Fire District in Wash. Seeks Traditional Volunteers

Like other area agencies, Spokane County Fire District 3 is seeking new volunteers to join their ranks. Unlike other districts, there are some subtle differences in working for the agency founded in 1945.

At 565 square miles, 360,000 acres, Fire District 3 is the third largest in the state, covering southwest Spokane County from the Lincoln/Spokane county line to east of SR 195 and north from the Whitman/Spokane line to nearly the borders of the city of Spokane.

The district surrounds the cities of Cheney and Medical Lake, the town of Spangle and includes 20 miles of Interstate 90, 65 miles of state primary highway and approximately 1,300 miles of paved and unpaved county roads along with 70 miles of railroad. There are 10 stations, the headquarters facility in Cheney and nine others in outlying areas, serving a population of over 25,000 people. The other difference is how the district is staffed. District Fire Chief Bruce Holloway said some agencies use non-traditional volunteers that staff stations in shifts, and are supported by traditional "pager-oriented" volunteers.

"We on the other hand are looking for traditional volunteers," he added.

The district currently has seven career personnel and 120 volunteers, and Holloway said they'd like to increase that latter number to 130 or even 140.

"The goal is to have enough people to fill one and a half seats on every truck," Holloway said.

As an example he said a 10-seat truck would require seven volunteers. With 35 pieces of equipment in its 10 stations, "We have a lot of seats," Holloway added.

Men and women are encouraged to apply with the only requirement being they are at least 18 years of age. No previous training is necessary. The department provides its own training for new recruits, close to 200 hours Holloway said that takes place in three phases.

First responder/medical training begins in winter, with wildland fire training in the summer and structure fire training in the fall. Training also includes emergency vehicle driving and hazardous materials handling, and once the volunteer is certified, takes place roughly three times a month throughout their career and includes live fire exercises.

Training is done per schedules, deputy chief Kelly Jennings said. The district has day trainers and night trainers, he added, and missed training can be done at other statiohs as needed.

"We basically do double training," Jennings said.

Volunteers are paid hourly per call instead of on a points system, one of the Challenges for staffing Jennings said because the district needs enough volunteers to be able to staff the equipment but not so many that individuals aren't able to go out on calls, and thus lose interest. Firefighters start at $12/hour per call, $9.25 for training, going as high as $13.50 for station chiefs.

"There are opportunities in the volunteer ranks to move up in the roles," Holloway said. "Depending which station you're in, that could be faster than others."

In 2010 the district had 1,237 calls for service, with some stations seeing up to 300 runs a year while others maybe five. Roughly 85 percent are medical calls ranging from heart attacks to assisting omeone after a fall. Stations closer to 1-90 and SR 195 see more auto accident runs than others, and all stations handle wildland and structural calls.

For Paradise Prairie station chief Herman Kopplin, being a volunteer firefighter is about having a higher calling. Stations become part of their neighborhood and as such engage in a lot of outreach.

Volunteers at Paradise Prairie adopted a local family at Christmas to help with their needs, took hot cider and cocoa to area residents when they went out caroling and hold an annual chili feed in the fall that can bring in 300 residents to their station.

"The biggest thing they (volunteers) need is the willingness to help their neighbors," Kopplin said.

Interested volunteers can stop by district headquarters1 at 10 S. Presley Drive in Cheney or the nearest station to pick up an application. For a station location call 235-6645 or go online at scfd3. org.

John McCallum canbe reached at [email protected]

"There are opportunities in the volunteer ranks to move up in the roles."

Spokane County District 3 Fire Chief Bruce Holloway