Waterville Fire Department celebrating 100 years of serving the community during its annual Car Cruise set for this Saturday

by Kelli Boylen

In October of 1916 the Waterville Fire Department was established. Fourteen members were approved by the Waterville City Council to serve as volunteer firemen.

Today, 24 Waterville firefighters are preparing for the department's 13th Annual Car Cruise this Saturday (see advertisement on Page 7A of this edition). The car cruise theme will celebrate the Department’s centennial, according to Waterville Fire Chief Loren Mitchell.

In November 1916, a committee was appointed to meet with the city council about building a fire station. According to records, the committee insisted on a building 16'x20'x8' not to exceed $500, with half the funds to be paid by the City and half paid by the “fire company.”

May 5, 1925, the fire department decided to contact farmers within a five-mile radius of town to help pay for a fire truck in return for service in case of a fire. March 8, 1927, they voted to increase that area of coverage to a six-mile radius of Waterville, when needed. Today, the department serves an area totaling 100 square miles, said Mitchell.

According to records, July 7, 1925 the department appointed John McGeough to find a “second-hand” truck, but apparently a good deal could not be found on a used truck, as August 4 of that same year members voted to purchase a new truck instead.

The Waterville Fire Department currently has two brush trucks, two pumpers, one tanker and an equipment van. The department also has a UTV and snowmobile, which are used for brush fires and assisting the rescues of injured persons in areas that are difficult to get to.

The Waterville Rescue Squad operates out of the same building on top of the hill in Waterville next to the school, but stands as its own separate entity. In 1976, the fire department bought a used ambulance and formed the Waterville Rescue Squad. In 1978 the ambulance service began to function as its own organization. Up until the mid-1970s there was a privately-operated ambulance service that served many areas of Allamakee County, according to Mitchell.

Waterville Fire and Rescue constructed a new fire station in 2012, in order to have more adequate storage space for the department's trucks, equipment and meeting space. The City of Waterville purchased  land from Donna Wood at a reduced rate and donated it to the fire department to build a new fire station on.

Mitchell said that the firefighters on rural departments, such as Waterville's, are required to have the same minimum of 24 hours of training per year as paid professional full-time firefighters. “I think ‘unpaid professionals’ is a more accurate term than just ‘volunteers’,” he said. All members of the department are required to complete Fire Fighter I classes within a year of joining the department.

Of the current 24 firefighters, four of them started out as Junior Firefighters when they were still in high school. Mitchell was a Junior Firefighter 14 years ago, and in more recent years he has been joined on the department by other former Junior Firefighters, including Caitlin Troendle, Sam Hoins and Corey Troendle. High school student Joe Lloyd is currently a Junior Firefighter.

The Waterville Fire Department welcomes interested young people 16 to 18 years of age to join as Junior Firefighters. They attend meetings and trainings and can assist in a limited number of ways at the scenes of fires and accidents as their training and experience allows. For example, they cannot operate equipment or go into a burning building, but they can help get things set up, run equipment where it is needed and clean up.

“It is an awesome program. I learned a lot when I was in the Junior Firefighter program,” Mitchell said.

Caitlin Troendle was 16 years old when she joined the department as a Junior Firefighter, and now as a 21-year-old she is still very active. "It was a great learning experience! I learned so much at first by just getting to watch.  It was so easy to begin; they were so welcoming."

Most of the Junior Firefighters have a parent on the department, but that is not a requirement. Mitchell said teens are not allowed to leave school to respond to fire calls, and they must maintain a C or better grade average.

The Waterville Fire Department averages about 20 calls a year, ranging from fires to accidents to search and rescue. The Rural Fire Board oversees the Waterville Fire Department. They make decisions concerning the funding and department needs with items such as equipment and trucks. The rural board consists of members from Paint Creek, Linton, Taylor, Center and Lafayette townships and the City of Waterville.