Fire district low on manpower

PRIEST RIVER — The maps on the wall tell the story. In the meeting room at West Pend Oreille Fire District’s Station 1, Chief Les Kokanos pierces maps of the city and county with new pins marking each spot that fire district volunteers respond to a call. Last year, the district’s volunteer crew went out an average of twice a day — 660 times in a 365-day long year. Those maps were jam-packed with pins.

Calls can come in the middle of the night. Over a busy day shift at work. During those last few, precious hours of sleep before the alarm clock goes off at the crack of dawn. Or sometimes multiple times in a single night, followed by another long, normal day at the mill, office, or child-filled home.

Kokanos said that it took his crew 11 minutes to respond to a recent structure fire. Sometimes when responding to a call he’ll overhear onlookers grumble.

“What took you so long to get here?” they ask the fire chief.

The answer, Kokanos said, is simple. They came from a dead sleep in their beds. Or from work. From fishing. From taking their kids to school. From the doctor’s office, buying groceries, and the million other places that they -- and the grumblers -- go on a daily basis. After all, they are not professional firefighters. They are committed, well-trained, and capable, yes. But paid? Waiting around in the fire station for the phone to ring, the alarm to go off, and the trucks to roll? No.

The district’s firefighters are unpaid. They are as unpaid as the grumblers. But unlike the grumblers, they actually do something when an emergency strikes.

They get out of bed. Leave work. Drop the kids off with someone to watch them for a few hours. Put off that rest and relaxation. Lose out on sleep.

And then, having done that, they save lives, and sometimes put their lives at risk just for the privilege. They perform CPR. Extricate a car accident victim. Fight a house fire in order to protect the property value of a homeowner and his neighbors. Dig trench lines in the forest to protect public and private lands from going up in smoke. And more.

This they do for free.

Across the wide expanse of West Pend Oreille Fire District, only one person — Kokanos — receives pay for responding to the hundreds of medical emergencies, car accidents, structure fires, and wildland fires the district handles each year. At night, Kokanos said he can count on a pretty good turnout of volunteers. In a recent structure fire, he said that 20 people showed up to help out. During the day, however, when people are at work, he never knows who or how many volunteers will turn out.

“It’s scary sometimes,” said Kokanos.

It always seems to work out, he said, but the fire district is experiencing the same overall decline in volunteer numbers that is affecting communities across the country.

“It’s getting tough now,” he said.

Adding another full-time person that could respond to daytime calls would be very helpful, he said. If voters approve the May 17 fire district levy, Kokanos said he’ll be able to hire someone to fill that position. Then he’d be able to count on at least one other person during the day, he said. The levy money would also allow him to offer incentives to retain volunteers. During his years of work at the district, Kokanos said he has seen a consistent pattern of people joining for a period of time and then dropping off the radar. He’d like to be able to better protect the people and property in the fire district but needs to retain his volunteers to do that. Voters will decide on the fire district levy May 17.

Until then Kokanos keeps putting up pins on the maps. So far this year he’s put up 159. Fire season awaits.