Dixon trades old fire engine for a new one, courtesy of the DNRC

Jamie Doran

Valley Press

Dixon has a new fire engine thanks to a program and partnership with the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation.

The engine was brought to Dixon last Friday and was given to the Dixon Fire Department by Ted Meade, bureau chief for the DNRC’s Wildlife Fire Division, Calvin Minemyer, of the DNRC and Todd Klemann, who helps to refurbish old trucks to make them into usable fire engines.

Meade said Dixon Fire Department is one of several districts essential to DNRC because they provide an initial attack of a fire. The districts can call DNRC if they need assistance. Through this partnership, the Direct Protection Program and the State/County Cooperative Fire Program, the DNRC puts out about 25 new engines every year through the state. Dixon is getting the only one in Sanders County.

In return for the new engine, the Dixon Fire Department is giving the DNRC their old engine, which will be refurbished and likely sold to another fire district, Meade said.

“It is unusual to get an engine in such good shape,” Meade said.

The new engine is a 1997 Ford F350 truck that has been completely gutted and redone to become a fire engine by the Equipment Development Center in Missoula. Klemann, who is the manager of the Equipment Development Center, said that the truck is just like new or even better after going through all of the changes.

The new truck is outfitted with a flat bed that has tool boxes, a hose reel and tanks for water and foam mounted to it. Meade said that it is through state legislative support that they are able to get the funding to help spruce up these trucks to give to fire districts throughout the state.

State Representative Gordon Hendrick, R-Superior, was at the ceremony on Friday where Dixon formally received the truck. He said that this is a great program for local fire departments.

“Areas are starving for money,” Hendrick said. “Protection is number one, and this program helps give them that.”

Hendrick, a volunteer firefighter in Superior, explained he likes to see the results of the DNRC partnership.

“I sponsored a bill two sessions ago with the Natural Resource Committee, and I like to see where that money is going,” he said.

Meade explained that there are 300 pieces of equipment in this program throughout the state, especially in eastern Montana.

“We have an agreement with every county, and since there is not a whole of National Forest land and protection out east, there is more equipment out that way,” he added.

There are 15 men who basically work full-time at the Dixon Fire Department, which responds to all types of calls and is the area’s Quick Response Unit, meaning they go to accidents and other emergencies, not just fires.

Jack Athearn, the president of the board of directors for the Dixon Fire Department, said he couldn’t say enough positive things about the DNRC partnership.

“This program is exceptional,” he said. “The help of the DNRC is invaluable to small departments, it makes or breaks us. With a vehicle like this we have the ability to get anywhere.”

He said it was just amazing to have someone handing you a fully complete piece of equipment. He along with Klemann estimated that the truck would normally cost $75,000.

Athearn said they’ve been involved in the program for almost 10 years. While they try to do there own maintenance, the department has never had any problems with any of the equipment that the DNRC has provided.

“Any department that’s small should get involved with the DNRC,” Athearn said. “It is just such a great help.”

Athearn along with Doug King, the fire chief, said that they try to work with the DNRC as much as possible. “It would really be foolish for us not to,” King said. “There is a lot of state land in the area, and we have a whole lot of ground to cover.”

The Dixon Fire Department serves a pretty large area of Sanders County. They cover the east end of the county, up towards Camas Prairie and Hot Springs and to Quinn’s Hot Springs Resort.

Athearn said that the engine would be ready to use immediately and that once the radio was in place it could go out on any calls that it needed to, and that was expected to happen last Friday night.

He said that the Dixon Fire Department gets a minimum of 25 calls a year, including car accidents or grass fires and that the department is equipped to handle anything.

Klemann said that the program has made a big difference in small, rural fire departments throughout the state and that it has been great to be able to help them out through this partnership.

“We really appreciate you guys,” Athearn said to the members of the DNRC in attendance. “Anyway that we can reciprocate, well in any way other than money or work,” he added with a laugh.