Madison County fire chief reports year of runs, urges residents to call before controlled burns

Madison County Judge-Executive Reagan Taylor heard an annual run report on Sept. 9 from Madison County Fire Chief Tim Gray covering calls from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025. Gray summarized activity across five volunteer fire departments and the county department and answered questions about controlled burns, water rescues and how 9-1-1 call data are recorded.

Gray said the Kirksville Volunteer Fire Department ran 180 calls, up 23 from the prior fiscal year, including 43 vehicle accidents and five structure fires. Red Lick responded to 136 calls (up 28), including 36 vehicle accidents and three structure fires. Union City had 138 calls (up 23), Waco logged 364 calls (down 22), and Whitehall made 462 calls (up 57). The Madison County Fire Department recorded 2,316 calls, down 36 from the prior year; Gray said 1,143 of those were controlled burns, leaving about 1,173 other calls (an average of a little more than 3.2 calls per day). Among county responses were 336 vehicle accidents, 190 assists to EMS/other agencies, 24 structure fires, 43 vehicle fires and nine water rescues.

Gray described how CAD/9-1-1 entries categorize calls and said some reports logged as “explosions” are often small incidents or controlled-burn flare-ups reported by neighbors. "They'd tone us out as an explosion. I don't remember anything that was significant that we went on that was actually an explosion," Gray said. He also explained typical water rescues — stalled vehicles swept off low-water crossings and vehicles driven into high water — and noted occasional river or boat incidents.

Gray urged residents to call 9-1-1 before conducting a controlled burn so dispatch has a record and crews are not dispatched unnecessarily. "If you want to do a control burn, we ask for you to call in 9-1-1 and give them that information," Gray said, and provided the county number for burn notifications as (859) 624-4776. He said the county allows only natural wood and brush piles to be burned and that dispatch will record the caller's name, address and callback number.

Officials and the chief discussed station upgrades and grant activity: Kirksville is pursuing a CDBG application to support a new station; Whitehall is upgrading its station facilities; and several departments maintain mutual-aid and public-relations responses such as event standby or traffic control. Gray said the county's statistics come from official 9-1-1 CAD entries.

The presentation closed with a reminder that the county is preparing for the fall state forestry burn season and that public education efforts have reduced grass-fire numbers in recent years. "Call in, do a controlled burn, and we can advise you of the weather status," Gray said. The court thanked Gray for the report.