Mt. Hope Fire Department

10/18/2026

Are you tired of sleeping through the night? Enjoy unpredictable schedules? Like hanging out with people who have questionable senses of humor?

Boy, have we got an opportunity for you.

We offer:

* Absolutely no paycheck.
* Free cardio when you least expect it.
* A second family you didn’t ask for.
* Opportunities to get dirty, sweaty, and occasionally soaking wet.
* The satisfaction of knowing you made a difference.

No experience? No problem. We’ll train you.

Come join the chaos. Your community needs you.

10/07/2026

Friendly reminder:

🚒🔥 FIRE PREVENTION WEEK! 🔥🚒

It’s that time of year again… time to make sure your smoke detectors aren’t just hanging on the wall collecting dust!

🏠 A few things to check this week:

🔋 Change the batteries in your smoke detectors and Carbon dioxide
🚨 Test your smoke alarms to make sure they actually work.
🧯 Check your fire extinguishers and make sure they’re accessible and ready to go.
🔥 Make sure everyone in the house knows two ways out in case of a fire.
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 And talk with your family about where to meet once everyone is safely outside.

Remember: Smoke alarms save lives, but only if they work!
So take a few minutes this week to check those alarms, change those batteries, and make sure your family has a plan.

🚒 🚑From your local EMS & Fire Department Stay safe, stay prepared, and keep those alarms working! 🔥

09/10/2026

It’s National Emergency Services Day.

The EMTs.
The paramedics.
The firefighters.
The police officers.
The dispatchers.
The emergency room teams.

They meet people on the worst days of their lives.

Car accidents.
Heart attacks.
Fires.
Missing children.
Calls no family ever wants to make.

They miss dinners.
Birthdays.
Holidays.
Bedtimes with their own kids.

Because someone else’s emergency doesn’t care what day it is.

You might only know them for 10 minutes.

But those 10 minutes might be the reason you get the rest of your life.

Today is for the ones who answer the call.
Thank you.

07/12/2026

Thank you to everyone who attended, donated, and supported us last night at our steak feed!

We truly appreciate every single one of you! Without the support from our community & surrounding areas we wouldn’t be able to do what we do! So thank you again!

We sold out of steaks last night! So truly thank you to everyone who came!!

A huge thank you to our cooks for cooking & stepping up when we needed it most!

Another huge thank you to all of our members, member spouses & volunteers for showing up & showing out! Without you, this day wouldn’t be possible! Thank you 🙏🏼

It was a great day!

07/11/2026

Mt. Hope Fire Department: Keeping up with present-day challenges

By Becky Ruff

Conclusion: Looking Ahead

Communities have evolved and changed, and with them, so have rural fire departments.

“People don't really rely on their next door neighbors anymore,” says Rick. “They call 911. Well, the 911 call goes in, so they got to get hold of somebody to check them out. You know what I mean? It's just the way it is.”

That “somebody” is a person who has decided to serve their local community by volunteering their time, unpaid, for the fire department, and often using their own vehicles, gas and equipment, such as chainsaws.

One time the call was to help look for a lost canoer at 3:00 in the morning. There have been calls to help with possible drownings. Other times it has been to help EMS with lift assists, or even checking on carbon monoxide detectors.

Cindy says that the wait time for EMS can be about seven minutes, depending on where the call comes from, but acknowledges that when a person is experiencing an emergency, “It feels like forever. We have to leave our homes, get in our vehicles, and then travel to wherever you are at. Because everyone is so rural, every [department] helps each other out through mutual assistance. They don’t blink an eye when they’re out there for hours and hours and hours, fighting fires. That’s just what they do."

They say that some people are under the impression that the fire department doesn’t need to be involved in all the incidents that they are.

Cindy says, “I don’t think some people would be heartbroken if the department shut down, they just think, well, Fennimore will take us over.” She points out that the response time would be longer, which could mean poorer outcomes for the people involved. “So that's another ten, 15 minutes, a little more.”

Of the 28 calls that the fire department has responded to this year, 8 were fires, 5 were for lift assists, 5 were traffic accidents to assist Grant County, 4 were for weather spotting, 2 were calls to check carbon monoxide detectors, 2 were first responder/medical assists, and 2 were fire calls that were later cancelled.

Rick and Cindy point out that with the wide range of needs, there are a number of ways for volunteers to find what suits their abilities and interests. Having more people that are willing to help also would ease the load on everyone, since there would be a greater pool of volunteers.

Rick says, “And I understand people are busy, but we're all busy too. I mean, some people think they're too busy to volunteer their time, but we're all busy. We both work, and I have our family farm to take care of. We don't get to do things we want to do sometimes.”

Cindy points out that balance between volunteering and personal lives is important. She says, “It’s okay to shut your pager off if you can’t go or have something else to do. But your hope is that someone else is going to be there.”

07/08/2026

Mt. Hope Fire Department: Keeping up with present-day challenges

By Becky Ruff

Part 3: Keeping up with equipment requirements

Maintaining a fire department means keeping up with the trucks and their associated equipment, along with the gear needed by the firefighters themselves.

