Comment on Bozeman Chronicle Article

The following was recently posted on the Safety Coalition website:

We were just alerted to the following comment that was posted on the Bozeman Daily Chronicle website in reaction to their article about the finding against the Board of Trustees by the Commissioner for Political Practices and the new interim fire chief at the department:

To Mike Conn, Peggy Foster and Colleen “you’ll rot in hell” Carnine, it must seem longer, but it’s been BARELY 18 months since this cozy crew drove away Chief Astrom and 17 other experienced volunteer fire fighters. Now we find out that the newly appointed Chief’s wife, Phyllis Mather, was involved in the illegal activity that enabled Foster and Carnine to retain their seats on the Board! Peggy Foster claims it’s unfair for her to be held responsible for her illegal activities, but what about the unfairness to District residents and visitors who no longer have the protection of competent volunteer firefighters? Carnine held on to her seat by a handful of votes. Mike Conn was recalled, but he still seems to be pulling the strings. Is there nobody who can convince Conn, Foster and Carnine that it is time for them to move over and let someone who can make peace with the firefighters to take over?

(Note the “you’ll rot in hell” nickname for Carnine is a reference to a comment she purportedly made to a supporter of her recall that was reported in a sworn affidavit.)

You can read the full Chronicle report here.

BCFD Troubles: A Review

In reporting on the resignation of Perry Shane as BCFD Fire Chief and the Commissioner for Political Practice’s ruling of campaign violations by the BCFD Trustees and their supporters, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle referred to the Board as “beleaguered.” For a nice summary of how the board managed to get themselves into such a state, the Chronicle has posted a collection of all the articles they’ve written about the problems that have occurred since November of 2012, which you can read here.

After reading in the Chronicle current article about the appointment of Ted Mather as interim chief, someone calling themselves “ExFF” posted the following comment on the paper’s web site:

“What a joke, someone with two years and literally no actual experience is qualified to be a fire chief!? And when Dan Astrom was chief he was a lot more than an “administrator”. I have been in the trenches with him more times than I can count. Mike Conn is delsuional and trying to convince everyone that the ship isn’t sinking.”

Except for the typo, we couldn’t agree more.

An interesting thing about the selection of the interim chief is that there were two candidates, Mather and Mike Conn. We heard that before making their decision, the board actually asked the firefighters for their recommendations. If the board in fact voted consistent with the firefighters recommendations, then many of the current firefighters apparently are no more enamored with Mike Conn than the previous firefighters were. If that’s the case, than here’s a thought, get Mike Conn off the department completely and invite the former firefighters to rejoin the department. A good number of them likely would, bringing much needed experience back into the district.

One final note, if the board then led by Mike Conn had thought to ask (and act in accordance) with firefighters preferences back during the alcohol debacle, the department and the board would not be in their current beleaguered state.

Violations of Montana Campaign Practice Act by Two Board Members and Their Supporters

See the post on the Safety Coalition web site here.

Perry Shane Resigns as Fire Chief

BCFD Fire Chief Perry Shane resigned his position at the Board of Trustees meeting last night. For more information check the Safety Coalition blog here.

This Blog is Going on Hiatus

Effective today, you won’t be seeing new posts on this blog. The ex-firefighters started the blog because we felt the situation at the Bridger Canyon Fire Department and the flagrant misbehavior and potentially illegal activity of the Board of Trustees was not well known to the residents of the fire district we served. We felt that, if more people knew about the situation, they might want to do something about it. Now it appears that is exactly what has happened. The Bridger Canyon Fire District Safety Coalition has started an effort to recall the Board of Trustees and a legal investigation of the actions of the board is underway. We like to think that the information provided here helped to spur this effort; the over 19,000 page views on the blog in the last four months suggests that may in fact be the case.

The Safety Coalition has their own website now at www.bcfdsafetycoalition.org and they are putting a wealth of important information on their site. So, there is no need to continue to post relevant developments here.

If the situation changes, we may post again in the future, but that is not anticipated. The ball is in the hands of the Safety Coalition and the fire district residents now. We will be watching the developments and hope they remember that, as we’ve mentioned before, we’re here if you want us.

Not Good Enough

During a news interview with KTVM today, acting BCFD Chief Dennis Guentzel said the board is “moving ahead the best we can.”

Well, Denny, that’s just the point isn’t it; you and the rest of the board are moving ahead the best you can but you continue to demonstrate that your best isn’t good enough. Canyon safety protection is still minimal. It’s time you realized that the best way to move forward is to resign.

Oh, and before you falsely state yet again that you were blind-sided by events, please go back and review the board’s own audio tapes of the monthly meetings for the last 9 months or so. They  contain ample reminders of how many times you were told by the firefighters they were going to have to quit if things didn’t change and how many times members of the community told you they wanted you gone and were willing to pursue a recall to achieve that if you didn’t go voluntarily. It’s all there on the tapes, just listen. Then do the right thing. Please. You’ll sleep better and so will the rest of the district.

We’re Here If You Want Us

A canyon resident and supporter of both the BCXFD firefighters and the Safety Coalition recall effort walked into the gym today and received a standing ovation. He couldn’t figure out why until he realized it was because he was wearing his BCXFD t-shirt.

We were quite heartened to hear this story as it helps us to know how strong our support is out there. But we hope the public realizes that the whole recall effort is not about us, at least not directly. It is about accountability in public officials. It is about wise use of taxpayer resources. But most of all it is about public safety and property protection in the Bridger Canyon Rural Fire District. The ex-firefighters are one of the means by which a high level of safety was achieved in the past and, under better circumstances, are willing to be part of that effort again.

