Smiley talks staffing, station and open house as Missouri Valley fire chief
Don Harrold, Executive Editor
editor@enterprisepub.com
Angel Smiley has been chief of the Missouri Valley Fire Department since January 2025. She was appointed after the department's previous chief retired, she said. Before that, she was the department's assistant EMS chief.
Smiley talked about the department in an interview at the station.
She said she took over while the station was under construction, the city council was going through a change and the department was going through "a bunch of changes."
"There was a lot happening all at once," Smiley said. "Baby steps will get you where you're going. It doesn't seem like you're moving very fast, but we're getting there."
The department handles about 60 calls a month, Smiley said. Firefighters take three to five minutes to reach the station after a call and less than 10 minutes to reach a scene. She said response on the fire side is quick because firefighters do not have to wait for an EMT.
"We're doing fairly well, firefighter-wise," she said. "We are definitely looking for more EMTs."
The department has four volunteer emergency medical technicians, Smiley said. She said she travels for work, and a couple of the others are farmers whose hours get longer this time of year, so the department relies more on mutual aid in the evenings.
Paid EMS staff cover 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., Smiley said, because volunteer members work during the day. That coverage started four or five years ago, possibly longer, she said. Most of the paid staff are from out of town, and no one has applied when the positions are offered. She said Blair, Nebraska, Council Bluffs and Omaha have better-paying job opportunities than Missouri Valley.
Smiley said recent rain caused leaks along the seam where the station's new section meets the old one, including above the EMS room. "We need to get those leaks fixed 'cause now our worry is mold," she said.
A department lieutenant is working with the company that did the work on the building, and that company is going to try to get the leaks taken care of in the next couple of weeks, Smiley said.
"I don't know what's been talked about with the payment side of things," she said.
The department will hold a pancake feed the morning of Saturday, Oct. 10, followed by an open house, Smiley said. She said the area with water damage will be closed off.
"It's a great group of people," she said. "I'd encourage people to come in and meet the fire department. We got a lot of new faces."
