Thoughts From The Tailboard

The next season is happening right now. In South Dakota there are five seasons. Winter, summer, spring, fall and hunting season. The weather a couple of weeks ago was just beautiful, warm and sunny, nearly perfect for early fall. Today, as I finish this article, it is pretty cool, damp, and cloudy. Went from shorts and T-shirt to jeans and sweatshirt in one day. Oh well, we’ll adapt. 

The SD Firefighters Fall Conference wrapped up last weekend in Spearfish. If you were unable to attend you missed two particularly good classes and the annual Fallen Firefighters Memorial Service. Of course, there is always good discussion with fellow firefighters on how to solve everything. Sometimes the most valuable lessons are when sitting around a table, enjoying any beverage and just shooting the bull. 

Rodney Foster did a great class on staging fire apparatus for any incident on Saturday morning. We have all been there, that multi-mutual aid fire where sometimes you seem to have more resources than you know what to do with. Rodney from Stillwater, OK, had some great pointers on how to keep those resources ready, and what you as a staging officer can do. 

On Sunday morning Tom Merrill, who hails from New York state, presented The Professional Volunteer Fire Department. Tom explained that in his town of approximately 130,000 residents, there are ten volunteer fire departments. That would be like Mitchell, Aberdeen, or Pierre having 130,000 residents and ten fire departments serving that town. That can be hard for us to understand. Tom’s message was that we all need to look at how the public, the citizens we serve, look at our fire departments. Do they see “professionals” or a bunch of firefighters who say, “what do you expect, we’re just volunteers.” Tom’s book is a great read and has more thoughts and ideas than you can believe. 

In addition to two great classes, the SDFA Board continued planning for State Fire School in Watertown in June. Classes were outlined, instructors determined, and it looks like another great lineup. They also started working on the Fall Conference for 2026. Stay tuned it will be a busy year. 

In Spearfish, we also held the annual Memorial Service for those South Dakota Firefighters who have died in the line of duty. Fire Chaplain Rod had a great message for all of us. As I placed a rose for the name that was called and the bell rang, I thought about that firefighter. I tried to remember what happened? Sometimes I knew, sometimes I didn’t. How is the firefighter’s family? Sadly, I didn’t know. I wondered where are the department members whose name was called? Guess I couldn’t answer that one. But Tom Merrill said as long as you say their name out loud they are not forgotten. In that case, WE remember all of them. Rest easy my fellow firefighter. I will remember you. 

With that I will close for this month. Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and remember to thank those who are so important in your life.

Take care.

Denny Gorton