Area firefighters, EMS team up with community for 3rd Fire Engine Rally

Firefighters and support personnel with the West Plains Fire Department and other area fire departments held the third annual Engine Rally Saturday morning in West Plains. The festivities included friendly competition and games for children. Fire departments taking part, besides West Plains, were Eleven Point Rural Fire Department of Willow Springs, Pottersville, Peace Valley, Pomona, Brandsville and Howell Rural Fire District No. 1, plus South Howell County Ambulance. One of the competitions, meant to test the training of firefighters, was the reverse hose lay. A fire hose was laid out in sections along a pumper truck and firefighter team members, including Bradley Laughary here, were timed as they put on turnout gear and correctly and securely connected sections of hose, then a nozzle, in order to reach the "finish line." Laughary is a 2023 graduate of West Plains High School.