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About Us
The Platte Volunteer Fire Department is a 100% volunteer organization that was originally founded in 1903. We provide Structural and Wildland fire suppression, rescue, hazard mitigation and other services to the city of Platte and surrounding area (approximate district wide population 3,500). Our protection area encompasses some 450+ square miles of rural geography ranging from flat prairie and agricultural land to rugged terrain along the Missouri River. Our first due protection area is roughly the Northern third of Charles Mix County, the Torey Lake township in Brule County and the Eastern most portion of Douglas County. The entire Western border of our protection area is comprised of the Missouri River/Lake Francis Case. We provide mutual aid response to our neighboring communities and departments upon request. Adjacent counties are - Aurora, BonHomme, Brule, Douglas and Gregory. We also have a fire suppression agreement with the State of South Dakota Division of Wildland Fire Suppression and provide the State with apparatus and crew upon request for incidents at any location. A full roster of personnel for our department is 34 active firefighters. The roster is not always at 100% capacity, but effort is made to keep it close to capacity. Of these 34 firefighters there are five officers elected; Fire Chief, Assistant Fire Chief, Captain #1, Captain #2, and the combined position of Secretary/Treasurer. The elected officers run the day to day operations and see that the department is running smoothly. There are also special committees appointed for fund raisers, apparatus replacement projects, open houses, training, events, etc... We are funded primarily by the Platte Rural Fire Protection District, a taxing authority that obtains it's funds through property taxes. In addition to the tax revenue from the PRFPD we also receive income from charitable contributions, insurance tax rebate, incident billing, and grant funding when available.
ISO Public Protection Classification Rating
ISO Class 4/4Y: The department currently has an ISO PPC (Public Protection Classification) of 4 for property falling within five road miles of the station and within 1,000ft. of a municipal fire hydrant (roughly city limits).
[click here for a summary of National and South Dakota ISO ratings]
We are constantly striving to better the service level provided and thus lower the PPC rating, this results in better fire protection for the citizens as well as decreased property insurance premiums. We also have a future goal of improving our rural water supply operations, which is the limiting factor that keeps us from extending the current rating to the rural area surrounding the city of Platte. Water supply is our most difficult obstacle to overcome in regard to rural fire protection, there is no water system able to provide the types of flows needed for fire protection. All water used at an incident must be hauled by fire apparatus and our distance from other communities limits the effectiveness of mutual aid water supply from neighboring departments.