Grandview honors Fire Department’s 100-year history

What began Tuesday nights’ Board of Aldermen (BOA) meeting as a mayoral proclamation celebrating 100 years of the Grandview Fire Department quickly turned into a real-life, incoming call that saw most of the nine firefighters present scatter into the night before Mayor Leonard Jones could conclude his remarks. 

There was no indication that it was all any kind of a ruse, or part of some real-time training exercise. 

Photos and handshakes were quickly exchanged before the fire truck headed out.

In 1924, Grandview began a volunteer fire department that consisted of one “Boyer Chemical Engine” and a volunteer fire chief, H.W. Makin. The original fire station was located at 901 Main St. (parts of the original building are still intact). 

Today, the City has three fire stations, one Pierce Engine, a 101-ft aerial truck, and two advanced life support ambulances, 42 firefighters, and five administrative staff.  

Mayor Jones added that the department made a purchase in 1938 for a “international combination fire apparatus” for just $450. Grandview Fire Chief Rodney Baldwin estimated that a “ladder truck” today would set the City back about $1.6 million.

In 1966 the fire department was still in all volunteer force, when it finally began budgeting for eight firefighters (while still retaining 26 active volunteers). The mayor spoke glowingly of the sales tax passed in 2018 (on the first vote, he added) which allowed for the city to hire six new firefighters/paramedics for the department. 

“Getting that passed on the first vote was a real feather in our cap,” Mayor Jones said.

In 2022, voters also approved a $2.6M bond question for a new ladder truck, along with expansions of Fire Stations No. 2 and No. 3 (which are now complete). The new ladder truck is set to arrive in 2025. 

A safe haven at the fire station?

With the Fire Department’s 100-year history being celebrated to begin the meeting and the Mayor discussing how it has evolved over the last century, another matter was introduced during public comments, that would once again change it’s role in the community. 

Deb Ryser introduced a proposal during public comments for the implementation of a “Safe Haven Baby Box” at one of the City’s fire stations. 

Ryser called the device a “safe and legal way” for birth parents to turn over their children, and proposed establishing it at an area fire station (the first of its kind in the Kansas City area). The mayor and other members of the board asked why a fire station would be best suited, rather than a hospital setup for 24-hour emergency patients. Ryser said anonymity was a crucial component of Safe Haven. 

“This is about keeping babies out of dumpsters,” Ryser said. “Hospitals are not as anonymous, and fire stations allow the baby to be ‘deposited’ at any time of day.” 

The company’s motto is:  “No Shame. No Blame. No Names.” 

There are more than 250 active Safe Haven Baby Boxes in 14 states. 51 babies have been surrendered in Baby Boxes since the first one opened in Indiana in 2016. The closest Baby Boxes to are found in Mehlville, MO (St. Louis) and Rogers, Arkansas. Two infant abandonment cases happened in Missouri this year: a newborn that was abandoned and died in a park in Maryville, and an infant saved after being abandoned south of Jefferson City. 

Ryser says the device sets off a series of three alarms and contacts a dispatch number once a baby is placed. The case is climate controlled, and the baby can be retrieved from it within 90 seconds. The device costs $15,000, with an additional $5-7,000 in construction costs (along with about $500 annually in maintenance fees). 

“This thing is saving babies from being thrown in the dumpster,” Ryser said. “This is something that happens, but doesn’t make it on the news, a lot.” 

The Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) patrol division stations and Headquarters have a nearly identical program in place called “Safe Havens for Newborns.” The program’s intention is to protect newborn children from injury or death caused by abandonment. In Missouri, infants 45 days old, or younger, can be handed over to an employee at a police station, hospital, fire station, maternity home or pregnancy resource center. If the baby has not been neglected or abused, parents will face no prosecution.