Every year around Labor Day, the Monmouth Fire Department participates in the strong firefighter tradition of ‘Filling the Boot for Muscular Dystrophy.’ Monmouth Fire Captain Craig Cozadd says the tradition has been around since 1954:
“Every year we do the MDA boot drive for muscular dystrophy. It has been tied in with the fire department since 1954. It started I think in Naperville and of course they raise millions of dollars every year. We are very proud of Monmouth and thankful to the citizens. We are usually in the top third, second place. We have not got first; Galesburg is usually pretty tough to beat, but per firefighter we raised the most money in the state. Last year I think it was the second most and this year we have to be real close to that again. We raised $13,113.33. That is something to be proud of; the citizens of Monmouth and obviously people passing by too. Every little bit helps. We really enjoy doing it.”
In all the support with Fill the Boot, eleven new drugs for neuromuscular diseases have been approved in the last five years.
Being in the Midwest surrounded by farmland, the training local firefighters undergo is very unique. Although there are no grain bins located in the city limits of Monmouth, several firefighters have participated in grain bin safety training in order to assist area departments when the need may arise. Monmouth Fire Captain Craig Cozadd says while accidents do happen, continuing to push safety on the farm is key for these situations:
“You just push safety, safety, safety and the normal person wouldn’t understand how dangerous the inside of a grain bin is, you know, because the corn sticks to the side and creates a vacuum in the middle and then guys will get in there and it will collapse on them and fixates them. It is really hard to get them out. We obviously don’t have grain bins in town, other than like Big River on the south side and things like that, and again that is an OSHA type situation, but we have been called to rescues because we have the ladder trucks. We will be able to assist with the lifting out and the new ladder truck we have has a system on the end of it that is set up for rope rescue on the end, so it can over the top of the bins, set up the rope system so guys can go inside and then get them out.”
This time of the year, Captain Cozadd shares they also get calls to assist with dryer fires, grain bin dryers, and field fires.