We wish good luck to the BCFD Safety Coalition with their recall petitions. We hope others in the canyon will join in with the Coalition’s effort. We are here if you want us, as we have been for the last four months since our departure from the fire department. You know what you need to do to get us back. Until then we remain proud to have served and ready to serve again.

And Now It Gets Interesting

www.bcfdsafetycoalition.org

 

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

What’s wrong with this picture is kind of a trick question as there’s nothing wrong with this picture. It was taken this morning, September 12, at about 10:00 a.m. and shows the American flag flying in front of the Bridger Canyon Fire Station. The problem is that, as reported by several ex-firefighters, it looked the same way yesterday morning at this time. As you know, 12 years ago yesterday, shortly before 10 a.m., 341 firefighters and 2 paramedics from the New York City Fire Department died in the collapsing towers of the World Trade Center. In commemoration of the tragedy of that day, September 11th had been declared Patriot’s Day and flags are supposed to be flown at half-mast.

Later yesterday, the flag at the fire station was in fact lowered to half-mast, but we can’t help but see the oversight or forgetfulness on the part of the Board of Trustees that lead to this not being done in a timely manner as being disrespectful and indicative of the true value they place on the resources they control. (You might think it’s not the board’s job to perform day-to-day tasks at the fire station, it’s the responsibility of the fire chief or other officers of the department. But remember the board and the fire department officers are one and the same.)

In the future we suggest the board go to http://www.halfstaff.org and download their handy Android Half-Staff Alert Widget for future use.

 

 

 

 

More on Monday’s Board Meeting

Below is a better summary of Monday’s board meeting, gleaned from information distributed by the Bridger Canyon Fire District Safety Coalition. It will interesting to compare this account with the board’s official minutes when they are released.

As for last night’s board meeting, it was quite the spectacle. Five of our members spoke during public comment, and three of those spoke during both public comment periods. There were quite the surprising reactions from audience members. Val Gould stood up and declared that she wanted one speaker to stop talking. Lorraine Conn kept muttering under her breath and then flipped off a speaker as she was returning to her seat.

Mike Conn vacillated between keeping time, interrupting the speaker, and arguing with him/her. Topics that were brought up during public comment were:

• A statement asking the board to publicly clarify why they wanted to get rid of Dan Astrom as chief and pointing out all the innuendo and rumors around this issue would stop, if/when this point was accurately addressed by the board.
• Questions about the new public comment sections and a statement that this new arrangement did not feel as though the board was encouraging public participation.
• Descriptions of the lengths to which residents had to go to get basic requests for information, including FOIA requests from 25 residents. Acknowledgement of an illegal meeting on May 23 by Anne Marie, who stopped at the fire station and found four of the five board members in a meeting.
• A consolidated information sheet with fire fighter information was referred to during public comment. The information was taken from reports the board gave to Coalition members on Saturday. Mike Conn refutes the numbers, however. (We have the reports if anyone wants to look at them. With the exception of the training logs, they are hard copy, over 100 pages, so we would need to arrange a time for you to pick them up, just let us know)
• Denny Guentzel was questioned as to whether he had completed the stress test required of all fire fighters over the age of 60. He had not.
• The May 22nd illegal meeting came up, as part of the public comment section. Denny claimed it wasn’t an illegal meeting, because he wasn’t sworn in until May 29. This is another half-truth. Denny was sworn in on May 29th for his newly elected term, but he was also a board member serving the remainder of Franklin Coles’ term. That term ended when Denny was sworn in, so he was a board member leading up to May 29th.
• A resident/Coalition member expressed lack of faith in the board, given their performance and their failure to address the most pressing issue facing the department–experienced personnel. He pointed out that they spent more time talking about a new printer than addressing this most pressing issue. It was his first board meeting.

There’s a lot to comment on about this report but we’ll confine it to one issue for now, that of Denny Guentzel’s statement that the illegal board meeting on May 22nd wasn’t an illegal meeting because he wasn’t sworn in until May 29th for his newly elected term. Did Denny forget that on May 22nd he was already on the board and had been for months,  ever since being appointed to fill Franklin Coles position, and that such replacement appointments last until the newly elected trustee (in this case Denny himself) is sworn in? If his memory is that poor, this is disturbing news indeed since not only does he serve an important roll in managing the affairs of the fire district but is also interim fire chief of the Bridger Canyon Fire Department.  Someone with a memory like that has no place in such important positions. If it’s not a memory problem, the alternative is that he just lied on Monday night. It’s hard to decide which of those two explanations is worse.

Rumor Control

Apparently the county health department contacted the BCFD Auxiliary about the pancake breakfast the other day. The rumor going around Saturday at the breakfast was that one of the bcXfd firefighters had called in  and complained. That was news to us. We learned tonight that the Bridger Canyon Fire District Safety Coalition sent one of their crack investigators down to the health department to see what they could learn. Here is the report they sent out earlier this evening:

The Facts Are:

 

1. Food Safety Inspectors watch the news and read the newspapers everyday for announcements about public events where food is served.
2. Organizations that will be serving food are required to obtain a Temporary Event Food Service permit. 
3. The permits are free and the forms are available on-line.  They come with useful information on food handling.
4. Last week, a Food Safety Inspector saw an announcement about the BC Pancake Breakfast.
5. The Inspector searched their records to see if a permit had been obtained for this event. 
6. Nobody had filed a permit for this year’s event so the Inspector called the contact on one of the previous year’s permits.
7. The Inspector was not very concerned since the even has been going on for years and there has never been a problem in the past, so it was considered a low-risk event.

Thanks to the Safety Coalition for dispelling this unfounded rumor and hopefully the auxiliary will remember the permit the next time. It would put the fire department at risk of a lawsuit if they failed to get a permit and a food-born illness outbreak occurred among the attendees.

