Volunteer firefighters Nate Leising, Margaret Biggs and John Babcock say farewell on Tuesday after 109 years of combined service with East Fork Fire Protection District.
Photo by Kurt Hildebrand.
In 1978, when Margaret Biggs started out with the Sheridan Acres Fire Department, if there was a fire in East Fork Township, it was extinguished by a volunteer firefighter.
On Tuesday, Sheridan Volunteer Chief Biggs, Ruhenstroth Chief John Babcock and Sheridan volunteer Nate Leising received proclamations and plaques recognizing their combined 109 years of service.
Biggs was the “matriarch” of the trio, according to Chief Tod Carlini. She and husband David founded the Sheridan fire department before there was a fire house.
“She had a wonderful way of expressing her satisfaction or dissatisfaction with just her expression,” David said on Tuesday. “She never had to say a cross word.”
The Sheridan department’s first piece of equipment was a 1949 front pumper that had to be parked outside.
“The first fire was in wintertime and the pumper was frozen,” David said. “That’s one time I wish I had a picture of Margaret’s face.”
When they put the fire engine in the garage of their home, they had to take the light off the top so it would fit.
“You had to pull the fire engine out, hook it up and go to the fire,” Mr. Biggs said.
Biggs started volunteering in 1978 under Chief Dar Ellis before the founding of the East Fork district.
“We’ve grown from there,” she said. “Our whole family was involved. All three kids have been volunteer firefighters.”
Chris Lyons and Christy Lyons praised Biggs for her help in transitioning the Sheridan department to the next generation.
“She’s been a drill inspector without the screaming, coach, mentor, den mother and cheerleader,” Chris Lyon said. “The six of us who came on about three years ago have learned quite a bit. There always seems to be a light moment no matter how serious things are.”
Babcock, who had 35 years as an East Fork volunteer served in the Ruhenstroth department since its inception.
“It’s a little bit bittersweet for me because I’m the last one there and it may not exist very much longer,” he said. “But the community always resolves itself, and there’s always the possibility it will be resurrected.”
Babcock said residents volunteered to help protect their communities.
“The volunteer business is a hard business to get into,” he said, “and there’s not a better platform to learn how to do that service than East Fork.”
Leising, who had 30 years as a volunteer with the Sheridan department, took some good-natured ribbing over his agricultural burning.
“Any time you see a bunch of smoke coming from down south, most of us know Nate is burning his field,” Biggs said. “Not too long ago, he was grinning from ear to ear. ‘It was the first time I got a full structure fire response.’”
Leising said he was happy to see the Sheridan department will continue.
“It has been a real honor for me to serve the district and a pleasure to see all the young people come in behind us,” said Leising. “The community should be really proud of how this organization has grown and served the community.”
Carlini said that when he was with the Nevada State Firefighters Association, he handed 50-year pins to Minden volunteer firefighters Sen. Lawrence Jacobsen, Dan and Don Hellwinkel.
“Forty-four years is absolutely unheard of,” Carlini said. “You won’t see it again. Probably impossible to serve as a volunteer that long any more because of how our world has changed and where we are with the volunteer services and all the demands that are placed on people anymore. You should be just as proud the day those individuals were when we passed out those 50-year pins to them.”
East Fork Fire Protection District Chairman Jacques Etchegoyhen said the 109 years of volunteer service was an amazing story.
“It’s the heart over that 109 years that made this place beyond special,” he said.
