Four Mile Fire Department -- Volunteer

	Boulder Community Network \| Emergency Center

"How can I help?" is a wonderful phrase for any volunteer group to hear. As a community based fire department, Four Mile has always relied upon, and greatly benefited from the wide variety of talents that people in our district continue to bring forth. If you live in our district, are feeling community minded, and are looking for ways to get involved, we would be glad to talk to you. So please join us for a few trainings -if for no other reason than to meet us and learn what YOUR fire department does for you.

Here are answers to some frequently asked questions:

• How can I help?
• How much time is involved?
• What training opportunities are there?
• Who pays for special clothing or gear?
• How do you get called to respond to an emergency?
• Is it dangerous?
• What is your typical kind of emergency?
• Is it worth it?
• Who should I contact?

How can I help?

Not everyone needs to be on the front lines holding the hose, so the important thing to remember is that just about everybody has something to offer, and without volunteers, there would be no fire department. There are a variety of ways you can participate.

For those that want to be directly involved in the emergency response system, there are plenty of opportunities for both men and women, ranging from wildland fire fighting to first response with medical emergencies. If you are looking for other ways, you might consider any number of possibilities. For example, we need people willing to help maintain the trucks, equipment and stations. We also have an auxiliary group that provides many supportive functions. Like any volunteer group, we welcome help on the organizational side: writing grants, improving our database, community education, articles for the newsletter, sharpening tools, or even baking goodies for training sessions!

How much time is involved?

We respond to everything from roll-over injury accidents in Boulder Canyon to structure fires in remote locations, medical emergencies, or wildland fires that threaten the forested areas and homes. In a typical year we respond to 80 to 100 calls, with more than 70% having some medical component to them. Four Mile does not use any kind of shifts or scheduling for being "on call" to respond to emergencies. We are a small, unique department with special needs that are better served by the following strategy: anyone who can respond to a call, does so. Generally we get a good response, and this self-balancing system seems to compensate for people being out of town, sick or otherwise unable to respond. This also insures that we have a good mix of people with different types of training responding to the call - no matter which end of the district it occurs in. Calls can last from 45 minutes for a minor emergency to all day for a wildland fire. How much time you spend responding to calls depends on you.

Training is, by necessity, a big component of what we do. We meet for about 3 hours in the morning on the second Saturday of each month, and for 2 hours every fourth Thursday evening of each month. Additional medical training is the second Thursday evening each month. Other training opportunities exist both inside and outside the department as well.

What training opportunities are there?

Four Mile provides frequent in-house training sessions covering basic incident operations such as driving fire trucks, running pumps, structure fire safety, medical evacuations, traffic control, and digging fire line. Once a level of commitment is demonstrated by a volunteer, the department encourages and supports additional formal training including:

•	Wildland fire training: S-190/S-130, a 36 hour course that provides the first level ‘red card’ certification, and many more courses offered by the county and state.
•	Fire Fighter Academy: (4 month structure fire fighting course)
•	Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) certification courses.

Who pays for special clothing or gear?

Once volunteers have shown some level of commitment and knowledge by consistently attending trainings, they are outfitted by the department with personal protective equipment (PPE) and a radio monitor that alerts them as needed. PPE includes wildland fire NOMEX pants and shirt, helmet, goggles, as well as complete bunker gear and boots. A fire shelter will be issued when the member completes the first certification (red card) level of wildland fire training. Members are responsible for purchasing their own wildland fire boots and gloves, but discounts are available at some local vendors. Medically trained personnel are issued emergency medical gear to carry with them in their own vehicles including trauma and oxygen kits.

How do you get called to respond to an emergency?

Most of our active members carry either radio-monitors or digital pagers that are activated by the 911 emergency dispatch center in Boulder. When they ‘tone’ our department, the monitors beep, and a radio broadcast follows with the information pertinent to the call. Digital pagers can either beep or vibrate, and receive the same information as a text message. The trucks have radios to communicate back to the dispatch center, and a limited number of hand held radios are also in use by the department.

Is it dangerous?

No one can say that fire suppression and responding to emergencies are without risks. However, our number one concern is SAFETY. Some one else’s emergency is not necessarily YOUR emergency. That is a big reason behind our frequent training sessions and why we encourage all our members to take advantage of as many outside training opportunities as possible. We never want to enter a scene unless it is safe to do so - whether it’s a traffic accident, a structure fire, a flood, or a wildland fire. We are mostly ordinary folks without any special 'heroism' gene.

What is your typical kind of emergency?

Nearly 70% of our calls involve some kind of medical response. Many of our calls are for accidents in Boulder canyon. This could be a climbing accident on the "Dome" climbing area, a bee sting on the bike path, or a roll-over car accident with people trapped and injured in a vehicle in Boulder creek. There are certain seasonalities to the type of calls too. The winter gives rise to more heating system fires and vehicle accidents on icy roads, while hot dry summers send us chasing numerous reports of smoke. We also assist nearby departments on a mutual aid basis. We answer an average of 80 to 100 calls per year, and around 15 of those are life-threatening emergencies or serious fires.

Is it worth it?

Being a volunteer may not be for everybody. After all, not everyone thinks that getting called out of bed at 3 am, putting on bunker gear and going out into the snowy night is their idea of a good spare time activity. But most who do are rewarded with the feeling that they are part of a community that values the safety and well being of the people and forests that share our canyon. Volunteering with Four Mile is an opportunity to respond to the needs of fellow human beings, perhaps making a difference in someone’s life. It is also a good way to get to know your neighbors, and to act locally to make the world a better place to live. Oh yes, and it is also a chance to drive a big red fire truck.

Who should I contact?

If you know any member of Four Mile Fire Department, feel free to contact them, or you may directly contact our current Chief, Bret Gibson, (by email), or by phone on (303) 449 3333. Or just come to a meeting - take a look at our home page the schedule.