Evergreen fire chief talks about growth, dual roles of the department

As a young member of the Evergreen Volunteer Fire Department in the late ‘90s, Craig Williams saw an opportunity.

It was born out of necessity, really. For a department serving an unincorporated area, Evergreen crews oversaw a condensed population center. Much like neighboring Kalispell, the calls in Evergreen required a variety of responses.

Fires were often coupled with injuries, and at that time the Evergreen department wasn’t trained to handle both. Occasionally it was a helpless feeling.

“We got on scene first, but we wouldn’t provide the EMS-level service,” Williams said.

Over the next two decades, Williams sought to make sure that didn’t happen. The change was a shot in the arm for the department.

Williams would go on to become the first full-time employee for the department. Later, he would head up the crew and bring emergency medical service to the department. That move sparked quick growth in a service that remains reliant on part-time and volunteer firefighters.

Williams, now 44, grew up and attended school in the Flathead Valley. He said all that knowledge of the areas quirks, its back roads and its people helps him in his current role as chief of the Evergreen Fire Rescue.

“Being local has had its advantages, because I know the community,” he said.

A few years after high school, Williams landed a volunteer spot with the Evergreen Volunteer Fire Department, as it was called at the time.

He originally wanted to go into law enforcement and still waffled between the that and firefighting back then. Outside of volunteering for the department, he worked as a fraud investigator and private security.

But the life of a firefighter took hold, he said, and it didn’t let go. Williams likes to say that if you find a job you love, you don’t work a day in your life. That’s a maxim that he applies to himself.

In those early years, the Evergreen crew was still entirely comprised of volunteers. It had been since 1954, when the department was first commissioned to serve the Evergreen School District area.

In addition to being staffed by volunteers, it was also characterized by a single discipline.

“It was a fire culture, and not an EMS culture at the time,” he said.

Williams said that the need for medical training became apparent at times when Evergreen would be first on the scene but unable to help an injured person. That’s when the idea of a dual-role crew crept into his view.

In 2005, the department had grown and Williams was hired as the assistant chief. He was the first full-time employee there. By that time, his future was linked to the Evergreen department and he started work on integrating emergency medical services.

It wasn’t always a popular idea, even with the administration and its governing board. But when Williams started as assistant chief, the crew members began cross-training for fire and EMS certifications.

It was a difficult learning curve at times. Williams said it took nearly two years to get everyone certified, and they lost some people along the way. Some people weren’t interested in dual-training. Others went through it, only to realize that it wasn’t for them.

And these were volunteers. Even today, the department relies on volunteer and part-time crew members with a high level of dedication. Williams said that many pay for EMS and paramedic training on their own, all while holding second jobs.

In 2007, the Evergreen Volunteer Fire Department became Evergreen Fire Rescue. They purchased their first ambulance and launched 24/7 rescue services.

Serving about 9,400 people in and around Evergreen, the department often works alongside the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff Chuck Curry said that the move to EMS has been a valuable public safety move.

“I think that’s been a huge improvement,” Curry said. “In the modern day of fire prevention, things don’t always catch fire as much as they used to. However, people still get sick or injured.”

With the introduction of medical services, the amount of work increased for the department.

“Once we became an EMS provider in Evergreen, our call volume increased,” Williams said.

That also spurred growth. They were able to expand the crew and offer part-time pay from the ambulance service revenue.

In 2008, Williams became chief of the department. That same year, voters passed a $4.4 million levy for a new fire station. They constructed it the following year right on top of the old one. They even burned down the old station to use as a training exercise.

“Basically out of the ashes came this facility we have now,” Williams said. “And we’re really proud of it.”

The money earned from ambulance service, along with some smaller revenue sources, still funds the department’s core crew. Today, they have 32 members. It’s a mix of volunteers and part-timers for the most part. Williams, the fire marshall and an administrative assistant serve as the only full-time employees.

“All of the other employees here, they are solely paid from ambulance revenue,” he said.

But the dedication remains, which Williams lauds as a fundamental part of the department’s success. The majority of the crew will be certified paramedics by May.

The department recently received an ISO evaluation rating of 3. The ISO is a national standard rating system for fire departments, and Williams said that only 5 percent reach a rating of 3 (the Kalispell Fire Department is also a 3).

Now the Evergreen Fire Rescue is looking for that next step. The same is true for Williams, who is studying to earn an emergency management degree from Colorado State University. His son is about to be certified as a paramedic and is part of the department crew. He said that his daughter is interested in being a flight nurse.

That can be said about a lot of crew members, Williams added. “You’re only as good as your family” in that line of work, he said.

That’s because it takes a lot time and work to reach that dual-discipline status in a part-time job. But that’s part of the character of the Evergreen Fire Rescue, Williams says. There’s still that strong volunteer ethic that ran the department for its first 50 years.

“We haven’t forgotten where we came from,” he said.

And Williams sits at the helm as the department looks ahead.

Reporter Matt Hudson can be reached at 758-4459 or mhudson@dailyinterlake.com.