We are currently working on our site so you will be able to see all aspects of the Smithville Area Fire Protection District (SAFPD). You will be able to access important information about fire safety, fire prevention, burn permits, training, other resources and more. We do appreciate your patience while we finish building our new site.

We have a long, proud and rich history. The earliest records we can find show that the fire department was established in 1921. Some believe a fire department was in place earlier than that. However, it was not officially a registered fire department until 1921. The department was a volunteer department until 2001. In 2001 it was decided by the members, staff and board of directors the district needed to add career firefighters.

Prior to 2001 the volunteer firefighters took care of all district business. They did this in addition to having a full time job that paid their rent, put the food on their tables and took care of all their families’ needs. They worked hard and donated many hours to build a great fire department. We greatly appreciate them and respect them for everything they have done for our organization. If it was not for them we would not have the strong foundation, dedication and commitment to community that we proudly carry on today.

As our community grew so did the number of emergency calls. As call volume increased it placed a severe strain on our all volunteer system. It is in rare cases that volunteer firefighters are allowed to leave their jobs with literally a seconds notice and being gone for unknown periods of time. This coupled with a more demanding world, training mandates and busy family lives the volunteers were pushed to the limit. If they couldn’t get the trucks out on emergency calls they would be failing to meet the districts mission. Therefore, it was determined by the members, staff and board of directors that career firefighters were needed to assist with running calls, daily prevention activities, doing station and apparatus maintenance. In 2001 the Smithville Area Fire Protection District became a combination (volunteer/career) fire department.

Volunteers continue to be an integral part of our organization. Our volunteers do not respond from home or work anymore, they provide at least 48 hours of station coverage every month. Many of our volunteer firefighters donate more hours than the minimum and the District is committed to hiring our full time firefighters from within our volunteer ranks.

Today we currently staff one station with two to four personnel (depending on our volunteer’s availability). We respond to approximately 1000 emergency calls a year. We conduct numerous public relation and public education events. We have 3 staff positions (Fire Chief, Assistant Chief and Administrative Assistant), 7 Career Firefighters and 15 Volunteer Firefighters. The District covers 112 square miles in both Platte and Clay Counties which includes all of the city of Smithville, and most of the Smithville Lake. For apparatus we have a front line pumper, reserve pumper, 2000 gallon tanker, 2 brush trucks, rescue truck and 2 staff vehicles.
Thank you for visiting our website and please look for more on our page in the near future.

Sincerely,

John H. Callahan, Fire Chief