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Welcome to Polson Montana
Polson, Montana is snuggled at the Southern end of
Flathead Lake and the base of the Rocky Mountains –
Mission Range. Flathead Lake is the largest fresh
water lake West of the Mississippi River.
Polson is a growing community that offers many
recreational activities.
Our community has a population of over 10,000 people
and grows to over 20,000 during the spring and
summer. The city of Polson Fire Department was
established in 1928 followed by the organization of
the Polson Rural Fire Department in 1965. Both
protection areas consist of over 134 square miles.
Currently these two organizations operate out of two
fire stations, one located in the City of Polson,
and the other located in Big Arm. The fire
department provides service with 30 volunteer
firefighters and one career Chief.
The fire department provides fire suppression
(structural and wildland), specialized rescue, fire
prevention inspections and a host of community
education activities. Some of these activities
include NFPA Risk Watch and Child Safety Seat
Inspections.
Why
do fire trucks respond to motor vehicle accidents?
Fire trucks respond to accidents for
two reasons. First, automobile accidents present
other hazards such as potential fire, ruptured fuel
tanks, and/or the presence of hazardous materials.
Second, Polson firefighters are trained as Emergency
Medical Technicians or First Responders. They assist
the ambulance with patient care or assist in
extricating (removing) trapped occupants of the
vehicle and driving the ambulance.
Why do so many fire trucks respond
to simple incidents?
Fire Department units are dispatched
according to information received by the 9-1-1
operators. The Polson Fire Department responds with
adequate resources when they react to a citizen in
need of help. In other words, the firefighters are
prepared to deal with the worst that could happen.
Discovering that we need more units once we arrive
is often too late. We have learned from experience
that it is better to have too much help than not
enough.
A structure fire requires a number
of people to do all the assigned tasks almost
simultaneously. Firefighting teams are assigned
certain responsibilities such as fire
extinguishment, search and rescue, ventilation,
salvage, safety, accountability and rapid
intervention teams.
Why do fire trucks with full lights
and sirens go through a red light at intersections
and then, after they go through, they turn off their
lights and slow down?
As explained in the previous answer,
sometimes several units are dispatched to the same
incident. The first unit may have arrived on the
scene, assessed the situation and informed the
dispatcher that the situation was under control or
that a single unit could handle the emergency. All
other responding units were cancelled and put back
into service, ready to take another call.
Most likely, when you see an
emergency vehicle with red lights and sirens go
through an intersection and then slow down and turn
the emergency lights off, they have been cancelled
from the call to which they were responding.
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