Southeast Fire & Rescue Department

was the Southeast Rural Fire District. At the same time, a number of folk in areas south and west of Lincoln united to form the Southwest Rural Fire District. With help from the Lincoln Fire Department chief mechanic, the first truck for each of the new rural fire departments was designed and purchased. The specification called for a 1962 International chassis with a Luverne Fire Apparatus body equipped with a 1000 gallon tank, a 150 gpm PTO pump, and a 200 gpm portable pump powered by a two cylinder, 18 horsepower motor. At the back of the tank was a “coat closet” with room for 6 long coats, 6 pairs of boots, 6 helmets and 6 pairs of orange “Fireball” gloves. The clothing was in various sizes, and did not fit any one firefighter well. The initial price for each truck was approximately $6,000 dollars, and because the SE truck was delivered before financing arrangements were complete, the Secretary / Treasurer of the new rural board, Mr. Ga***rd Blank, paid for the new truck out of his own pocket. As a side note, the annual budget for the first year had been set at $4000 dollars so it took several years to pay off that loan. The Lincoln Fire Department graciously allowed the new SE Rural Truck to be housed in Fire Station #7, at 50th and A Street, as there wasn’t a heated facility available anywhere in the new fire district. In addition, a Lincoln fire fighter was assigned to drive the truck to the rural fires when they occurred. Upon arrival at the scene, the LFD driver would then drive the vehicle of one of the responding rural firefighters back to the station.......anyhow that was the plan. Often, only one or two rural fire fighters would show up and they needed all the help they could get, so the LFD driver would stay to help. This first truck, designated as SE 2, served the district until about 1975, in spite of some inherent deficiencies, those being a too light front axle, no power steering, and an unreinforced frame. Bumping and bouncing on country roads caused the frame to bend and finally, with the top front edge of the water tank rubbing on the back of the cab, the frame was jacked up and the frame reinforced by a local blacksmith. Between 1962 and 1968, several Excess Federal Property vehicles were acquired and used as tankers to supplement SE 2. They consisted of a 5 Ton truck tractor towing a 5000 gallon trailer, and a 2 ½ Ton GMC 6x6 with a 1000 gallon tank. These vehicles were parked in Fire Chief Woody Walters’s yard, just south of 56th and Hwy 2 with water in them only during the warm months.

1968 was a busy year for the district. Fire Chief Woody Walters insisted that all members of the fire department attend a monthly meeting and a monthly drill...usually on a Sunday evening. The rural board, consisting of Ga***rd Blank, Herb Walt, Warren Cuddy, Bob Colin Sr., and Mrs. Harold Claytor decided that a building was needed to house their assets and in December 1968, ground was broken for the new station at 7700 Pine Lake Road. In January 1970, the department moved into their new quarters. There was room for everything and then some. What a thrill, no more filling a tanker before the initial response to the scene. Also happening in 1968, was a petition drive initiated by several patrons of both districts, to merge the Bennet Rural Fire District and the Southeast Rural Fire District. The issue turned out to be contentious to say the least and was finally settled in 1972 by the Nebraska Supreme Court, with each district retaining their separate identities. One outcome of the 1968 petition drive was the addition of several new members to the SE fire department roster, those being Eric Rasmussen, Joe Booth, and Darrell Best. Two years later, in 1970, both Eric and Joe were elected to the Rural Board from their respective townships. The evening of December 23rd, 1969 found us fighting a major fire that kept us up all night at a barn fire that housed a cabinet shop........easily the biggest event of the year.....actually several years. The social life of the area got a real boost in January 1970 as a group of firefighters and their friends began taking square dance lessons in the new station on Saturday night. The Cross Trailers square dance club evolved from this group and kept the station a lively place for the next year and a half. Some of the firefighters and their spouses involved in this activity were Woody Walters, Eric Rasmussen, Joe Booth, Jerry McGee, Lee Whitcomb, Marvin Churchill, Leroy Irons, Bill Parker and Alva Paul with Alva being the square dance caller. Other social activities, such as hog roasts, winter parties, and 4th of July events were held at “Burge’s Cabin” which was located at 105th and Old Cheney.(Shorty Burge was a charter member of the Dept)