The Last Resort of a Desperate People

We have reports coming in from what was apparently a rather poor showing by the BCFD Board of Trustees and their supporters at the board meeting tonight. We hope to have more details later but here are some points of interest.

Two officers in the BCFD Auxiliary, Val Gould and Lorraine Conn (wife of chairman Mike Conn) who are strong supporters of the board misbehaved during the comment period at the meeting. Ms. Gould stood up at one point, interrupted someone who was making a comment and rudely told her to stop talking while Ms. Conn was seen making a rude gesture (a.k.a. “the finger”) to the same commenter. While Mike Conn did at one point verbally attempt to control Ms. Gould during one of her outbursts, he was largely unsuccessful and himself repeatedly interrupted comments. Folks, this is no way to run a board meeting. The purpose of public comment periods are to let every concerned stakeholder have their say. To behave in this manner is inexcusable, and apologies should be issued immediately.

In a later comment period, one canyon resident pointed out that the board spent a huge amount of time discussing the purchase of a printer/copier while largely ignoring the safety concerns expressed during the initial comments, given him no confidence in the adequacy of the job they were doing managing the department.

After the meeting, Perry Shane was asked if he was still training officer in the department. He said no. He was then asked if he was still co-chief with Denny Guentzel, to which he replied “I don’t know what I am. I’m just a volunteer firefighter.” Why are we finding out about this in this manner? Shouldn’t something like that be part of the chief’s report? And who is training officer if Shane is not?

Acting chief Denny Guentzel indicated on questioning that while he’d had a regular physical from his personal doctor early in the year (prior to coming back on the department)  he had not seen the department’s physician nor had he had the stress test required of all firefighters over the age of 60. So we wonder if Mike Conn, Dave McKee, and Rick Anderson have had theirs, or like Denny are they putting the department and the canyon at risk by responding to calls in potentially inadequate physical condition to perform the duties required of them and if in fact they are more likely to become another incident themselves if overstressed. (Heart attack is the leading cause of death among firefighters.)

We also have something new to report in relation to an earlier blog report. In his chief’s report tonight Denny Guentzel indicated that he had received a call from the Bozeman Fire Department thanking him for the service of Perry Shane and Ted Mather in Tender 84 at the antique mall fire. It was indicated they hauled more than 25,000 gallons of water and stayed on scene until 4:00 a.m. If this is the case, then the problems reported in an earlier post on this blog were either incorrect or eventually overcome. If we were in error in reporting the problems, we sincerely apologize and in either case congratulate Shane and Mather on providing that service either with or without having difficulty to begin with.

 

Pancake Breakfast

A number of folks upset about the Board of Trustees and recent events at the Bridger Canyon Fire Department have wondered what they should do about the pancake breakfast at the fire department tomorrow morning. Should they go? Should they somehow protest what’s been going on? While there are a lot of nuances to these issues, we believe the short answer is of course you should go. Sincere volunteers in any effort should be appreciated and supported for the work they do and the time they put in to provide service to the community. Are there problems at the BCFD? Of course there are, but this is not the time to discuss those.

The theme in the advertisement for the pancake breakfast is “Honoring the firefighters, past, present, and future.” Given that they canceled the breakfast originally scheduled during the time the BCXFD firefighters were temporarily back on the job due to a court order, we wonder how much honoring of the past firefighters the organizers intend to do tomorrow. But, if you are a supporter of the BCXFD, we encourage you to attend the breakfast and show your support of not only the current volunteers but also the BCXFD volunteers and their over 60 years of combined service in whatever way makes the most sense to you.

What It Takes for an Adequate Response to an Emergency Call

In a recent public statement Board of Trustees chairman Mike Conn made the following assertion:

“Every call that we have had to the department since the problems earlier this year, has been adequately or overly staffed.”

No doubt this statement was made to reassure the public that everything is under control, all the “problems” have been resolved and everything is back to normal as far as safety and protection in the Bridger Canyon Fire District.

Let’s suppose that in fact an adequate or more than adequate number of people responded to these calls. Perhaps that is correct. But is simply the number of people showing up sufficient to define adequately staffed? What about the qualifications and performance of those that responded? Here are some things to consider in that regard.

To our knowledge, two of the calls Conn refers to have been mutual aid requests for support in fighting fires in other districts while the rest were medical calls.

The mutual aid calls were adequately staffed in the limited sense that enough people showed up to send out the single apparatus that was requested (a wildland truck on the first call and a tender on the second). However in both case, there were problems with the performance of the firefighters who responded. (See the earlier blog posts on the specific calls.) So, that’s not really adequately staffed. To be truly adequately staffed, not only do you need people to show up and staff the vehicle, you also need them to be able to perform the duties requested of them when they arrive on scene and to follow standard procedures for radio communications etc.

The same analysis applies to the medical calls. Sure people showed up, but was anyone with EMT training on each of those calls? To our knowledge perhaps only a couple of current volunteers at the Bridger Canyon Fire Department have EMT training. Was one or the other of these people on each of these calls? If that’s not the case, then again the call was not adequately staffed.

Having bodies show up is certainly a basic requirement to have adequate staffing on a call. But that’s only the beginning. There needs to be sufficiently trained people on each of the calls to meet the needs of that particular call. Two mutual aid calls and a few medical calls is not the full range of calls that can and have occurred in the Bridger Canyon Fire District. Volunteers need to be trained and prepared for a whole suite of possibilities including more serious events such as auto accidents and full blown structure fires, both of which occur in the district from time to time. So the question is, given one of these types of more serious calls, does the current volunteer force at Bridger Canyon, even if they all show up for a call, have adequate training amonsgt them to perform the needed duties? We think not.

