Volunteers ready to protect eastern Alpine County

How did our tiny Woodfords Volunteer Fire Department become a state-of-the-art facility with more than 20 vital and energetic firemen? Volunteer Chief Buck McLelland has a way of making this miracle sound simple.

"Besides responding to fires, traffic accidents, and other emergencies, the men volunteer countless hours to work on the station and the county government supports us," he said.

There is nothing simple about the operation of the Woodfords Volunteer Fire Department. McLelland commands respect because he works shoulder to shoulder with the men and logs countless hours behind the scenes.

Rob Levy writes grants for funding and facilitates leveraging county funds with grant funds to purchase the best equipment on the market.

He beams with pride as he explains that the county got, "two for one" value on the Squad 1 and Brush 1 trucks by having "Burtons (fire truck manufacturers) reuse a storage box on one truck, and add new pumps to another."

Alpine County Supervisor Skip Veatch attends meetings once a month to understand and help the volunteers' policy makers, which includes McLelland, Levy, Jim Haen, and Al Moss.

"The board recognizes McLelland and his operation as a gift of gold and we'd never want to lose that," Veatch said.

Three of the department's new members, Hal Bird, Wes Long, and Paul Schlange, engineered an agreement with their employer, South Tahoe Public Utility District, to be on duty volunteer firemen while working for the district in Diamond Valley.

"Everyone put two and two together to realize that it is a beneficial arrangement," Schlange explained.

Since most volunteers work day jobs, there was a very short daytime crew to respond to calls.

All three district employees are familiar with Alpine County, operation of water trucks, and Schlange has served on hot shot crews, heli-tech crews, and earned Firefighter 1 status in San Bernardino.

Each volunteer brings strength to the unit.

Mike Gard dished up steaming bowls of chicken and dumplings while he told the details of an earlier emergency.

"There it was on the ground, the smoldering brake drum from a truck, burning up," he said.

John Baker showed up because his "papa" Al Moss wrangled him into volunteering. Dave Woffinden joked with Tony Galvez, who tried on a brand new turn out suit. In 15 minutes, dinner is over and the crew disappears upstairs for training.

I was grateful to McLelland and Levy for taking a few more minutes to show me the new Americans with Disabilities Act compliant showers, set up to allow either firefighters or groups of citizens quick decontamination from chemical poisoning.

The lockers are squared away, with turn-outs, boots and air tanks for each member. A sparkling new two-ton air machine fills tanks for these men and other county emergency groups.

Dave Zellmer designed the firehouse as a drive-through, and eventually the overhead pipes will be pressurized to fill the trucks with water as they drive through the firehouse.

A new water tank is installed outside the firehouse and is almost ready for operation. Gard is putting the final touches on the new kitchen.

Right in the middle of the fire house sits five gleaming fire and rescue vehicles.

Three years ago the department had old equipment and four volunteers.

The community effort behind the growth is a credit to Alpine County.

In order to support this excellent group of volunteers, there will be a fundraiser dinner and dance next March.

Those wishing to volunteer should contact Gard at (530) 694-1976.