News Archive

SSCFPD's Mobile Burn Training Unit Recenty Used By MSSU Fire Academy

On December 14 and 15 2009, the Southern Stone County Fire Protection District’s Mobile Burn Training Unit,(MBTU), was utilized by the Missouri Southern State University Fire Academy.

Under the instruction of Chris Thompson, 27 fire academy candidates completed their live fire evolutions for state firefighter certification.

The unit was housed at the Carthage Fire station and supported with personnel and apparatus from Carthage Fire Department. This is the second time the unit has been used here by the MSSU Fire Academy.

2009 MDA Fill-The-Boot Drive – Labor Day Weekend

Southern Stone County Fire Protection District held its annual MDA Fill-The-Boot event September 4-7, 2009, raising $17,000 for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and getting honors for top dollars raised in the Ozarks region for the 6th year in a row.  Over the last six years, SSCFPD has collected over $100,000 for children and adults living with neuromuscular disease.  A total of 34 Firefighters and 6 Auxiliary members were on hand over the holiday weekend to lend their support.  Special thanks go out to the Tillmans and Silver Dollar City for their continued assistance with this event; to Sonic, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Jump Start, and Mickey’s of Branson West, and Harter House in Kimberling City for their donations of food and ice to feed the volunteers; to the SSCFPD Firefighters and Auxiliary members who selflessly donated their time; and to the community members and visitors who so generously emptied their pockets to raise money for this worthy cause.

Honor Guard Invited to Governors Inaugural Parade

The Southern Stone County Fire Protection District Honor Guard was Invited to the Missouri State Governor's Inaugural Parade. The event took place on Monday, January 12th, 2009 at the south steps of the State Capitol. Commander of the Honor Guard, Firefighter Paul Nordin says "It's an honor to be invited to the inauguration, we've been to several events throughout the state, but so far this is our highest honor" and Nordin says "It's a great way for people throughout the state to see just what we're all about".


The Southern Stone County Fire Protection District Honor Guard has been to such events as the Missouri State Fair where they were awarded a trophy for second place. They have done several funerals for fallen Firefighters throughout the state. Fire Chief Charlie Neubert commends these Firefighters for their dedication. "This group of guys are what you'd find with a full time paid department, however they are 100% volunteer"

The Honor Guard was also invited to have lunch with District 62 State Representative Dennis Wood at the Capital Building. Nordin says "We're very excited; most of us have worked extra hours this week to be able to take off Monday so we could attend"

The Southern Stone County Fire Protection District Honor Guard Consists of all Volunteer Firefighters, Nordin says "Eight of us are left Sunday with our gear to attend the event ".

Eric Nielsen
Assistant Public Information Officer
S.S.C.F.P.D.

Roy Blunt Visit to Southern SSCFPD Headquarters

Branson West, Stone County, Missouri, September 24, 20008 – U.S. Congressmen Roy Blunt paid a visit to Southern Stone County last month to see just how they spent their $373,000.00 Radio Communications Grant from FEMA. He was excited to see that every firefighter and officer of the district had received new digital radios. It wasn't’t that long ago that only a few firefighters had radios. Now every volunteer for Southern stone County has the Equipment they need to communicate during emergencies. The grant also purchased new digital radios for all fire apparatus in the district.

The district purchased a total of 67 mobile radios for district vehicles and 150 portable radios for the volunteers. All of the new radios are programmed with Federal V-Tach Channel so that should Southern Stone Firefighters ever have to respond to a federal emergency they will be able to communicate with other federal agencies on large scenes via portable radios.

Congressmen Blunt also acknowledged another grant Southern Stone Fire recently received to purchase a mobile classroom for department and public awareness training that the department will take delivery on this fall.

Southern Stone County Fire Purchases Two New Trucks

Branson West, Stone County, Missouri, September 24, 2008 – Monday September 29, 2008 Southern Stone County Fire will put their brand new Pierce Pumper Tankers. These new trucks are outfitted with the latest technology in firefighting. The trucks carry 1500 gallons of on board water. The new edition to the Southern Stone County Fire Protection District Family will be house at Station 3 with a truck number of 6035 in Lampe and Station 6 at Y Highway and 76 Highway with a truck number of 6065. The placement of these trucks in the district makes them easily accessible to both the north side and the south side of the county. One of these trucks will be dispatched to all residential and commercial structure fires depending on the location of the fire.

The new trucks are equipped with the latest technology in firefighting a Husky Condensed Air Foam System (CAFS). The CAFS system adds Class A or Class B Foam to the water system and then air is forced into the water foam mixture encapsulating the foam with the water molecules. Using the CAFS System will increase the efficiency of water to cool a fire by 300%. With the Husky CAFS System these new trucks that are carrying 1500 gallons of water will inject foam into the water molecules and expand 1500 gallons of water to an equivalent of 4000 gallons. This will allow us to cool the inside of a structure from 1200 degrees to 500 degrees almost immediately so firefighters can gain access to the seat of the fire quicker. This new system will not only extinguish a structure fire faster saving valuable property but also decrease smoke damage to the structure.

The Pierce Pumper Tankers sit on a Saber Chassis with a 400 horsepower Cummins ISL Engine, a 1500 gallon per minute pump, an onboard generator, a collapsible 1500 gallon portable water pool, two pull out tool walls located in the front driver's side compartment, and telescoping lights for night time scene work.

