Let’s stop the drama. . . and get back to a functioning firehouse

The Flint Hill Volunteer Fire Company is BACK! Finally, after months and months of frivolous legal machinations fraught with an assortment of local political drama that continues to this day, we have new members and a new chief.

The people of the Wakefield District, Flint Hill and the surrounding area can finally look forward to having a Company 4 firehouse to serve their needs and the needs of the community at large. But, getting all the way there still requires a membership roll of qualified personnel to train and answer emergency calls. Our new chief has started a training regimen to help get the new members qualified. It is going to take some time. And to get there, the first thing we need is to have people who are willing and able to volunteer their time and experience.

Not everyone will want to be or has the time to train and operate as a firefighter, Emergency Vehicle Operator, or a Medical Responder but there are still things they can do to help. Company 4 (as do all our county firefighting companies) will need support personnel to assist with such things as financial management, fundraising, administration, training, buildings and grounds and equipment maintenance.

As for the operational side, volunteers are needed for emergency medicine and firefighting roles, but before they become operational, they undergo many hours of training in their chosen specialty. To drive an ambulance, for instance, requires 16 hours of approved classroom instruction and a written test before a vehicle driving examination euphemistically called the “Traffic Cone Killing” test. To drive the pumper or the tanker requires the same instruction and written test as the smaller vehicles and you must put that larger truck chassis through almost the same course as the pick-up sized ambulance. After all that, a driver still needs road familiarization training, map reading, radio procedure indoctrination, knowledge of hospital drop-off points, etc., to be “Released” to drive. Not that easy. And remember, everyone is a volunteer and put their hand up to help.

But just driving to an incident means little if you don’t have the trained personnel to staff the vehicles. To qualify as an Emergency Medical Technician or EMT requires successful completion of approximately 160 hours of classroom training and testing to earn state certification. There is a lower level of certification called Emergency Medical Responder or EMR. Sixty hours of training is required here, but that position has many limitations of treatment. Currently, Flint Hill has several volunteers taking this EMR course with some expressing an interest to progress to the EMT training. And all are volunteers.

To qualify for any level of firefighting certification requires an equal amount of dedication and commitment and long days of training and hands-on experience. Nobody just walks into a station house and begins firefighting or medical treatment without the instruction, training and certification to do so. Would we, the public, want it any other way? No. And remember, the trainees are all volunteers.

To be clear, Company 4 is well on the way to being operationally ready, but we aren’t there yet. The new membership role of dedicated, enthusiastic and involved community members is increasing. Another upside is more people are expressing an interest in becoming members, some of whom had been wanting to join or make donations in the past, but were unwilling to do so while the offsite theatrics dominated the news. As for the infrastructure, the Company – 4 firehouse and grounds are getting a good once-over, inside and out. Over 30-cubic yards of debris were cleaned out at a recent all-members and community volunteers weekend clean-up effort. Long overdue vehicle maintenance is being done. Important buildings and grounds issues are being attended to after years of neglect. Administrative procedures are being implemented and firehouse security is in the process of an upgrade. And all of this is being done by the new members coming from the nearby communities, each of them pitching in where they can and all are volunteers.

I’m very happy we seem to be on the right track to a functioning firehouse and I hope the surrounding community continues to step up and support this effort. But to get there we must move forward not back. Let’s stop the drama. Let’s stop the mean attacks. Let’s stop the back-handed online gossip groups fritting away about things long past. Let’s end the obvious Machiavellianlike political theater that seems to run counter to a successful effort. Let’s just get back to being a united community that has a functioning firehouse of which we all can be proud.

Nobody just walks into a station house and begins firefighting or medical treatment without the instruction, training and certification to do so.