Welcome to Polson Montana

Polson, Montana is snuggled at the Southern end of Flathead Lake and the base of the Rocky Mountains – Mission Range. Flathead Lake is the largest fresh water lake West of the Mississippi River.
Polson is a growing community that offers many recreational activities.

Our community has a population of over 10,000 people and grows to over 20,000 during the spring and summer. The city of Polson Fire Department was established in 1928 followed by the organization of the Polson Rural Fire Department in 1965. Both protection areas consist of over 134 square miles. Currently these two organizations operate out of two fire stations, one located in the City of Polson, and the other located in Big Arm. The fire department provides service with 30 volunteer firefighters and one career Chief.

The fire department provides fire suppression (structural and wildland), specialized rescue, fire prevention inspections and a host of community education activities. Some of these activities include NFPA Risk Watch and Child Safety Seat Inspections.

Fire trucks respond to accidents for two reasons. First, automobile accidents present other hazards such as potential fire, ruptured fuel tanks, and/or the presence of hazardous materials. Second, Polson firefighters are trained as Emergency Medical Technicians or First Responders. They assist the ambulance with patient care or assist in extricating (removing) trapped occupants of the vehicle and driving the ambulance.

Fire Department units are dispatched according to information received by the 9-1-1 operators. The Polson Fire Department responds with adequate resources when they react to a citizen in need of help. In other words, the firefighters are prepared to deal with the worst that could happen. Discovering that we need more units once we arrive is often too late. We have learned from experience that it is better to have too much help than not enough.

A structure fire requires a number of people to do all the assigned tasks almost simultaneously. Firefighting teams are assigned certain responsibilities such as fire extinguishment, search and rescue, ventilation, salvage, safety, accountability and rapid intervention teams.

Why do fire trucks with full lights and sirens go through a red light at intersections and then, after they go through, they turn off their lights and slow down?

As explained in the previous answer, sometimes several units are dispatched to the same incident. The first unit may have arrived on the scene, assessed the situation and informed the dispatcher that the situation was under control or that a single unit could handle the emergency. All other responding units were cancelled and put back into service, ready to take another call.