If you have some concern about what in fact the current volunteers are trained and able to perform, here are some questions you can ask Mike Conn or anyone else at the fire department.

In the case of a major structure fire, firefighters need to be ready and able to do an interior search of a burning structure to locate potential victims and extract them. It takes a minimum of six trained firefighters before such a search can be performed; three to go in as a team and another three to standby in case the first team gets in trouble. Training for this procedure involves, for example, climbing a ladder in full turnout gear wearing an SCBA breathing apparatus, entering a dark room, locating a dummy victim and then carrying that 180 pound dummy down the ladder. How many of the current volunteers have performed this training? How many are willing to wear an SCBA and enter a burning building? Are there at least six, or if we find ourselves trapped in a house on fire are we to expect to have to wait life-threatening minutes for a team from another fire department to come and rescue us?

What if there is a major traffic accident in the district and someone is trapped in a crushed vehicle that has rolled down an embankment. How many of the current volunteers know how to properly operate the extraction equipment (e.g. “jaws of life”) the department has? A low-angle rescue necessary to bring a victim up an embankment in a stretcher requires six to eight firefighters minimum. How many of the current volunteers are trained in these procedures?

If you get a chance to discuss these kinds of situations with Mike Conn or others at the Bridger Canyon Fire Department, don’t be swayed by the argument that most calls don’t involve those skills. A properly functioning fire department doesn’t just train for the most common calls. They train for all possibilities, especially those that can be the most devastating such as structure fires and auto accidents. Ask Mike Conn how soon you can expect the department to have adequate staff with all the skills needed to truly provide the kind of protection the fire district deserves and should be able to expect.

Eight Things You Should Do Right Now to Protect Yourself From Wildland Fires This Summer

We’ve been very fortunate in the Bridger Canyon Rural Fire District to not have suffered any of the kind of wildland fires that seem to be springing up regularly in southwest Montana lately. But the fire season is really just moving into full swing, so it is not a time for complacency. With that in mind, if you have not already done them, here are seven things you should do right now to protect yourself and your property.

1. Create and maintain a defensible space around your home. See the blog post on this topic earlier this summer here. (If you need help in evaluating your property and/or performing needed changes you can contact Fire Triage Services at FTSofMontana@gmail.com for more information.)
2. Sign up for reverse 911 service on your cell phone. See the details here.
3. Consider acquiring a small generator for emergency power since Northwest Energy power may be cut in the event of a wildland fire.
4. Take a complete inventory of your household contents.  This can be done with a video camera or a digital camera. Nothing fancy is needed, the camera on your cell phone will do. Be sure to open drawers, cabinets, and closets to photograph contents. This also applies to outbuildings. The record of possessions should be stored in a safe place away from the home. You’d be amazed how difficult it is to list all your possessions when needed for an insurance claim.
5. Place all important documents into a fire safe box which can be grabbed at a moment’s notice. Or store such documents in a safe deposit box. Remember to have a several day supply of prescription medications ready in case of evacuation.
6. Identify other high priority items in your home such as family photographs and other irreplaceable memorabilia that you definitely want to save in case of fire. Limit your list to what can be loaded in a single vehicle in a few short minutes if necessary.
7. Have pet carriers and a supply of pet food ready.
8. Be sure your insurance coverage is adequate and you are current on your premium payments!

Schadenfreude It’s Not

In reply to the previous post BCFD Performance at the Antique Mall, Kent Madin posted the following comment:

“Schadenfreude has a way of circling back around….”

Before I respond to Kent’s comment, first let me admit that I had to look this word schadenfreude up. It means “pleasure derived from the misfortune of others.” An interesting word to add to my vocabulary even if I probably can’t pronounce it correctly.

Kent is mistaken that schadenfruede applies to the BCXFD firefighters’ reaction here, but at least the comment seems to acknowledge that mistakes were made at the antique mall fire. Supporters of the BCFD Board of Trustees and the current BCFD officers have always seemed to act like everything is just fine. Admitting there are problems, even implicitly, is a good first step towards working to set things right.

Kent is mistaken in his comment because the BCXFD firefighters take no pleasure from the misfortunes of Perry Shane or anyone else at the BCFD. Shane’s performance at the antique mall fire, like Denny Guentzel’s at the previous mutual aid call in Kelly Canyon was described as laughable and an embarrassment by firefighters from other departments who were on scene at these incidents. Why would we get pleasure from that?

The BCXFD firefighters who were forced to leave the department rather than face continued disrespect and abuse from the board spent a combined 60+ years working to build a department we were proud of. So we get no pleasure at all from hearing that the performance of  the two people sharing the position of fire chief, one of who is also the training officer, have destroyed the stellar reputation we previously enjoyed with other area fire departments.

We get no pleasure from the poor showing on fire calls just as we got no pleasure from having been driven from the department; no pleasure from seeing the auxiliary postpone the pancake breakfast and cancel the monthly dinner when we returned temporarily; no pleasure from Mike Conn’s laughable assertions in court about protection in the fire district being adequate but not ideal; no pleasure from the board’s refusal to perform their duties according to state laws and the state constitution; no pleasure from watching the fire department grounds wither due to neglect; no pleasure in knowing our property taxes are supporting this debacle; and most of all no pleasure in knowing that our property and personal safety are being put at unnecessary and unconscionable risk in order to support the personal agenda of a small group of canyon residents.

No, we don’t get pleasure from any of these things, no way. Anger, disgust, and even a little contempt yes, but not pleasure.

BCFD Performance at the Antique Mall Fire

We’ve heard the information below from more than one source who was on scene at the  the recent antique mall fire in Bozeman. We believe it is substantially correct but welcome corrections or additions (and of course your reactions to the event).

