The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners moved forward on May 2 with a resolution that could dissolve the Cabinet View Fire Service Area after receiving a petition from local landowners. The fire service area and its nonprofit volunteer fire department have become a source of controversy in recent months, leading to a lawsuit filed against the county, the sheriff’s office and other first responders in the area.
The Cabinet View Fire Department covers the 14-square-mile area south of Libby and was created 10 years ago to respond to structure fires. Now the volunteer fire department wants to respond to medical emergencies and car accidents as well, but other first responders in the area say the department isn’t qualified and that those incidents should be left to other agencies.
Because of the disagreement, some locals filed a petition to dissolve the fire service area. If that happens, members of the fire department say their operation would be shut down.
Although individual members of the fire department are certified to be EMTs, the department as a whole is not licensed to respond to medical calls because it has been unable to sign a deal with an ambulance service. The closest one is the Libby Volunteer Ambulance and members there say the Cabinet View operation has never approached their group about a transport agreement, according to Penny Kyes, business office manager for the Libby service.
“They’ve never even asked us,” she said. “They’ve never even had the respect to ask our board of directors (to sign a transport agreement). Instead they’ll just sue you.”
But regardless of licensing, members of the Cabinet View Fire Service Area Board of Trustees believe the fire department should be dispatched to incidents above and beyond structure fires. Since that has not happened, the board filed a lawsuit and petition for declaratory judgment in district court in November 2011. According to attorney Kim Christopherson, who spoke on behalf of the fire service board, the fire department began self-dispatching to accidents within their territory, believing it was their duty.
“The closest resource for emergency services was not being dispatched,” Christopherson wrote in an email to the Beacon. “That means, just as an example, that people involved in car crashes on icy and dark Highway 2 sat there in a ditch or in the road for far longer than necessary while they waited for Libby Ambulance or Libby Fire finally to arrive.”
Christopherson also wrote that after the fire department began self-dispatching to emergencies, some members of the fire service board of trustees were threatened with legal action by the county.
But moving the dispute into the court system has annoyed some locals who filed the petition with the county commission to dissolve the fire service area. One of the people who signed it was David DeShazer, who has lived in the area for 20 years.
“They amended the bylaws to what they wanted to do, not what the community wanted,” he said. “It’s not that we don’t want a fire department – we just want one that gets along with everyone.”
He said he likes the fact there is a fire service in his area and even supports the idea of the fire department expanding its training, so long as it works within the rules and in coordination with other agencies.
“We don’t want them self-dispatching just because they think they can,” DeShazer said, adding he’s mostly concerned about the legal actions that have taken place. “When you start suing the county and other agencies, it’s the taxpayers that lose.”
But Cabinet View Fire Assistant Chief Mike France said “there’s two sides to every story” and, according to him, it’s no one else’s job to tell the fire service area board and fire department what to do except themselves. He said the law proves it.
Under part 7-33-2101 of Montana Code Annotated, the county commission is able to establish rural fire departments. According to part 7-33-2001, once the department is established it is the fire chief’s duty to operate the department and advance programs and training.
“We are our own agency and we want the chance to respond to more than just fires,” France said.
France blames the county commission for holding his agency back. But Kyes said the reason Cabinet View doesn’t get dispatched is because they are not licensed. According to 50-6-306 of the MCA, a department still needs to obtain the appropriate license, issued by the state, to operate an emergency medical service.
“(Libby Ambulance) is the only licensed ambulance service in the area – that’s something that’s never printed,” Kyes said. “(Cabinet View) is not licensed; the individuals are, but the service isn’t.”
Kyes also said the claims that Libby Ambulance can’t quickly get to the Cabinet View area are greatly exaggerated. She said that Libby crews have been sent to Eureka and Sanders County in a pinch and that in 2010 and 2011 their response time to Cabinet View (which is about seven miles out of Libby) was an average of 12 minutes.
Cabinet View Fire Chief Dan Leavell said it’s true that his department is not licensed to respond to emergency calls but he said his men are qualified. All that is lacking is a transport agreement with an ambulance service. Leavell believes other area agencies see Cabinet View as a financial threat.
“Libby Ambulance is afraid that we’ll take some of their income if we become an ambulance service,” Leavell said. He added that the fire department does not plan on becoming a transport service but just wants the ability to do first aid and first response.
County Commissioner Tony Berget said the May 2 resolution means the county will hold a public hearing within 90 days, where people will be able to state their cases for and against dissolving the fire service area. A final vote could take place soon after. He said the fact that residents have issues with the service area says a lot, but he still respects the volunteers who dedicate their time and efforts to fighting fire in that area.
“One bad apple can make the whole basket go sour,” he said. “What makes one fire department sue another one? Why would they do that?”
But France and others at the department stand by their assertion that they should be able to respond to medical emergencies, going as far as taking out advertisements in local papers to promote the safety and home insurance benefits of their department’s existence.
“It gets me going and makes me upset, because medical care should be first and foremost,” France said.