With a new station, it was time for the board to think about buying a “real” pumper truck and Woody had seen just the ticket at the annual meeting of the Missouri Valley Fire Chiefs. Built by General Fire and Safety in Minnesota, the pumper featured a 54 foot articulated “Squrt” boom........a “Snorkel” without a basket. Board members decided against buying the demonstrator and instead, purchased a new diesel powered chassis with a General body featuring a heated crew cab, a 1,000 gpm pump, 600 gallon tank and equipped with the “Squrt” boom. This unit known as SE 30 was delivered in October of 1972 on the day of the department’s first fatality fire. Also in late 1972, Woody moved on to work for General Fire and Safety in Minnesota, and Eric became Fire Chief, Darrell Best was elected to the rural board and Ron Olson and Steve Schneider joined the department with Steve becoming the resident of the fire station apartment. Between 1972 and 1975, several memorable fire events occurred. All were mutual aid calls, one to Bennet, one to Hickman and one to Murray. The Bennet call occurred one foggy night in early 1973 on 112th street. Asst Chief Joe Booth arrived before any other officer so it was his first time as an Incident commander. We saved the house, but lost the roof and an axe......through the roof. Darrel Best remembers that night very well as he took a wrong turn in the fog and ended up on a mud road with SE 49....at least he was stuck only a half mile away from the fire. The Hickman call came on a Friday night that was bitterly cold. SE 2 responded from LFR Station 7, but, because LFR’s policy was to keep only water in the radiator.(short travel times in town and the motor always running)....not antifreeze, the radiator was frozen when it arrived after ten mile drive. No damage, but a close call. The Murray call came on a Sunday evening in September, 1972 when a train derailed and several railcars caught on fire. A mutual aid call put out for SE 49 for water supply. The 6x6 truck tractor-trailer was driven to Murray by Joe Booth with several other SE fire fighters responding in their private vehicles. SE was released from the scene around midnight and thanks to the local fuel truck driver in Murray, it made it back to the station. The truck was very thirsty as it used over 140 gallons of gasoline for the 110 mile round trip. In 1975, the original tanker, SE 2, was sold, and in its place a combination utility truck / tanker, known as SE 60 was added to the fleet. Also added in this time period was a 5Ton 6x6 tanker (SE 40), a M38A1 Jeep w**d truck (SE 20), and a used commercial Mack truck tractor for the 5000 gallon trailer (SE 49) which was now sporting a used 1942 vintage pump rated at 500 gpm . Personnel changed again in 1975, with Joe Booth becoming Fire Chief, Eric Rasmussen becoming Training Officer and the addition of our first female firefighter, Donna Behlen who joined at the same time as her husband Kent. In addition, Carl “Bud” Irons and Ron Olson were elected to the rural board to replace Herb Walt and Eric Rasmussen. Other new members were Tracy Petit and Greg Pickerel who were destined to become the station residents in a couple of more years. And in this time period, the members began to meet on a weekly basis. The original fire station mortgage was burned in 1974 and an addition on the east side of the building was initiated which contained a hose tower, shop and the upstairs meeting room. A new Ford F250 4x4 replaced the jeep in 1978 and the spring of 1980 found us learning to drive a brand new Mack truck tractor.......Wow! What an improvement! Also, about this time, Tracy Pettit and Greg Pickerel became the fire station residents. As the “Eighties” progressed, we were busy as fire calls increased (from 10 or 12 a year to 50 or more) and we became involved as “First Responders” for EMS calls. Gary Schneider became Fire Chief in 1986 when Joe Booth stepped down, and training for Fire Fighter 1 certification was initiated in 1988 with a large percentage of the members passing the testing challenges. Also in this time period, the fire department members began shooting the 4th of July fireworks at the Pine Lake dam. Donations were collected and some very spectacular shows were produced until the area became part of the City of Lincoln. Following 2 years of specification writing and at least one re-bidding event, a new pumper arrived in August of 1989. Designated as SE 33, it was built in Nebraska by Smeal Fire Equipment and was equipped with a 1250 gpm pump, a 750 gallon tank, a 4000 watt generator, and 5 inch large diameter hose. Two years later SE 30 was taken to Minnesota for a refurbish of the plumbing and the “Squrt” boom. Also included was an upgrade which added a fold down ladder rack. The Pine Lake Station facility which we thought was huge when it was built was getting very cramped and new housing was growing in the northeast part of the district. It was time for an additional fire station to serve this area. In 1994, after much discussion, a site at 84th and Holdredge was selected and a building built. Housed in this station were SE 30, SE 43 (a 6x6 tanker), and SE 25 (a 4x4 w**d truck). Added to the fleet in 1997 were two Suburbans used primarily for first responder calls and to transport personnel. One was located in each station. Further additions were two 1999 Ford F350 4x4 pickups with grass fire units mounted on them, again assigned one to each station. A 2000 FL60 Freightliner chassis was purchased to replace the 1975 Ford. The new truck was equipped with a 25 KW generator, a 4 bottle cascade for filling SCBA bottles, a power unit for the “Jaws” tool, twin hose reels of the same and a lot of much