Helper City Fire Chief Matt Montoya virtually attended the city council meeting on Thursday evening to give a presentation on his department. He stated that he believed that a lot of the time, people do not understand exactly what the department does.
Montoya stated that Helper Fire requires each member to take 140 hours of Firefighter 1 and 2 training, EMT training, HAZMAT courses and more. The trainings equate to 280 hours that the volunteers have taken time out of their personal lives to be certified for, which Montoya stated is a real asset for the department.
He explained that all are also required to attend two meetings per month that average two to three hours and they are also required 40 hours of continuous education for both EMT and Firefighter 1 and 2. Montoya then stated that they are averaging 20 to 30 calls a month, which is quite a bit for a volunteer in the department.
Helper Fire is assigned a 3,500 square mile area and when the pandemic began, they were unsure of how they were going to be able to handle it.
According to Montoya, there are 16 people in the department and they were nervous of the future in the pandemic. He commended each member of the department for sticking around despite that.
“They put them and their families at risk every time they go out, at risk of exposure, and they do it proudly,” Montoya stated.
He continued by stating that, unfortunately, emergencies do not have a set schedule or time limit and he is proud of each and every individual on the crew. The council asked Montoya a few simple questions, such as if they had applied for COVID-19 funding for the department, before thanking Helper Fire for its hard work and dedication.