Fountain firefighter carries on her father’s legacy

By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief

FOUNTAIN — The fire service is full of tradition, legacy and honor. Such is the case for Mercedy Sayles, a rookie firefighter who has served on Fountain Area Fire Department since November of last year.

Mercedy grew up in a fire service family. Her dad, John Sayles, was a captain on the Pentwater Fire Department. Mercedy, 23, said she doesn’t remember a time that their family wasn’t involved in the fire department since her dad joined when she was a year old, in 2002.

“It was just a part of my life when I was little,” she said. “My dad joined a year after 9/11 and I was just a baby. He would have to leave family events like birthday parties and would spend a lot of weekends at trainings. It’s just the life that my family lived.”

John died of an aortic aneurysm on Nov. 14, 2012 at the age of 38. Mercedy was 11 years old. He was survived by his wife, Melanie, and their three children, Mercedy, the oldest, Marrissa and Mandi.

A fire department is often like a family. Through the years, the members of the Pentwater Fire Department kept close with the Sayles family. Mercedy graduated from Pentwater High School in 2020 and now works at Home Depot.

“I had always thought about being on a fire department but I didn’t really want to join Pentwater,” she said. “They are a great group of people but I didn’t want to be treated special or anything like that. My fiancé, Preston Kelly, had joined Fountain Area Fire Department and I was always tagging along. Some of the other firefighters started asking me why I didn’t just join.”

Mercedy is one of a handful of younger firefighters who have recently joined Fountain Area Fire Department, which is part of the Mason County Rural Fire Authority. The need for young members is a serious issue that many of the Mason County Rural Fire Authority departments face.

“We went through a time when we were facing a real shortage,” said Fountain Assistant Fire Chief Barry Ruger. “Then, just within the last year or so, we have had several younger members. We really need that next generation to be part of the fire service.”

Mercedy said being on a fire department is a great way to serve the community.

“There’s a really strong support system on a fire department,” she said. “It sounds cliche but it really is a family. You know that in times of responding to emergencies and in other times in your life that they have your back.”

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 authority is governed by a five-person board appointed by the 16 elected boards of each municipality. Four of those board members represent geographical areas while one serves at-large.

As with all 11 fire departments in Mason County, the firefighters on Mason County Rural Fire Authority departments are not full time. 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.

Michigan law allows probationary firefighters to serve up to two years on a fire department before receiving formal training. Prior to being certified, their duties are limited.

Later this year Mercedy will begin taking formal training classes to become certified, which require over 300 hours of class time.

The expenses of training personnel and maintaining equipment and buildings have increased drastically since the fire authority was formed in 1996. Over the past 29 years the 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.

Nine years ago, the authority requested an additional .5 mill to help pay for replacement vehicles. That millage expired the end of 2024. Increased expenses and aging buildings have caused the 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.

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