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Kimberly Volunteer Fire-Rescue: Hometown Heroes or Tax Thieves? Everyone who lives in Kimberly is familiar with the men and women of Kimberly Volunteer Fire-Rescue. They’re neighbors, friends, sometimes even family. Good Samaritans who donate time to serve their community, purely out of the goodness of their hearts. The fire chief, Michael Mathers, can often be seen around town in the department-provided Chief’s SUV. The white fire trucks can be seen racing to emergencies in times of needs. But recently, dark accusations have surfaced against the good-hearted volunteers. Some people in town are beginning to question the department’s money management ability, with the town’s fire trucks unquestioningly older than anyone else’s around. Some even say that volunteers with the department have to face out of date protective equipment and inadequate equipment onboard those same fire trucks. A town document obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request lists the budget for KVFR as 151,000 dollars. It lists $40,000 as being provided by a county subsidy and the remaining $111,000 coming from the town of Kimberly. This represents the county paying for nearly a third of KVFR’s operating expenses. National standards published by the National Fire Protection Association say that fire engines should be replaced on average every ten years. Kimberly operates only one vehicle newer than ten years old - the 2019 Chevy Tahoe driven by Chief Michael Mathers. This is in stark contrast to the town’s primary fire engine - a 1990 American LaFrance. Many members of the community question why Chief Mathers drives a car only a year old, while the fire engine is thirty years old and aging. Public records indicate that the oldest fire truck operated by Kimberly, a water tanker, is a 1986 model, and the newest, a brushfire truck, is only a 1995. Yet Chief Mathers drives a brand-new SUV around town, using tax money to pay for gas and his salary. I reached out to Chief Mathers for a comment explaining the purchase of his vehicle over a new fire engine, and did not receive a response. A look into Chief Mathers’ salary reveals some startling numbers. His salary is $75,000 a year, with benefits bringing the town’s total expenditure on Chief Mathers to 101,000. 66% of KVFR’s budget goes to paying to have Chief Mathers on duty from Monday to Friday, 9AM to 5PM. Not even 24 hour fire protection. Not even the minimum recommended by national standards, which is four firefighters on a fire engine. Many community residents question whether KVFR can continue to provide adequate response to emergencies in the community. Some posit the idea that as happened in Clinton, the Shiloh County Fire Department should take over administration of the department, combining departments to decrease overhead costs and share costs of equipment and manpower. I sent an email to Chief Mathers, asking for comment on several questions posed by the community, and this was the only portion that elicited a response. His reply is displayed below and has been edited to allow it to be printed. “As long as I am the Chief of Kimberly Volunteer Fire-Rescue, Shiloh County will keep their ******* noses out of town business. We are Hometown Heroes providing the best service with what pennies the town gives us. Shiloh County and the ERT have chosen to support the county-based paid service instead of the volunteers, but Kimberly doesn’t need their **** money anyways. KVFR will continue to provide service uninterrupted. Chief Michael M J Mathers Kimberly VOLUNTEER Fire Rescue We fight what you fear, for free. The Real Hometown Heroes” Chief Mathers’ claim that the county does not support KVFR is, of course, demonstrably false. Not only does the county provide financial support to KVFR, but county records show that in 2019, Shiloh County Fire Department units were dispatched to 51 calls for service within the town limits of Kimberly. Of these 51, 11 were requests from Kimberly for aid, 20 were ambulance calls when the Kimberly ambulance was already on a call, and 30 were calls dispatched to SCFD units by ERT due to the communications center not receiving a confirmation that KVFR units were responding to the call. Of the 30 where KVFR did not answer, it shows that 17 resulted in SCFD being cancelled by Chief Mathers when he finally responded to the call. I dug deeper into KVFR’s financial situation, speaking to several current and former members, as well as several of the department’s commissioners. These interviews revealed that Chief Mathers and the department throw several social parties throughout the year - Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter - for each occasion, I was able to track expenses to the department’s funds. Surely the funds could have been better used elsewhere? One member I interviewed, whose identity will remain hidden to protect him, showed me the expiration dates of his personal protective equipment. His coat, pants, boots, and helmet were all past the manufacturer’s expiration date, varying from being only days out of date to over a year. He informed me that he was unable to attend the fire academy due to not having in-date equipment, and that Chief Mathers had informed him that there was no room in the budget to purchase new equipment for him. I sent another email to Chief Mathers questioning whether this exchange had occurred, and it was met with silence. Chief Mathers appears to have a lot to hide from the public concerning his expenditures and his management of the department’s funds, but from what little I have seen, I am deeply concerned for the residents of Kimberly. KVFR swears they will answer the call when needed, but will they be able to if their trucks and equipment is unusable?

