Practice makes perfect
Practice makes perfect when it comes to a golf swings or oil paintings, but for members of the Plains-Paradise Rural Fire District, practice might make the difference between life and death.
That’s why the live-fire trailer burn held at the Rural Fire Hall in Plains on Sunday morning is so critical to the health of safety of Plains community members.
“It just comes in spurts so that’s why we have to be ready at any moment,” Assistant Fire Chief Lee Mercier said of the unpredictable nature of fire and the need to be ready at any moment.
Also attending the live-fire exercise were members of the Plains Volunteer Fire, West End Fire and St. Regis Fire Departments.
“It gives us firefighters a chance to go in and see how fires burn inside houses,” Lee said. “It gets some people who are new to the department a chance to see how the fire reacts, and how the nozzle affects some specific fires.”
Both the trailer used in the exercise, and the instructor, Craig Jeppson, were compliments of the Montana State University Fire Academy in Bozeman.
Lee explained that the exercise, in a controlled environment, allows new trainees as well as experienced firefighters a chance to safely practice their tactics, as well as observe fire behavior while using their full turn-out gear and Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA).
“First we’ll send a group in with the SCBA with a charged line, they’ll check the door for heat,” Lee explained. “The instructor will be inside explaining what the fire is doing and what to look for. Once they do that they’ll work on extinguishing that area. Then, in another area of the trailer, we’ll start another fire while they’re working on that one and then they’ll just start that process again.”
The Plains-Paradise Fire Department schedules such live-fire drills every other year in order to get rookies up to speed and keep up veterans SCBA qualifications.
“We have to work on a two-in-two-out rule,” Lee explained. “So if we don’t have the manpower or the experience of people who have been in a live fire exercise, it hampers us when it comes to protecting houses.”
The department, which is entirely staffed by volunteers, is always looking for ways to get their new recruits up to speed as quickly as possible.
“We just picked up a couple of new recruits that don’t have any experience so that gives us an opportunity to get them in on it too,” Lee said.
“We’re still looking for new people,” he said. “We’re always in need because sometimes people go on vacations or they have other jobs. Especially in wild-land season. We’re always shorthanded then.”
Currently at 17 members Lee considers his district fully staffed, but as the district is expanding their coverage area, they will be needing more members than ever to help fill in.
“We’re going to start responding all the way out to the end of River Road West, where the pavement ends. So that’s going to add, probably about 16 miles to our district,” Lee said. “We’re looking at expanding from highway 200 to the Burgess-Miller Ranch and then out highway 135 just to Ninemile-Siegle Road just past camp bighorn.”
There will even be a new station built on Sand Hill off of River Road West to accommodate the new coverage area.
“We just haven’t gotten the funding yet to build the station,” Lee explained. “But we’ve already gotten the well in place and all that stuff so we’ve got water already up there.”
There is currently no timetable for the station’s completion.