“Boxes. Large boxes,” local Stanley Fire Leuitenant Jeff Ryba called out through the kitchen window at Martino’s Pizza on Pine Street this Saturday, October 10 towards noon. Ryba and the rest of the Stanley and Boyd Fire crew were on hand to help with the annual fundraiser put on by owner Ron Haas of Martino’s Pizza, wherein all sales proceeds for the day—not just profits—get donated to the fire departments of Boyd and Stanley locally.

“The staff volunteer their time as well,” Haas said of the regular restaurant crew, not wanting anyone to go without credit or recognition. To keep it easy on the once-a-year fire helpers and quick for customers, pizza orders were being kept to just one topping Saturday, with a small for $9.00 and a large pepperoni after tax for $15.82. Scott from the fire crew was among those waiting on customers, while Sam from the regular crew answered the front desk phone and worked the register. The front phone’s tone grabs attention without getting on nerves. Presently, it rings.

“Thank you for calling Martino’s. This is Sam. How may I help you?” she asks one of the many customers calling in an order for the day. With both the lobby and drive-thru open and steady, there’s no shortage of work to be done. The fire personnel are in the kitchen putting sauce on pizza crust as seen through a window, while Lieutenant Ryba puts the final brush touch on each finished masterpiece before talking a long curved blade to slice the circle into triangular sections. One done, many more to go. So how’s the pizza?

“Good,” said one customer as he and his wife exited the establishment. “Very good.” Another customer coming through by herself complements those working on the service as lunch MARTINO’S

rush continues. “Thank you,” she tells the workers regular and otherwise.

Placing an order for a large pepperoni, it was time to head back outside, where Stanley Fire Chief Korey Hagenson and Boyd-Edson-Delmar Chief Ron Patten were manning the table in front of Ladder truck 51, giving out plastic fire hats and coloring books. So why do the local fire departments appreciate Martino’s staff and owner Ron Haas?

“For taking the day out to donate all this to us,” Hagenson said of fire equipment on display. Ron Haas was a big contributor towards the purchase of a Gravely UTV by the department recently, said purchase being approved by the Stanley Common Council. Patten had much the same to say in terms of local fire department appreciation.

“Extremely,” he said of how the Boyd-Edson-Delmar Fire Department appreciates the Martino’s fundraiser. “We just purchased a Jaws of Life unit a couple months ago,” Patten went on, with Haas being one of the contributors. “He gives a lot to the Stanley Fire Department—and Boyd. Has for quite a few years now,” Patten said. All of a sudden though, a call comes through.

“Korey, get in here,” a woman wearing a blue and white fire department t-shirt says as the need for wait staff inside becomes especially

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acute. Duty calls.

“Watch my truck Ron,” Hagenson said to Patten as he and firefighter Amy O’Donnell headed in to serve on the restaurant’s wait staff. Chief Patten of Boyd said the Stanley ladder truck is a lifesaver.

“Not everyone feels safe coming out of a three-story building on just a regular ladder,” he said of the hypothetical need for the longer extension during an apartment or other fire. With the bucket on top, they do.

“It’s a lifesaver,” he said simply of the ladder and bucket. A lot of people meanwhile, question a department’s need for all the equipment it has.

“A lot of people ask, ‘Do you really need all that?” Patten said of things like having two ambulances, then pointing out the scenario of responding to two accidents at once, or else just two sick people.

“I don’t know where you draw the line on the value of someone’s life,” Patten said. “You can’t I guess.” Wandering away from Patten and back inside the restaurant before heading back to the car, a voice calls out. Chief Hagenson has a delivery to make.

“I didn’t know if you wanted your pizza or if you left,” he says. Did someone say ‘pizza?’ Grazie mille—that’s ‘thank you very much’ in Italian, according to Google.