Formed in 1974, the Little Dixie Fire Protection District celebrated 43 years of service with the citizens of Audrain County in 2017.
Station 1 was constructed at its present location in 1978. Station 3 was constructed in 1993 on Highway T, Northwest of Centralia, and Station 4 was constructed in 2001 on Highway D, Southwest of Mexico.
Little Dixie Fire Protection District employs two career firefighters and forty volunteer firefighters. All firefighters are fully trained in fire suppression, rescue, hazardous materials, medical first responder, and fire prevention.
Little Dixie provides emergency services to 600 square miles of Audrain County, Missouri, averaging 400 request for services each year.
In 2017, approximately 2,700 man-hours of fire training were performed, keeping all firefighters current with tactics and technology. 50 man-hours were utilized for fire prevention and 1,500 man-hours were expended in response to calls for emergency help.
The most important thing to us is always adding new volunteer firefighters. In 2017 Austin Terrell, Chris Walters, Doug Burrow, Brian Baker, Nathan Yeager, Dustin Anderson, David Creed and Madeline Brooks began their careers with the Little Dixie Fire Protection District.
The Junior Fire Fighter program is lead by Fire Fighter Jared Jackson and assisted by Fire Fighters Tim Hodges and Matt Hagan. The Junior Fire Fighters were responsible for and coordinating the Christmas Holiday Parade downtown for many years. New Junior Fire Fighters added in 2017 were; Kalub Mason, Jordan Friday, Audri Deimeke, Jodi Jennings and Glennie Hardy.
Little Dixie Fire Protection District held its 41st Annual Awards Banquet on December 2, 2017 at the Audrain County 4-H Center.
The following firefighters received Years of Service Awards: 5 Years of Service, Casey Cuno; 10 Years of Service, Greg Stowers; 15 Years of Service, Captain John Gray; 25 Years of Service, Captain Rob Erdel was presented a Marble Plaque representing his 25 Years of Service.
Lieutenant Todd DeOrnellis was promoted to the rank of Captain overseeing the operations of Station 3. DeOrnellis joined the fire district in 1995.
The banquet was attended by 160 firefighters including their families, state dignitaries, current and past fire district board members and other special guests and friends of the fire district. The evening concluded with a presentation developed by Fire Fighter Scott Nichols of the past years activities.
The 1987 Rescue Squad was replaced in November with a 2018 Ferrara Heavy Duty Rescue Squad. Deputy Chief Steve Gentry, Lieutenant Josh Loyd and Fire Fighter Tim Hodges were the group that wrote the specifications and oversaw the construction of the new truck which was built in the State of Louisianan.
The fire district is always accepting applications for volunteers and if you have the desire to give back to your community, please come see us.
As always, anyone that has any questions concerning the Little Dixie Fire Protection District, are encouraged to call the fire district at 573-581-6235, or stop by the district headquarters at 415 Agricultural, Mexico, MO.
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