08-12-04 Letter from ISO

We received our Official letter advising us that we are now a Class 3 ISO rating.  This rating comes to us after our third ISO grading since August 2001.  We have changed our rating from a Class 6 to a Class 3 since then.  Its going to be really difficult to drop our rating any lower unless we start staffing the station.  We are hoping that sometime in the future we can at least staff the station during the day and grow from there.  We do an exceptional job with man hours right now, but that's because the volunteers are very dedicated.  But its still difficult to hold a full-time job and also spend multiple hours at the station too.

06-29-04 MVA / Haz-Mat Incident  MO. 13 & MO. 32

This single vehicle accident occurred at approximately 07:00. The accident is still under investigation by the Bolivar police Department.  The picture in the middle is not very good, but you can see the split in the fire extinguisher near the top.  This container was suspected to be full of Anhydrous ammonia along with one more fire extinguisher and a 5 gallon air tank that had the valve assembly altered.  2 Patients were transported to Citizens Memorial Hospital, and 2 other subjects were arrested in connection with this accident.  We will have more information after the investigation is complete.

06-14-04 2 Vehicle MVA W. Broadway & Missouri Ave.

The passenger from the van was transported to Citizens Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.  The van was attempting to cross Broadway St. when it was struck by a W. bound GMC truck.  Bolivar Police Dept. investigated the accident.

04-26-04 2 Vehicle MVA  E. Broadway and N. Hartford Ave.

This truck was hit by a U-haul moving truck while waiting for a vehicle to turn left.  The passenger from the Red pickup was transported by St. Johns Ambulance to Citizens Memorial Hospital with minor injuries.  When the vehicle was hit, the passenger's head hit the back glass and broke it out.  The U-haul truck had very minor damage and was about 3 blocks from where it was to be returned.

12-16-03 Residential Structure Fire 1315 S. Lillian Ave.

This house was vacant at the time of the fire.  It was determined to have started in the area of a propane floor furnace.  The fire was contained to the center of the house with very little extension into the attic.  Most of the house had smoke and water damage.  The thermal imager was a big help at this fire, the smoke was extremely thick when we arrived.

11-28-03 Residential Structure Fire 1203 E. Locust

This fire was contained to a small laundry room in a residence.  There was very little smoke damage to the rest of the house.  This fire was caused by items to close to a wall mounted heater.  The heat was so intense in this small room it melted a pvc water line on the water heater and it actually helped keep it cool until we arrived.  The occupants of this residence were in the process of moving out and were not at home when the fire started.

11-17-03 Fatality MVA  MO. 13  S. of Route T

This Accident happened at approx 06:30.  Central Polk County and Morrisville Fire Rescue were the primary Fire Departments that responded.  We were requested for further assistance with equipment and personnel.  The location was about a half mile south of the city limits on MO. 13.  The first picture shows the wide angle of the crash, it took place on a cross over in a construction area.  MO. 13 is being widened to four lanes through the north half of Polk county.  Two way traffic was traveling on the old section of the highway and then crossing over to the new side to go over a new bridge while the other one is built.  This project is projected to be completed by the end of 2004.  MO. 13 has claimed many lives in Polk county and we are hoping this long needed upgrade will bring those numbers down.  This particular MVA claimed 2 lives.

08-16-03 Controlled Burn @ Tracker Marine

         
This was a controlled burn of a brush pile.  The area in the middle picture used to be all tree's and under brush.  Tracker Marine manufacture's bass boats and they just added a new line to this plant, so they needed more space to store the completed boats.  We used Truck 1 positioned in a cul-de-sac adjacent to the property to keep the smoke and debris to a minimal.  We didn't have to cool the fire at all, so as it burned down most of the way we were enjoying the great view from the top of the aerial.  In the last picture you can see our #2 Fire Station in the distance, along with the Farmer's State Bank Building.

08-05-03 National Night Out @ Bolivar Municipal Pool

         
This night is recognized Nation Wide Annually.  The Bolivar Police Department Sponsors the event every year.  The event was successful again this year the police department barbecues, the fire department is there for PR and safety, and the YMCA has free swimming.  Truck 1 definitely stole the show this night with the elevated sprinkler, we had to open up the monitor by the end of the night to accommodate the number of kids that were playing in the water.  It was really hot and humid that night so the water was nice.  The pool is only allowed a certain number of kids at a time so there is usually a line waiting to get in.  That was not a problem this year.  The night was cut a little bit short due to severe weather that moved into the area.

08-04-03 Residential Structure Fire @ 800 Block of W. Locust St.

    
This fire was reported by neighbors at approximately 1:00am.  The residents in the area reported the entire mobile home was engulfed all at the same time instantly.  We were on scene within 5 minutes, when the first apparatus arrived on scene the outer walls were completely burned away.  The residence was vacant, and had no utilities.  The Missouri State Fire Marshall's Office was called in to investigate.  The investigation revealed this fire was incendiary and the criminal investigation is ongoing.