On August 12th, in response to a mutual aid call, the Bridger Canyon Fire Department sent Tender 84 to The Country Mall (antique mall) fire west of Bozeman. Perry Shane was DO (driver-operator). It’s not clear who was with him.

Shane and 84 were assigned to water supply and he was told to back his truck up to a porta-tank and empty his 2000 gallons of water into the tank. (This was the tank that was supplying the ladder truck that was spraying water on the fire as you may have seen on TV.)

After positioning the truck, Shane reportedly had to admit to another fire crew (from Bozeman Fire Department?) that he didn’t know how to empty the tender into the porta-tank. For those of you who don’t know, this is the easiest think to do on 84, all you have to do is flip a toggle switch at the back of the truck and all the water comes gushing out of a big tube. You don’t even have to have the truck’s pump running, pull any hoses or do anything else; just flip the switch and gravity takes over.

After receiving some instruction on this task from the other fire crew, Shane finally emptied his water load into the porta-tank. He then just sat in 84 without moving until someone asked him why he wasn’t going for more water. He said he’d not received any instructions from water supply on what to do next. He then had to be told he should have contacted water supply himself to tell them he was done with emptying the truck and requested further instructions. This is basic SOP (standard procedure).

It is unclear if 84 did any other work on the fire after that, although they were seen just sitting off to the side later.

Again, we are only reporting what we’ve heard and the details may not be totally correct, but we believe the basic facts are. Folks, this was the training officer and co-chief of the fire department who couldn’t do these simple tasks!!! The whole performance (or lack thereof) of the BCDF at this fire was described by those on scene as laughable and an embarrassment. That Shane performed so poorly in public is bad enough in and of itself, but think about this: BCFD has issued pagers to some seven or so new people in the last month. Can you imagine how well trained all these new “firefighters” are given Shane is their training officer? Do you feel comfortable having them rescue you in an accident or respond to your house in the even of a medical emergency or a fire?

More Commentary on “Parker’s” Blog Post About the Lawn at BCFD

 

The following was provided by Carol Fifer in response to the comments by “Parker” posted in a previous blog post. Although the Parker comments were made without the person identifying themselves (something we prefer you do and most often won’t publish without) we believe that person to be Susan Andrews who lives in Bridger Hills above the fire station and so gets a regular look at the grounds and should know quite well how the lawn and landscaping look this year compared to last year when Dan Astrom and Carol Fifer had it looking so nice.

From Carol:

Weeds are a fact of life. Their seeds can lie dormant in soil for many years. The north side of the station was treated for weeds by Chief Astrom then good quality topsoil was added before sod was installed. Since installation any weeds could have been removed by monitoring the situation, not ignoring it for months until they get out of control. Chief Astrom controlled the weeds and fed the grass by using Weed & Feed, which is a good program. Did anyone have a problem with weeds at the station while Chief Astrom was there?

The sod installed on both the north and south lawns is a blend Springhill Sod grows specifically for our location to endure the summer heat and often dry conditions.  I believe the mix is approximately 70% Kentucky Blue and 30% Fescue, both cool season grasses. There was a small amount of sod left over from the north lawn which we purchased and installed at our home. It remains lush and green with routine watering. There are one or two small brown spots about the size of a dinner plate where it didn’t receive sufficient water because the sprinkler was blocked. Once established, cool season grass will remain green throughout the summer with less frequent, deep irrigation. With no irrigation it is going to look like the lawn currently does.

Just like any home, the facility requires attention and routine maintenance which was always quietly carried out by Chief Astrom. And just like any home, if you neglect it, the more work it takes to get it back to looking good. The problems at the station are 100% caused by neglect by the Board.  If they had even looked into the dying lawns when we first asked about it I seriously doubt we’d be talking about a new well or a deeper well. There are options available right now to fix any water issues at a fraction of the cost of a new well but it doesn’t seem the Board is willing to listen. The normal operating procedure of some people is to call a repairman and throw money at the problem. That is no substitute for common sense and thought.

The landscaping is as close to xeriscaping as one can get. We installed minimal sod, and native plants which are adapted to our climate and require less water ONCE ESTABLISHED. Xeriscaping doesn’t mean NO water, it means 1/2 to 2/3 the amount required for exotics and non-natives.

I find it a bit more than a coincidence that the station and grounds were a source of community pride and everything functioned beautifully as long as Chief Astrom was there. The Board took him for granted, abused him and ran him off. Within weeks of his departure the lawn is dying, weeds are taking over, and goodness only knows what else is being neglected. I shudder to think about the safety and condition of our firefighting equipment.

The only reason the landscaping is garnering attention now is because the Auxiliary sat in the patio area last week to conduct their Pancake Breakfast planning session. They finally noticed the condition of the landscaping and are playing catch-up to try to make it look decent for the breakfast. And we will all get to pay for their neglect. Let’s hope we don’t have to pay for neglect of safety equipment.

More on Lawn Care Issues and Why They Are Important

In response to our posts from last week here here, we received the following comment from someone named Parker (no first name given). Because the issues raised deserve further clarification and discussion, it has been promoted to a post of its own. The comment reads:

The noxious weeds referred to are not on fire department property. The owner of that property is responsible, not the fire department. The condition of the lawn with weeds in it (dandelions and birds foot trefoil) are due to a lack of care in previous years. The size and number of weeds in the lawn did not just appear after Dan left the property. In order to keep the weeds out of the lawn it needs to be treated each year, several times. Obviously this was not done in the years after the sod was laid. The brown spots in the lawn are typical of the type of sod that was laid due to the weather in August. It is a native grass mix and is behaving typically. I have the same sod, installed the same year and mine looks the same, even though it is watered every other day. It is really too bad that Carol Fifer is unable to continue to care for the beds she planted. Some other volunteers have now assumed responsibility for maintaining the gardens. Don’t just complain – do something productive.

