Candidates for board share plans for rural fire area

Six candidates have filed to run for two seats on the Whitefish Fire Service Area board.

Candidates who will appear on the ballot for the rural fire board are Calvin Dyck, James Dyon, George Losleben, David Mangold, Ed McGrew and Michael Zorn. Dyck and Dyon currently serve on the board.

Mangold and Zorn have withdrawn from the race, but their names will still appear on the ballot.

Those who own property in the rural fire district, but are not a resident are allowed to vote in the election. Those who wish to do so must contact the Flathead County Election Department for a land owner absentee ballot request form and return it to the election department.

All ballots will be mailed on April 14 for the May 4 election. For more information, contact the election department at 406-758-5535.

The Whitefish Fire Department provides fire service to the rural district through a contract that runs through June 2026.

When the rural board and the city began negotiations last spring on the current contract, the board sent out a letter to homeowners saying it was exploring the option of separating from the city to begin a volunteer fire department. This drew the attention of homeowners in the district who resoundingly told the rural fire board that they wished to retain fire coverage from the city.

The rural board eventually approved a contract with the city, but with a provision that allows the rural board to explore the possibility of creating its own volunteer fire department after June of 2024.

A study conducted by Kearney’s Student Lab program at Carnegie Mellon University found that nine satellite fire stations would need to be constructed in the greater Whitefish area to serve the homes that are currently more than 5 road miles away from a fire station. This would improve emergency response, but also reduce insurance rates for homes in that area, the study noted.

Candidates for the rural board:

Ed McGrew

Ed McGrew has lived in Whitefish for 18 years. He has a background in IT work, but since 2019 rather than retiring has been running Ed McGrew’s BBQ here.

McGrew said he had some friends approach him about serving on the rural fire board a few years back, but in the last year it became apparent to him that there was concern about the direction the fire board has been headed. He says it was a “bad idea” for the board to consider ending its contract with the city fire department in favor of moving to a volunteer fire department.

“The vision they have is short-term,” he said. “The direction they are headed would have a devastating effect on the community.”

McGrew says the rural fire area is getting a good deal financially from the city when it comes to providing fire service.

“The board has been too concerned about separating from the city rather than strengthening the fire service,” he said.

McGrew says homes in the rural district would be facing lengthy response times if they moved to an all-volunteer fire department.

“When your house catches on fire you want trained professionals to respond,” he said.

He says he wants to work with the board, while also listening to what residents have to say about the future of fire service.

“I want to get an idea of what the board wants to accomplish and have a positive impact,” he said. “While making sure we’re there to benefit the people that live in the service area.”

McGrew says the Carnegie Mellon study shows there needs to be additional satellite fire stations around Whitefish, and work needs to be done to examine how that should be accomplished.

“We need to take a closer look, as the board, at that study and pay attention to the people that live in the service area,” he said.

Calvin Dyck

Calvin Dyck was appointed last fall to fill a vacancy on the board and is running for re-election to retain his position.

He has lived in the Flathead Valley since 1972 and graduated from Whitefish High School in 1983. He owned his own business for 20 years and for the last eight years has been the director of the Glacier Bible Camp in Hungry Horse.

“Some of the strengths that I bring are that I am familiar with the topography of the area having worked in construction and utility work, I’ve worked with different businesses in the area,” he said. “In my current position I’m used to working with both volunteers and paid staff and know the importance of volunteers and the community. I’ve watched Whitefish transition from a small town to a growing community.”

Dyck said that while he wasn’t able to volunteer himself when he owned a business he did have two employees who were volunteer firefighters so is familiar with that.

In terms of the board, Dyck says that the board is making an effort to reach out to the community and get folks involved, including by creating a new website that is expected to be ready soon. He notes that the negotiation process with the city last year regarding the fire service contract made it clear that many folks were receiving misinformation and the board would like to change that to ensure a transparent process.

Dyck said the board also wants to work with the City of Whitefish in planning for the future.

“Our goal is to try to figure out how to grapple with all the growth that’s happened,” he said. “We want to ask questions and do our research and look at the most affordable and effective way to provide fire protection.”

In terms of adding additional satellite fire stations, Dyck said the board is just beginning to look at the Carnegie Mellon study but he does support adding fire stations.

“I’m familiar with the topography of the area, which will assist in looking at what’s best for location,” he said. “We want involvement from the community with the board to make sure that happens in the right locations.”

