Tiff City Fire Department

Tiff City is home to a post office, a gas station and a handful of residents straddling the Missouri and Oklahoma line. There is no municipal government or police department, but there is a vigilant fire department. Assistant Chief Richard Huston explained that, one summer in the '70s, farmers were plagued with fires on their properties.

"They were out there with burlap sacks and creek water putting out the fires. They about killed themselves working so hard," said Nate Walter, whose grandfather helped found the department.

Tired of fighting fires individually, a group of volunteers would gather with three 55-gallon buckets in the back of a Chevrolet Apache and extinguish the blaze.

In 1986, the first fire station was built directly behind where the current station now sits. Since its founding, the department has acquired two engines, three tankers, three brush trucks and one rescue vehicle, increasing the water capacity from 165 gallons to nearly 9,000 gallons. A second station and a helipad have also been added. Eleven volunteers and one pre-teen apprentice respond to an average of 120 calls each year.

Using resources from Oklahoma and Missouri, Tiff City has also received a 2004 engine, a 1998 tanker, a 2004 pickup for the Chief, and four self-contained breathing apparatuses this year. The department is funded through sales tax on the Oklahoma side and fire dues on the Missouri side.