 In response to this comment, we received the following information from Dan Astrom:

If someone believes the noxious weeds are not on fire department property then they should contact the Bridger Hills Property Association (Gary Andrews or Val Gould) and bring it to their attention.

While fire chief, each year since the lawn was installed I applied weed and feed. This can be confirmed by receipts received by trustee Peggy Foster and by John Goodman and Don Daniels from who I have borrowed spreaders for the application. I also spent hours personally weeding; the only other people I saw doing that was Carol Fifer and once Eunie Guentzel.

 At one board meeting I mentioned my concern for weeds. Trustee Colleen Carnine recommended I pick up Amine 24D weed killer which the board approved. Franklin Coles let me borrow his backpack prayer and I sprayed. I also constantly applied Mad Dog (which is like round-up) around the station. There should still be some left in the North bay of the station.

The brown spots are not typical of the sod unless it is neglected. If it were the case, Springhill would close after July because no one would want to but brown spotty sod. Last year we had less rain and the lawn looked much better. Actually this sod stays green through the winter. I suggest talking to Springhill to get the facts on what to expect with proper watering.

More recently after inquiries about what is going on with the lawn, trustee Denny Guentzel gave the following response to Carol Fifer relating to the well and irrigation system:

I had checked out the whole system two weeks ago before the well man arrived. All was basically OK, but the second inspection and testing of the well proved our theory that the well is not capable of supplying water sufficient for the irrigation system as installed. The “recharge” rate is marginal at best (2 1/2 times slower than normal). We have reset the sprinkler system to allow more time between zones for the well to catch up, but that is proving unsatisfactory as well. Ultimately we may need to drill another well or extend the depth of the existing well. In the mean time we will reduce the sprinkling on the lawn side so as to allow full capacity on the shrubs and flowers on the north side.  That side is now working normally again. One more problem we uncovered is that the pipes in the “old” section of the station have considerable mineral build up which limits water flow even with sufficient pump pressure. We will investigate a solution for that as well. For now our main concern is preserving that which you have worked so hard to plant and maintain on the north side.

Former chief Astrom’s comments on Guentzel’s report is as follows:

When a lawn is first established it needs a lot of water. That occurred last year. It looked great as seen by the earlier photos on the blog. There was plenty of water for the south lawn, new lawn, and tenants living in the apartment.

Now we have two established lawns that need less watering and nobody living in the apartment. The water demand is substantially less than last year. I turned on the irrigation system May 6th and can verify it was working fine through the end of my service as chief.

So why all the blog space devoted to this lawn care issue when there are more important things to be worried about (e.g. the BCFD performance or lack thereof on recent fire calls)? Well, we believe the same mismanagement and lack of focus on the part of the board of trustees that lead to the resignation of 19 firefighters in May is also responsible for the current condition of the grounds at the fire station. And if the board can’t even keep up with superficial appearances at the station, we have our doubts that they are as on top of the fire and emergency service issues as they claim they are.

Oh, and in response to Parker’s last comment “Don’t just complain – do something productive,” don’t worry we are–we’re working hard to get a new board of trustees.

Blog Comments

Just a reminder that we welcome comments on blog posts but in order to be published for the public to view, you must identify yourself. You may still find some value in submitting anonymous comments as we’ll still read them and take any suggestions under advisement but we will not publish them.

The New BCFD Performance as of August 9, 2013

(Editor’s note: this is a rather long post for a blog but stick with it. I believe it is well worth the time!)

Since driving away 19 highly qualified and experienced firefighters in May, many people have read and heard Chairman Mike Conn and other BCRFD board members report to the public that the residents of the district would see little or no change in service. In their letter to the editor of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle the board stated that due the availability of mutual aid and AMR ambulance service that “there will be little, if any delay in quality response.” Acting Chief Guentzel stated in regards to AMR that “their response time will be unaffected.” The Board has stated that AMR is at the base of the canyon and arrives before or at the same time that the department does. Is this routinely true? We believe this to be erroneous information given to the public to calm fears of inadequate quality service by a board that knows the actual truth of the matter.

What the public did not hear in a meeting on May 20th and in his testimony on June 24th is that Mike Conn admits that mutual aid is a long ways away. During the 13 days in June when all the firefighters were put back on the job after Judge Salvagni issued a temporary restraining order, the reinstated firefighters responded to three calls for service. Two of those calls required an AMR ambulance to be dispatched. Both times AMR could not respond and Medic One from the Bozeman Fire Department had to be sent instead. In both occasions BCFD firefighters were on scene 15-20 minutes before the ambulance arrived.

This does not at all suggest that response time is “unaffected” or that “little if any delay in quality response” will be displayed. Instead it is another example of how this board is not doing their due diligence before forcing radically detrimental decisions on the fire district in pursuit of their personal agendas.

Another example of the board’s lack of due diligence occurred in regards to their stated intentions to hire Mark Story as the new fire chief after the departure of Dan Astrom. Mike Conn talked up Story’s qualifications and background in court, assuring the judge that the department would be in good hands soon if he would just rescind the restraining order and allow the board to proceed with their “force development plan” for the department. The board was so much impressed with Mark Story that they allowed him to respond to calls before actually hiring him as the new fire chief. Shortly after that decision a call came in for a medical emergency off of Jackson Creek Road. A full 40 minutes after the initial page was issued, Mark Story called Mike Conn to ask him where the residence was because he could not find it.

