The Sturgis Department of Fire & Emergency Services is located at 1901 Ballpark Road in Sturgis, South Dakota.
Because of Insurance rating standards this facility was centrally located in the community and will act as the main station as the community grows and additional stations have to be constructed to keep response times reasonable and to keep insurance rates in check. The City of Sturgis currently has a Class 6 ISO fire rating, which reflects a savings in insurance premiums for the entire community.
The Department is made up of three separate divisions, those being as follows:.
The Sturgis Volunteer Fire Department
The Sturgis/Meade County Ambulance Service
The Rural Meade County Ambulance Service at Enning.
The department has a paid Chief and an administrative assistant who manage the three departments; there are no personnel manning the station, other than one week out of the year during the annual motorcycle rally. Throughout the year, the men and women who volunteer for fire and ambulance services respond from their homes to the station and from the station to the scene of the incident or emergency. During the day the chief responds from the station to emergencies; and at night the Chief on call responds from his/her home directly to the scene to allow for a quick assessment of the emergency and to advise what equipment and quantity is need for the incident.
In 2006 the Volunteer Fire Department responded to 246 calls for service, the Sturgis/ Meade County Ambulance Service responded to 1194 calls for service and the Rural Meade County Ambulance Services responded to 25 calls for service.
In 2006 the volunteer fire department members participated in 3,212.5 hours of training and 2,610.44 hours on scene of incidents.
Most all of the fire equipment has been purchased with financing from donated funds over the years, made possible by the citizens within the response area and visitors who by our T-shirts.
The volunteers of the fire department sell T-shirts during the annual motorcycle rally and year round as a fund raiser to offset costs of operations and to purchase new equipment. The City of Sturgis assists the department with an annual budget to pay for utilities at the station, fuel used in the City and maintenance of equipment.
Even though the City does provide the department with a budget; this budget and the donations recieved annualy by the Sturgis Volunteer Fire Department has an overall cost to the citizens we serve of less than $22 per person, annually.
Across this great nation, Volunteer Fire Departments save our communities over 37 billion dollars annually.
