by John Dowd
First responders deal with life and death every single day they wear their uniform. It is a concept hard for people to understand that have never worn the stripes, the badge or the stethoscope. However, some who answer the call and hop in behind the flashing lights do so among a higher order, responding to emergencies completely unpaid for their services. Many in the valley may not be aware, but this is the case for all the firefighters in the Bitterroot Valley.
Rex Olson is the Chief of the Stevensville Rural Fire District, and has been with the district for over 29 years, participating with both town and rural departments. He, among all the firefighters in the valley, from Florence to Sula, are volunteers. The only exceptions are the paid chiefs of both Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department and Corvallis Rural Fire District.
“That’s the cool thing about the valley,” said Olson, during one of several monthly training sessions held by both Stevensville departments. “We have 25 people out here tonight that could be with their families,” he added, speaking about the training held up Kootenai Creek Road last Thursday. During the training, the fighters practiced burning and controlling fuel on the edge of fires, simulating a woodland fire. There were over 25 people in attendance, and all doing so on their own time. In Stevensville, and in many of the other departments in the valley, the town, city and rural firefighters train together.
Stevensville does hands-on training two times a month, and every Thursday there is training of some kind, whether in the station or outside. “Wild-land is only a small part of what we do,” said Olson, speaking on the wide breadth of training that they practice. Even though his district is specifically rural, they do structures as well.
On top of all the training for dealing specifically with fires, many departments also have their fighters receive medical training, with many of them possessing EMT level training. This medical knowledge allows them to fill the gap in coverage between ambulance services in the valley, which are also low in volunteers and in high demand. Firefighters also get training on dealing with hazardous materials, low angle recovery, swift water rescue and much more.
Firefighters in the valley attend nearly all the calls in the valley, including car wrecks, structure and wild-land fire calls. Both the departments in the Stevensville area go out on calls together, pooling their resources and training. “We work together, we know each other, we train together,” said Olson.
Olson also stated, “They can’t do all this on their own.” He talked about how the departments provide mutual aid to other departments in the valley. This is because call levels can be overwhelming, as Stevensville alone covers over 700 calls per year. According to Olson, the process and intercommunication is “mostly seamless.”
Each department has their own crew and separate funding sources. The county funds rural departments through tax dollars, and municipal departments are funded by town or city taxes. All of that funding goes into equipment and training. However, as Olson stated, every single one of their firefighters volunteers their time.
Olson explained that everyone has a job and other responsibilities. Olson, himself, owns Rex Olson Trucking. For him, and others, a big part of the system relies on the community.
Jeff Motley, Chief of the Stevensville Fire Department in town, explained that one of the biggest ways the community helps is how employers let the volunteers go out on calls. “That’s huge,” said Motley. Motley has been with the Stevensville Fire Department for 28 years, and said, “It’s the whole family that’s volunteering.”
When asked why the firefighters are so willing to volunteer, Motley stated, “We want to help our neighbors. It’s neighbors helping neighbors.” These thoughts were echoed by both Olson and the public infor
mation officer with the Florence Rural Fire District, John Ames. According to Ames, there are a lot of reasons fighters join, including “everything from the excitement to providing a service to the community.”
According to Motley, they are always looking for volunteers. “We’ll take you for as much or as little as you can give us,” said Motley. However, he clarified that the fighters often put in hundreds of hours. Olson commented, “People may not realize, especially those moving into the valley, we do the same level as a career fire department.”
There are 10 departments spread across the valley, in places including Florence, Three Mile, Stevensville town, Stevensville rural, Victor, Corvallis, Pinesdale, Hamilton city, Hamilton rural, Darby, Sula, West Fork and at Painted Rocks. The town and city departments have single stations, but each rural district has several in their area. For example, Stevensville Rural Fire District has four stations.
Each department has their own way of getting help from the community, and gathering volunteers. Florence Rural Fire District has 45 members, five of which are members of the cadet program. This is a unique program where young “cadets,” between the ages of 14 and 15 years old, join the department as trainees. This allows them to get ahead in their training, gain hands-on experience and actively help the department. When they turn 18, they can choose to join on as bona fide, fully-fledged, firefighters.
According to Ames, not all departments and districts have a cadet program, but he believes they are important. “It gives them a good opportunity for young men and women who are thinking about a career in fire to see if it’s what they really want to do,” said Ames.
Several cadets go on to become firefighters, and Ames himself came up through one of these types of programs. He believes it was a great starting point for himself, as a “student firefighter,” and recommends young people interested in firefighting give it a try. These cadets get to do everything real fighters do, even going on actual calls. However, cadets are kept out of danger and not allowed to go into burning buildings or on dangerous wild-land calls.
When speaking on what else the community can do to help their departments, the three men recommended interested parties contact their local departments to learn more. Olson added that employers should continue to let their employees go out on calls and he encourages people to volunteer. All three men agreed that all the departments need as much help as they can get.
And, according to Olson, “Pull over!” This is in regards to what drivers should do when they see the oncoming flashing lights of a fire engine. It may mean life or death, both for the people they are going out on calls to help, or for the firefighters themselves. All while doing so completely uncompensated.