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Larry Crawford, left, and Darrell Crawford
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
CUSTER — Father and son Larry and Darrell Crawford have accumulated a combined 77 years serving the citizens of Mason County as members of the Custer Fire Department. Both have served up the ranks of the department, including the role of chief. Darrell is the current fire chief and was preceded by his father.
Larry joined the fire department about 1977.
“I used to get my gas at DonPrice’s Shell gas station at the corner of US 10 and Main Street in Custer,” Larry said. “Don was the fire chief. I would always see the firefighters take off and head out to fires and thought I would be interested in joining. Then, finally one day Don invited me to be on the department.”
Darrell joined the year he turned 18, in 1996.
“I grew up watching my dad going to fires and responding to other emergency calls,” Darrell said. “I would always be at the fire station with him and even would respond to some calls in his own vehicle. It’s just something I knew I always wanted to do.”
Both Larry and Darrell have served various positions on the department. (this is kind of redundant to the second sentence)
In 2013, when Larry was serving as assistant fire chief, Chief John Allison passed away. Larry stepped in to take Allison’s place and served as chief until 2019 when his assistant chief, Darrell, took over the role of chief. Larry then stepped down to serve as a firefighter/medical first responder.
“I would say we both just really enjoy helping people,” Larry said. “Typically, when the fire department shows up, someone is having one of the worst days of their lives. It’s our job to hopefully provide them some comfort and reassurance.”
Both Crawfords have seen some major changes in the fire service. The change that had the most impact, however, was in 1996 when the Mason County Rural Fire Authority was created.
The Mason County Rural Fire Authority is an entity funded through a millage by the City of Scottville, the villages of Custer, Fountain, and Free Soil, and the townships of Amber, Branch, Custer, Eden, Free Soil, Grant, Meade, Riverton, Sheridan, Sherman, Summit and Victory. It consists of seven fire departments or stations: Branch, Custer, Fountain Area, Free Soil/Meade, Grant, Riverton, and Scottville.
“The creation of the Mason County Rural Fire Authority was by far the best thing our residents could have done in regards to fire and rescue services,” Larry said. “One township or one city, like Scottville, cannot afford to fund the level of service that an entity like the rural fire authority can. Prior to its formation, the main fire truck at Custer Fire Department was a mini pumper purchased in the late 1970s. Under the rural fire authority, all seven departments now have modern, new equipment. And, for the most part that equipment is the same, meaning that members of different departments can easily use equipment from the other departments. During emergencies, that’s critical.”
The fire authority is governed by a five-person board appointed by the 15 elected boards of each municipality. Four of those board members represent geographical areas while one serves at-large. The Mason County Rural Fire Authority also employs an administrator, Dale Goodrich.
“Like all the fire departments in Mason County, the departments of the rural fire authority departments are not full time,” Darrell said. “We are paid-per-call, traditionally called volunteers. Every member of the seven fire departments have regular jobs and carry pagers. We respond when called.”
Volunteers or paid-per-call comprise 65 percent of firefighters in the United States. Of the total estimated 1,041,200 firefighters across the country, 676,900 are volunteers.
In his nearly-50 years of serving, Larry has seen major changes in the fire service beyond the creation of the Mason County Rural Fire Authority.
“When I started, we didn’t even carry pagers,” Larry said. “Don Price, the Custer Fire Chief, would receive a phone call, typically from the Mason County Sheriff’s Office — whose phone number was the main emergency phone number in the county (there was no 911). There was then a call tree. Don would call a certain amount of people who were then assigned to call other people. We would then all make our way to the fire station.”
In the early 1980s, Mason County fire departments started using low-band VHF radio pagers. They were dispatched from the sheriff’s office.
“The pagers were a huge improvement to our response times,” Larry said.
Besides the creation of the Mason County Rural Fire Authority in 1996, Larry credits the formation of Mason-Oceana 911 in 1995 as also being a major improvement to local emergency responses.
“Having 911 available to the public has been a game changer,” Larry said. “Over the last 30 years we have seen 911 continue to improve its services. Those dispatchers are our lifeline when we are on the scenes of emergencies.”
In the 1980s, rural fire departments began utilizing medical first responders. Medical first responders receive specialized training and are licensed by the State of Michigan. The concept is to provide urgent emergency medical care prior to the arrival of advanced life support by an ambulance’s personnel.
“Mason County is unique for this area of northern Michigan,” Darrell said. “Every fire department in the county has medical first responders. This isn’t the case in our neighboring counties. The level of medical emergency care in Mason County is certainly some of the best around.”
Training and equipment have also improved over the years.
“Being on a fire department requires a lot of time, sacrifice,” Darrell said. “The first year of training for a beginner firefighter requires over 300 hours of initial training.
The training has changed a lot over the years.
“When I joined, we would pick up guys along the way to the fire,” Larry said. “They were just farmers and other people with no training. Today, all firefighters are employees and they have to meet state and federal standards.”
Equipment has also improved.
“The personal protection equipment that we wear today is the best you can get,” Darrell said. “This is something that continues to improve, and it saves lives. The trucks we have and the equipment on those trucks are a result of years of working together and finding what works the best to save lives and property throughout the county.”
Since its formation in 1996, the Mason County Rural Fire Authority has operated with 1 mill. One mill is equal to 1/1,000 of a dollar.; for every $1,000 in taxable value, a property owner pays $1 in property tax. Taxable value represents 50% of a property’s market value as of Dec. 31 of the previous year.
Five years ago, the authority requested an additional .5 mill to help pay for replacement vehicles.
Increased expenses and aging buildings have caused the fire authority to re-evaluate its needs. On Aug. 5, the Mason County Fire Authority is asking voters to approve 2 mills to replace the current separate mills that total 1.5.
“Operating an entity such as the Mason County Rural Fire Authority is expensive, butsaving one life is priceless,” Larry said.
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