Much has changed since the word ‘rescue’ came to Fire and Rescue Department
by David Ball
Staff Writer
This month, the Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department celebrates its 40th year since becoming one of the first departments in the country to provide rescue and ambulatory services.
District Chief of Rescue Ray Wade said a lot has changed, and many lives have been saved, in that time.
“The first units were basically station wagons with oxygen tanks and Band-Aids thrown in it,” he said of the rescue units that replaced the hearses used by funeral homes that would compete to provide ambulance service.
City leaders realized it wasn’t beneficial to have businesses that profit on the people’s deaths be the sole providers of transportation of the sick and injured, and in November 1967, Mayor Hans Tanzler made emergency ambulance service permanently the responsibility of the Jacksonville Fire Department.
One of the first stations outfitted was No. 2 on Main Street in Springfield. Forty years later, the station, which will celebrate 100 years of service in 2009, is still one of the busiest in the entire department, averaging about 300 rescue calls a month.
“The stations closest to the core of the city usually are the busiest, because they are so close to the hospitals and can be done and take another call right away,” said Wade. “We’ve really gone from simple first aid and oxygen to a mobile emergency room.”
Station No. 2, which has one of the newest 4-door rescue units, is a unique combination of history and advancement and the home of a fun but dedicated crew.
Lt. Jerry Roach first pointed out an early 1900’s rescue ladder hanging from the chrome playing-card themed ceiling tiles. A modern memorial to firefighters fallen in the line of duty hangs near one of the few remaining fire poles in the department. And two big-screen TVs adorn lounge areas in the same rooms where faded photos of the station in 1922 hang on the walls.
But at its core, it’s still a fire station. On the second floor, Roach opens a door to what used to be a fireman’s closet. Instead, there’s a solid concrete block wall.
“I’m guessing there was some kind of disagreement,” said Roach. “If you hear anybody talking about the locker at No. 2, this is what they are talking about. They did a real professional job, too.”
In the kitchen freezer sits a bowl filled with ice, eggs and one of the firefighter’s shirts. Another shirt from a different firefighter is suspended in a block of ice in an outside freezer.
“A lot of fire fighters tend to forget they are adults and leave their clothes lying around,” said Roach, playing into the irony of freezing shirts as an “adult” form of punishment. “This is home for us. We spend a third of our time here and it’s like a family.”
In between calls, the family of fire fighters spends time renovating the 98-year-old structure. “The City has been pretty good to use about floating money to us to do the work,” said Roach.
The group also routinely updates its own Web site, http://springfielddeuce.tripod.com, where viewers can check out the history of the station and photos of “shenanigans” and play the game “Where’s the Chicken?”
The group casually chatted inside the station when the sirens rang. It was a structure fire to the north. In 20 seconds, a fire engine and two rescue units were in route.
“We’ve got people that are knowledgeable and passionate about caring for the residents of Jacksonville,” said Wade after the bays were clear. “And it’s only going to increase in the next 40 years as our technology and skills continue to grow.”