Dyck also points out that constructing fire stations is only part of the puzzle because having firefighters respond from farther away because a station doesn’t have staff isn’t an effective solution.

“We also need to look at whether we are going to staff those with volunteers or volunteers and paid staff,” he said. “We need to try to figure out what we can do fiscally that makes sense because constructing stations is only part of the equation — we also need to make it work because it’s really no good to have a fire station that is empty with no equipment or that there’s no staffing for.”

Dyck says as a new member to the fire board he’s still learning, but he wants to improve communication with the residents of the fire area.

“The reason I’m there is that I want to give back to the community,” he said. “Give me three years and see what I can do because I have a passion for the community.”

George Losleben

George Losleben has owned property in Whitefish for 49 years, and is a retired attorney. He grew up in Malta and graduated from the law school at the University of Montana. He worked in several places overseas and in the United States, but says summers with his wife and daughters were always spent in Whitefish.

Taking inspiration from his father who served as chairman of the board of health, Losleben says he believes in public service and being retired puts him in the position of serving his community.

“I’m really happy to be part of this community,” he said.

Losleben says he supports the Whitefish Fire Department providing fire service for the rural area and that the board needs to be looking to the future for planning how to work with the city.

“There’s a lot of major issues that have been spurred by the growth,” he said. “We need to look to the future and how we’re going to keep that base we have and the professionalism of the Whitefish firefighters and emergency services.”

Losleben says he supports the idea of constructing satellite fire stations as pointed out in the Carnegie Mellon study, but notes that that won’t be enough in the long-term to provide fire service. He says it will be necessary to take the study as a starting point, but not the final solution.

“Fire stations might satisfy insurance companies, but what we need is additional firefighters,” he said. “We can find ways to do it if we spread out the costs over time. The board needs to be pointed in a new direction and toward the future, and right now they don’t have a plan for that.”

Losleben was one of the several homeowners who showed up to the rural board’s meetings this past year after the board sent out a letter saying it was considering ending its contract for service with the city. He notes that while a new contract was approved it still allows for the rural district to leave that contract in three years and that focus needs to be changed.

“There is a lack of transparency from the board,” he said. “They need to listen to the public and have good communication, and follow the will of the majority. We’ve been frustrated with the lack of representation from the board.”

Losleben says there’s always room for compromise when it comes to negotiating a contract, but right now homeowners are paying roughly 50 cents per day for fire service.

“That’s minimal and we can afford more,” he said. “We need to take care of the budget and be wise about it, but we also need to do what the people want.”

James Dyon

James Dyon has served about three years on the rural fire board after being appointed to the position. He has lived in Whitefish for 37 years. He previously worked for Applied Materials as a supervisor in the machine shop, and for the last 22 years has owned his own business.

Dyon says he wants to continue serving on the board because he likes volunteering in his community.

“I think we’re headed in the right direction because we keep growing, we need to keep planning,” he said.

Dyon says the Carnegie Mellon study points to the same plan the rural board has already been looking into.

“A year ago we wanted to begin looking at building more fire halls,” he said. “It’s the same plan we wanted to do. It’s a good idea.”

He points out that more work needs to be done in terms of determining the best location for the fire halls because the study doesn’t take into account the geography and roads where the fire stations would be located, some of which wouldn’t be suitable for a fire truck.

“This was one of the reasons we’ve been looking at having our own part-time chief to look at areas and provide feedback about roads that are being constructed so we can make sure a fire truck can fit on them,” he said.

Dyon says that even once fire stations are constructed it will be necessary to find volunteers to staff those stations and that’s something that won’t happen overnight.

“The city can’t afford to pay more firefighters,” he said. “So it’s got to be a combination of volunteers and paid, and we need to look at manning one station before we move onto the next.”

He has concerns about how homeowners will pay for fire stations if they’re on the border of two stations, and also wants to look at moving to a system that rather than charging a flat fee to homeowners would base the fire fee off of property value.

“I wasn’t against signing with the city, but there has to be a happy medium,” he said. “We’ve got to work together and keep an open mind.”

Dyon says he wants to continue to watch the fire areas budget closely because while some homeowners are willing to pay more for fire protection, not all homeowners can afford to.

“If we’re doubling or tripling the fire expense that could really hurt them,” he said. “We need to look at starting a fire district so that we could base it on property value. We have to do what’s right for the people who we represent.”

It’s important for the rural fire board to ensure it has enough money in its budget to support the rural fire hall it’s responsible for, he notes.