Sue Lani Madsen: Volunteer fire and rescue departments are your safety net in Washington’s wide-open spaces

After his first road trip across Washington, a Seattle relative once asked worriedly, “What happens if there’s trouble in the empty space?”

He was concerned by long stretches of highway, beautiful open vistas and exit signs to only a handful of small towns.

It’s a reasonable question: Who does come to your aid on rural highways?

U.S. 195 links Pullman and Spokane, state Route 26 is the main link from Pullman to Seattle. When the Thanksgiving holiday started with two fatality accidents on these routes, it was dutifully reported that both involved WSU students and head-on collisions. One victim from each wreck was declared dead on scene, two victims were transported by helicopter to Spokane, others by ground ambulance.

What wasn’t mentioned was the first responders, the men and women who live in the small towns and empty spaces.

It’s not a glamorous job. It’s not even a job in the usual sense.

Members of volunteer fire and rescue departments are the safety net along rural highways, and a relatively recent development.

Emergency medical services were limited to basic first aid until Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) programs began to spread in the 1980s. Some of the old guard in rural fire departments resisted adding EMTs to the squad, but that resistance dissipated quickly. Their value was obvious.

When you call 911 on a rural highway, the call will go to a dispatch center, then to pagers carried by ordinary people. When they hear the tones, these volunteer EMTs and firefighters respond rapidly. They are ready to lock their business, leave their family at the dinner table, or walk out on a community event.

Closest units for the two recent accidents were from Rosalia on the U.S. 195 crash and from Dusty on Route 26.

The protocol is the same for all first responders, whether small town volunteer or big city career. First focus is scene safety. Are there hazards to be mitigated – spilled fuel or other chemicals, fire risks, loose animals? Emergency vehicles are parked to protect the accident scene and those treating patients.

Triage is quickly performed to identify how many patients, how urgent, and to call in a helicopter if advanced life support and rapid transport are needed. Someone is designated ground contact for the helicopter and sets up a landing zone.

Patients are strapped to backboards and loaded into helicopters and ambulances. The final and most difficult task is to release a deceased victim from the wreckage.

Well, not exactly the final task. That would be the paperwork, cleanup and restocking to be ready for the next call. Then the volunteers go back to work, or home to a cold dinner, or back to the grade school band concert.

Or if the call came in the middle of the night, back to bed and maybe back to sleep. Maybe. PTSD isn’t out of the question, and each department has a routine for debriefing and looking out for each other.

The pool of potential volunteers is limited, and it is a challenge to maintain daytime service.

Rosalia is only about 30 miles south of Spokane. Like many small towns surrounding Spokane, Rosalia is becoming a bedroom community with minimal job opportunities.

Occasionally, rural communities in the ring around the city only have one or two people available to respond to a daytime 911 call, with backup coming from 15 or more miles away. A local department once carried a child’s safety seat in the EMS truck so a young mother could respond during the day.

Across rural Washington, the responsibility falls heavily on people who are self-employed or who work from home.

Government agencies have rules that prohibit leaving work. Many small-business owners who volunteer encourage employees to join, hitting their business productivity with every call.

Most areas of low-density development in Spokane County are also served by all-volunteer or combination paid and volunteer departments, with similar challenges in recruitment.

If you live in the empty spaces and small towns, consider volunteering. The fulfillment from serving your community and the camaraderie from working on tough tasks together can be tremendously rewarding. And if you’re just passing through, know that theye have your back.

Contact Sue Lani Madsen at rulingpen@gmail.com.