Exeter Volunteer Fire Department

Exeter Volunteer Fire Department Members are pictured back row  from the left: Lane Strate, Mitch Schlegelmilch, Dennis Johnson, Joe Miller, Jackie Miller, Alan Michl, Daniel Hartman, Marv Swanson, Dylan Axline, Derek Axline, and Ed Mark.  Front row from the left: Mark Crawford, Beth Crawford, Shari Michl, Dan Votipka, Ken Strate, Hope Strate, Adam Chrans and Mark Beethe. Standing behind on the truck is Richard Erdkamp.

Not pictured Nate Brandt, Adam Erdkamp, John Graham, Logan Harre, Nate Kahler, Doug Papik, Starlene Benorden, Tim Wilbeck, Joel Maxson, Jim Anderson, Dave Polak, and Terry Salyer.

The Exeter Volunteer Fire Department has seen some changes this year.  Long time Fire Chief John Mueller notified the department he would be stepping down from his position.  In January, the department held their elections and Ken Strate was elected Fire Chief.

Strate has been on the department for 16 years and his wife, Hope, serves as the Rescue Captain for the department.

Strate is focusing on training for this year.  “With the way the state and federal laws are coming down we have to have more certified in different fields to keep up with what they require.”

“We are here for the community as volunteers doing this because we want to help and take care of the community .  It’s tough being a volunteer and having time to do all of the training we need to do.  My goal as the Fire Chief this year is to get the department to where it needs to be and still provide good community service.”

Serving alongside the Strates’s are assistant fire chiefs Dylan Axline, Nate Kahler and Alan Michl.

The department is looking at the possibility of replacing the attack truck as a medium range goal and potentially a new rescue unit.  According to Hope Strate, “We just need some upgrades.  Internally it (the rescue unit)works fine but the wear and tear and the rust are showing its age.”

One of the upgrades the rescue captain would like to see is “a cot that automatically loads with no strain to the EMT’s but it is $25,000 to retrofit to our current unit.  However, it makes it easier for three or four people to do the job of five or six.”

Hope also serves as the training officer and reports that the department is alternating training at their monthly meeting.  One month they focus on rescue training and the next month is fire.

“We’ve had everything from Burlington Northern who came and did a presentation about how to handle situations with the trains, even how to tell what’s in the cars, to refresher and newbie training on the SCBA breathing apparatus training.”

This year the department has held storm spotter training in multiple locations, had two house burns and hosted a Hazardous Materials awareness class taught by the state fire marshal.  Eight members of the department went to fire school this year.

The department again hosted a summer weekend celebration with the Sons of the American Legion in Exeter.  The festival held downtown included a car show, parade and evening meal which featured a polka band. This year the department added a bake sale with a celebrity baking auction which was very successful.

 

Electronics Collection and Recycling Held

Fillmore County Electronics Collection & Recycling Held on September 21, 2018

Fillmore County held an electronics collection and recycling event on September 21st from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in the East bullpen at 10^th & F Streets, Geneva, Nebraska.   The event was open to households, businesses, schools, government entities, and non-profits in Fillmore County. 

The event helps provide a positive outlet and to ensure that computer metals and other hazardous material contained in electronic equipment are recycled properly and will not end up in the land fill or worse.  This event was sponsored by and in cooperation with Trailblazer Resource Conservation, Fillmore County Fillmore County Supervisors, Little Blue NRD and Nebraska DEQ.

Exeter Volunteer Department Receives LUCAS Device

Exeter Volunteer Rescue Captain Hope Strate shows department member Alan Michl (left) how the new LUCAS device works.

The Exeter Volunteer Fire Department recently acquired a LUCAS device.  It is an automated CPR device that hooks directly into the AED used by the department in the rescue unit.  

They applied for and received a grant through The Helmsley Foundation.  “They decided to give grants to Iowa, Nebraska and the Midwestern states.  States with more turn-around time in order to help the providers,” explained Exeter Volunteer Rescue Captain Hope Strate.

The device, which retails at $25,000, runs on a battery which can last up to 30 days.  The department plans to charge it at each fire meeting.  They received the updated LUCAS 3 model for the Exeter unit.

An advantage to the LUCAS device over the auto-pulse the department owned is, “You can use the LUCAS device no matter what the body type,” according to Strate, “This is a game changer for anyone who has had to do CPR in the field.”

She continued, “You deploy the device, slide the backboard under the patient ahead of time, attach a neck strap and you will be impressed with how rapid the compressions are.”

The battery will last for 20-30 minutes and primarily works on adults.  A plunger on the top of the device has to reach the chest of the patient for the device to work.

The department hopes to purchase an additional battery through the grant in the next few months.

According to the Helmsley Foundation, “Not only do the portable LUCAS 2 devices provide more effective, consistent and uninterrupted chest compressions, but they also deliver hands-free care, which means medical personnel are free to address other injuries and conditions of the patient.”

New Librarian in Exeter

Exeter Librarian Lynette Trauger

Drop in to the Exeter Public Library and meet the newly hired librarian, Lynette Trauger.

Trauger has served on the library board for the past three and a half years in Exeter but she has “always been a library user.”

Although she has only lived in Exeter for about five years, her husband, Charles Trauger is an Exeter native.  They lived in Omaha for a number of years but decided to return to his home a few years ago.

She isn’t new to the librarian scene as she volunteered in the school libraries of her children.  She hopes to share some of her experiences there and adapt them for the Exeter library.

Already she is making an impact in the downtown area by keeping a chalkboard sign updated with new library hours and funny quips on main street to draw the community into the library.  Other changes include a noticeable straightening up and rearranging of books and furniture in the library.

Trauger is also working up bringing the library up to date and renewing the library accreditation.

After the departure of the last librarian Trauger was concerned, “I didn’t want it to close.  I didn’t want it to not be accredited and fall through the crack and then our community would be without a library.”

Her plans include offering a story hour for young children and also a family night.  The library board is eager to complete a renovation of Storybook Park by the spring.  Trauger hopes to add a small free library in the park someday.

“I want to start community programs for the library to become what the community wants it to become. Libraries are changing.  They are becoming a community resource instead of just about books anymore,” Trauger added.

Trauger has created a survey about the library and is looking for feedback from the community.  The survey is located in various locations around town.  “Being newer to the community it’s scary.  You don’t know how that’s all going to work yet. I still don’t know a lot of people.”

The biggest challenge at the library, according to Trauger, “is keeping a variety here for everyone.  If the regular users can’t find new items to check out they won’t come.  I want to keep the curiosity going along with a good variety but the challenge is to do it on a limited budget.”

Since she has been cleaning and purging old books and media, Trauger will be having a big sale of items during the Exeter Avenue Holiday Sampler on October 6.

Trauger enjoys reading a variety of books in her spare time and includes painting, drawing and remodeling houses in her list of hobbies.   And while she doesn’t have a favorite author she was very firm about liking to read fiction, “Because reality is sometimes no fun.”

When she is not at the library you may find her enjoying time with her family or driving a grain truck and helping with the family farm just outside of Exeter.