By Brad Devereaux

As the date when the Big Horn County Fire Protection District No. 5 will take over responsibilities for fire coverage in Deaver and Frannie from the Park County district nears, organizers and firefighters are prepared for operations.


Fire board member Colleen Wagner said the district has received their first assessment check from Big Horn County and she expects a check from the Park County assessor soon. The district is set to take over fire protection in Deaver and Frannie Monday, Dec. 15.


She said the fire district looked at using the Lovell dispatch center, but decided instead to dispatch through Park County because of a quicker response time from ambulances in Powell. She said the response time is faster because EMS workers are at the Powell Hospital ready to go, whereas Lovell responders usually have to first respond to North Big Horn Hospital before loading into an ambulance and driving to the scene of an emergency.


“Everyone agrees that emergency medical coverage takes precedence,” she said. From Powell, ambulance response times have been pretty good, she said, at 20 to 25 minutes. It is unknown how the system will function when it is up and running and some people who call in an emergency by cell phone could be routed through Lovell dispatch and a NBHH ambulance could be paged out, she said.


Fire response will be fast, too, because volunteer firefighters live in the area they serve, near Deaver and Frannie. Volunteer firefighters have been training locally and also attending training in nearby places such as Cody.


The district has received equipment from Park County Fire Protection District No. 1, according to the division agreement drafted earlier this year. Both buildings, one in Deaver and the other in Frannie, are set to go with trucks currently parked inside.