Red Willow Western Rural Fire Department celebrating 40th anniversary

Friday, September 15, 2017
Red Willow Western Rural Fire Department members are, front row, kneeling, from left, Noah Miles and Lane Cole. Back row: Bruce Wasia, Josh Crouch, John Barber, Kevin Hylton, CeAnna Jahn, Weston Matson, Nick Cole, Matt Thayer, Bill Elliott, Mike Allen, Billie Cole, Jeff Cole, Zach Herrman, Cris Charley, Rod Brittain and Doug Wasia. Not pictured: Blake Cole, Pat and Nicole Cribbs, Elijah Kendall, Logan Gleason, Colton Lashley, Larry Eden and Dalton Downing.
Gazette photo

McCOOK, Neb. — McCook’s annual “Heritage Days” celebration Sept. 20-24 will commemorate the 150th anniversary of Nebraska, the 135th anniversary of McCook and the 40th anniversary of the Red Willow Western Rural Fire Department.

To mark 40 years of fighting fires and protecting lives, livestock, grassland and property, RWW firefighters plan a celebration on Saturday, Sept. 23, at the RWW fire station on Drive 715 south of VK Electronics and Pinnacle Bank (on West B) and around the curve to the west (right) on the river road. The fire barns are the third set of buildings on the north side (right side) of the road.

The day’s schedule will include a horseshoe pitching tournament, kids’ water games, fire station tours and the firefighters’ “Smokin’ Hot” grilling and barbecue contest.

The highlight of the day’s events will be Cornhusker football on the big screen. Firefighters issue an invitation, “Come play, eat and watch the Huskers beat Rutgers.”

The department’s grass rigs, water trucks and hulking “Hemtt” (pronounced Hemmit) fire trucks will also cruise through downtown McCook during the Heritage Days parade scheduled to start at 10 a.m. that day.

Registration for the horseshoe tournament begins at 3 p.m.; the first horseshoe will be pitched at 4 p.m. Contact firefighter John Barber to register for the horseshoes, (812) 229-3232. The cost is $10 per team.

The kids’ games and station tours will also begin at 4 p.m.

Firefighters will prepare their favorite “hot-n-spicy foods” for supper at 6 p.m. for the public, who can vote on their favorite. Supper will cost $4 per plate for adults and $2 for kids. Proceeds from the supper will help pay for the food baskets and gifts that the firefighters distribute at Thanksgiving time.

Pray there are no fires …

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Firefighter and department lieutenant Billie Cole says that a group of farmers, including Don Olson, Richard Klein and Claude Cappel, started Red Willow Western in 1977 after a structure fire in the country.

They purchased their first fire trucks from the Nebraska Forestry Service, and housed them at the McCook airport. A Chrysler pump taken off one of the original trucks is still in service, on one of the department’s Hemtt trucks, Billie said.

In 1990, the department purchased what would become their fire station. Over the years, they’ve renovated and expanded — and even rebuilt after a fire inside the fire station in August 2010.

The department has 20+ firefighters, five junior firefighters in the pre-firefighter training program started in 2014; and three Hemtts, four grass rigs, one semi-tanker, one ladder truck, a pumper and a rescue truck.

In 1993, the department created a hazardous materials (hazmat) response team, one of 10 across Nebraska. The department has six members trained at the hazmat technician level and six trained at the operations level; and a command post and semi-tractor trailer for hazmat response.

The department has sent its hazmat techs as members of the Nebraska team to the National Hazmat Challenge in Los Alamos, N. Mex., for the past four years.

RWW has personnel trained in rope rescue, grain bin rescue, National Incident Management and rail car response.

Long-time firefighters include chiefs Bill Elliott, 39 years, and Mike Allen, 35 years; assistant chief Jeffrey Cole, 20 years; and Pat Cribbs, 10 years.

Pat’s wife, Nicole (volunteers’ secretary), is also a firefighter, and father-and-son Bruce Wasia (volunteers’ president) and Doug Wasia (captain) are both firefighters.

Fire chief Bill Elliott’s family makes it a “family affair,” and includes his daughter Billie Cole (lieutenant) and her husband, Jeffrey, and their sons Nicholas and Lane, who are full-time firefighters, and Blake, who is a junior firefighter.

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