West County Fire Departments Proudly Serve The Community

By Susan E. Sagarra with Daniel Kelley

Most people agree that the men and women who serve as firefighters and paramedics deserve the title of hero. After Sept. 11, firefighters were thrust into the limelight - they were the heroes and everyone literally worshipped the ground they walked on.

How soon everyone forgets, however, about the firefighters who rushed in, risking their own lives - many losing them - to save so many other people's lives. How quickly people revert back to criticism of local fire departments - specifically, about how much firefighters are paid; about their "expensive" equipment; about their "life of luxury" hanging around the firehouse cooking extravagant meals, playing games and watching TV all day.

But when someone's house is on fire or someone is suffering a heart attack, what is the first place we call for help? And when we do call for assistance, the firefighters and paramedics are there immediately. When people in the community need them, day or night, in rain or snow or ice, without question or complaint, they are there.

Can anyone put a price tag on the value that firefighters and paramedics provide when there is an emergency? In addition to police officers, firefighters and paramedics are the first to arrive when tragedy strikes. They do not hesitate, nor do they question, criticize or judge. They jump in with full force to do what they can to prevent a building from burning to the ground or prevent a person from dying of their injuries.

They are saving lives and many times risking their own lives.

It takes a special person to be a firefighter/paramedic. Not everyone could handle the hours, or the grueling physical training, or the ability to drop everything at a second's notice - or be awakened from a sound sleep to go out into the cold, dark night to help someone in need.

Think about what it is like to ascend to the top of a pumper ladder, with heavy equipment on and carrying a heavy hose, while trying to douse a hot fire with piercing flames. Firefighters do that without hesitation.

In fact, for anyone curious - and adventurous - enough, there is a way to get a firsthand glimpse at what firefighters experience. Most local fire protection districts have a ride-along program in which area residents may experience some of the ordinary - and out of the ordinary - daily duties of a firefighter and/or paramedic.

"It's educational and informative," said Wayne Sanders, an EMS lieutenant for the West County EMS and Fire Protection District. "You can't go in expecting to put out a fire. But there a lot of things you can observe that go on behind the scenes."

There are required daily chores and equipment checks. There are emergencies that occur at any hour of the day or night, sometimes all at the same time, such as during a major snow or rain storm. These firefighters and medics are expected to be ready to go at a moment's notice.

"We can have an incredibly slow day when nothing happens or we can get several emergency calls on the same shift," Sanders said. "We don't sleep well because we may get calls at 3 or 4 a.m. You just never know. You never know what is going to happen. It's a great unknown every day you come into work."

There are many men and women serving in West County who are willing to risk their own lives and venture into that great unknown every time they go to work.

"The firefighters in West County deserve every dollar they earn," said Ron Olshwanger, a director on the board of the Creve Coeur Fire Protection District. "It upsets me that they can't get paid more. There's no way that you could pay firefighters, police officers, nurses and teachers too much. Think of what life would be like without them. Instead of cities spending money on parks and fountains, they should be spending it on the people who are out there saving lives everyday.

"The paramedic is the first one to see you when you call 9-1-1. They can stabilize you and get you to the hospital. Doctors get paid well to do the same thing, paramedics should get paid well. These men and women are the ones saving people's lives. It is not a taxi service. They are in the ambulance working on you."

West County residents have five fire districts providing services: Creve Coeur Fire Protection District; Eureka Fire Protection District; Metro West Fire Protection District; Monarch Fire Protection District; and the West County EMS And Fire Protection District. Each fire district responds to an average of 5,000 calls a year. Some engine houses can respond anywhere from three calls in a 24-hour shift to seven or eight calls in that time.

The Creve Coeur Fire Protection District services approximately 26 square miles, with a population of approximately 55,000 people. The Eureka Fire Protection District protects 28,000 people living in an area of 82 square. The Metro West Fire Protection District provides emergency services to 125,000 residents within more than 57 square miles. The Monarch Fire Protection District (formerly Chesterfield Fire Protection District) covers approximately 55 square miles and services more than 60,000 people. The West County EMS and Fire Protection District covers approximately 21 square miles and serves a resident population of approximately 45,000.

