NEW FIRE DEPARTMENT PATCH HELPS CONVEY PURPOSE AND HISTORY

Cape Girardeau firefighters have had a year of big changes -- a new chief, the added responsibility of responding to medical calls, and use of a new disaster-scene communication system.

Along with new uniform shirts and trousers, the firefighters now have a new locally-designed patch that symbolizes the department's function as well as the city's history.

"We wanted to create a theme for Cape Girardeau," said Fire Capt. Ron Kistner, chairman of the committee which searched for a patch design. "We wanted something different that could reflect the things we do for the city."

So the department ultimately called upon Norman Brooks, who has taught art at L.J. Schultz School for the past 29 years.

The department already has received two proposals from a company that specializes in police and fire patches, but wasn't happy with either of them.

"Having been a teacher in this town for 29 years, quite of few of my former students are now firemen," Brooks said. "...So one of the firefighters -- Sam Welker, I believe -- called me and asked if I still did that kind of thing," he said.

Brooks met with the firefighters on a couple of occasions to discuss their ideas and to show them examples of his own.

He submitted two different ideas at first. "One incorporated historically something of the Civil War -- the fountain out in front of the Common Pleas Courthouse. As I remember, the fire department had something to do with its refurbishing several years ago," Brooks said.

"The other patch had the Mississippi River Bridge and a model of the steamboat," he continued. "We went with a slight alteration of that one."

The end result is a patch which is as strikingly colorful and unique as it is representative of the men who wear it.

The patch mixes a scene taken from the mid-1800s with a symbol of days yet to come. The steamboat named the Cape Girardeau dominates the center. It is the third Cape Girardeau, the first two having sank. The third, which still survives, has been renamed the Gordon C. Greene.

The steamboat is traveling north on a calm blue Mississippi River, with a rendition of the new Mississippi River Bridge looming behind above the horizon.

Also featured on the patch is the emergency medical services Star of Life, the firefighter's scramble -- a ladder, fire helmet and trumpets -- an outline of the state of Missouri with a star where Cape Girardeau sits, and three red roses paying homage to "The City of Roses."

The words "Cape Girardeau Fire-Rescue" are at the top and bottom of the patch.

Firefighters wear their departmental patches on their left shoulders; on their right, they wear patches representative of their medical training.

"We will start using the patches immediately on our new uniforms and on our coats," said Kistner. "There was nothing wrong with the old patch, we just wanted to personalize one just for this department."