ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
Local emergency personnel keep busy throughout any given year, and that includes the local fire department.
Liberal Fire Chief Kelly Kirk said 2024 began and ended on a positive note for the Liberal Fire Department.
“2024 actually ended up going very well for the Liberal Fire Department. We'd been shorthanded in 2023 but between December 2023 and February 2024, we actually hired five additional people, and that put us back at full staffing levels plus one,” Kirk said. “We thought we'd have one of the guys leave late in the year for military duty, but that didn't pan out, so we stayed pretty well staffed throughout 2024, which was really great. We also took delivery of a new ladder truck and got that early this year, and that will replace a truck that will actually be 30 years old in 2025. It was about two years ago when we placed our order for a new fire engine to duplicate our other two fire engines, and we had originally been told it wouldn't get here until the beginning of 2025, but we actually ended up getting it in May. We were really happy to add that third fire engine so we would have a true reserve/backup engine, and we've got ourselves on a replacement plan that should see us buying a new fire engine about every seven years. In terms of apparatus and personnel, 2024 was a very good year for us. The amount of calls we responded to was pretty typical for our department – in 2023, the Liberal Fire Department responded to 1,535 alarms and through November of 2024, we'd responded to 1,515, so we're going to eclipse that number and maybe even get all the way to 1,600. About 300 of those will be fire/hazardous conditions calls and the remainder will be EMT rescue response we do in conjunction with Seward County EMS for medical and ambulance calls.”
Kirk added 2024 was actually rather typical for the department, and there were a lot of successes seen.
“We saw some good numbers and scary numbers as 2024 went on. In March, there was a rather large fire at the National Beef packing plant, and the dollar loss with that incident was really high, which is something we don't generally see,” Kirk said. “We don't have any fire fatalities for 2024 or civilian injuries, and we also don't have any firefighter injuries or fatalities, which we always prefer to see. Otherwise, 2024 was pretty typical for the department and what we do. Anytime we respond to a call, that person is having probably the worst time of their life at that moment. Whether it's a fire call or medical emergency, we go and work to help the person and fix whatever we can as best we can. As long as we accomplish that without anyone getting hurt, that's a marker of a good year. We also really push being prepared, we train all the time on something – sometimes it's a specialized skill, sometimes it's medical recertification or technical rescue. We also study on hazardous materials responses. Another marker for success is throughout 2024, we never got challenged on anything we weren't at least somewhat prepared for. There's only so much you can do with equipment and people when a situation gets out of hand, and there are times a department has to call out for extra help. In Southwest Kansas, we have local help via the Seward County Fire Department, and we can also reach out to the fire departments in Plains and Meade County, but if we needed, say, another ladder truck or a specialized technical rescue team, that help is coming from either Dodge City or Garden City, both of which are more than an hour away. We train and prepare to the point where we're an all-hazards department and try not to let anything catch us by surprise, but I tell the guys here all the time 'Never say you've seen everything, because then you'll be proven wrong very soon.'”
With all the 2024 successes seen, Kirk said there is a lot to look forward to for 2025.
“For 2025, we're in a really good position. I don't see us taking on any more fire apparatus next year, we're at a point there now where I'd like to see us start tweaking our fleet so we're better prepared to serve what we face now as opposed to what we faced 20 years ago,” Kirk said. “One area I feel the Liberal Fire Department could be better equipped in is with brush fires, wildland fires and grass fires – in those instances, the Seward County Fire Department responds to those because the majority of their vehicles are pump-and-roll, but we don't have that capability since our apparatus are designed to be stationary and set up to a water supply. If we could improve our fleet with a brush truck or some similar apparatus, that would help us in Liberal in areas of town where there's a lot of open grass where a fire could potentially quickly spread, and it would also improve our capability of responding when Seward County calls for mutual aid to a situation. We've got a 2000 heavy rescue truck that's packed to the hilt with gear and equipment, and it might be time to replace that with a more functional, box-style vehicle to respond to those types of calls.”
Kirk said there was indeed a lot of excitement for the new truck coming in earlier than expected.
“It's a much more technologically advanced truck, it has a higher pump capacity, and it's much quicker to deploy than the 1995 truck,” Kirk said. “We deployed that into service almost right away in March, and words alone can't describe how much of a difference that truck made on our response to that situation. The new engine will allow us to keep an engine at the north fire station, one at the south fire station, and one at the airport once certain logistics and certifications get settled. That will allow us to have all of our engines strategically placed throughout town for a better, faster response to emergency situations.”
Something else Kirk said he and staff will be keeping an eye on is the department’s ISO score,
“We're currently at a 3, which is a good score for a department of our size, but ways to improve that score include adding personnel and new apparatus and making other similar improvements,” Kirk said. “One of the components of that ISO score is, when we respond to a structure fire, it's important for us to fill 14 to 18 positions depending on the situation. But with us doing six firefighters per shift now, we can rely on those six on duty and count on the volunteers and other personnel to be listening to their pagers and responding to the scene in their personal vehicle. If we were to move each shift to a staffing of seven, plus the three administrative positions, that would put 10 immediately at the scene, which would be a big improvement, and we wouldn't have to rely on our volunteer staff as heavily, because we know they have other jobs they're working. We're noticing more and more it's getting harder to recruit volunteer firefighters whose employers would let them respond to an emergency situation while at work. We're looking to be at those numbers and otherwise be ready to respond to whatever calls come our way.”
Recruitment will also continue to be important, Kirk said.
“I don't think the issue is us not advertising, because we have the positions open on the City of Liberal Web site and a few other places, so it's definitely out there. However, we can increase our social media presence and help spread the word that way, so that's definitely an option. I would say our success recently has been more through word-of-mouth as far as recruitment, which is great,” Kirk said. “There are at least seven community colleges in Kansas that have fire science programs, and they're all really well-developed employees when they graduate from those programs because they come certified and with at least two years of training. When we try to advertise on the more national job sites, we get applicants who are looking to just get their foot in the door and then go off to a bigger department, those applicants aren't wanting to necessarily put down roots in a place like Liberal and stay for a long time.”
Overall, Kirk said, he is looking forward to a successful 2025.
“We'd like to duplicate those numbers as far as no fatalities or injuries. Life protection is our first priority, stuff protection comes second. I hope our dollar loss will go down in 2025, that's a big number we saw for 2024, probably the biggest I've seen throughout my career as chief,” Kirk said. “We'll also keep up our public education and school programs and keep up with our training. We've got a great crew of guys here, and we're starting to get to the point where everyone has their required certifications, meaning we're a very well-trained and well-certified fire department. We want to add on that with the more technical and specialized training, which is something else we'll look at. As a fire department, we want to be as valuable as possible to the community, and we want people to know our door is open if they ever have any questions or concerns about home fire safety. Go ahead and stop in if you have any questions, that's what we're here for, or give us a call at (620) 626-0128. Otherwise, we're here and ready respond to any calls 24/7/365 and do our due diligence with all of our training and everything else throughout 2025.”
