Mark Schlachtenhaufen

EDMOND — When it was opened for business in 2005, Edmond firefighters scheduled to work at Station No. 5 were excited to be at a new building and to be near the regional training facility.

Instead, they find themselves extremely busy, said Fire Capt. Doug Benne.

Station No. 5 is similar to Station No. 4 in that it covers a lot of open land to the east of Interstate 35, including rural houses at which there are no fire hydrants, which is why it has a tanker, Benne said. It also has a brush pumper due to the volume of grass fires, he said.

Its crews also respond to calls along I-35 and State Highway 66.

“We probably have the busiest work schedule of any of the stations due to the size of this place and the complexity with all the extra equipment here,” Benne said. “All that stuff has to be checked every day, cleaned and maintained and all that.”

Due to its proximity to the training facility, Station No. 5 personnel have been able to contribute input into its development, Benne said.

Because of all that space, a command trailer and a mass decontamination trailer, a rehabilitation trailer and an auxiliary rescue unit are housed there. The ARU is a multi-faceted vehicle that contains air compressors, a large generator and hydraulic gear, Benne said.

“A couple of years ago when they went down to the hurricane stuff, they took that trailer and actually powered the command center with it,” he said.

Station No. 5 also houses the Oklahoma Homeland Security Office Region 8 hazmat trailer, and half of its firefighters are trained hazmat technicians, Benne said. Station crews respond to any hazmat calls in Edmond.

Best of the best

Edmond’s hiring process is one of the toughest in the state, and the department has usually had several hundred candidates for a handful of positions, Benne said. The Fire Department lands the best of the best, he said.

Driver Luke Martin was hired by the department in 2000, his first full-time firefighting job. He had been a volunteer firefighter for Mulhall. Firefighting is in his blood. His father was a firefighter for Guthrie, and one of his brothers also volunteered at Mulhall.

Martin said he was “pretty excited” when he was hired by Edmond; it was a dream come true. The job they are hired to do is to help people, whether an individual is a firefighter, a driver or a captain, Martin said. He’s also a trained paramedic.

“We’re here just to serve the public,” Martin said. “That’s the mentaility, I believe, of everybody here. Whether I’m a driver or a firefighter I feel like I’m doing the same thing no matter what.”

Martin said Edmond residents always are thanking him for what he does, but he wants to thank them for supplying the department with the best equipment.

“If it wasn’t for the citizens, we wouldn’t have what we have,” he said.

Martin said the most challenging part of his job is the individuals he can’t help as a paramedic, especially when it’s a child. On the positive side, people who have been saved will come by the station and talk to firefighters, he said.

Firefighter Billy Meeks has been with the department for 23 years. It was his first job in the field and he said he came by it accidentally. During the 1980s, Meeks was working in the oil industry and had been laid off several times. He was in his early 30s, and had a wife, two kids and a mortgage.

“I started looking for something that was gonna be here,” Meeks said. “I figured the Fire Department would be stable.”

Getting to help people is a standard answer for what firefighters like most about the job, but it’s true, Meeks said.

“It takes a different kind of person to do this,” he said. “Most people are running out of fires, we’re running in. Most people running away from somebody hurt, we’re running to them.”

Given his longevity with the department, and the time he has spent with younger firefighters, Meeks said he feels as if he has “raised” some of them. He said he also enjoys being around the youth, which include Boy Scouts, who tour the stations.

When he was hired by the EFD in 1986, Benne was the first firefighter in his immediate family. One of his cousins was a local battalion chief. His son, Jesse, is a new recruit.

Benne said he wasn’t one of those who grew up wanting to be a firefighter, but his work experiences, especially with construction, have helped him. Benne’s previous job was working at a TG&Y warehouse, and he also worked in the oil industry.

Career longevity and job security are positive aspects of what he does, Benne said. So is getting to help others.

“You meet people on the worst days of their lives and you’re the answer to their problems that they’re looking for,” Benne said. “To see the look on their face when you take care of their problem is a blessing.”

Public support in Edmond has been great for local firefighters, given the Fire Department the tools it needs, and allowed him to raise a family, Benne said.

marks@edmondsun.com | 341-2121, ext. 108