08-01-03 Commercial Structure Fire @ Riley's Package Store

This fire was reported by a deputy at approximately 3:00am the fire had not been burning very long the only thing that was showing was smoke coming out of one of the eve vents and around a door jamb.  We were on scene within five minutes.  The entire inside of the building had smoke and heat damage, but the fire was contained to one part of a room and the attic.  The fire was determined to be electrical by the Missouri State Fire Marshall's Office.  We cleared scene at approximately 07:00.
Truck 1, Engine 5, Engine 6, Chief 1, Medic 706, and BPD responded to this call.  There was one injury related to this fire it was a Fire Fighter that was cut by the metal that covered the outside of the building when we were breaching the outside wall (seen in picture above).

07-26-03 Training Burn @ 117 S Dunnegan Ave

         
This was a controlled burn we did for training. The city bought the property to build a small park and this house needed to be removed.  The fire department and the police department had many trainings in this house before we finally burned it.  The fire department had some really good entry, ventilation, and pump training on this house, we had allot more time to work with this one since the city owned it. 

06-28-03 Extrication Class @ Yeargain Auto Salvage

       
It was about 90 degrees with no wind when we were doing this class, it was very hot and humid.  Normally we would be wearing our coats, but we were worried about heat related medical problems during the training.  We have had 3 classes now since we got our Rescue Tools along with other equipment earlier this year from the 2002 FIRE Act Grant.

06-25-03 Truck 1 @ Station 1 on S. Springfield Ave.

       
This is our New Aerial Fire Truck.

06-05-03 MVA Car into a House 100 Block of W. South St.

               
This car started out in the parking lot behind some apartments, then drove over a concrete wall and fence.  Then hitting a shed with the right side of the car just enough to take the door off.  Then continuing to drive through one back yard and going through another fence and hitting a house.  The entire scene was about 250 feet long from start to finish.  The car hit the house on the corner which turned out to be a good thing, because it is the strong point.  The only way to remove the car was back the same way it came. The occupant of the car was not injured. There was a significant amount of property damage though between three property owners.

05-19-03 Suspicious Package @ E. South St. and S. Springfield Ave.

We called in the Springfield Fire Department Bomb Squad after being notified of a suspicious package outside a business.  After an X-Ray of the package it was determined not to be harmful, and was later discovered to be a High School Project that was left on the ground outside a business.  The Bolivar Police Department worked with the Springfield Fire Department Bomb Squad in finding the subjects that it belonged to so they could verify what it was.

04-04-2003 MVA with injuries @ Highway 13 & Highway 32

           
The car was attempting to make a U Turn in the Highway in front of the Fuel Truck.  We performed a short extrication on this vehicle to remove the driver then loaded the patient into Hammons Life Line to transport to St. Johns in Springfield, MO.
 

04-03-2003 Electrical Fire 2540 S. Springfield

This fire involved a toaster, table, and other items on the table.

01-17-03 Residential Structure Fire @ 309 N. Chicago

                        
This was a residential structure fire at an apartment complex.  It had 17 units in it, the building had been added on to before so there were allot of different pieces of the building.  The original report of smoke was made to the owner of the apartments at approx 7:00am when some of the tenets from the second floor called him about the smoke.  The call came into 9-1-1 at 7:26 and we were dispatched and on scene within 6 minutes.  The original fire started in one of the 1st floor apartments.  by the time we were called and on scene the fire had already made its way into the floors, walls and attic space,  we were able to make entry into all of the front apartments and the 2 on the north side and were unable to locate the fire.  We finally located some fire in a wall and floor in the second floor, as we were working on extinguishing that fire the room filled with heat and smoke.  The Operations Chief and IC made the decision to evacuate, so they set off the air horns and sirens and we all evacuated the building.  As the last team was coming down the stairs inside the entire upstairs including the apartment we were working in flashed.  The attack on the fire was then changed to a defensive on the outside until we could make it safe again.  After the fire was out we were inspecting the damage and the exact location where we had been working in the 2nd floor apartment the floor had completely burned through and collapsed.  When the evacuation was ordered all the teams dropped the tools they had and followed the hose line outside.  We were able to locate and salvage most of the tool, we did lose some to the fire though.  This scene lasted about 24 hours before the last apparatus cleared the scene.  The Missouri State Fire Marshall's Office Investigated this fire along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).  After a 2 day investigation they concluded this fire was accidental.  Until the determination was made the fire department had to post 2 firefighters on scene to secure the building.

11-15-02 MVA with injuries S. Springfield Ave. in front of Wal-Mart Super Center

The investigating officer of this scene estimated the speed of the truck at approximately 70 MPH in the 40 MPH zone when the truck left the roadway and hit one pole and then impacting another pole head on.  The impact was so hard it broke the lights off of the pole and broke the front axle of the truck in half.  As seen in the second picture it broke the front axle and front wheel completely off of the truck.  This patient had only minor injuries.

10-18-2002 MVA with injuries W. Broadway St. in front of Meeks Lumber

This accident was a very good example of newer vehicle construction vs. older vehicles.  The truck drove away with minor damage.

05-09-2002 Storm Damage

The National Weather Service called this the work of straight line winds.  There was damage spread out all over town, but this 5 block area was the worst damage and all grouped together.

Past members that contributed to the Bolivar City Fire Department

Past equipment that supported the Bolivar City Fire Department

Past events that shaped the Bolivar City Fire Department

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Page last updated 07/08/2006 by roberth@equipmentintensive.com