The firefighters are required to wear “turnout gear” which is the specialized personal protective equipment used when fighting fires. Although each firefighter has one set of their own gear, a recent push has been to adopt the industry standard of two complete sets of gear, which is supported by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and OSHA guidelines. The reasoning is that a spare set of gear could be accessed if one set became damaged or wet and dirty.

Rick states that should this requirement pass, it would make it very difficult for smaller departments to meet the expectations. He cites some recent purchases for his own members, highlighting the cost that must be absorbed by the department.

“Outdated turnout gear is supposed to be replaced every ten years,” he explains. “So we just bought 24 sets of gear, which was just the coat and pants. That was $76,000.”

The department’s vehicles, which consist of a tanker, two pumpers, a brush truck and equipment van are all basic support for the department. The second pumper is needed as a backup, for compliance with their insurance company.

“If one [pumper] goes down or if you're out on a fire or somewhere, there's a pumper to protect the town,” Rick explains. The pumper is needed to pump water, the tanker hauls water, the brush truck is needed for brush and wildfires, or if a tractor or farm implement catches fire, and the equipment van hauls needed tools and some of the firefighters’ turnout gear. Some of the department members carry their own gear, but most do not, and as Cindy states, “Sometimes it's easier for us to we all have to drive our personal vehicles,” and instead of the members driving to the firehouse to get their gear, it saves time by having it in the equipment van.

“I think the tanker and the pumper are supposed to be replaced every 20 or 25 years,” Rick says. “I'm guessing it’s probably $600,000 to $700,000 to get a pumper like our pumpers.”
And, he adds, “Tires can’t be over ten years old on a fire truck. You get in an accident, [insurance] won't cover you.”

A recent event has been Grant County’s adoption of the Next Generation 911 (NG-911) system, which comes as an evolution of the traditional 911 emergency system. As the rollout continues, the previous analog system is being replaced by a digital system. Rick says that he was watching and waiting to see what happened with the new system before upgrading his department radios, since their previous analog-based handheld radios would no longer work with NG-911. They recently purchased 19 new handheld radios at a cost of $33,000.

“We decided to bite the bullet now because you know what's going to happen. Everything keeps going up and it's going to get more expensive,” Rick states.

Rick and Cindy credit generous community members during fundraisers and also the funds from grants that they have been able to get. The grants, however, are never a guaranteed source.

Cindy says, “You only get approved every so often for grants, like you can't get it for sure every year.”

Rick adds, “And some people don’t realize that when you write a grant, you have to find out what they’re allowing you to write it for.” He gives a recent example of trying to obtain grant funding for truck radios, getting turned down, and then the next year, rewriting the grant for handheld radios, which was then approved.

“You’ve got to play the [same] game they are playing,” he says.

The department runs on a slim yearly budget of about $28,000. Insurance, he says, costs about $14,000 per year. “We try to only raise our budget about 2% per year,” Rick says.

“But we have to put money away into savings so that we have money to make the repairs on the trucks or to replace equipment,” adds Cindy.

Coming next: Part 4 - Looking ahead

07/04/2026

Mt. Hope Fire Department: Keeping up with present-day challenges

By Becky Ruff

Part 2: Challenges of recruiting and keeping department members due to firefighter training

Mt. Hope Fire Chief Rick French explains, “When they put the online [classes as a requirement], they ruined it, as far as I’m concerned. It drives people away. It’s all city firefighting. People start the classes and they quit, and they won’t come back. They have a major problem with the [classes in tech education schools], there’s been a lot of issues and they know about it - we’ve argued. People start the classes and it’s all city firefighting - they teach you how to hook a hose to a hydrant and go fight a fire - what does that do here? The only time we hook a hose to a hydrant here is to fill a truck. We can [also] suck it out of the river, you know? I can only think of two or three times of me fighting a fire here that I’ve hooked a hose to a hydrant here in town to go fight a fire, in my years [of being on the fire department], since 1987. It’s hard enough to get people to join, but when you’ve got this [training] issue, it’s really driving them away.”

Cindy French says, “But trying to get people, and okay, you go to a class two nights a week, but there’s all this extra online coursework that takes hours and hours, how do they take that and work a job and have a family? We’ve had probably four or five [start classes and then quit] in the past couple of years.”

The Frenches say that they have heard some people bring up the idea of a paid department, thinking that would solve the problems of recruiting and training people, but they say that the answer is not that simple.

“That’s never going to happen - it’s too big of a county,” Rick explains. “Another department in the area is talking about going to a paid fire department, and the cost would be around $100,000 per employee per year. So you imagine what that would do to your taxes and the involvement of your people? By the time we pay insurance on them and everything else on them for the year?”

Coming next: Part 3 - Keeping up with equipment requirements

07/04/2026

Steak Feed is coming soon! Saturday July 11th!

Dine in starting at 5pm, carry outs starting at 5:30pm.

Steak, potatoes, beans, rolls & dessert!
Drinks available!

Raffle tickets will be available for purchase the day of the event! Here are so raffle baskets that will be available! More to come!