Later, just prior to their monthly meeting in which the board intended to publically announce the hiring of Mark Story as fire chief, they received information from numerous district residents about Story’s true background, including his reporting of apparently bogus college degrees, previous contractual disputes, and appearing on what are essentially “do not hire” lists for some other fire service organizations. This information has not been 100% verified but we believe it to be from reliable sources so are reporting it here. Apparently the board agreed the sources were reliable as instead of hiring Mark Story, they announced at the board meeting that they were “going in a different direction” in regards to a fire chief. We have to wonder what Judge Salvagni would think of this last minute turn of events given the high praise Mike Conn had for him in sworn testimony, and again it is a startling example of the board’s poor ability to do what is right for the fire district.

The events just described happened fairly soon after the 19 firefighters left so you might suspect (or hope) that things have improved considerably since then as the board has had time to get the situation under control. However more recent events suggest this is not the case.

After almost hiring Mark Story without looking into his background, the board repeated the same sloppy practice in their decision to make Perry Shane the co-chief along with acting chief Denny Guentzel. Shane has a history of questionable ethical practices and a felony arrest that the board did not know about or did not deem important if they did. That Shane was not convicted of the felony (the charge was dropped after a deadlocked jury in favor of him accepting a guilty plea for an associated misdemeanor) is not really important. The actions that lead to the charge are not in dispute and show not only questionable judgment but a serious disregard for due process.

The fire department has had three calls (that we know of) in the last month. The first one was a medical call in Sudan. Dispatch had to issue a second page to the fire department seven minutes after the initial page because no one acknowledged. This is a major breach of emergency response protocol. It then took 14 minutes for a vehicle to leave the fire station. The AMR ambulance service that Mike Conn and the board have repeatedly assured the district would be sufficient to provide the needed immediate response in calls actually broke down at Brackett Creek. So once again it has been shown that relying totally on AMR for medical emergencies is not ideal. While AMR provides excellent service to our district these recent events have shown that they are best utilized in conjunction with a quick response from a trained BCFD crew to insure the best outcome for medical emergencies.

The next call after the one in Sedan was also a medical call that occurred the next morning on Jackson Creek. Response time by BCFD personnel was 13 minutes that time, showing some improvement. However, they did not follow standard radio communication protocol and did not identify what kind of apparatus was responding. Dispatch finally gave up on them.

The most recent call we know if was for mutual aid for Fort Ellis for a hay truck on fire in Kelly Canyon just beyond the BCFD district boundary. This time it took 22 minutes to respond. Acting Chief Denny Guentzel must have forgotten some essential skills he had learned and demonstrated many times before his retirement from the department as he had to call dispatch to ask which GTAC radio channel they were supposed to use despite it being listed on his pager. Furthermore, it is standard county protocol to check-in on mutual aid calls on the “Gold” radio channel. We also learned that once on the fire, the BCFD personnel were not able to pump water on the fire as they could not get the pump on their truck to work. (This has not been verified but was reported to us via someone who was on scene during the incident. It is also not known whether the problem was due to a malfunction with the pump or simply a lack of adequate operating knowledge on the part of the crew.)

That’s what we know about BCFD emergency response performance since the events in May. Obviously service is subpar and has not improved over time. As mentioned, not all of the above information could be independently verified but we are reporting what we’ve been told. A resident had asked for more information on department status at the last board meeting but the board and co-chief Shane refused to provide it. If anyone (Mike Conn?) has more detailed information on these or other calls or would like to offer corrections or additions to this information, we would be happy to publish it. In lieu of more openness in regard to the official records of calls at BCFD, we will continue to report what we can learn from community sources.

UPDATE: Another source who had been at the scene of the mutual aid call could not confirm or deny that BCFD could not get their pump working as we have heard elsewhere. They did say that for whatever reason BCFD did not help put out the fire and confirmed BCFDs difficulty checking in on the correct radio channel and also commented that the BCFD vehicle arrived on scene after vehicles from other fire departments further away, e.g. RAE-Sourdough who did participate in extinguishing the blaze.

A Letter to Val Gould and the Board

This letter was sent to Val Gould and to the BCRFD Board of Trustees by Anne Marie Quinn in reply to Gould’s recent email about needing help for the next firefighters dinner. It is reprinted here with permission.

Dear Val,

Over the last ten years, I have always enjoyed making dinners for the firemen on many Wednesday training nights.  Along with several other Canyon residents, I stepped up in June after the Auxiliary cancelled dinner for our volunteer firefighters who returned to work following the court injunction.  I worked shifts in the kitchen at Bridger Bowl to prep, serve and do kitchen clean up during the forest fire.

 

Here’s the problem: The Fire Board has not been forthcoming about the state of the department or the qualifications of any new volunteers since we lost our force of 19 firefighters. At the last Fire Board meeting, the Board refused to provide a roster of emergency responders or volunteers in training.  This issue is vitally important to me because my husband has had open heart surgery and often has symptoms of cardiac dysfunction.  I need to know that competent responders will show up quickly if needed. Not knowing is a cause of constant anxiety for me. 

 

Instead, what I know is that there are three board members who have pagers to respond to an emergency. At the July meeting, three new volunteers were introduced as having joined the force. These six people are no replacement for the 19 fit and competent volunteers that we lost.  Not just because of the difference in the raw numbers, but because many of Chief Astrom’s firefighters had emergency medical training and advanced fire fighting certification. When an emergency call came in during the meeting, one of the new volunteers sat glued to his chair until a Board member returned as the trucks were about to pull out and called him by name.  Another new recruit,  according the Bozeman Chronicle, has a history of serious legal and ethical issues involving misconduct and theft. Perhaps now, a month later, there are newly trained, more reliable responders, but we don’t know, because the Board still has not provided residents with the details. This lack of transparency and disrespect for our legitimate concerns has eroded confidence in this Board and compromised Canyon safety far beyond what is acceptable.  