Southern Stone Receives FEMA Grant

Branson West, Stone County, Missouri, June 16, 2008, 2008 – Southern Stone County Fire is again the recipient of a $64,224 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The grant will be used to purchase a mobile training facility. Firefighters from Southern Stone County will use the mobile training trailer to increase public awareness to fire and tornado safety. The 39 foot classroom on wheels is designed to teach fire prevention and safety, it seat 35 people and is equipped with over head projector, computers, and other training aids. It as also equipped to teach tornado safety. The window shutter and blinds shake to simulate conditions of a tornado. This class room will also be available to be used by departments outside the district. This is yet another tool for Southern Stone County Fires motto “Neighbors Helping Neighbors”. This is the 2nd piece of training equipment Southern Stone County received a grant two years ago to purchase a live mobile fire training facility to simulate live fire conditions inside a structure. That trailer has made its way around the state training firefighters from other departments as well as Southern Stone’s firefighters. The trailer should be in service by the end of the year. To learn more about the trailer, click here.

Firefighter Honored as 40 under 40 Recipient

Branson West, Stone County, Missouri, April 18, 2008 – Lieutenant Gordon Weathers Public Information Officer for Southern Stone County Fire Protection District was selected by Springfield Business Journal as a member of their 2008 40 under 40 class. Lt. Weathers has been a volunteer since 2004 and as the department Public Information Officer since 2005. In addition to his duties as Public Information Officer he is a Lieutenant at Station 11 in Reeds Spring. In 2005 Gordon was honored with the departments Above and Beyond award for responding to 12 structure fires in the first 2 months on the department.

Gordon works full time as the General Sales Manager for The Vacation Channel in Branson, Missouri. He is also a Board Member/Treasurer for Branson Hollister Rotary Club and The Hollister Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Springfield Business Journal recognizes outstanding individuals in the community and in their professions, all under the age of 40 who are making an impact on Southwest Missouri. Candidates are nominated by readers and selected by an independent panel of judges. Gordon and his fellow 40 under 40 Honorees were recognized on Thursday night at the Springfield Cardinals Game on the field during a photo shoot for the Business Journal before the game. The recognition party has become one of Springfield Business Journals best attended and most lively events. The event will take place at the Springfield Cardinals indoor practice facility at Hammons Field in Springfield. The department would like to congratulate Gordon on this honor.

Southern Stone County Receives Large FEMA GRANT

Branson West, Stone County, Missouri, February 7, 2008 – Southern Stone County Fire Protection District received confirmation this week that they will receive a $373,500 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The grant includes $373,000 with southern Stone County Fire supplying $41,500.00 in matching funds. The grant will purchase much needed communication equipment for the district. The grant includes 67 mobile radios, 150 portable handheld radios, 8 mobile repeaters, a laptop computer for communication programming, and equipment to simulcast paging on both of Southern Stone Repeater towers.

This grant will allow the department to upgrade all fire equipment to digital radios to be FCC Narrow Band compliant. The mandate required by the FCC that all currently deployed 25 KHz "wide-band" VHF and UHF two-way radios - hand-held portables, vehicle-mounted mobiles, base/control stations (called subscriber radios), and any associated 25 KHz conventional or trunked repeaters or relay stations (called infrastructure) - be replaced with 12.5 KHz "narrow-band" equipment prior to the 2012 date in order to continue legal use of your licensed radio frequencies beyond that date. The department will replace all apparatus mobile radios and supply every firefighter in the district with a personal radio. This will allow better communication within the department when responding to emergencies. This will also allow all Southern Stone Radios to operate on a federal V-Tach Channels. These channels will allow Department personnel to communicate with other police, fire, and emergency agencies they may be working with on large emergency incidents.

The V-Tach channel allows them to communicate on one frequency instead of using a 911 communication center to relay information. The 8 mobile repeaters will be installed in command vehicles so that the fire chiefs can broadcast an emergency page from their command car if they are unable to contact the 911 center. Another important part of the grant is the equipment that will allow Stone County 911 to broadcast one page simultaneously over Southern Stones 2 repeater towers. Currently they must page the north tower then the south tower before the can broadcast important emergency information. With the upgrade they will be able to issue on page that will reach both towers saving valuable time for emergency responders.

District gets grant from Homeland Security

Southern Stone County Fire Protection District has received notification this week they have been awarded a grant to purchase a MobileSyncRMS. Through the Commercial Equipment Direct Assistance Program (CEDAP) the department will purchase a MobileSyncRMS.

MobileSyncRMS is a full featured records management, mobile data, and data sharing solution used to record and distribute files within and outside of the department. The system will allow Fire Chiefs on an emergency scene to record data for the incident, access building plans and schematics of commercial buildings and preplan documents on a laptop inside their vehicle. This system will also allow for personnel management on an emergency scene sharing this information with other agencies on the incident. Information recorded during an emergency incident will them be automatically uploaded when the vehicle returns to the Fire Station

The MobileSyncRMS system consists of five user licenses, a Linux server, five-port router, two desktop and three lap top computers, laptop vehicle mounts, two magnetic strip readers, two barcode scanners, two mobile printers, one office printer, all cables and connectors, training, installation support, and two years of software maintenance. The entire system is valued at $38,764.62