YANKTON, S.D. (KELO) — Firefighting is in Mark Nickles’ blood.
Some of his family members served on the Yankton Fire Department.
But that’s not the only reason the fire prevention officer has been volunteering for nearly two decades.
“A big part of it was basically I like serving the community,” Mark Nickles said.
The Yankton Fire Department has nearly 40 volunteers and two career staff members.
“We do primarily structure fires and grass fires and vehicle extrications,” Deputy Fire Chief Daniel Prendable said.
As the department provides an important service to the Yankton area, it’s marking a big milestone: 150 years.
“It’s an honor. I think there’s a lot of pride there, both for our department and the community as a whole, especially to still keep a volunteer fire department, that’s an honor and source of pride for our community,” Prendable said.
“You read back in the history of Yankton, they had some pretty significant fires in the early years, big fires, so Yankton felt that they had to do something,” Retired Deputy Fire Chief Larry Nickles said.
Larry Nickles, Mark’s father, says the group started as a bucket brigade in 1874.
“It was find a water source and form a line of men, just like in the cowboy movies when the hotel is on fire, and they hand off buckets or whatever. That was essentially was a bucket brigade was,” Larry Nickles said.
From photos, to fire extinguishers, you get get a closer look at the history of the department at its museum.
The museum shows how much the equipment has changed, including a 1937 fire truck.
“This truck pumps 750 gallons a minute. Now our newest truck pumps 2,000 gallons a minute,” Larry Nickles said.
Larry says the hose cart, once pulled by firefighters, would’ve been used around the turn of the century.
“It carried the hose to the call and tied into the hydrant and they put a nozzle on it and there you go,” Larry Nickles said.
On one wall, you can see the evolution of personal protective equipment.
“As you can see, as time went on, the coats got fancier, the buckles changed, they got reflective striping on them. The silver coat, that was more of what they call an entry suit, and it was mostly used in aircraft type stuff,” Larry Nickles said.
The museum shares a parking lot with Station 2, offering a look at both the past and present.
“It’s like anything else. You want to be able to look back at how things were. That was then,” Larry Nickles said.
While the equipment has changed drastically over 150 years, the spirit of community service has remained a constant.
“I know that the chief and I talk often about we are going to build on our people. It’s about the relationships with the people. The fire trucks are cool, the hoses, the tools are cool, but the people are the best resource of our department, and the people are what matter most to the community,” Prendable said.
“As long as we have a pool of volunteers to pull from, and that continues, that will help us sustain where we’re at now and hopefully keep it going that way,” Mark Nickles said.
The department held an anniversary celebration in September.
If you’d like to check out the museum, you can reach out to the fire department.
