Department Information
The Platte Volunteer Fire Department is a 100% volunteer organization that was originally founded in 1903. We provide Structural and Wildland fire suppression, rescue, hazard mitigation and other services to the city of Platte (population 1,367 as of 2000 census) and surrounding area (approximate district wide population 2,700). Our protection area encompasses some 400+ square miles of rural geography ranging from flat prairie and agricultural land to rugged terrain along the Missouri River. Our first due protection area is roughly the Northern third of Charles Mix County, the Torey Lake township in Brule County and the Eastern most portion of Douglas County. The entire Western border of our protection area is comprised of the Missouri River / Lake Francis Case. We provide mutual aid response to our neighboring communities and departments upon request. Adjacent counties are - BonHomme, Brule, Aurora, Douglas, and Gregory. We also have a fire suppression agreement with the State of South Dakota Division of Wildland Fire Suppression and provide the State with apparatus and crew upon request for incidents at any location. A full roster of personnel for our department is 34 active firefighters. The roster is not always at 100% capacity, but effort is made to keep it close to capacity. Of these 34 firefighters there are five officers elected; Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, Captain #1, Captain #2, and the combined position of Secretary/Treasurer. The elected officers run the day to day operations and see that the department is running smoothly. There are also special committees appointed for fund raisers, apparatus replacement projects, open houses, training, events, etc... We are funded primarily by the Platte Rural Fire Protection District, a taxing authority that obtains it's funds through property taxes. In addition to the tax revenue from the PRFPD we also receive income from charitable contributions, insurance tax rebate, incident billing, and grant funding when available.
ISO Class 6: The department currently has an ISO PPC (Public Protection Classification) of 6 for property falling within five road miles of the station and within 1,000ft. of a municipal fire hydrant (roughly city limits). [click here for a summary of South Dakota ISO ratings] We are constantly striving to better the service level provided and thus lower the PPC rating, this results in better fire protection for the citizens as well as decreased property insurance premiums. Some recent improvements include the completion of the City water main replacement project in 2005, the replacement of our first due structural engine, the replacement of our first due tanker, the purchase of needed equipment, enhanced training programs and improved maintenance. This continued effort towards improvement has resulted in the recent reclassification of our ISO PPC rating. ISO conducted an on-site Fire Suppression Rating Survey in June of 2006, the existing rating was a 7 and we have been notified that we have been upgraded to a class 6 community. This improvement represents a significant amount of work by department members as well as significant improvements in apparatus, equipment and city water supply. We hope to continue toward improvement and have a future goal of improving to a rating to a 5. We also have a future goal of improving our rural water supply operations, which is the limiting factor that keeps us from extending the current rating to the rural area surrounding the city of Platte. Water supply is our most difficult obstacle to overcome in regard to rural fire protection, there is no water system able to provide the types of flows needed for fire protection. All water used at an incident must be hauled by tanker apparatus and our distance from other communities limits the effectiveness of mutual aid water supply from neighboring departments.
We as a department take our mission very seriously. It is our firm belief that the individual(s) that dialed 911 and requested our assistance fully expect us to arrive with the equipment, training, and experience to handle an incident promptly, safely, and professionally. We take this public expectation very seriously! New recruit firefighters are required to take the South Dakota Fire Fighter certification course and NWCG Wildland Firefighter certification. Continuing education is regularly offered and members are encouraged to participate. We regularly conduct in-house departmental training, attend district fire schools, South Dakota State Fire School, and other training when available.
As with most fire departments our role as a department has changed significantly in past years. In addition to historic fire fighting duties we also provide Rescue, Extrication, Haz-Mat response, Search, Disaster Assistance, EMS support and the list goes on. It takes a significant commitment from our members to stay trained and proficient with all we are asked to do. We also provide fire safety education and materials for local schools, and stay involved with community events.
Our volunteer staff is quite exceptional! We as a department are very lucky in that our members are very diversified and each brings their own specialty skill and knowledge to the team. As with many rural, and small community volunteer departments, funding is very tight. Providing adequate and appropriate service requires us to possess much the same equipment and apparatus as larger departments in larger communities, however we have a much less dense population from which to acquire funding. We have built several pieces of our apparatus arsenal using volunteer labor donated by members of the Department. This was done to help defray the costs associated with buying manufactured apparatus, we quite simply wouldn't have the equipment we do if members weren't willing to donate countless hours and lend there individual talents. We also make every attempt to use government surplus equipment when available and appropriate. Our department has acquired 3 pieces of fire apparatus including a CAFS (Compressed Air Foam System) through the FEPP (Federal Excess Personal Property Program) and the State of South Dakota Rural Fire Assistance Program. We have also acquired a diesel generator to provide emergency power to the fire station through the FEPP program. In some cases the cost of this equipment was $0.00, in others the equipment was obtained at a small fraction of the cost of similar used equipment. The department also makes every effort to pursue applicable grant funding whether it be provided by government agencies or through businesses and philanthropic organizations. The end result is that the citizens in the protection area are provided with a significantly higher level of service than would be available if the department didn't pursue these programs and members were not willing to donate their time to build and maintain apparatus and associated equipment.
If you're ever planning a visit to Platte and would like a tour of the station or would like to visit with a member of the department please drop us an email plattevfd@plattevfd.com.
Radio Communications - The Platte Volunteer Fire Department uses the State of South Dakota VHF Wide Area Smart-Zone Trunking System for its primary method of communication with dispatch as well as communications between apparatus and from the fire station. All apparatus are equipped with APCO P25 compliant mobile radios. On scene tactical traffic is conducted using conventional VHF analog simplex frequencies, all members of the Department are issued VHF analog portable radios for on-scene tactical communications. The Department currently has 8 APCO P25 compliant portable radios compatible with the state Trunking system. These portables are available for use during large scale incidents in our area or mutual aid assignments out of area and greatly enhance our level of communications interoperability. Using the State Wide Area Trunked System we are immediately able to communicate with Federal, State, County and Local agencies anywhere in the state. APCO P25 radios are programmed with the entire state talkgroup plan including all interagency regions and special operations talk groups, additionally these radios are also programmed with all state fire mutual aid conventional frequencies. All VHF analog portable radios are programmed with all state fire mutual aid conventional analog frequencies.