We began fire service to the community with the purchase of our first fire truck. Since these humble beginnings years ago, we have grown and now have two fire stations, with the latest addition at Woods Station completed in 2012. This addition was totally paid for with Community Development Block Grant funds. In 1998, faced with the loss of a private company providing life squad coverage for our community, a decision was made for the fire department to expand the scope of responsibility to include EMS services at the Township level. In 2004 some of our volunteers who are farmers saw the need for a large animal rescue unit. Fund raisers were held and the Butler Rural Electric Cooperative provided several grants to purchase specialized equipment for animal rescue. Three of our firefighters attended a three day class at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky to learn the basics of animal rescue. We have the only large animal rescue unit in Butler County and provide mutual aid to the entire County. We have rescued horses who climbed the stairs to the hay loft, cattle who broke through the ice and became stuck in a pond, farm animals from manure pits and mud and a 3000 pound bull that slipped on the ice and was unable to get up all the way to a horse being rescued from a well. Reily Township contains 36 square miles and is the most rural and agricultural Township in Butler County. We are very proud of our up to date equipment. We have 2 front line pumpers that each carries 1000 gallons of water, 2 – 2100 gallon tankers, 2 – 4 wheel drive brush trucks, 3 life squads, a large animal unit with 1000 gallons of water and a rescue truck equipped with a V plow to clear long driveways from drifting snow in front of the squad. ( Quite possibly the only one in the state.) This equipment is divided between 2 fire stations. One is located in the center of the Township in the village of Reily. The other is in the north east part of the Township, Woods Station, which is a more densely populated area. We are a 100% volunteer department of 33 members, ten are cross trained and eight are EMTs only. Additional training has been stressed from the beginning of our department. We are an EMS CEU approved training site, number 2045. We can offer in-house CEU training to our own EMTs as well as those from neighboring departments. We hosted a two day farm extrication training in cooperation with The Ohio State University. One afternoon was spent on the farm viewing different equipment and grain handling facilities. We offer CPR certified training for health care providers as well as Friends and Family CPR for community members. Our department participates in Fire Prevention Week. We bring our motorized robot to the schools and present a fire safety program. We participate in homecoming and 4th of July parades. At our local Founders Day in June we will participate in the parade and present an extrication demonstration. We have been very successful in obtaining local, state and federal grants to alleviate the financial burden to our tax-payers. Mutual Aid to neighboring communities account for 20% of our runs because of our ability to move water in areas without fire flow water system. We can respond with over 7200 gallons of water. Because we do not require all members to be cross trained, our squad and EMTs are often called to provide mutual aid firefighter rehab. During a recent large fraternity house fire at Miami University, Reily EMS provided rehab to the 11 departments on the scene. We have a cool down area and chairs to help the firefighters recover from their exertion. We monitored vital signs and provided over 100 bottles of water and electrolytes to the firefighters.
