The Rock Community Fire Protection District will open its headquarter’s doors to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 23.
Admission to the open house is free and will be held at House 5, 3749 Telegraph Road, in Arnold.
At the open house, the district will display its new pumper truck, which went into service March 28 during a push ceremony at House 4 in Arnold.
In addition to tours of the headquarters, the open house will include free food and safety demonstrations. Representatives from Rock Fire, the Jefferson County Health Department, Missouri Poison Control, Arnold Police, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Rock Township Ambulance District will be on hand, too.
“It has been a while since we have been able to have an open house because of COVID,” said Stephanie Jackson, Rock Fire’s public education specialist. “We want to welcome people back into our firehouse. The firehouse belongs to the community, and we really want to show them everything we do and offer them as much safety information as possible.”
Rock Fire plans to have a “sprinkler room” at the open house to show how sprinkler systems work to help extinguish fires. Jackson said that exhibit is scheduled for 11 a.m.
The district will have a vehicle extrication exhibit at about noon to show how firefighters cut open a vehicle to free occupants.
The department also plans to have the boat it uses for water rescue at the event, and if weather permits, representatives from Survival Flight plan to fly a helicopter over the station at about 1 p.m.
“This is a great opportunity to meet some of their firefighters and representatives from several other organizations,” Jackson said.
If there is inclement weather the day of the open house, a makeup event is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 30.
New truck
Rock Fire fell back on firefighter tradition when it put a 2021 Pierce pumper truck into service at House 4, 3889 Miller Road, in Arnold.
The truck was pushed into the station’s garage by most of the 30 district employees and their family members who attended the ceremony.
“The big thing is going back to the 1800s when (firetrucks) were hand drawn or pulled by horses. When the fire was done, they had to push them back in to get ready for the next call,” Rock Fire Chief Jeff Broombaugh said. “With the pride we take in our traditions, we decided to bring back the ceremony to symbolize the truck is going into the service.
“There may have been a little help to back it up. It is about 53,000 pounds.”
Broombaugh said the district paid $796,000 for the new truck. It was ordered from Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, Wis., in the fall of 2020. The district received the truck in February.
“It was like everything else; they had trouble getting parts so it took longer,” Broombaugh said. “Then our mechanic got the truck and mounted equipment on it. (Pierce Manufacturing is) telling us when we order a ladder truck in 2024, it will take about 20 months to get it.”
He said the district tries to replace trucks every 15 years, and it paid for its newest truck with funds from its capital improvement budget.
Broombaugh said the new truck replaces a 2007 Pierce pumper, and the district transferred most of the equipment from the old truck to the new one.
He said Rock Fire has been contacted by some fire district about possibly purchasing the 2007 truck, but the district may sell the old truck on an auction site.
Broombaugh said the new truck will be kept at House 4.
He said Rock Fire has two ladder trucks and three pumper trucks in frontline service, and the district has a reserve ladder truck and two reserve pumper trucks.
Broombaugh said the truck that went into service in March will be easier for the House 4 firefighters to work from, and it will be equipped with more rescue equipment than the district’s other two pumper trucks.
“Our goal is to give our employees the tools to do their job,” he said. “We want to keep it up to date. I think those at Station 4 will be very happy to get their new truck. I think the truck committee did a very good job of designing and outfitting the new truck so everything fits on there and they will have a user-friendly truck to work off of.”