department is hurting for volunteers,” he says.
He says he’s not sure why, but he cannot help but feel, “the sense of servitude has been lost in this younger generation.”
Looking back over almost three decades of volunteer service, one of the things that hasn’t changed is that departments are never able to collect enough dues to keep the departments fully funded.
Logan Creek’s dues are at $40 a year, payable each January at the department located at 1037 Sparrow Lane, Fairdealing, MO 63939, at JW Woodwork, also in Fairdealing or Campbell Feed on US Highway 160.
VFDs across the county are supported by subscriptions from less than one half of the homes in their districts. Some report less than 30 percent participation.
Slayton regards Logan Creek as luckier than most, having a base of about 900 properties. Logan Creek district covers 62 square miles. “That gives us a good support mechanism for funding, but I am not going to say that it’s enough,” he says.
“Any expense the department has, I try to understand how many individual fire dues it requires to complete that purchase,” says Slayton.
Fundraisers help, but not really very much, he says. “One of the last fundraisers we did, we realized if five more people had paid their subscriptions, that would have been equal to what we made in proceeds. Our fundraisers are more about just having a presence in the community,” he admits.
Purchasing, updating and maintaining equipment is a constant challenge, as well.
“As a rural department, when we go to purchase a truck, we have to look online and start with oldest models available. That’s usually the funding level we have to go back to,” says Slayton.
“When a district can get a truck that’s anywhere in the 90s, that’s a lucky day,” he says.
He still hopes the time comes when the only thing fire chiefs and assistants have to worry about is getting to the fire with enough time to do the job they are called to do, safely, with good, updated equipment and enough manpower.
Some good things have come about in 29 years. Recently county fire departments have been training emergency medical responders who can act in lieu of an ambulance when emergency medical service personnel can’t get to the scene of a fire.
Slayton’s motivation for staying is pretty simple. “Nine out of 10 times when you go to a fire, you’re dealing with someone’s loss. We don’t rescue cats from trees. We see real tragedies. We’re there to help when people are going through their worst nightmare. We know we can only do so much, but we are there to do whatever we can.”
Crews fight the fire, then as fire chief, Slayton makes sure his documentation meets the requirements for the homeowners’ insurance carriers.
“Years ago I was told to write the reports as if I was going to have to go to court and testify,” says Slayton. That advice is always in the back of his mind.
People take home and life for granted until tragedy strikes. But the reality for firefighters is that no matter who a person is, or where they live, fire is always a risk.
“This past year has been extremely busy for all the departments. On Saturday [Nov. 19] there were six or seven fires. We had departments who were working at one site, getting calls for other sites. Some were having to leave a fire and go fight another fire in their own district.”
When the alarm sounds, day or night, volunteers get up and go, “even if there is good reason to think it might be a false alarm. As a firefighter you never want to get complacent,” he says.
A common theme among firefighters in Ripley County is that the single-most important change has been the benefit of having mutual aid agreements.
Slayton, who by day fills the office of Ripley County Treasurer, serves 24 hours a day as Fire Chief for the Logan Creek VFD and also volunteers as a firefighter for the City of Doniphan.
“My first loyalty is to Logan Creek, which is my home district. But every department in Ripley County benefits from mutual aid,” he says. And, that’s just for starters. The homeowners in Ripley County are the real beneficiaries, he feels.