Lincoln County Fire Protection District's Station No. 1 in Troy, Mo., is the only 24 hour manned fire station in the county. Covering 160 square miles of farmland, city and forest, the firemen from the station responded to 1,500 calls last year and extinguished 350 fires.

Firefighters work a "two-day-on, four-day-off" schedule. During those two days (and nights) they live at the firehouse together, training, doing maintenance, working with volunteers and attending to their families and lives as best they can. The calls run the gamut from medical emergencies to structure fires to car accidents to catastrophic floods. For 48 hours each week they work and live together to protect and aid Lincoln County residents.