needed space to carry miscellaneous equipment and tools. The year 1991 saw the Southeast Fire Department selling “pickle cards” and operating a fund raising effort known as Southeast Bingo with the intent of providing a “length of service” award to individual firefighters. When the initial “retirement “ funding process was thwarted by then State Auditor John Breslow, legislative efforts were made to change Nebraska statutes to allow fire districts to provide this sort of recruitment and retention funding. Southeast personnel were active and successful in accomplishing these changes. With a declining attendance at Bingo, the department decided to cease gaming operations in 2008. The Southeast Fire Department Foundation was formed at that time to administer the fund that had accumulated. During the first decade of the new millennium, the pagers summoned us to many types of calls, but two fire calls really stand out as “large events”. The first was in 2004 at 2 PM, on a sunny Saturday afternoon. The address in Country acres was that of Dr. Mahapatra and the fire was in the wall behind the fireplace. Lots of mutual aid help was summoned because of the size of the residence. Bennet, Hickman, Southwest Rural and an aerial from Lincoln FD responded in addition to everything Southeast owned.........and we were successful in confining the fire! Damage was estimated at about $800,000.....not bad for a structure valued at $1.4 million. The second call occurred on a Monday in late December of 2007 at approximately 1:00 pm. The address was Campbell’s Nursery building at 134th and “O” St. The smoke was visible for miles and the fire destroyed their new potting and storage building which housed several vehicles and some offices. The building was fully engulfed upon the arrival of SE fire apparatus and despite mutual aid from Eagle-Alvo, and Waverly, the building was a total loss. Melting snow and muddy roads contributed to the difficulty of access to the area, but the good news was that the adjacent greenhouse suffered minimal damage. The main building was destroyed with an estimated loss of over a $1,000,000. SE fire units were called back to extinguish hot spots several times during the next 24 hours and were on scene during the fire cause investigation the following day. The cause was found to be accidental. SE fire personnel have been active in both the Nebraska State Volunteer Fire Fighters Association and the Nebraska Fire Chiefs Association. Southeast FD has been represented at every NSVFA and NFCA annual meeting since 1970. Joe Booth, Ron Olson, Jerry King and Eric Rasmussen each served a term as president of the Fire Chiefs association with Eric and Joe also serving terms as board members. Jerry King served a number of years on the NSVFA scholarship committee and Eric has served as Chair of the NFCA scholarship committee for nearly 20 years. Also, one or more members of the department have been present as students, at every State Fire School held annually in Grand Island, since 1967. Upgrading of the apparatus fleet began in earnest in 2007, as a new 1500 gallon tanker/ mini pumper; SE 41 was bid and acquired. In early 2008, a new diesel powered 750 gpm pump was purchased to replace the aging, smaller pump on SE 49. Also, a new Mack truck tractor for SE 49 was purchased to replace the 1987 Mack. In the spring of 2008, a new 3000 gallon tanker, SE 47, was purchased. The same year bids were let for 2 new rescue squads, SE 11 and SE12, which finally were delivered in June 2009, and placed in service the next month. The up grading of the pumpers also began in 2008, as specifications were written and the bids let for two new custom chassis 1500 gpm pumpers to be built by Smeal Fire Apparatus. The new engines were both taken to the 2010 Nebraska Fire School for display and delivered and put into service in late May 2010. In the fall of 2011 a new training facility was built as an add on to the existing station at Holdredge. The new facility allowed the members to meet in a state of the art facility to conduct training and hold meetings. This new addition greatly improved the weekly functions of the department. In March 2012 Southeast Fire entered another new era and began providing Advanced Life Support services with paramedics on the department. This transition made the Southeast Fire Department only the second volunteer fire department in the county to provide these services. In September 2012 Southeast Fire was involved in one of the largest grass fires in the county’s, history. The fire resulted in a county wide all call for grass rigs, tankers and manpower. The fire burned several hundred acres and required 58 fire apparatus and over 140 firefighters. This was the first county wide all call since the 2004 Hallam tornado incident. The Southeast Rural Fire District has come a long way since its inception in 1962. The current area encompassed is less than one half the original area, however the population served is more than double what it was at the beginning. Much of the area appears to be more suburban than rural...... however,.....fire department personnel are still volunteers, Walton is still unincorporated, the gravel roads still exist...... and so do many of the farmsteads.