07/02/2026

Mt. Hope Fire Department: Keeping up with present-day challenges

By Becky Ruff

Over 80 years ago in December of 1944, residents of Mt. Hope witnessed fire destroy two family homes, while trying their best to fight with fire extinguishers until the Fennimore Fire Department was able to arrive to help.

Out of that experience, with a desire to help protect the local citizens and their property, meetings were held and the Mt. Hope Fire Department was formed. The spirit and willingness to boldly go into situations that most people back away from, is what carries the department to this day, due to the selfless actions of the fire department members.

Being on the fire department in 2026 however, looks very different from what it was in 1944.

Longtime member Rick French joined the department in 1987, and with the exception of one year, has served as chief since 2003. He notes that years ago, there were more fires than there are today.

“[There were] more wood burners, and chimney fires caused a lot of house fires,” Rick explains. There was also more risk of barn fires, he adds, “if they heated them with wood burners to keep things warm.”

The French family is one of several multigenerational families involved in the Mt. Hope Fire Department. Rick’s wife Cindy French and their two sons Jasen and Nathan are all on the fire department and Rick, Cindy and Jasen are members of West Grant EMS. Jasen’s wife Alexis is also on the fire department.

In addition to structure and brush fires, the calls include traffic accidents, storm spotting and helping EMS with lift assists, to name a few. Rick notes that in the past, “We're lucky to have a dozen calls, now [we’re] at 28 this year.”

Cindy explains, “Now [the fire department] has gone from just fires, to assisting Grant County. Every accident, you are called out, even if it’s for traffic control. Nine times out of ten, we’re on scene before anyone else is.”

The fire department assists with many aspects of accidents: helping free trapped individuals from vehicles, using tools such as the “jaws of life,” providing initial medical care until EMS can arrive or assisting paramedics, dealing with hazards such as spilled fuel, hazardous materials or downed power lines, and vehicle fires or smoking engines, and traffic control, which includes securing the scene and providing boundaries to prevent additional vehicles from crashing at the scene.

Rick says, “The first thing you do is size up the scene, make sure it’s safe, make sure the people in the car are safe. And then we need to quickly decide what we’re going to do for traffic control - are we going to shut the road down. We’ve got to handle all that.”

Cindy adds, “And if the person in the vehicle is injured, we have to start a C-spine on them. Sometimes we’ve had to take pictures of the scene, decide if we have to get the vehicle off the road for safety.” (A cervical spine (C-spine) collar is used in emergency trauma response to temporarily immobilize the neck, preventing secondary spinal cord injury.)

Both Rick and Cindy stress the importance of the quick response from the local volunteers, and that all available hands help to get the response accomplished.

As Rick explains, due to staffing, the sheriff’s department doesn’t always have an officer immediately available to respond. “On the weekends, there might be only three or four on duty, in all of Grant County. If they’re on the far end of Grant County, it takes so long to get there.”

Cindy says, “Can you imagine, if you were the person in that accident waiting for an officer, waiting for someone to come help?”

Rick adds, “And I understand there's people who cannot stand the sight of blood. But you remember when you go somewhere, there are fifteen, twenty jobs you’ve got to be doing. That's what I tell the members here, because it's all important.”

Still an independent fire department, meaning they are self-owned and not under the governance of a municipality, Mt. Hope Fire covers almost 130 square miles.

Rick says, “We have close to one of the biggest fire districts in the area.”

The territory covers the northern part of Little Grant township, all of Millville township, including the DNR ground to Millville, part of Patch Grove township, all of the village of Mt. Hope, all of the township of Mt. Hope, all of the township of Woodman, and includes half of Badger Camp.

Coming next: Part 2 - Challenges of recruiting and keeping department members due to firefighter training

06/29/2026

Check out the area fire works this coming week!

July 4th Firework Times & Locations

July 3rd:
City of Mauston - Dusk
Visit Warrens - Dusk

July 4th:
Bagley, WI Events - Dusk
Boscobel Rural Fire Department - Dusk
Cassville Airport Fireworks - Dusk
Eastman, WI - Dusk
G**s Mills - Dusk
Stump Dodger Bash: G**s Mills - Dusk?
City of Hillsboro, WI - Dusk
La Farge - Dusk (must be at Calhoun Park)
Lone Rock 4th of July - Dusk
Mazomanie - Dusk
Mineral Point - Dusk
Ontario - 9:30ish
4th of July - Platteville, WI - Dusk
Shullsburg 4th of July Celebration - 9:45
Tomah - 9:30
Viroqua - Dusk
Westby - Dusk
Yellowstone Lake Chalet Campground - Dusk - Argyle

July 5th:
Kieler - 9:30
Wiota - Dusk

Other Dates:
Wiota - Dusk: July 5th
Hollandale - Dusk: July 11th
Dodgeville - Dusk: July 11th at Harris Park
Wa Du Shuda Days Festival : New Lisbon - July 11th
Prairie du Chien Fire Dept - 9:30: July 11th
Cassville Bicentennial Celebration - July 11th: Dusk
Arena - Dusk: July 18th
Our Town - Highland, WI Highland - Dusk: July 18th

If we missed a location, please let us know. We're happy to include locations on the list, as long as they're within our region.

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