Lake of the Ozarks area fire departments seeing fewer brush fires

VIDEO: The rain is giving rural fire departments, especially volunteer firefighters, a break. “We were stretched pretty thin during that,” said Captain Zack O’Daniel. He works for Southwest Fire Protection District, an all-volunteer fire department. ”Rain has helped us a lot. It’s really taken our call load down for brush fires,” said Captain O’Daniel. It’s the same story in a nearby district. Mid-County Fire Protection District Chief Scott Frandsen says brush fires are hard on not only firefighters but equipment too. “In March, we ran over 40 brush fires, and several of those were fairly substantial fires, multi-100 acre fires. Obviously, we’ve got several weeks of rain now on and off. And like in April, we don’t want to respond to eight or nine. So we have seen a pretty significant decrease in our brushfires,” said Chief Frandsen. They hope the spring showers keep the drought away.
KYTV NBC 3 Springfield

Nixa woman rescued after driving car into pond

A Nixa woman was rescued by the Nixa Fire Department after driving her car into a pond. According to the City of Nixa, at 6:42 a.m., a woman pulled over to take a phone call and accidentally put the car in gear driving straight into the pond at Gregg Road and Northview Drive. Nixa Police and the Nixa Fire Department swam into the pond and helped the woman out of her car. The City said there were no signs of driving impairment and there were no injuries. The extent of damage to the car is still unknown, but the car was mostly submerged, according to the City.
KOLR-TV CBS 10 Springfield

Fire destroys Scott City home displacing family of 5

Two adults and three children are without a home in Scott City because of a house fire Monday night, May 7. Scott City firefighters were called at 8:57 p.m. to the 300 block of West Missouri Boulevard to a first-alarm house fire. When crews arrived, they reported seeing heavy fire coming from the west side of a home, heavy smoke coming from all sides and a neighboring home catching fire a few feet away. The fire was upgraded and multiple area fire departments were called in to help. According to Scott City Fire Chief Shawn Jackson, the scene was quickly upgraded to a second alarm because of the amount of fire and danger to the neighboring home. Additional area fire crews were called to the scene. Crews established a water supply and transitioned to an offensive mode. Once the fire was contained, crews worked to put out the fire and any hot spots.
KFVS-TV 12 CBS Cape Girardeau

91-year-old donates $500,000 to Calhoun Volunteer Fire Department

VIDEO: Neighbors helping neighbors is the motto of the Calhoun Volunteer Fire Department. Mark Hardin brought that mindset to the table when he started as Fire Chief back in December of 2021. "There's a sense of pride and community,” Hardin said. “It’s not just one person. It’s all of us.” But when he started, it was a department of just one, with old gear and trucks that didn't run. “It needed a lot of work,” he said. “Not many of the trucks were in operation. Not many of them ran. Only one ran at the time.” So, Hardin opened the doors to the community. He posted on Facebook, hosted trainings almost weekly, and grew his department to where it is now – with 28 volunteer firefighters. The department made repairs to the old trucks and has pride in the work that they do.
KMBC-TV ABC 9 Kansas City

Missouri farmers attempt to team up with firefighters with safety top of mind

Missouri farmers are attempting to team up with the state’s firefighters to eliminate forever chemicals and keep first responders safer. On International Firefighters’ Day, Saturday, May 4, the Missouri Soybean Merchandising Council encouraged farmers to discuss the health and environmental benefits of soy-based foam with local fire departments. As firefighters take inherent risks just by clocking into work, the Council said they rely on many tools to fight fires - including foam. However, traditional foams pose the risk of exposure to PFAS, forever chemicals. Agriculture officials indicated that SoyFoam, a safer alternative, eliminates exposure and prioritizes first-responder well-being. The SoyFoam TF1122 from Cross Plains Solutions is the first and only GreenScreen gold-level certified foam.
KCTV CBS 5 Kansas City