Acheson takes reins; Reibert promoted to new assistant chief

Following a 16-month tour in Iraq with the U.S. Army, Derek Acheson returned to Cassville and a home so close to the Cassville Volunteer Fire Protection District’s Station No. 1 that the sirens convinced him to sign up.

Nearly 20 years later, Acheson has been promoted from assistant chief of the District to chief, succeeding Millard Andrews, who retired after 30 years at the helm.

Returning from the service as active duty National Guard, Acheson lived on Meadow Drive, just a block away from Fire Station No. 1.

“I lived right by Clover and Sale Barn roads, and the trucks going by all the time sparked my interest,” he said. “I wanted to do something more locally.”

Acheson served 25 years in the U.S. Army, retiring in 2021 after enlisting in 1995. Becoming a firefighter was not always his plan, and becoming chief of the District, even less so.

“I did not so much aspire to become chief,” he said. “When Millard put in hist notice of retirement in October [2023], that’s really when I looking at doing it.’

Cassville has a total of 26 volunteer firefighters, at least 18 of which are fully certified, which helps the district obtain grants.

“They are happy to be here and want to continue serving, and they enjoy helping people,” Acheson said. “We’ve always considered the family and volunteer aspect of this organization, and I’m grateful for the balance they offer us. We don’t take that for granted. We do our best to keep them safe and return them back to their families as quickly as possible.

“Fire is one of those organizations where ‘family’ is not a slogan. Any of these folks would give the shirts off their backs to help one another.”

The family aspect became even more personal in August 2023, when Zac Acheson, 21, joined the District The only paid position at the Cassville Fire Protection District a part-time administrative role, held by former Assistant Chief Chuck Miner. Acheson is a paid firefighter at Redings Mill Fire Department in Joplin, which he calls his quasi-day job at 48 hours on and 96 off per week.

Spending the majority of his time in Cassville, Acheson said the District is succeeding thanks to Andrews’ leadership, and his main goal is to keep that level of service going.

“We are in pretty decent shape as far as personnel and equipment, and my goal is to continue to provide good service with an organized response to people who call 9-1-1 in our district,” he said. “I want us to help a little more on those bad days for people, then see how things go from there. I am not a ‘count-my-chickensbefore- they-hatch’ guy,’ so I did not make big plans banking on sealing the job. There won’t be many changes; just in organization, and I think folks really like that — organization and reasonable expectations.”

Acheson has served Cassville in some of its largest fires in recent years, including the McDonald’s fire in 2013 and the Mercy Hospital fire in 2021. However, like Andrews, he was out of pocket during the 2022 Hall Theatre fire. He said that instance shows how far the District has come.

“I was up at Redings Mill when that happened,” he said. “I can’t say enough about the staff for that one. In the early days, we didn’t have a ranking structure, and Millard brought that. It was a big contributing factor in the Hall Theatre fire because one of our captains led. It was a seamless response, and we pre-plan for things like this with many buildings.”

Acheson said the Hall Theatre blaze also showed how much more effective the District has become, comparing the aftermath to that of the Tomblin’s fire in 1987.

“After the Tomblin’s fire, firefighters were on and off scene for a total of five days,” he said. “After the Hall Theatre, we went back only two times. That really shows how much Millard was able to advance the department.”

Along with Acheson’s promotion came another, former Cpt. Chris Reibert to assistant chief. Acheson said he and Reibert are working on their replacements, and their goal is simple — to leave the District better than they found it.

“Chris and I have a great relationship, both graduating in the 1990s and going through the fire service together,” he said. “We both did Firefighter 1 and 2 at Crowder in 2012, and that has become one of the most reliable programs in the state. We’ve been teaching for a long time together, and that will help the department.”

Beyond the ranks are the volunteer firefighters, most of whom have day jobs and contribute in any and every way they can, according to Acheson.

“We cover 54 square miles and have about 7,000 to 8,000 people in our response area,” Acheson said. “Call volume keeps going up, and it’s a lot to ask for a volunteer force. But, as long as we can respond and provide good service, we will stay volunteer.”

Purdy, Eagle Rock-Mano-Golden and Shell Knob fire departments all have some part-time staff during the day, and Acheson said that would be a feasible next step for Cassville, but personnel costs are significant.

“We have not had a tax increase since 2004,” Acheson said. “The board’s and Millard’s fiscal responsibility has made us able to do that.”

Acheson said any move toward paid staff would likely need to come with an increase, which he said would all be on the shoulders of district voters.

“If we had full-time firefighters, we would also have to expand the department to add things like sleeping quarters and a kitchen,” he said. “We might consider a residency program if we were to go that route.”

Cassville’s call count rose slightly in 2023, from 1,119 the previous year to 1,153. Acheson said from 10-11 a.m. and 3-4 p.m. are the busiest times, and Mondays and Thursdays are the busiest days.

“We’re always trying to find the balance between are largest response time and our lowest staff time,” Acheson said. “We rely some on mutual aid and mostly on the volunteers we have. We’ve been over 1,000 calls for the last five years.”

As far as call type, Acheson said 68 percent of the calls are medical-related. In 2023, Cassville responded to 11 structure fires in its district and 22 total when counting provided mutual aid.

The District is well-prepared for medical calls, as it has seven emergency medical technicians, two paramedics and four emergency medical responders.

“Emergency medical responders handle initial things like bleeding control, stabilization of broken bones and gathering of vitals,” Acheson said. “EMTs and paramedics can then take over and do more. We can’t push drugs, but we can continue to monitor. We have set protocols for each level. We can fill in while an ambulance is out on transfer, because it’s not always guaranteed we will have an ambulance in the district. We can also provide assistance to the ambulance when they get there.”

Acheson said despite being volunteer, response times are good.

“We are notified by page on the radio and with phone messages that provide the fastest route,” he said. “Response times will be a driving force in the future. For a structure fire, we’re about 15-20 minutes from the page to on-scene, and a lot of that is because we have to pick up equipment.

“But, when we had a structure fire during a board meeting [in January] and everyone was here, we were paged at 6:37 p.m. and the first engine was on scene at 6:45 p.m. with five personnel. That fire was on Farm Road 1100 south of town.”

Acheson said six minutes after arrival, the fire in the living room of a home had been extinguished, with little damage to the room.

Acheson said when it comes to his career, thanks need to go to his family for their support.

“I want to thank my wife, Missy, for being so patient with me. We’ve been married going on 27 years this May, and she and my son, Zac, have been understanding with my Army and emergency services work.”