HELENA — All across Montana, many communities rely on volunteer fire departments to stay safe during fire season. However, firefighters within these departments aren't firefighters by trade, and in most if not all cases, have jobs outside of their duties as volunteer firefighters.
So how do these volunteers know what to do when they get out to a fire? Similar to a sports team, all Volunteer fire departments in Lewis and Clark County spend a few hours each Tuesday night training.
"Every Tuesday in Lewis and Clark County, all the volunteer fire departments conduct training. We're conducting a joint training with the Tri-Lakes department and the York Department. We usually respond to each other's mutual aid, so it's good to have interoperability and the chance to work together, kind of meet the new guys, get some folks updated on their skill sets" said York Volunteer Fire Chief Keith Ouzts.
On Tuesday, both York and Tri-Lakes volunteer firefighters spent time driving water tender trucks, which are used to pull water from a source, from Devils Elbow Campground on the Missouri River, up to the York Bridge Fishing Access Site, where firefighters offloaded the water into pools that then fed the York departments ladder truck which was spraying the water back into the river.
Ouzts noted that training like the one they conducted on Tuesday is important because they can figure out if there's something wrong with the equipment before they get called out to a fire.
"We've always had trouble with our radios and [communications] especially right in this area and right up the York Canyon, so we've had some bouncing issues with the radios. Other than that, as far as the training goes, it's actually gone fairly smooth," said Ouzts. "We want to have problems occur now so that we've already figured out how to fix them by the time the season rolls around."
Weekly trainings are also a way to incorporate new firefighters into the mix to give them a chance to be hands-on with the equipment that they will be using in the future. Todd Rickman started with Tri-Lakes Fire two years ago and recently completed his Firefighter One certification, a course that is meant to refine firefighting skills. Rickman said Tuesday's training was similar to what he did while completing the course but also presents a unique opportunity to get some 'real-world' experience.
"Out here, under real activity, when you're using the equipment, you know, stumbling around, connecting the equipment, connecting the hoses, connecting everything together, and making it all draft like what you see behind me that's where it all makes sense and it makes you prepared for that," said Rickman. "Nothing beats practical application of getting in and actually doing it."
As Montana heads towards another fire season Rickman made it a point to say thank you to the communities.
"I appreciate the support that we get from the community. Last year on the Matt Staff fire, I was able to see some of the appreciation we got from the community and we're all volunteers out here. And so it's very important for us to see us helping the community and appreciate the thanks back."
