Red Bud Fire Department

05/15/2026

Landing Zone and Helicopter Safety Training. Thank you to ARCH Air Medical Service-Granite City Base for being able to fill in last minute and come visit us. As well, thank you to our own Cole Diercks with ARCH Air Medical Service - Sparta, IL Base for lining this up and instructing the class room portion.

05/14/2026

PSA: Tonight we are doing a Landing Zone and Helicopter Safety training in conjunction with ARCH Air Medical Service - Sparta, IL Base and will be landing a helicopter in the vicinity of Red Bud Regional Hospital around 730 PM. This is just a notice to the nearby residence that there will be noise but there is no emergency.

05/04/2026

2nd Dues Notices Mailing Soon. We know that with the mail system, dues or notices may not have all made it to their final destination. The hope is this post will reduce the amount of postage to send out a second notice to outstanding dues addresses. At this point we have processed all the checks/payments that we have received. If you recently mailed it, please check your banking institution to see if we have cashed it. If we have not, then we have not received it. If you have inquires, please reach out to us via email at [email protected]

🚨2026 FIRE DUES🚨
Our mailing company has notified us that cards are being sent out for the 2026 Fire Dues. Some information below:

- 2026 dues are $60.
- If paying with Venmo, PLEASE put your address in the memo so we can track it easier. Our system is address based not owner. If paying multiple addresses please put in all addresses. Our venmo payments are all set to private between us and the sender. is the venmo

- You can still pay by check or dropping it off at Dieterich Bank, North County Savings or Buena Vista in Red Bud.
- We deposit physical checks in batches and it could be a few weeks after mailing it before it is cashed. As well, the mail system may not get us your check in a timely manner. Even when taken to the bank, please wait at least a month before contacting us in regards to your payment. The bank collects checks and gives them to us for recording and deposit, they don't automatically process them.
- There are 2 groups that handle our dues process, the City RBFD and Rural Fire Board. If you are within city limits, the fire department board handles it. If you are out of city limits, the rural board handles your dues. In some instances there can be inadvertent overlap.

- Please reach out to our dedicated email address for dues. It is not monitored daily but we will be responding to inquiries. [email protected]

We understand that sending out bills around the holidays is less than ideal but we have deferred it well into the next year in the past and it netted just as many issues. The alternative would be property taxes which are also due at this time. We do thank you for your continued support. Our department is funded primarily with dues and fundraisers. Our goal is always to be good stewards of your money by providing our members with the best training and equipment for our community's specific needs through comprehensive planning and research.

04/30/2026

This year we were able to award 3 scholarships for the Red Bud Fire Department - Chad Grohmann Memorial Scholarship

Congratulations to our 3 recipients!

Lucas Grohmann
Makennah Harless
Addyson Piel

This scholarship is in memory of Chad Grohmann, a dedicated member of our department and community who was sadly taken from us too soon. It is awarded to individuals pursuing higher education in the Emergency Services / Medical or adjacent careers.

03/29/2026

The National Weather Service in St. Louis has issued a Red Flag Warning for our area. This means that fires that develop will spread quickly. Winds out of the South at 15MPH with gusts up to 25MPH. The warning is in effect till 7PM. Please refrain from burning at this time.

02/20/2026

We will be accepting applications for new Volunteer Firefighter Trainees through Sunday evening, after which point we will be contacting those individuals that submitted applications. If you are interested in learning more or becoming a Volunteer Firefighter with RBFD, the application link is below. If you have already applied, you need not apply again, we have the information.

This is a Firefighter Trainee application for the Red Bud Fire Department. A Firefighter Trainee has a 2+ year probationary period. Illinois OSFM, IFSAC, or DOD Certification may reduce the probationary period length. You must: -be 21 years old -live in the RBFD fire protection area (We will verify....

02/02/2026

We are again accepting applications for our Volunteer Fire Department. If you have ever been interested in the fire service, fill out an application and see what it is all about. An application is not an agreement to sign up, so even if you are not sure if it is for you, we encourage you to fill one out anyway. There are some college level courses and testing that is required to be completed. Red Bud Volunteer Fire Department holds itself and its members to exceptionally high standards and all trainees are required to complete this process. The community deserves competent firefighters and we are lucky enough to be able to send all our firefighters to classes to gain state certification. It isn't easy but everyone would do it if it was.

02/02/2026

As well as Officer and Board elections, we wanted to recognize some of our newest memebers. We missed posting when a few of them got added as trainees.

New Red Bud Firefighters (completed all training requirements and testing requirements this past year and have been active for a while now):
Tim Mehring
Caleb Langrehr
Not pictured: Eric Prange and Justin Grider

At the election meeting, two other trainees completed their requirements and were placed as active Red Bud Firefighters:
Kaleb Barriger
Nick Schmidt

Our two newest trainees, they have been with us since last year and are currently going through their classes at SWIC:
Pat Mueller
Ryan Wittenborn

We are glad to have you all and to see the fruits of your labor payoff. Over the past few years we have made an aggressive recruiting effort and we are going to open up applications again for additional Firefighters. The ultimate goal is to keep a pipeline of new memebers to be trained and ready to go to replace those that will be retiring in the coming years. Due to the intense training requirements and timelines, it could easily be 3 to 4 years until a new firefighter is able to confidently operate, so we want to have them at that point before retiring memebers step away, not after.

02/02/2026

This past Thursday, we held our annual elections for Officers and Board Members.

2026 Line Officers (seated from left to right)
Chief: Sean Landgraf
1st Asst. Chief: Steven Falkenhain
2nd Asst. Chief: Zac Zipfel
Captain: Tyler Hess
Lieutenant: Clinton Guebert
Lieutenant: Todd Tobin

2026 Board Members (standing from left to right)
Fire Marshal: Cole Diercks
Fire Marshal: Tim Mehring
Secretary: Tom Beshoar
President: Kevin Miller
Vice-President: Chad Buch
Treasurer: Tony Vause

01/27/2026

A good reminder from our colleagues in Columbia. Unfortunately, New Baden Fire had to perform a recovery for someone that went through the ice.

❄️Stay OFF Frozen Lakes & Ponds! ❄️

Even when it looks thick and safe, ice can be extremely dangerous. Hidden thin spots, cracks, and rotten ice can give way without warning no matter how cold it’s been.

- Never go out on frozen bodies of water unless you are trained and properly equipped.

- Snow can hide weak spot in the ice.

- Never assume it’s safe just because others are out there.

- Do NOT attempt to rescue someone who has fallen through the ice. Good Samaritans often become additional victims. Call 911 immediately and stay on shore. Stay in visual and audible contact with the victim if possible, but do not go onto the ice yourself.