One may think that the primary purpose of the fire districts is to put out fires, but there is so much more to it.

Gone are the days of a firefighter being just a firefighter and a paramedic being just a paramedic. In West County, everyone must be cross-trained; some days they make runs on the fire truck, other days they ride in the ambulance. Everyone knows how to do everything.

All the fire districts also offer or are involved in community education (including CPR and first aid classes), fire prevention, disaster preparedness training, terrorism and bioterrorism training, water rescue, hazardous material training and response.

"They are cross-trained as paramedics and firefighters," said Ohlshwanger, of the Creve Coeur district. "But they also are trained in HazMat, swiftwater rescue, CPR instruction, high angle rope rescue, ice rescue, confined space technicians, the list goes on and on. This is all done for humans and animals. Animals are treated as family members and I've seen guys give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to dogs and cats."

Olshwanger and other West County fire officials said that 70 percent of all emergency calls to the fire department in the County now are medical emergency calls.

"But if a fire happens, they are there," Olshwanger said. "They are fighting fires sometimes in zero degree weather. They also are fighting fires in 100 degree temperatures. And they can't leave. We don't have as many fires now because we do a lot of inspections and fire prevention training. Plus, these days, more people are trained to call 9-1-1 and get out of the house. That gets the fire department there sooner. In the past, people would try to put out the fire themselves first and then call the fire department."

If an emergency occurs, the community can be assured that any engine house in West County is just a phone call away - several times a day, if needed.

For example, at the epicenter of the Metro West fire district is the fire station on Clayton Road; fire station No. 4 is one of the busiest stations within the district. Of the more than 5,300 calls within the district last year, fire station No. 4 received 1,980. On average, the station will receive six calls a day, said Metro West Assistant Chief Steve Sagehorn.

"Some days they might run one or two, some days they might run 12 or 15. It depends on the call volume," Sagehorn said. "It fluctuates depending on time of year, if we have a storm, whenever there is an emergency."

Firefighting men and women do not enjoy the luxury of the average workweek, Sagehorn said, as they work in 24-hour shifts for a 56-hour workweek.

"The thing that people don't understand is we are there 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Sagehorn said. "These guys will come in the morning and work from 7 a.m. till 7 a.m. the next morning. They can't leave the firehouse. They can't go home and watch their kid's softball game or first recital or be there for their first lost tooth. It's not your typical Monday through Friday, 8 to 5 job.

"They actually dedicate their lives to the service. They give up a lot of stuff, like Christmas. You tell your kid on Christmas Day that we can't celebrate Christmas that day because Mom or Dad is working at the firehouse. It's just a way of life, and these men and women have accepted dedicating their lives to helping other people."

Dedication that can be seen in the constant training the district's firefighters endure.

"At the fire department, we don't just sit there and wait for calls to come in," Sagehorn said. "Our days are full of training. These guys are trained extensively on a monthly basis and we have to meet specific quotas. They are trained on EMS, they are trained as paramedics, and they are trained on Fire and Rescue. These guys train all the time."

A firefighter's motivation stems from a sense of accomplishment reached from helping others, Sagehorn said.

"These people give of themselves," Sagehorn said. "When you do have a busy day of 12 or 15 calls, they might not sleep for 24 hours. These men and women are out giving 110 percent while they are there. The motivation is to help others obviously, that is why they're here. They are not going to get a lot of praise or recognition. They are unsung heroes and they don't want the praise. They just like to know when they went to home they helped somebody.

"It's hard to understand, but until you've coddled an infant who's not breathing and you help bring the baby around or a grandmother is on the ground with no pulse or respiration and you bring her back or if you've saved somebody from a car wreck or a burning building, you just can't understand that feeling until you've done it."

