Friends of Bigfork Fire receives $8,500 safety grant

The Friends of Bigfork Fire received an $8,457 Roundup for Safety from Flathead Electric Cooperative that will provide new helmets, safety vests and LED flares for Bigfork Fire Department. The grant was funded through the co-op members themselves — they can elect to round up their bills to the nearest dollar and the collected funds are then used to fund community safety projects.

“They, very awesomely, approved everything that we asked for,” said Interim Chief Jeremy Patton of the Roundup for Safety Board.

Patton said the new safety vests have been on the department’s wish list for a long time. Their existing vests aren’t designed to breakaway if they get caught on something, so if the vest were to catch on a vehicle passing by an accident scene, the wearer could potentially get dragged down the highway.

“The new vests are made so they breakaway and tear off. We’ve been in need of those for quite some time,” Patton said.

The LED flares will be especially useful in the summer months, when road flares aren’t permitted due to fire restrictions. These puck-shaped lights can be placed on the road or a sign to help alert drivers that they are approaching an accident scene.

Grant funds will also be allocated to purchase approximately 15 new helmets, which run about $300 each. The helmets, just like firefighter turnouts, have a 10-year lifespan, after which they can’t be used for firefighting. Many of Bigfork Fire’s helmets have already expired or were due to expire within the next few months but will now be replaced.

The safety equipment purchased with the grant funds will help Bigfork firefighters increase their visibility when responding to roadside incidents or conducting traffic control.

“We have some really high-speed highways in our district -- 70 mph speed limits -- and it doesn't take long especially if there is a hill or a curve that somebody comes flying up on your scene,” Patton said. “We’ve had several close call incidents where people are not paying attention and almost run into the scene.”

In fact, Patton said he witnesses distracted driving during nearly every roadside incident he responds to.

“It is extremely common -- somebody is not paying attention to the road or they're too busy paying attention to what’s going on in the scene that they don't notice the guy with the stop sign right in front of them,” he explained.

Ideally, he’d like to see drivers reduce their speed to around 10 mph when coming up on a crowded accident scene for the safety of themselves and the responders on the ground.

The new gear will be one more tool in their arsenal to keep Bigfork firefighters safe on the job.