PBFD set up to succeed

Poplar Bluff Fire Chief Mike Moffitt and battalion chiefs Roy Lane and Stacy Harmon reflect upon 2022, while sharing the positive things they are expecting in 2023.

“We had a great year and I think we’re looking forward to a lot of new exciting things coming up in 23,” Moffitt said.

Battalion chiefs are Lane, Harmon and Jeff Hale, who along with Moffitt, have spent a total of 100-plus years fighting fires and saving lives.

Moffitt has worked for the PBFD for 26 years, Harmon for nearly 29 years, Hale 25 years and Lane 20 years. Lane worked for a fire department in Maryland for six years before returning to Poplar Bluff.

“Those are a lot of years of experience,” said Moffitt, who took over as fire chief when Ralph Stucker retired. “We’ve got a great group of guys and everybody has supported me 100%. We’re all within that window of retiring within the next five years. We’re going to have big shoes to fill when Roy retires because we are using a really seasoned firefighter.”

New fire trucks are high on the department’s needs list.

“We have our new ladder truck on order,” Moffitt said. “It should be here March or April and we’re really looking forward to getting it in service. It’s replacing a 1998 model truck, which is a maintenance problem day after day, because that truck runs every call.

“We’ve got two new pumpers ordered to replace two other pumpers, but it’s going to be a year and a half before they get here. We did get a grant to replace one of them. The city’s purchasing the other. One of our trucks will be paid for by the time the new one comes in. We will not increase our budget at all.”

Training and adding the rank of lieutenant to the crew have been major accomplishments for Moffitt and the department.

Promoting six allows them to focus on training the lieutenants to prepare them for the role of a captain.

“When we do have an opening as captain, we will promote from within the lieutenants,” Moffitt said. “When one leaves, we’ll promote one of our captains to battalion chief. We’ll pull one of our firefighters to a lieutenant. So it snowballs and we’ll get to hire another firefighter.”

The new lieutenants are Jon Miller, Adam Yeley, Josh Robison, Justin Maddock, Travis Taylor and Andrew Fox.

Moffitt is pleased “we have increased our minimum staffing on each shift, which has helped us tremendously.

“We used to go down to six and we have seven now. That one extra guy really helps. One man does make a big difference when we’re getting off the truck initially at the scene and making our attack or if we need to do a rescue, we have the manpower to do what we need to do.”

Lane and Harmon agree adding another firefighter to the on-duty crew helps when responding to a scene.

“That’s been a big, big help,” Harmon said. “We’re doing the best we can with what we have. A lot of times, I and the other officers would be the first on the scene, we’d have to go in by ourselves. We don’t have to do that anymore.

“It helps to keep me, the battalion chiefs, on the outside of the structure like we’re supposed to be. To be the eyes and the ears of the guys who are inside doing the dangerous work.”

A full-time maintenance mechanic for the department is on the chief’s needs list and Harmon agrees.

“That’s big on the to-do-list,” Harmon said. “We have a lot of specialized equipment that needs to be worked on. We need somebody that knows how to take care of that stuff. We always had that luxury in the past and we lost that position. We’ve been playing catch-up ever since. The motor pool does a great job, but they’ve got a lot of balls in the air at the same time.”

While Lane said, “everybody’s morale had been good,” Harmon feels the morale of the community has improved.

“It feels like the city has turned a corner and has a more progressive mindset,” Harmon said. “They’re wanting to make things grow and get better. Things have stayed stagnant for a while and it feels like the wheels are turning in the right direction. It’s the city as a whole.”

Harmon said, “my biggest thing is, I’m in the twilight years of my career, I want to see it grow and be better than it was when I started.

“We’ve probably got one of the best group of guys working there we’ve ever had. I want to see that continue and bring pride back to not just the fire department, but for Poplar Bluff as a whole.”

In recent years, no one has wanted to join emergency services, he said.

“We’re trying to portray a positive attitude and a positive outlook for young guys who want to answer this call and to get into the business of emergency services,” Harmon said.