Firefighter foundation supports those who put lives on the line

Lucas Stacy knew of the Wildland Firefighter Foundation long before his accident, but he couldn’t have known how the foundation would come to assist him personally.

“The foundation books a ticket, they write a check, they have the ability to do that and help,” Stacy said.

One day in December 2015 while working for the Flathead Avalanche Center Stacy, along with a coworker and a volunteer, took snowmobiles into the Jewel Basin in the Swan Range. Stacy was a very experienced snowmobile rider – it was something he had been doing since he was 2 years old.

But after making a few laps to observe the area, one of the snowmobiles got stuck – something that is not out of the ordinary – and Stacy went to pull him out.

“It was a real typical thing I did during the day,” Stacy said. “We got snowmobiles stuck all the time.”

During the effort, Stacy fell, hitting his head on a log, breaking his neck. The three individuals sat in Jewel Basin for two hours before help arrived, Stacy conscious the entire time. His injuries paralyzed him from the chest down.

“My entire existence up until that point kinda had to do with my physical attributes,” Stacy said, talking about what went through his head after the accident. He knew immediately that his life, and his kid’s life – who was 2 years old at the time – would forever change.

Following the accident, Stacy came to realize the full breadth of assistance the foundation would make available.

The foundation provides immediate immediate financial assistance to the families of firefighters killed in the line of duty and assists injured firefighters and their families. The Flathead chapter, which started in 2019, is hosting their third banquet in Kalispell on April 15.

Created in Boise, Idaho after the historic 1994 fire season, the eventual foundation’s board members realized there was a great need to have emergency support services for the families of fallen firefighters. The nonprofit foundation raises the majority of it funds through a multitude of events and chapters across the country – including the Flathead Valley.

“They’ve been taking care of us as a firefighting community for almost 30 years now,” said Justin Kaber, battalion chief for the Tally Lake Ranger District and the event coordinator for the upcoming banquet.

Lincoln Chute, the fire service area manager for Flathead County’s Office of Emergency Services and a volunteer for fundraising efforts with the foundation, said the Flathead chapter is a key example of the mission of the foundation, with volunteer efforts from a multitude of firefighters and local businesses.

“This is just about as grassroots as you can get,” Chute said.

There are more than 500 individuals that fight and support wildland firefighting efforts in the Flathead Valley and local communities, according to the foundation. In the past, the foundation has assisted when a law enforcement agent was injured being bucked off a horse, when an engine captain from the Flathead needed to be flown to Seattle, or when an individual is fatally injured.

While raising the money is important for instances like those, Chute mentioned that the ideal scenario would be to never have to use it. If there are no injuries, there would be no need for the funds. But firefighting, Chute said, is a dangerous job. There are on average 19 fatalities a year, nationwide, for wildland firefighters.

LUCAS STACY GRADUATED high school in 2003 and immediately joined a fire crew at the Murphy Lake Ranger Station in the Kootenai National Forest. He continued his work every summer, while attending Western Montana University during the academic year, where he played football and graduated with a degree in wildlife biology.

In the 2008 season, Stacy joined the Flathead Hotshots: an elite group of firefighters tasked with front line firefighting across the country.

After his second season as a hotshot, Stacy got a job as a snow ranger for the winter season — he worked there from 2009-2015, the year of his accident. Stacy performed field observations and forecasted avalanches, backcountry skiing to assess the snow’s conditions. According to Stacy, it was a job he loved.

In the chaos that followed the acccident, Stacy was transferred to Craig Hospital in Colorado after six days in the intensive care unit. He was in Colorado for around six months, most of the time spent in a medical halo.

After returning back to the Flathead, Stacy was met with a multitude of hurdles — the home he owned wasn’t accessible, he was not making the money he used to, and he was adjusting to a new normal.

While the foundation helped with travel and medical efforts during the time of the accident, the help they provided a year and a half later was the help that was truly life changing.

After going through the accident and then a divorce, Stacy, wanted to go back to work. He stepped into a fire administration and business position in Hungry Horse.

In his transition back to work, Stacy lost his social security disability benefits. He was not working full time, not clocking overtime hours, and all of the sudden, money became a worry.

That’s when the Wildland Firefighter Foundation really stepped up, Stacy said, as they sent him checks to assist with bills and other finances. According to Stacy, the foundation gave him a buffer to get back to work — something that Stacy has always loved.

“[The foundation] never went away. That’s how they helped me the most,” Stacy said. “It got me back to my fire family.”

Aside from money, Stacy acknowledged the foundation’s eagerness to help – with finances or other resources, like therapy, clothing, or whatever someone would need. According to Stacy, they are always trying to help.

Now, Stacy works a dispatch role in Hungry Horse, back to clocking overtime and working with fires.

“As we see the fire realm changing and progressing, as we know fires have not gotten smaller, the need for this kind of work has just gotten more important,” Stacy said about the foundation.

The Flathead Wildland Firefighter Banquet – where Stacy and many other firefighters will be in attendance – is Saturday, April 15 at the Flathead County Fairgrounds Trade Center Building in Kalispell from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The banquet will include a barbeque dinner and a no-host bar and will consist of raffle and auction items, many of which are gifted by local businesses.

Banquet tickets are $50 and are available at www.flatheadwff.org.

Reporter Kate Heston can be reached at kheston@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.