 

The bottom line is that Bridger Canyon residents need Chief Astrom and his volunteer force to return.  These men and women are physically fit and willing to serve, many have years of experience, advanced fire fighting certifications, medical and EMT training and have demonstrated their competence time and time again in life threatening emergencies over their years of service to Bridger Canyon. It is indeed a terrible shame that this Board squandered such valuable human resources.

 

At this point, all of my volunteer efforts will go to recalling this Board and restoring our emergency services to the level of excellence that we enjoyed under Chief Astrom. This is a matter of Canyon safety, and could be the difference between life and death for some. 

 

I encourage any Canyon residents who share my concern, to contact me directly for information about how to contribute to this critically important action.

 

With kind regards,

Anne Marie Quinn

Sad Shape

Here are some more photos of the sorry condition of the BCFD grounds, including one of some noxious weeds. No more metaphors this time. Compared to how well cared for and manicured the landscaping was in the past and how green and lush the lawn was, this is a sad, sad situation. It shows complete disregard on the part of the board for the many firefighters who installed the sod a few years ago; to Dan Astrom who took such good care of it; and to Carol and John Fifer and the other volunteers who put in so many hours designing and installing the landscape plants and features. This is a real step backwards in creating the kind of fire station environment that the board and the auxiliary supposedly takes so much pride in and has a t various times not been shy about taking credit for. Are they going to take credit for this travesty as well?

A Metaphor on Progress (or lack thereof)

The BCFD Board of Trustees has been pretty quiet in regards to their performance and progress on running the fire department since 19 firefighters resigned in May. We’ll have some specific details about that soon and perhaps the board will be more forthcoming in their meeting next week than they have been in the past. In the meantime we think these before and after photos of the fire station grounds serve as a good metaphor for the current state of affairs at the BCFD.

The change in the appearance of the fire station grounds since last year indicated by these first two photos doesn’t instill a lot of confidence that the fire department is performing at an acceptable level. Now lawn care is different from fire and emergency services, but keeping up the lawn at the fire station is the easy part of the whole picture.

2012

2013

Oh, and while we’re talking about metaphors, the station also seem to have a problem with unwanted weeds creeping onto the grounds as well:

2013

More Questionable Behavior by Perry Shane

The following article from the Bozeman Daily Chronicle on April 8, 1992 was sent top the BCXFD anonymously. It deals with more allegations of theft and other questionable behavior on the part of Perry Shane, currently the training officer and co-chief of the Bridger Canyon Fire Department. Anyone with further information on how this conflict was eventually resolved is encouraged to contact us with the details.

Four and Six

We were informed today that there were only four cars parked outside the fire station last night during training. So did only four people attend training last night? That’s not very encouraging. The ex-firefighters of the BCXFD, which also met last night, had a much better turnout than that.

We also heard that acting chief Denny Guenztle is out of commission for four months recovering from rotator cuff surgery. By our count that leaves only six pagered fire fighters on the department at this time. (If that’s not the correct number we’d love to know otherwise, including whether they are fully capable of responding to all types of incidents or if they’ve only been certified to perform specific duties such as road guard.)

Given these rather dismal numbers it appears that, in spite of continued assertions otherwise on the part of the board, the canyon is essentially still as woefully under-protected at this time as it was two months ago when 19 firefighters left the department due to the hostile work environment imposed by the board. So, we would like to again suggest the Five Minute Solution to this dangerous situation. You can read about the Five Minute Solution here and here. There is a board of trustees meeting coming up on August 12 at which you can encourage the board to do their part in implementing this plan.

Lawsuit Dismissal

As you may know the lawsuit by three canyon residents against the BCFD Board of Trustees was dismissed on July 12. (The official notice can be seen on the link below). We note that it was dismissed without prejudice, so the board might not want to get too comfortable about it.

7-12-2013-Notice-Of-Dismissal

Censorship?

Almost since the beginning of this blog, there has been a link to it on the Bridger Canyon Property Owner’s Association (BCPOA) web site. It was placed there as a means of helping keep the BCPOA members informed about fire department issues. While the fire department has their own website, it does not provide the same kind of important information that this blog does about the ongoing problems at the department.

In the BCPOA bylaws it states that the purpose of the BCPOA is in part to have “a definite influence in all matters which may affect residence or property rights and enjoyment thereof by its members; and to hold regular meetings for open discussions of problems of mutual interest and concern to those land owners.” Thus it seems entirely appropriate that a link to this blog appear on the BCPOA website. However we have learned that recently there have been several requests to have the blog link removed.

We don’t know who has made these requests but suspect that some folks whose actions have been criticized in this blog are trying to in effect censor the information to keep it from reaching canyon residents–information that directly relates to issues that affect their safety, their property and the effective use of their tax dollars. They can’t actually stop the blog so they are trying to make it as hard as they can for people to access it.

We’ve been told that decision to remove or not remove the link will be up to the board of the BCPOA. Should they decide to remove the link, they will be doing a real disservice to their members. If you agree that the link should remain, you are urged to let BCOPA board chairman Tom Fiddaman know. His email address is: tom@metasd.com .

Letter to the Board

The following letter was sent to the BCRFD Board of Trustees yesterday by a canyon resident. Because it expresses an important viewpoint in regard to recent actions of the board of trustees, it is reprinted here with permission.

Revised “About” Page

Please click on the “About” tab at the top of the page, or click here, to view a revised statement of the purpose of this blog and and summary of what’s gotten us to this point.