	I have served with the Affton Fire Protection District for 33yrs and in that time I have seen our Fire District and the Fire Service as a whole grow to what it is today. I started with Affton in 1973 when it covered 6 square miles of area that was protected by two engine houses and 27 dedicated full time Firefighters. Over the years the Fire Service and our Department has had to take on many new challenges covering a myriad of protection and suppression techniques, training in Hazardous Materials incident mitigation, Vehicle accident rescue and extrication practices, Home Land security issues, building code enforcement and community relations to mention only a small portion of the Districts responsibilities and level of services to our constituents. In 1978 we began offering Advanced Life support services to the Affton area but still relied on outside agencies for patient transport. In 1982 we added an Ambulance in order for us to be able to provide a full Emergency Medical Service and transport to the area Hospitals. In 1983 the voters of the Affton Fire Protection District and the then Gardenville Fire Protection District, which was a Volunteer Department, approved a merger of the two Districts. With the advent of this merger the Affton Fire Protection District grew to the present size of 8 square miles protected by three engine houses. We decided to keep the Volunteer unit intact and added to our force of paid members growing our ranks to 33 paid Firefighters and 40 Volunteer members. I have been extremely proud and honored to work with both the paid and volunteer members of our Department who are dedicated to serve the citizens of our District. I feel that we have one of the most progressive Departments in the area and we continually strive to improve the services we provide.

I have served with the Affton Fire Protection District for 33yrs and in that time I have seen our Fire District and the Fire Service as a whole grow to what it is today. I started with Affton in 1973 when it covered 6 square miles of area that was protected by two engine houses and 27 dedicated full time Firefighters.

Over the years the Fire Service and our Department has had to take on many new challenges covering a myriad of protection and suppression techniques, training in Hazardous Materials incident mitigation, Vehicle accident rescue and extrication practices, Home Land security issues, building code enforcement and community relations to mention only a small portion of the Districts responsibilities and level of services to our constituents.

In 1978 we began offering Advanced Life support services to the Affton area but still relied on outside agencies for patient transport. In 1982 we added an Ambulance in order for us to be able to provide a full Emergency Medical Service and transport to the area Hospitals.

In 1983 the voters of the Affton Fire Protection District and the then Gardenville Fire Protection District, which was a Volunteer Department, approved a merger of the two Districts. With the advent of this merger the Affton Fire Protection District grew to the present size of 8 square miles protected by three engine houses. We decided to keep the Volunteer unit intact and added to our force of paid members growing our ranks to 33 paid Firefighters and 40 Volunteer members.

I have been extremely proud and honored to work with both the paid and volunteer members of our Department who are dedicated to serve the citizens of our District. I feel that we have one of the most progressive Departments in the area and we continually strive to improve the services we provide.