Monclova Township Fire Department Marks Its 50th Anniversary
BY KAREN BERGER — MIRROR REPORTER
Before smoke detectors, fire hydrants and gates on railway crossings, a group of Monclova Towhship residents – mostly farmers – saw a need for a fire department closer to home.
So with land donated by France Quarry, 32 volunteers raised funds through barbecues and fish fries to purchase and rig a hodgepodge of equipment, erect a building and conduct training.
On January 1, 1962, the Monclova Township Fire Department became fully operational.
Blair Shaffer, Joe Curtis and several other men wanted to be independent from other fire departments, said Larry Bernhard, who volunteered with MTFD from 1962-1989.
Larry, Pete Plocek and Carl Boyd, three retired volunteers, met recently with current Fire Chief Kevin Bernhard (Larry’s son) and deputy fire chief Michael George to talk about those early days.
While the department bought a new pumper truck, the rescue truck was a converted step van. The tanker was a 1,000-gallon gas tanker that Boyd crawled inside to cut holes in the walls separating the five tanks so the water would flow through. An old Jeep was made into a firefighting grass buggy.
“Anything that needed to be done, they did it,” Kevin said. “There was also someone who was an electrician, a plumber or a carpenter. That’s how it had to be, there was no money.”
Curtis served as the first fire chief, from 1961-1983, followed by Ray Baumann for three years. Boyd, who was fire chief until 1991, was a truck mechanic for 27 years, so he was often working on the department’s vehicles.
Plocek, who worked what the others laughingly call a cushy day job, retired from Toledo Trust after 37 years, but he farmed in the township for 50 years. During the 26 years he was a volunteer firefighter, Plocek was the “hose man” and directed traffic.
While firefighters took special training, the first aid was taught by Curtis’ father, who had been a longtime Boy Scout leader.
“We used to be a band-aid type of service,” Larry said.
Until the late 1970s, funeral homes would send a vehicle to the scene of an accident and transport to the hospital, George explained.
With largely farmland, most of the calls were barn and field fires, automobile and farm equipment accidents, and other structure fires.
Boyd and Plocek still get chills about the first fire fatality.
“It was February 13, 1963,” Larry recalls. Seven children were alone in a house on US 20A. An oil burner on the main floor wasn’t working properly, and filled with fuel before igniting. Flames burst up the stairway to where the children were sleeping. Six children died; only a teenager escaped, breaking his leg while jumping from a second-floor window.
After retelling a few gruesome incidents, Larry gave a small laugh about the call they received about a possible airplane down in Spencer Township. Instead of a plane, they drove down a dirt road in the woods and discovered the homeowner had been making moonshine, and the still had blown up.
“I’m glad I wasn’t drinking that juice,” Plocek said.
Back then, the men didn’t have professional counselors to help them like the department has today, Kevin said.
“I tell our recruits that they’re going to see a lot of things they don’t want to see,” Kevin said.
Prior to critical incident stress debriefing (CISD), the department lost several people because of that, he said.
When the department started, there weren’t seat belts, smoke detectors, gates at railway crossings and fire hydrants in the township, the men noted. And back then, homeowners were more likely to try to put out a fire themselves than call for help.
“With no hydrants, we used ponds, pools, creeks and the quarry for water,” Plocek said.
The pumper truck back then carried 750 gallons, which would be gone in five minutes. Now, a pumper truck carries 1,000 gallons and the department has a tanker truck with more water – plus access to hydrants throughout most of the township except portions of some roads. Class A foam is also mixed in with water to stop some fires.
The first fire levy passed in the 1980s, so all equipment is covered by tax dollars. Kevin joined the department in 1984 and held ranks of firefighter, lieutenant, captain and assistant chief. He was appointed fire chief in 1992.
In March 1995 the trustees made the chief a full-time paid position. The full-time paid deputy chief position was created in August 2004 to oversee the fire prevention bureau.
Jeff Bretzloff held that position until December 2006. Mike George, a part-time firefighter hired in December 1997, took over as deputy chief in May 2007.
Plocek jokes that volunteers back then got paid $1.00 a year.
“I now get $7.47 a month in pension through PERS (the Public Employee Retirement System),” he laughed.
While the department had from 30 to 60 volunteers at any given time, it currently has 23 volunteers but a total roster of 34. But it’s tough to get people to volunteer for a fire when they’ve worked 40 to 60 hours a week, Kevin said. A few weeks ago, the department had two calls between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. and were on the scene at one until 1:00 a.m.
Having five employees available during the day and the countywide 911 system have cut the response time significantly, Kevin said.
“As the density of our business and residences increased, so did our call volume,” Kevin said.
In 1992, that volume was 256. In 2010, it was 893. About 60 to 70 percent of those calls are EMS.
In 1999-2001, the township renovated the building and doubled it in size to include a 7,200-square-foot apparatus bay and a 4,800-square-foot crew area with training room, kitchen, radio room and crew dorms with a locker room.
Following law, the EMS and firefighters go through mandatory training each year.
Monclova has an automatic mutual aid agreement with Springfield Township, meaning they both come out to each other’s structure fires. The department has helped out others in need, including sending a water rescue crew during the 2007 floods in Findlay.
The three retirees admit that they miss the camaraderie of the fire department. Over the years, several members of one family have served – as they seem to have an understanding of what it takes.
Many volunteers share the same last names – Gase, Curtis, Bernhard, Isaacson, Plocek, Russell, Francis – Kevin said.
Boyd says that his training has proven to be valuable throughout his life.
“The training was complicated and rough at times. But there’s still so much that I refer to,” he said.

Whitehouse Making Plans For 2nd Annual WinterFest
The village of Whitehouse will host its second annual WinterFest on Saturday, February 11.
“Start making plans now for the sled races,” said Barbara Knisely, community development coordinator.
Due to the huge success of the cardboard sled race last year, registration is due by Wednesday, February 1.
The 30 sleds entered in last year’s inaugural race included a pirate ship, motorcycle and deer-themed sled – all designed out of cardboard.
Prizes are given for best design and first to the finish line in several age brackets.
Registration forms and details are available at www.whitehouseoh.gov.
Pre-registration is also required for the Snowy Night Light Parade – in which vehicles, bikes, pedestrians and animals are decorated and lit for a parade through downtown White-house at 6:40 p.m. All participants must be lit in some fashion.
Throughout the day, other activities are planned: snowman building and snow angel contests, a 5K race sponsored by Toledo Roadrunners, ice sculptures, horse-drawn carriage rides, food and entertainment.
For information and details, visit the village website or call Knisely at (419) 877-5383.