Volunteers respond to 40 fires in 2014

The Columbia Falls Fire Department responded to 239 incident calls in 2014, fire chief Rick Hagen said in his annual report to the city council.

“That’s slightly below the annual average,” he said.

About a two-thirds of the calls were outside the city limits and within the jurisdiction of the Columbia Falls Rural Fire District, which is also about average.

Forty of those incident calls involved a fire, including 12 residential, nine commercial, three vehicle and 16 vegetation fires. All told, about 2 1/2 acres burned, Hagen reported. The department also responded to nine illegal burns and 12 smoke investigations.

On area roadways, fire department personnel responded to 13 motor-vehicle accidents with an injury, including eight that required extrication. They also responded to 19 accidents without an injury, Hagen reported.

While there were no HazMat incidents in 2014, fire personnel responded to 36 incidents with a hazardous condition.

Columbia Falls has 27 volunteer firefighters on the roster, with two new members since September and no new applications pending, Hagen reported.

“We’re still looking for volunteers,” he said.

FireCAT, a firm brought in to test the department’s fire hoses in September, found no failures in 11,525 feet of hose.

“Normal failure rate for first-time testing is three percent,” Hagen said.

New base radios were installed at the city and rural fire stations after personnel ran into programming issues with digital communications equipment. A new command vehicle has arrived and is being outfitted, Hagen reported.

“The only things left to do are to get the decals and striping installed and transfer all the equipment from the old vehicle,” he said.

A new water supply system has been installed at the rural fire station on U.S. 2 south of Highway 40 to support a new training facility. The three-story structure will be capable of handling live burn exercises, Hagen said. Funding is available for the facility, but no date for construction has been set.

The rural fire board has approved construction of a 12-by-20 foot storage addition for $12,000. A new pressure washer system to clean vehicles has not yet been installed at the rural station. Hagen said $15,000 has been budgeted for the pressure washer.