Renting Out Wildfire Gear Benefits MT Department Firefighters

Missoula’s fire department has earned almost $395,000 during the past 10 months for renting its wildland firefighting equipment to communities outside Montana during their fire seasons.

It’s a national program the fire department started “dipping into” in the mid-1990s, Fire Chief Jeff Brandt said. During those early years, however, they limited their equipment to within 50 miles of Missoula, because protecting the city is always their priority.

As natural disasters like floods, wildfires, hurricanes have ramped up in recent years, so has the program. In fiscal year 2016, the rentals brought in $180,000; in FY 2017, between $70,000 and $80,000; and last year, saw about $260,000, all of which is deposited into the city’s general fund. The equipment only is sent to other communities when it’s not fire season in Montana.

With a total of 95 city firefighters, Brandt said they’re also sending up to 12 firefighters with the equipment, and this year those folks have earned about $1 million in wages and benefits that are paid by either the community, the state or the federal governments where they are dispatched to work. Much of that includes overtime hours, and Brandt added his department also is reimbursed if they need people to cover those shifts at the Missoula Fire Department.

“There’s a certain level of folks we need here; we don’t have too many folks and could use more locally, but what’s great for the wildland or all hazards deployment is the funding that trails behind them,” Brandt said. “When we send them out, whether it’s a Forest Service fire incident in Florida or California, those dollars from those states make our department whole back here.”

But it’s not just about the money. Missoula city firefighters train year-round for water rescues, avalanches and floods. But while deployed, they’re learning valuable hands-on skills on everything from various incident command systems to different ways to load vehicles with equipment.

“We do a lot of classes and training here, but we actually get put to work in the field,” said Capt. Garrett Venters. “They need the resources and we have them … and there’s a whole gamut of skills— for example, flanking fires on our right and left, how to attack a fire on a mountainside, and also how to work with other crews and use your resources with other agencies.”

The hands-on wildland fire training is of particular use in Missoula due to the many residences on the outskirts of the city, in places like the Rattlesnake, Pattee and Miller Creek canyons, Brandt said, adding that the training was priceless when they deployed to the Lolo Peak fire in 2017.

Missoula city firefighters have reported to emergencies everywhere from hurricanes in Florida to earthquakes in California to wildfires in New Mexico, typically for 14- to 21-day deployments. Brandt said they have between 16 and 18 people who are trained in different functions like information officers, finances, logistics, and safety who join hazard response teams that include 30 to 35 people from a variety of organizations.

“Our highest priority is the Missoula community and citizens, but we’re lucky when it’s low fire danger here and we can go to other states and bail them out,” said Senior Firefighter Casey Scott. “And we have a system where we can call other states when we need the resources.”

Beyond the money and training, however, is the experience. Scott recalled how two years ago, he and his crew were protecting two homes from wildfires in California. They extinguished the flames on the outside, but broke into one of the houses whose deck caught fire to make sure no embers had entered.

The crew left a note apologizing for any damage, and the homeowner called then-Chief Jason Diehl.

“His mother had passed away and the guy saved everything of hers in the house,” Scott said. “He called and said he couldn’t believe firefighters from Missoula, Montana, came out to help him. It was the middle of winter for us, so there was no fire danger here, but it was a great experience.”

———

Visit Missoulian, Mont. at http://www.missoulian.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.