Pulaski County, Kentucky Station at 331 Stab Road Shopville and Stab All volunteer
Twenty eight neighbors answer the call on Stab Road.
Shopville-Stab Volunteer Fire Department covers the country east of Somerset from one station off KY 80. There is no career staff and no paid on call crew. The people who show up are the people who live here.
This page sets out what the public record actually says about the department, and what the community can do about it: sign on, chip in, or ask about the hall.
The department at a glance
- Volunteers
- 28
- Career staff
- 0
- Paid per call
- 0
- Stations
- One, at 331 Stab Road
- Chief
- Darwin Harris
- County
- Pulaski, Kentucky
- Member of
- Pulaski County Fire Commission
Staffing counts are from the department registry record 20975 at usfiredept.com. The chief and the commission membership are from the department roster published by the Pulaski County Fire Commission at pulaskicountyfire.com.
What the record shows
Three plain facts carry the whole story of a department like this one, and all three are on the public record.
Volunteer, with nobody on payroll
Twenty eight volunteers. Zero career firefighters, zero paid per call positions. Every hour worked here is donated by somebody with another job.
Station, on Stab Road
The department runs from a single station at 331 Stab Road, Somerset. Everything the department owns and everywhere it gathers starts from that one address.
Of the county fire system
Shopville-Stab is a member department of the Pulaski County Fire Commission, so it works alongside the other county departments rather than alone.
The Hall on Stab Road
Lake Cumberland Tourism lists the department at 331 Stab Road as an event venue. The listing carries the address and a link, and nothing else: no capacity, no rates, no calendar. In a lot of small communities the fire hall is simply the biggest room anybody has. Here is how that room reads on paper.
Concept plan drawn for this design. It shows how the pieces of a fire hall relate, not a survey of the building. The department has not published a floor plan.
Main hall
The open room. In a rural department this is where the benefit supper gets served, where the community meeting gets held, and where a family gathering happens when the house is too small. Ask the chief what it holds and what a night there involves.
Nothing about rates, capacity or open dates is published anywhere public, so this page will not guess at them. One message to the department is the way to find out.
We run on twenty eight neighbors
Twenty eight is the whole roster. Every call this department answers is answered by somebody on that list, and the list is how the department keeps running.
- Ask what the training looks likeDepartments run their own schedules and requirements. The chief can tell you what the first year asks of you here.
- Ask what happens on a callWho gets toned out, how you respond, and what happens if you are at work when it comes in.
- Ask where you fitNot everything at a fire department happens on the fire ground. Say what you are good at and ask where it is useful.
How the community carries it
A department with nobody on payroll still pays for fuel, gear, hose testing and the building. There is no online donation page published for this department, so support here is a direct conversation, not a checkout button.
Give directly
Email the chief and ask what the department needs this year and how a contribution should be sent. Ask what is tax deductible before you assume it.
Show up to the fundraisers
Watch the department Facebook page for anything the members put on. A full hall is worth more to a volunteer department than most people expect.
Use the hall
If your family or your group needs a room on this end of the county, ask about the hall on Stab Road first. It keeps the money in the community that answers your calls.
Before you need us
Rural response takes longer than town response, for every department, everywhere. These are the things that shorten it, and every one of them is on the property owner rather than the fire department.
- Your address
Put your 911 address number where it can be read from the road at night, on both approaches. A crew that cannot find the driveway is a crew that is not on your fire yet.
- Your driveway
A fire engine is wider, taller and far heavier than a pickup. Trim the branches over the lane and know whether a loaded truck can turn around at the top of it.
- Smoke alarms
One on every level and outside the sleeping rooms. Test them on a date you will remember, and replace the whole alarm on the schedule printed on its back.
- Water on hand
Rural fire flow comes from tankers and draft sites, not a hydrant on the corner. If there is a pond or a stream with access on your place, tell the department it exists.
- Open burning
Kentucky restricts outdoor burning during the state fire hazard seasons, and county rules can add to that. Check the current rules with the Kentucky Division of Forestry and the county before you light a pile, and never leave one unattended.
- Calling it in
Call 911 first, then get everyone out and stay out. Meet the trucks at the road if you can do it safely and tell them what is burning and who is unaccounted for.
Reach the department
For an emergency, call 911. Everything else on this page goes through the two public channels below. This concept page has no contact form and collects nothing.