Matt Staiger comes from a family whose name is synonymous with the town of Kellyville. Even many Sapulpans will remember Staiger’s Hardware store on Buffalo Street, and a few might even remember when it was a grocery store.
Staigers have also been teachers, preachers, maintenance men, and who knows what else, all in the town of Kellyville. It’s a tradition that continues today.
Matt Staiger, the latest to carry on that tradition, just celebrated 20 years with the city. He began in May of 2000 with the Kellyville Volunteer Fire Department, where he’s now Chief. He was recognized at September’s Town Hall meeting by Police Chief Shelly Garrett, who even surprised Staiger with a cake.
Staiger says that if he’d have realized how much he loved the world of firefighting, he’d have gotten in it a lot earlier. “I just love this world,” he says. And this world has gotten better thanks to him and his team of volunteer firefighters.
An ISO fire insurance rating, also referred to as a fire score or Public Protection Classification (PPC), is a score from 1 to 10 that indicates how well-protected a community is by the fire department. In the ISO rating scale, a lower number is better: 1 is the best possible rating, while a 10 means the fire department did not meet the ISO’s minimum requirements.
Until recently, Kellyville city limits was a 5, while the area outside of city limits but within 1,000 feet of a fire hydrant was a 6. But thanks to a myriad of factors, including the amount of training Staiger has made available to his crew, Kellyville is enjoying a new, higher score of 3/3Y. The result is that those who live in an area serviced by the Kellyville Fire Department will see an 8-16 percent savings on their homeowner’s insurance.
Matt married Sheri Staiger in June of 1994, and he credits her with “keeping things ironed out” in the fire department. “She really keeps me ironed out, that’s for sure,” he says, laughing. They have two children, Mikayla, who serves on the Kellyville Police Department and also as a volunteer Kellyville Fire Fighter, Gage, works for Creek County, District 1, and also serves as a volunteer Kellyville Fire Fighter. So it’s something of a family business.
His only regret seems to be that he didn’t find his passion sooner. “If I would’ve known that I liked firefighting so much, it might’ve been my career path.” As it is, he went to work for American Airlines in 1996 as an aircraft mechanic, and he’s been there ever since.
Recalling a few of his more memorable experiences, he mentioned a large fire in 2012 that swept over thousands of acres, destroying buildings and ravaging homes. Kellyville was just one of a number of fire departments working that blaze. Staiger said his team had been working 24 hours straight and he had finally reached a point where he could get some sleep. “I’m not asleep for more than an hour and my neighbor shows up, telling me his house is on fire,” he says. “It wasn’t quite that bad—it was quite a way behind the houses— and we were able to get it stopped.” he said.
Sometimes you can tell that it’s going to be a busy day. “January 1st, 2005 had really high winds; me and my wife had gone to Atwoods earlier in the day, just in case something happened,” he said. Sure enough, on the way home a fire on 241st just off of 141st flared up and jumped Highway 33. “We didn’t lose any houses, nobody got hurt, but it traveled quite a ways. Fire trucks from all over came in to help with that one,” he said. “We even had guys from Monkey Island out by Grand Lake. They had a brand new fire truck. We finally got it shut down by Blue Bell Church.”
Staiger says the Kellyville Fire Department is looking for more help, both in firefighting and medical positions. Those who are interested may apply at Kellyville Town Hall, on Monday through Friday from 8 a.m to 5 p.m.
