Fire dept. seeks non-firefighting volunteers

As part of an ongoing push to improve the Sundance Fire Department, Fire Chief Chris Tomford is looking for assistance from the community. The chief is appealing to the community for volunteers interested in taking on non-firefighting roles, such as administration and the formation of a new auxiliary.

Fire safety educator

The first role Tomford is hoping to fill is that of a fire safety educator.

“We’d like to appoint somebody as a fire safety educator for the department and that person would be in charge of taking fire prevention stuff to the schools and the different businesses in town; sometimes they ask for fire safety talks; and just getting the fire safety word out to the whole area,” he says.

“I want somebody who likes to teach – maybe a retired teacher or someone who has experience teaching.”

The role would be a boon to the community, he explains, because there is currently a gap between the available information and the people who could benefit from it.

“There is a lot of information that we can get through the Fire Protection Association or the state fire marshal’s office,” he says.

“Getting all this out to the public and being active in the schools and active in the community, with more community involvement and education, is what we are looking for.”

The role involves no set schedule or minimum requirements and would be well suited to a self-starter who is willing to create their own task list.

Fire pre-planning

The second role in need of a volunteer involves inputting raw data that can be used to give instant information about a commercial building should a fire break out inside.

“We need to do pre-fire plans on all the commercial buildings in town and, as you can imagine, that’s quite a job,” Tomford says.

“If somebody was good at doing computer work and had a background in building construction, that would be really good to have.”

To create pre-fire plans, businesses are asked to complete a form to provide information that would be useful to firefighters, such as exit locations, water and electrical shut-offs, number of floors, possible obstacles and a rough sketch of the layout.

“If we had somebody who was able to actually draw that up on the computer, we could put it on the database and pull it right up if we get a fire. We’ll know where the hydrants are, where the access is, what to look out for,” he says.

Auxiliary head

The third role Tomford is hoping a community member will be interested to step forward and fill is that of the head of an auxiliary for the Sundance department. To the best of his knowledge, Sundance has not had its own auxiliary in the past, so there is no basis already in place from which to start out.

“It would need to be organized from scratch and they would have to pretty much develop what they wanted to do,” he says.

“They could do it as a nonprofit organization to assist our department”

No previous experience is necessary and support will be available through Tomford. His hope is that the auxiliary can perform functions such as administrative tasks and keeping the station clean, while potentially acting as the fundraising arm if formed as a 501c3 and supporting the firefighters during large events out in the county by providing food and supplies.

If you are interested in joining the auxiliary once it has been formed, Tomford would also like to hear from you to gauge the level of interest within the community.

Other ways to help

“We will also take members onto the department who don’t want to be firefighters but do want to be members of the department and help us out,” he adds.

There are numerous possibilities when it comes to helping out the department. For example, a volunteer could help with billing for the four or five interstate crashes per month firefighters assist with; keep a record of training hours; wash or repair trucks; assist with open houses, fundraising efforts; or even keep the fire station clean.

“There are a lot of ways that anybody who was interested could help us,” he says.

“You don’t need to have any background at all, if you’re interested in helping the fire department out we have plenty of things for people to do if they feel like it.”

Open house

On September 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the department will be hosting an open house at the fire hall, including hot dogs, brats, beverages, activities for the kids and educational opportunities.

“You don’t have to pay for your food, but we will take donations. It’s for the community to get to know us a little better and the kids to have a little fun.”

Tickets for the pellet grill raffle will also be available, with the winner to be announced that evening at the Sundance Beer Festival at around 7 p.m.

The open house will also be an excellent opportunity to discuss ways you might be able to assist the department, if you are interested in taking on a role. Alternatively, call Tomford at 281-6776.

Also as part of its improvement push, the Sundance Fire Department will once again be performing commercial building inspections as required by city ordinance and the international fire code. Tomford would like the community to be aware that these inspections are not punitive and will be focused on safety and education.