North Bench: 40 years of service

BONNERS FERRY — David Koon was among the visitors who came by on Saturday, July 15, to the North Bench Volunteer Fire District Station 1 to help celebrate their 40th anniversary. For Koon, a former North Bench volunteer firefighter, this was coming “back to old stomping grounds.”

“I was a firefighter for twenty-some years: wildland, structures, car accidents, deaths. You name it, I’ve seen all of it,” said Koon. “I think they are a great team now. The team we used to have had very few guys. You know, they would show up here and there, now and then, but these guys here are a pretty well dedicated team.”

The North Bench Fire District, established in 1977, covers more than 60 square miles in Boundary County. They cover north and west of Bonners Ferry and west of Moyie Springs.

They celebrated their anniversary with two grills, smoking away, producing fresh, homemade burgers and also brats. They had a large spread of sides, all the fixins, and a decorated cake. Fresh made lemonade and iced tea kept the guests refreshed and cool.

There were games for children and North Bench Volunteer Firefighter Keanen Hurst donned his full gear, despite the hot weather, to interact with the kids. Hurst has been with North Bench for a little over a year. “I love it,” he said. “It’s great working with everyone. Everyone is easy to get along with. It’s fun.”

North Bench Volunteer Firefighter Granite Allinger has been with North Bench for about 10 months. He and his brother, Hall Mountain Volunteer Firefighter Ben Allinger, had fun with children, teaching them how to use the fire hoses, shooting at a rocking stop sign target. “We are a family,” said Granite Allinger. “We have good times. If we have to go on a call, we work well together.”

Both of North Bench Volunteer Firefighter Colin Mangus’ brothers were firefighters. “I figured I would try it out, and I’m stuck now. No getting out of it,” he said. Two and a half years later and Mangus has already won the 2016 Firefighter of the Year for North Bench. “It’s an in-house rating, basically of who puts in a large amount of effort and who is really proactive.”

Mangus explained the life of being a volunteer firefighter, “It’s quite demanding at times, other times it is quite a bit more lax, it all depends. You never know what’s going to happen.”

Mangus and North Bench Fire Captain Stan Christopherson helped with the education and festivities. Christopherson has been on the department about 14 years. “It’s just a great way to serve the community, be a part of it, while providing a very needed service,” he said.

“We have a really good roster right now, as far as numbers,” said Christopherson. “When we have medical response, a minimum of probably two to three are responding. Since those are so common, that’s a really good return. On a structure fire, you are going to get everybody out. Everybody that is available.”

Another firefighter who attended the celebration was newcomer North Bench Volunteer Firefighter Charlie McClarin. Although he has only been with North Bench for 3-4 months, he said, “I like it. I haven’t gone on any calls yet, but I like it. Everyone here is good; very team based.”

Over the last 40 years, the fire department has seen many volunteers come and go, but the comradeship appears to be the common thread. North Bench Volunteer Firefighter Kathy Wenzel has been part of the team for two years.

“I love it. There is nothing like fighting fires and serving your community like that,” she said. “It obviously has been around a long time and for a good reason, because they have a lot of people who really care about the community, who want to serve, to protect our community.”

“I love it. I couldn’t ask for better people. The crew is like my family,” said North Bench Volunteer Firefighter Scott Rubenacker, who has also been with North Bench for two years. Rubenacker came from a military background, having served for 21 years. He compared the life in the military to life as a volunteer firefighter, “It’s a proud thing to be a part of. You hear people talk about brotherhood in the military, and you feel it, but something like a fire department or a police department- it’s so much stronger. It means more.”

Rubenacker continued, “The best part about being on the fire department is people think we’re paid. And when we tell them that we’re volunteers, it’s that much more meaningful. People look at us and thank us for volunteering our time, away from our families and our loved ones, to go take care of a burning building, rescue children in a burning house or a car, whatever it may be.”

North Bench Fire Chief Gus Jackson was unable to attend, but the dedication and respect from the rest of the crew was evidence of his leadership.

“I love having Gus as a chief. He is always looking for ways of increasing our training level, increasing our ability to respond to a variety of emergencies, whether that’s auto accidents, or structure fires, or wildlands,” explained Christopherson. “All of those different types of things require different, specialty type of equipment, which is expensive and hard to get. So he has worked really, really hard to up the quality of our equipment, up the quality of our training. We train every week.”

Greg Garrison, who attended the anniversary celebration, has lived in this fire district for 15 years. Although he has never needed North Bench, he knows people who have. “They’ve always been responsive,” he said. “I think for the amount of money that we pay, that it’s a great service that they offer. I know some of them personally and they take their jobs very seriously. It’s just a good, conscientious group.”

Garrison supports fundraisers for North Bench, and although this was not an actual fundraiser, they were selling raffle tickets for a custom first edition 10/22 compatible rifle, called “Merica”, which was made locally by Tactical Innovations. Garrison added his support by buying a ticket for the detailed custom firearm.

North Bench Volunteer Fire District Commissioner Len Pine is halfway through his third year as a commissioner of the North Bench board. The board’s job is to make sure that the funds that are received from the subscribers are wisely spent, to ensure that the firefighters are safe and they have functioning equipment. They also offer personal and emotional support to the whole team.

“I’m really stoked about this crew,” said Pine. “They put in the long hours for the training, week to week but also the specialty trainings and the academies and all the other things, to get their certifications, to get their skill levels up because they fervently believe, and they are right, that they need those skills, not only to protect themselves, but to protect each other when they are on a call. So that esprit de corps is very evident here. It is very exciting. For whatever reason, when I came on, it wasn’t as strong as it is now. I tell you what- this is a great bunch and I am proud to be part of it and wear the shirt.”

While the children played with fire hoses, or tossed around balloons with the volunteer firefighters, the adults of the community mingled with the firefighters, eating good food, and enjoying great conversation. The fire trucks stood out front, polished with care and pride, welcoming the visitors that all came to lend their support to a dedicated team with 40 long years of history.