Iola’s volunteer firefighters, who go where city trucks cannot go under city law and also back up the city department when needed, is still going strong.
John Womack is chief of the group, which consists of 32 men, almost all of whom have responsible jobs in the community. Their pay is not docked when they are off fighting a fire. Allen County Bank and Trust has purchased the two used trucks they operate and has also purchased other equipment the volunteers need.
When a Kansas State instructor came to Iola in November to give firemen a workshop-simulator program, he told Fire Chief Tince Little that Iola had the only setup in the state that had a volunteer fire department financed by private enterprise that used the city’s fire station for housing and training.