Like the other districts, Metro West cross trains its employees as EMT's, paramedics and fire rescue.

"If an engineer gets hurt on a fire truck another person can step up and work that fire truck," Sagehorn said. "If one of the paramedics gets hurt, one of the other paramedics can step in and fill their shoes. It's so the citizens will never see a glitch in the service they receive. It all comes back to taking care of the citizens first. They are our No. 1 priority in the fire district."

The other West County fire districts have that same philosophy.

"We don't hear the taxpayers complain," said Capt. Rich Minda of the West County EMS. "We're very customer friendly. If a senior citizen calls us because their smoke detector is beeping, we will go out and change it for him or her. We've moved furniture, we'll do just about anything, within reason, to help senior citizens. It's an extra service we provide. We give back to the community because they support us."

Minda knows a thing or two about the importance of mutual support. Minda started his career in the rural Springdale Fire Department before coming to West County.

"When I was there, there was only one man on the fire truck," Minda said. "There were no ambulances. It's a lot safer for the residents and businesses here because we have three to five people respond at a time. The support is there for all the West County fire districts. The taxpayers give us the funding so we can have the best equipment. Every truck of ours has exactly the same thing on it because of the taxpayers. The types of calls we get, seconds count, and it's important that we have the modern technology to go out and save people."

Robert Kartje, who has been with the West County EMS for eight years and served in Clayton and the city of St. Louis prior to that, said that the fact that the taxpayers approved a bond issue to provide for a new firehouse, a new training facility and new equipment demonstrates the support West County fire departments receive from the community.

"We have an enormous amount of support from the community," Kartje said. "Having all of this also is a benefit to them and they recognized that. It's a great pat on the back to know they realize that. It's a real morale boost. The West County community always is very appreciative. It is not unusual to have people just come and drop off cookies or something for us. Particularly during the holidays, we get tons of pastries and other stuff. Some of it's from people we have helped, even people we helped 10 years ago still bring us stuff; other times, it's just somebody in the community showing their appreciation. It's very gratifying."

And gratifying to truly save someone's life.

"In the city, the majority of calls we had for an ambulance were non-emergency situations," Kartje said. "Here, when someone calls for an ambulance, it is an emergency. It is life-threatening. In the city, there were hundreds of calls for stubbed toes, or someone's baby threw up once and then was fine. There also were some stabbings and shootings, and that was great training to learn and practice our skills. But you had to go through literally hundreds of those non-life threatening situations before you'd get to the shootings and stab wounds."

In West County, most calls are of a truly life-threatening nature. Even if there is no fire, the pumper goes out on any life-threatening calls - shortness of breath, heart attack, etc.

"The typical calls we get in West County are chest pains, difficult breathing, automobile accidents," Minda said. "We provide mostly emergency medical services. Fire prevention in West County is so good that we don't have as many fires anymore."

Dave Frazier Jr., the acting chief for West County EMS who has been with the department since 1987, said community involvement is the key.

"We get the community more involved in developing a safer community," Frazier said. "The people who work here generally are good-natured, well-meaning and caring. They're compassionate and dedicated in providing the highest quality service possible."

The bottom line is, when someone needs assistance, the fire department always is on call.

"When somebody calls 9-1-1 for us to come, it's probably the worst thing that has ever happened to them," Sanders said. "Say we get a call from an invalid who has fallen and just needs someone to come and help him back up. Nobody wants to have to call for help. Our guys don't gripe about getting a call like that. They go out with the attitude that they always are going to provide the best service possible and more importantly, it is a chance to help someone. For us, it's a routine call; for the person calling us, it's just devastating."

"We see them at their worst, but they expect us to be at our best, and we are," Frazier said.

So the next time someone criticizes the fire departments for costing too much, think about how important it is to have those firefighters/paramedics highly qualified and well trained when they arrive to fight a fire or save a life.