City should have more paid firemen by midsummer

By CHRIS PETERSON

Hungry Horse News

By midsummer, the Columbia Falls fire department could have a total force of four paid firemen.

Currently the department has one paid position in chief Karl Weeks, but the city has plans of hiring at least two and possibly three full-timers by the start of the new fiscal year in July.

The city has applied for a federal Staffing For Adequate Fire and Emergency Response grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It’s still awaiting to see if the grant will be awarded.

If it is, Weeks noted, the city will look to hire three full-time firemen. If not, then the city will hire two to start. Funds from the city’s new 3% resort tax will be used to pay for the firemen.

Weeks noted they will work day shifts, as 56% of all he calls the department receives come from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday

The paid staff is also needed during the day because that’s when the volunteers are at work, Weeks noted.

The paid firemen will not be supervisory positions.

The ideal number to have is three, because if an emergency happens during the day, they can roll a fire truck with what’s considered a full crew under National Fire Protection Association guidelines. It will mean a quicker response to incidents.

Weeks said when they’re not on calls, they’ll do fire inspections, public education, equipment maintenance and other duties.

“There will be plenty to do,” he said.

The department had a lot of calls last year —about 360. That’s 55 more than the year before.

With increased traffic going to Glacier National Park during the summer months, somedays the calls can be almost nonstop.

The department also goes on mutual aid to incidents outside of the district. For example, it helped Martin City recently on a house fire call.

But unlike some fire departments, Columbia Falls, has solid volunteer force as well.

Right now the city has 28 volunteers. The Columbia Falls city council capped the number of volunteers to 30 in a resolution last week.

The reason is cost — it’s expensive to train and outfit volunteers. Turnouts alone cost $2,000 for the pants and coat and self-contained breathing units are $8,000 apiece.

Wildland fire gear costs another $500 per firefighter.

The gear is rated for 10 years under NFPA guidelines, then it should be replaced.

In another fire-related matter, the city council last week approved the purchase of an emergency generator for its new water well at Horine Park.

In the event of an emergency where the power goes out, the city only has enough water in its tank to last a few hours. After that, it would lose water pressure and would be unable to fight a fire.

That could happen in a weather emergency in almost any time of the year, but a large wildfire in the summer months could easily knock out power and leave the city without water pressure.

The cost of the diesel generator and accessories was just under $177,000.