De Smet Rescue

09/14/2026

This past Saturday morning, a large number of volunteers participated in a county wide disaster drill. This scenario featured a crash between a school bus and a truck/tanker carrying anhydrous ammonia. Participants included several members of De Smet Rescue, DeSmet Volunteer Fire Department, Lake Preston Vol. Fire Department, Lake Preston Ambulance, Arlington Volunteer Fire Department, Arlington Ambulance, Oldham Fire Department, Avera De Smet Memorial Hospital, De Smet School District, and the Kingsbury County Sheriff's Office. Critique and evaluation of the training was conducted by members of the South Dakota Fire Marshal office, the SD Dep't of Agriculture, SD Emergency Management Office and the SD Incident Management Assistance Team. The drill also included nearly 20 students and staff members from the De Smet School District who portrayed victims. Several Volunteers from the community portrayed frantic family members.

These drills are another shining example of the people who make up the services that protect our county's communities 24/7. In this day and age, everyone's lives are so busy, but this group voluntarily gave up their Saturday morning to help better our response system. During evaluation, our teams were commended on skills, performance and ex*****on of managing a mass casualty incident. The evaluators also praised these volunteers for the large attendance we had from agencies across the county. Thank you to everyone who participated in making today a great success!

09/11/2026

09/11/2026

Never forget. 9/11. Thank you to all first responders as we remember the past 25 years.

09/04/2026

Please sign up soon so materials can be ordered. It's so important to have this knowledge and the instructors are GREAT!

08/03/2026

**UPDATE* Due to tremendous support, we are pausing donations of water/Gatorade until we can inventory what we have received and evaluate storage. If you would still like to help, a monetary donation to our PO box below will be used for food, first aid supplies, electrolyte packets and more. Thank you so much!!**

As the sun set on a long day, we were reminded how fortunate we are to serve such a supportive community. Yesterday's incident required a large response from our firefighters and ambulance crew, and it depleted our normal supply of bottled water and Gatorade.
If you'd like to support our first responders, we're accepting donations of bottled water and Gatorade (preferably 12ounce), to help restock our stash and keep our crews hydrated during future calls. Please comment or send us a message for drop-off information. We do need supplies we can’t keep on hand such as food, so if you’d like to send a monetary donation to use towards future supplies, please mail to De Smet Rescue at PO Box 94 De Smet SD 57231, with “fire support” in the memo. Thank you for helping us support those who are always there when our community needs them.

In the future if you’d like to make a donation during an incident, please don’t show up on scene. Please make contact with an ambulance crew member via phone or someone at the firehall.

07/07/2026

07/02/2026

Tornado sirens going off in De Smet due to incoming storm with high winds. Please seek shelter. Storm shelter available at the Sheriff’s Office east door.