History of the Shiloh County Fire Department Founded January 1st, 1943 Shiloh County Fire Department was officially founded on January 1st, 1943 when three existing fire departments merged. Faced with a severe shortage of manpower due to World War II, the Fort Shannon Fire Department, Oxnard Fire Department, and the Shiloh Rural Fire District merged in an effort to share manpower, decrease overhead costs, and consolidate resources. Shiloh Rural Fire District was already administered by Shiloh County in an effort to provide rural citizens with fire coverage, and Shiloh County maintained control of the merged fire departments. With the municipal areas of Fort Shannon and Oxnard now included, the merged department was named the Shiloh County Fire Department. The department originally contained 7 fire stations - four in Fort Shannon, one in unincorporated Arcadia, one in unincorporated Essex, and one in Oxnard. The original apparatus lineup was six engine companies, two ladder companies, a salvage company, and one rescue company, plus a variety of chief’s cars and utilities. Shiloh County quickly set to work consolidating resources, selling off many of the chief's cars and utilities, as well as the salvage company, one engine company, and the Essex fire station. Shiloh County FD remained relatively stagnant throughout the 40s and 50s, improving and upgrading apparatus and equipment. The four Fort Shannon stations were consolidated into two, and the other stations sold back to the city. In 1962, Delmore Fire Department was absorbed into the county fire service. Delmore FD had been struggling under budget constraints and a high fire volume, and saw a merger as a way to improve their situation. In 1973, after the widespread success of the television show Emergency!, Chief of Department Jonathan DeSoto expressed interest in establishing a paramedic program in Shiloh County. Working with Shiloh County Hospital and Crescent Falls University, Shiloh County Fire Department held their first paramedic class in 1975. The department initially followed the Los Angeles County model - placing paramedics on quick-response rescue squads throughout the county. Ambulance service in the county was a patchwork. Shiloh County Hospital operated an ambulance service in their area, Fort Shannon First Aid Squad operated an ambulance, and funeral homes and private services across the county operated ambulances. Fire Department paramedics would respond with whichever ambulance service, and if needed, accompany the patient to the hospital to provide treatment. Shiloh County entered the ambulance business in 1982 with the absorption of Essex Fire Department, who operated an ambulance in their district. SCFD continued to allow all other ambulance services to operate, maintaining the Essex ambulance but not expanding their service. The Essex unit was the first paramedic ambulance in the county, with the Essex-area paramedic squad being removed and the staff placed on the ambulance instead. The following year, SCFD was approached by the Fort Shannon First Aid Squad. The First Aid Squad did not have paramedics, only basic-level ambulances, and they felt county paramedics were stepping on toes by not allowing First Aid Squad members to treat patients. Shiloh County had been looking to expand their ambulance service, and decided there was no time like the present. The First Aid Squad’s business license was pulled, and it was promptly purchased by the county and merged into Shiloh County Fire Department. Shiloh County now operated three ambulances - two in Fort Shannon and one in Essex, with a patchwork of other services across the area. SCFD ceased to allow other ambulance services to operate on emergency calls in SCFD EMS’ coverage area unless requested as mutual aid. In 1988, Shiloh County made the decision to transfer Shiloh County Hospital Ambulance Service to the Fire Department, consolidating the service. All employees remained with the county, and it was an amicable transfer of command. SCFD began operating an additional two ambulances with the new units and employees. All area funeral homes had ceased providing ambulance service, with SCFD EMS units filling in the uncovered areas. Over the next ten years, SCFD improved their ambulance service. SCFD began replacing paramedic squads with paramedic ambulances, although two paramedic squads were retained. In 1999, Arcadia Fire Department merged with the SCFD, bringing all of the county except for Clinton and Kimberly under one department. Clinton used SCFD EMS for EMS coverage, but Kimberly contracted with Metro Star Ambulance Service to provide coverage for their town. Also in 1999, SCFD replaced the aging South Fort Shannon fire station. Over the next five years, Clinton VFD began to struggle. Funding was not keeping up, and staffing problems began to show. In 2004, they made the decision to merge with ERT, and in a move unlike the other departments that had been absorbed, Clinton was given its own division, with a chief that reports directly to the SCFD Fire Chief, instead of the Deputy Chief of Fire Operations. In 2006, SCFD constructed a new fire station in north Fort Shannon in order to replace the existing station from the 1930s. SCFD has continued to work to improve their equipment, apparatus, and staffing.