Beebe billed for blaze
Nick Ianniello
Mineral Independent
A Lozeau man will be receiving a bill from the Superior Volunteer Fire Department after an incident last Sunday morning that brought volunteer fire fighters out of the Superior Fire District.
By the time the call to Superior Fire Department Volunteers to respond to a garage fire at the home of Edward Beebe in Lozeau came in at 5:23 a.m. Sunday, Beebe’s garage was already on fire.
According to records kept by Superior Volunteer Fire Department Chief John Woodland, a local volunteer who lived near Beebe was on scene doing an initial size up of the fire by 5:29 a.m. and by 5:44 a.m. a crew of six volunteer fire fighters had arrived to put out the blaze.
Woodland said that considering the department’s truck takes time to warm up and how early in the morning the call came in, he was proud of his department’s ability to make it to the scene as quickly as they did.
“That’s pretty good as far as I’m concerned. That’s a volunteer getting out of bed, getting to the building, starting the truck, getting air pressure up and driving all the way to Lozeau,”
Volunteers used one hose and 3,000 gallons of water to extinguish the blaze which destroyed Beebe’s garage and everything inside of it.
Woodland said that the fire crew was back at their garage in Superior by 7:18 a.m. to relieve the crew of four fire fighters that stayed behind to manage the fire station.
“Our theory is that at any time we are partially engaged in anything we try to keep a crew here to make up for the fact that there are fewer people available and less equipment available by being able to produce a better response time by having a crew there ready to go,” Woodland said.
Unfortunately for Beebe, Woodland said that he is going to have to bill the homeowner as much as $500 for the department’s services since he is outside of Superior’s fire district.
Residents within the Superior Fire District pay for the Superior Volunteer Fire Department’s services through extra taxes, but the Lozeau area is outside of the district.
Woodland said that the Superior Fire District stretches as far west as the River Bend Sub Division on the north side of Interstate 90 and Trout Creek Road on the South Side of I-90. The east side of the district meets up with the St. Regis Fire District so all residents east of Superior are covered by one of the two fire departments.
Woodland said that while he had not written up the exact price of the bill, he was going to have to bill Beebe for around $400 or $500 for time spent and equipment used to put out the garage fire.
Woodland said that he informed Beebe of the billing before the department did anything to respond to the blaze.
“I’m under constant pressure as to whether or not I should be going out there at all. The question is one of money, those living outside of the district aren’t paying for this service at all,” Woodland said.
Lozeau could become part of the Superior Fire District if residents filed a petition, but that would raise taxes and so far Woodland said that no such petition has been filed.
Woodland said that he wished the department could have done more to prevent damage to Beebe’s property, but in his opinion the volunteers reached the Lozeau home in a timely manner.
“We cover 62 square miles on a very limited budget, it takes us time to get to the far reaches of that district and going outside of the district takes even more time,” Woodland said. “People want to live in a more isolated rural environment but they have to understand that the services they may be used to getting two minutes after they get off the phone in a city take longer to supply out here.”