Cabinet View captain ponders what's next for her, colleagues

Mast says she prefers duties in her locale, helping neighbors

Since Lincoln County Commissioners last month issued a decision that Cabinet View Rural Fire Department must focus only on structure fires, members of that department now feel displaced and even left wondering what is next for the 25 firefighters.

One such volunteer is Kaylene Mast, 26, a captain with Cabinet View.

Mast, who by trade is a roofer with Mast Roofing, has been a student of firefighting, taking extensive training, and even becoming a licensed and certified emergency medical technician (EMT).

“This is my home, my neighborhood,” Mast said standing in the bays of the Cabinet View Fire House, just off Farm to Market Road. “I want to help people here, in my area,” Mast said.

“I’ve worked hard to train, to be the best I can be. To say, we’re not qualified to do what I’m trained for, just isn’t accurate. We ARE qualified,” she said.

Mast said she listens to transmissions on the scanner network and knows she and her group of volunteers can get to emergency situations in and around the Cabinet View Fire House quicker than can Libby Ambulance.

“That’s what I don’t get,” Mast said. “If we weren’t qualified, we wouldn’t want to put ourselves or the victims in danger. We’re just not like that. I know we can do this,” said Mast who lives in a small quarters in the firehouse.

While Mast and other firefighters will continue to respond to structure-fire calls, she ponders the future and what is next for the department, which in addition to the 25 firefighters has five other certified and licensed EMTs.

“I don’t know what I’ll do,” Mast said. “There has been a lot said. I don’t know that I can go Libby Ambulance. So much has been said.”

For his part, Libby Ambulance President Craig Shultz has said he would welcome EMTs from Cabinet View. As recently, as Wednesday, Oct. 26, when the Lincoln County Commission issued its edict, Schultz invited volunteers from Cabinet View: “We welcome anyone to our training,” Schultz said “I can’t see breaking us up. Join Libby Ambulance. We can be one big happy family.”

So far, that invitation has not been accepted, said Cabinet View Fire Chief Dan Leavell.

“I just don’t see any of our people going there,” Leavell said. “I’m advocating that they offer their services to Fisher River (Rural Volunteer Fire Department),” Leavell said. “I see this (Cabinet View Fire House) becoming a satellite department of Libby Fire.”

The Fisher River Fire District is about 35 miles southeast of Libby on Missouri Route 2.

Leavell said he is committed to the area for another two years, but beyond that he will probably move, leave the area.

As for Mast, she indicated she wants to help persons in “her neighborhood.”

“Right now, I’m leaning not (going to Libby),” Mast said. “I’m operational … I just try to stay out of the politics.”