We are one city department that provides services directly to your home or other location within minutes of your call, twenty-four hours a day, three hundred and sixty-five days a year, regardless of the weather conditions or the nature of the problem. Your volunteers respond to many diverse requests for emergency services. Among them are calls for structure, vehicle and grass fires, emergency medical service to treat and transport injured and ill patients, to control releases of hazardous materials, to extricate people from vehicle collisions and overturned farm equipment, rescue people from water and ice.

The City of Pleasant Hill and the volunteer membership of Emergency Services are proud of their community and the strides made to improve the quality of service delivered to the residents and businesses of Pleasant Hill and Four Mile Township. During the past three years over $1,000,000 dollars and in excess of 18,000 volunteer hours has been invested to improve equipment, apparatus and the training of Emergency Services.

The department is staffed by local residents, who have chosen to provide their time and expertise to protect and serve their neighbors in the event of fire, medical or other emergency situation. We provide service to the residents of City of Pleasant Hill, a large portion of Four Mile Township and support surrounding fire departments in Polk and Warren Counties in Central Iowa through mutual aid response agreements.

We maintain a number of pieces of specialized equipment and apparatus, which are critical to our mission. The members attend formal training sessions twice a month and perform organized maintenance on assigned equipment once a month. We provide many specialized training sessions and attend certification courses for fire, rescue and emergency medicine throughout the year. We organize and provide fire prevention and home safety education to children attending schools and day cares throughout our community.

The volunteers also have organized the Pleasant Hill Firefighters Association, which is a fund -raising organization supporting community projects and activities as well as the Emergency Services providers and their families. The Association sponsors "Sparky" the fire dog, provides candy for the annual Easter Egg Hunt, raises funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association with a "Boot Block", cooks pancakes for "Breakfast with Santa" and represents the City of Pleasant Hill in local parades and celebrations. The Association also has been involved in a project with Blank Hospital and the Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau to provide every child within our community with a bicycle helmet.

These activities are demanding and require personal sacrifice and the dedication of not only the emergency service volunteer, but their families as well. The volunteer nature of the service provided to the community saves the city hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, when compared to the cost of hiring full-time employees. Your volunteers stand ready to serve you if and when the need arises and sincerely appreciate the support we have received from our community.

4320 Attack / Grass Truck

1985 Chevrolet 4WD 1¼ Ton, Crew Seating for-4

• 250 gallons of water / 25 gallons of Class A foam Waterous 100-50-DS CAF System
• Off-Road grass and field fire responses, remote rescues and boat towing

4331 Pumper / Tanker

2000 Spartan Chassis/Toyne, Crew Seating for 6

• 1500 Gallons Water, 20 Gallons Class A Foam, 50 Gallons Class B Foam
• 1,750 Gallon Per Minute Pump,
• Equipped with portable tank and dump valves for rural fire service
• Thermal Image Camera, Scott Air Packs, Generator, Automatic External Defibrillator
• First out engine on all structure fires, second out on grass fires and ambulance calls

4360 Aerial

• 2000 Spartan Chassis/Toyne, Crew Seating for 6
• 500 Gallons Water, 20 Gallons Class A Foam, 50 Gallons Class B Foam
• 1,750 Gallon Per Minute Pump
• Thermal Image Camera, Scott Air Packs, Onan Generator,
• 105 foot Aerial Innovations ladder with remote water flow controls
• Second out for large structure or hazardous materials fires and rescue operations

4370 Rescue

• 2004 Spartan Chassis with seating for 6
• Compressed air foam system
• Rescue equipment to include Jaws and heavy capacity air lifting bags
• Cascade air bottle system and air compressor to refill air bottles at large fires
• Responds for extrication, fires and hazardous material investigations

4375 Rescue Boat

• 2000 SeaArk 16 foot, doublewide, modified vee-hull aluminum boat, Crew of 4
• 25 HP Johnson outboard motor
• Responds to hazardous materials releases into waterways, water and ice rescue operations

4380 Ambulance

• 2000 Lifeline Type III Ambulance, Crew Seating for 3
• Fully equipped advanced care ambulance (Paramedic Level)
• First Out Squad, Responds for all emergency medical and rescue responses, support for fire service operations

4381 Ambulance

• 1995 Lifeline Type III Ambulance, Crew Seating for 3
• Fully equipped advanced care ambulance (Paramedic Level)
• Second Out Squad, Responds to emergency medical and rescue responses and support of large fire service operations, where a second medical unit is needed

Little known facts, Three-fourths of the United States is protected by volunteer fire and emergency medical responders, with approximately 1,000,000 volunteers with 27,000 volunteer departments, providing over 65,000,000 hours of service valued at over $105,000,000,000 dollars.

There are a number of factors that compel one to serve their community as a volunteer, such as satisfying the basic human needs of a sense of belonging, self-respect, challenge, achievement, recognition and helping others. While our individual occupations often don't satisfy these basic human needs, the nature of emergency service has a tremendous amount to offer a volunteer. If you are looking for a challenge and want to serve your community, we may have an opportunity for you.

First, in order to be a volunteer you must:

Be at least 18 years of age and graduated from high school.

1. Possess a valid Iowa driver's license and maintain a good driving record.
2. Live within five minutes from the fire station, when driving the posted speed limit.
3. Be in good health and able to pass a physical examination.

If you meet the above qualifications we would encourage you to complete an application, which is available at City Hall. Applications are reviewed routinely and driving records are checked. Applicants meeting the above criteria will be interviewed by the membership committee and advised of the inner-workings of the department and expectations of our volunteers.

Following acceptance, new members must successfully complete a probationary training phase and prove proficiency on a variety of tasks and equipment within one year. Members are expected to attend 75% of the Monday training sessions and respond to a minimum of 20% of the calls for service. We provide our members with personal protective equipment, local training, and funding for approved statewide training and certification courses.

Reylon Meeks, Fire Chief for the City of Pleasant Hill, has been offered a national appointment with the American Heart Association. Beginning July 1, she will be serving on the education committee.

Chosen from more than 55 applicants throughout the United States, Reylon emerged as a top candidate, given her background in both the hospital and pre-hospital setting. complete article