Marshfield Fire and Rescue Department assisted local volunteer fire departments in battling an early Monday morning fire on Mann Road in the Township of McMillan.
“At 0038 hours, just after midnight, we were dispatched,” said Jeff Barth, Relief Lieutenant/EMT. “Volunteers were helping with an interior attack. The fire got up into the attic, so we set up our ladder truck and proceeded to help them with our ladder truck to extinguish the fire.”
Firefighters Barth, Lt. Brian Barnes, and firefighter/paramedic Matt Wolf were on-scene until 7:00am with Marshfield’s new engine to help battle the fire. The house and the garage were a complete loss, but no one was hurt in the fire. Two adults staying in the home were able to evacuate before the fire spread.
“It was a standard structure fire,” said Barth. “The fire had a pretty good head start on everybody before we got there.”
Local townships work together often when there is a rural fire, utilizing different dispatch options to call for help. McMillan, Spencer, Hewitt, Stratford, Lincoln, Vesper, and Cameron.
Many current members of Marshfield Fire and Rescue started their careers as a volunteer firefighter somewhere, so when working together on a scene, there is a special bond between the crews.
“It doesn’t matter if you are a volunteer or you are a full-time paid professional firefighter, you are still a firefighter. Just because you get paid to do this for a living doesn’t mean you are better. It’s the same job,” said Barth. “We’re getting paid to do it and some other people aren’t. These guys put in tons of hours to train, just like we do. We have the manpower and the apparatus to help them.
Bottom line, everybody is there to do the task at hand. It’s a good group of people. There is a job that has to get done and everybody works together to complete the task. I praise them as much as I can praise them. They are all great people.”
Along with manpower, departments also share knowledge and camaraderie.
“Unfortunately the house was a total loss, but we were glad to be able to help how we could,” said Barth.
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