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Fire Department FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I burn leaves in my yard?
Category: Fire
Can you get my cat out of a tree?
The Fire Department will assist in rescuing animals. Please contact Town Hall at 777-5271 and someone will be dispatched. If it is an emergency, you may call 9-1-1.
Category: Fire
Do Firefighters Staff Every Station in Stevensville?
Because the Firefighters are all volunteers, stations are not staffed 24/7. Occasionally the stations are staffed by volunteers who choose to work a shift without compensation.
Category: Fire
Does the Fire Department fill fire extinguishers?
Stevensville Fire Department is not equipped to fill fire extinguishers at this time. However, you can find local fire extinguisher businesses in the yellow pages to refill them.
Category: Fire
How much does a Stevensville Firefighter get paid?
All Stevensville Firefighters are volunteers and perform services without compensation.
Category: Fire
How often should I change the batteries in my smoke detectors?
We recommend you change the batteries in your smoke detectors every 6 months, an easy way to remember is to change batteries when you reset your clock for daylight savings time.
Category: Fire
My smoke detector is chirping, what does that mean?
Most modern smoke detectors will chirp to alert you the batteries are low, you should replace the batteries and test your smoke detector. Smoke detectors can be purchased at any hardware or large commercial department store.
Category: Fire
What if I smell Gas in my home?
You will need to get out of the house and then call 9-1-1 for the Fire Department from outside of the house or from a neighbor's house. The use of a phone could cause the gas to ignite if you called from inside the house.
Category: Fire
What other responsibilities do firefighters have other than fighting fires?
The number of residential and commercial fires has steadily decreased over the years due to a variety of factors including improvements in construction, a greater public awareness of the risk factors leading to fires and a significant reduction in smoking nationwide. Fires, however, are only some of the emergencies to which the Fire Department responds. Nearly eighty percent of the Fire Department's emergency responses are, in fact, calls for medical aid, including illness/accidents at home and work, and injuries resulting from vehicle crashes. Other calls for emergency response involve hazardous materials releases, technical rescues, response to fire alarms and other calls for public assistance. Firefighters also spend much of their time maintaining equipment.
Category: Fire
What should I do when I see or hear an emergency vehicle coming towards me when I'm driving?
When it is safe to do so, you should pull over to the right and stop until all emergency vehicles have safely passed. If you cannot safely maneuver to the right, simply stop and stay stopped so the vehicles can go around you safely.
Category: Fire
Why am I not supposed to drive over a firehose?
Firefighters are very concerned about running over firehoses because the hose can be damaged and any firefighter at the end of a nozzle will have the water interrupted and possibly cause injuries or death. Any hose that is driven over without protection has to be taken out of service and tested.
Category: Fire
Why do I need to keep weeds and bushes away from fire hydrants on my property?
Weeds and bushes should be kept three feet from fire hydrants for visibility and accessibility.
Category: Fire
Why do we see fire department crews at the store?
Because the crews may work a shift, they must eat their lunch and dinner at the station. At times firefighters all eat the same meal, as a group. The crews pay for their food out of their own pockets. So, after the equipment is checked and the housework completed, one of the fire trucks will then make a quick trip to the grocery store to purchase the food for the shift. All crews remain in service to respond to calls during this time.
Category: Fire
Why do you block traffic lanes at auto accidents, sometimes more lanes than necessary?
We block traffic lanes for the safety of our personnel and our patients. Blocking extra lanes keep our personnel safe when they go back to our apparatus to get more equipment and help protect the victim we are trying to stabilize. Over 25 firefighters are killed or injured each year while working at incidents on streets and highways.
Category: Fire
Why does a fire truck come when you call for an ambulance?
Because firefighters can and do get there first, and time is critical in a medical emergency. Every Stevensville Fire fighter is cross-trained in Emergency Medical Services. What does that mean to you, a citizen phoning 911? Simply read on..
In the early days, fire stations were strategically located so the crews could quickly get to burning buildings. Obviously, time is an important aspect of firefighting, because flames can rapidly spread through a building. The ability to quickly respond to a fire provides more time to rescue people inside, and save property by suppressing the blaze in the early stages. It soon became apparent that the firefighter's ability to "get there fast" could be used for other types of emergency response, such as heart attacks, strokes and trauma.
Four minutes is a critical time frame for someone who has experienced a heart attack, injury, or other illness that makes them stop breathing. The heart and brain have a better chance of full recovery they receive oxygen in four minutes or less. After that, a person can suffer brain damage or worse. Our firefighters, many of them educated to the level of EMT, can use life saving techniques including defibrillation to help prevent death or permanent injury. These life saving techniques are much more effective if they can get to a patient within the first four minutes.
Each Stevensville Fire Station is part of a much larger, intricate dispatch system. The system is designed to provide adequate emergency coverage for the citizens who live here, by carefully managing response resources. Fire stations are not isolated or randomly located. They are strategically positioned to provide the best coverage with the least expenditure of resources.
When you dial 911 for a medical emergency, expect a Stevensville fire truck. The expertise that they bring is truly lifesaving.
Category: Fire
206 Buck Street | Stevensville MT 59870 | (406) 777-5271