Our Department went into service on Wednesday evening at 6:00 p.m. The fairgrounds were busy with all the final touches being completed for opening day. This year, we had 115 applicants for duty from 74 departments and agencies that are current members of the FFAM. Opening day ceremonies kicked off the day at 11:00 am with Governor Kehoe and State Fair Director Jason Moore giving remarks to the crowd. I had the privilege of giving former Missouri State Fair Commissioner Lowell Mohler a tour of the fairgrounds and opening ceremonies. He was very involved in getting the commission to make the fair self-supporting and improve facilities. He has been a great supporter of our department for years and it is nice to be able to catch up with him to visit.
Saturday, August 9th, brought a big crowd to the fair, and with the high temperatures and humidity, we became super busy with calls around 3:00 pm. We responded to 45 calls for service that day, and several were multiple patients who needed assistance in cooling off and getting fluids into their system. I think that was a record for our department for calls that anyone could remember. The Mid Missouri Pipe Band comes to the station to play a few tunes for us around dinner time. It is always amazing to hear the bagpipes and drums play and they cap off their performance with us and join us for dinner. Their members are from Jefferson City, Columbia, Fulton, Sedalia and Bevier, Missouri. They play each year for the Military flag retreat ceremony in front of the historic Administration Building. That is a very moving ceremony to recognize a veteran each evening.
The National Fire Sprinkler Association sent two of its coordinators to speak during our annual fire sprinkler trailer burn demonstration in front of the grandstands. We had a good crowd show up to listen and learn about sprinkler safety in the home and see the benefits of sprinklers in the home with the live fire demonstration of a room and contents with sprinklers and one non-sprinklers. They said a home burns 80 times faster than just 40 years ago with the synthetics and plastics in furniture.
Sunday and Monday brought rain showers that cancelled fan favorite tractor pulls both days. The relief from the heat was welcomed, but we missed the pulls. We did standbys for the concerts each evening and assisted with electrical safety training demonstrations with the MEC group at their building on Friday.
Saturday brought a big crowd for the final concert with Jon Pardi. The heat and high humidity brought more calls for service that afternoon, for 50+ calls for service to set another record for us. Sunday began our last day in our station, as the State of Missouri is building a new firehouse for next year. We started the process of tear down and packing all our equipment, cleaning out the station, and returning our borrowed equipment back to the departments it came from. It will be our 65th year of service to the fair as its Fire Department, the 25th anniversary of 9/11, and the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. There will be a lot to celebrate at the 2026 Missouri State Fair, August 13th to the 23rd. We want to invite all who have served to plan to attend and check out the new firehouse and make new memories.
FFAM
