Process begins to annex additional land

Superior Volunteer Fire Department Chief John Woodland was at the County Commissioners meeting on Monday for the first public hearing of a petition to annex additional land into the Superior Rural Fire District. 

The proposed annexation will add the land along Westfall Road to the district and the petition was spearheaded by Noel and Patricia Schilz. 

“These are actually properties that we already have to drive past to get to the properties we annexed earlier,” Chief Woodland said. “This will give us the bulk of that section from the crossover north along Westfall. At that point that gets us everything on what would be this (north) side of the railroad tracks.” 

Chief Woodland added that they are also working with residents on Lozo Lane to annex more property into the district but since they have not begun circulating the petitions they are unsure of what the reaction will be. 

Mineral County Planner Tim Read worked alongside Chief Woodland to draw up the proposal and maps for the new annexation. 

“The one real positive about this annexation is it now includes the lot that was donated to the rural fire district for the location of a possible fire hall future development,” Read said. “We are starting to get some continuity out there.” 

Former Fire Chief Dennis Hildebrand commented that when he was fire chief that area was all a no-man’s land and he is glad to see residents in these areas getting coverage from the fire district. 

“Right now they are just hung out to dry and it’s tough to even get insurance out there,” Hildebrand said. “It’s going to be a big benefit to the folks that are involved.” 

Hildebrand then asked Chief Woodland about any plans to build a sub-station in the recently annexed area in order to get responders to the scene of a fire quicker. 

“We have talked about that and the real issue is getting some volunteers out there,” Chief Woodland said. “A building with a piece of equipment in it does nothing for us if the man power has to come from town to the building. They might as well bring the truck with them.” 

Chief Woodland added that a second station would add increased expense and logistic burdens but said that those burdens were “fine” if they produced quicker responses.

“Step one has to be bringing in some volunteers from that area who can man an engine,” Chief Woodland said. “If there is a call and there is an incident down there, having an engine down there means an immediate response as opposed to trying to figure out who goes where.” 

Chief Woodland said that volunteer fire departments throughout Montana are having a hard time staffing volunteers due to the high numbers of young members of the community who would be ideal for front line firefighting leaving the community. 

“We get them for a year or two and then they go someplace else for jobs,” Chief Woodland said. 

“I have 70-year-old tender drivers and that’s great and they are very helpful but those aren’t the folks that will bring a hose line into a burning building.” 

The final public hearing on the proposed annexation will take place on May 30.