The Montgomery Fire Protection District has reached a milestone this year.

The organization is celebrating its 25th anniversary. It has 31 members, including four new ones who joined in April, and has five board members.

As part of its celebration, the fire district is putting together a cookbook in which staff members and community members will add recipes to it. Chief Jessica Davis and Jessica Green will make the cookbook. Anyone who would like to add submissions to the cookbook can go to the fire district’s Facebook page.

Davis said the idea of making a cookbook came from the Sparklers, which was a ladies organization for the Montgomery Rural Fire Department that would come up with fundraisers. One of them was making different cookbooks.

“One of the ladies who was on the Sparklers and I were talking about the birthday thing,” Davis said. “She said, ‘I have one of the old cookbooks. Do you want to see it?’ I said, ‘Yes, I do. That would be pretty cool.’ We’re going to pull some recipes from the old one and put it in the new one. We’re hoping to get some from all of our staff to add to it.”

The fire department will also hold an open house on Halloween and will have T-shirts made by Montgomery City resident Jolene Rodgers.

The Montgomery Fire Protection District is a volunteer organization that serves Montgomery City, Buell, Danville, Mineola and other areas. It was formed on Dec. 3, 1999 after the Montgomery City Fire Department and the Montgomery Rural Fire Department decided to merge into a volunteer fire district.

“When they merged, we became our own government entity,” Davis said. “We’re not under anybody. Just ourselves and our board direct us. That didn’t have to go through a vote to get the tax approval.”

Recently, the fire district received a conservation grant that will help pay for new equipment.

“We’re purchasing a UTV and a trailer,” Davis said. “The grant is paying for the things that go on them like the skid to spray the water, a hose, rakes, backpacks and chainsaws. We had that grant last fall. That was exciting. We haven’t had the conservation grant in several years. That was my first attempt at applying for it and I got it, so I was pretty excited about that.”

Davis has been a member of the fire district since she was a high school student at Montgomery County High School in 2000. She became chief in Jan. 2024, replacing Keith Reynolds, who retired after 28 years.

Davis joined the fire department as a member of a program for high school students in the summer of 2000, just months after the merger.

“It was the first time they did a high school program,” Davis said. “So I started in high school. I was part of the first group of high schoolers that went through. Now, that’s run through the Montgomery County Fire Alliance and all of the districts worked together to do a bigger training session for any high schoolers across the board, then filter them back out to the fire departments.”

Davis leads a fire district that includes assistant chief Cody Fortmann, deputy chief Jeff Zerr, captains Jim Cline, Neal Davis and Johnnie Powell and lieutenant Jim Davis. Board members include Doug Dowling, Kris Knoepflein, Bob Palmer, Grace River and George Boes.

The fire district added four new recruits to its staff. They are Cali Fortmann, Westin Strube, Tom Pinson and Sean Bergmann.