La Conner Fire Chief Aaron Reinstra

At our Feb 23 Rotary Meeting, for  Inspiration, Roy Anderson played a YouTube video of Nimble, the All-American Mixed Breed Dog, winning the agility championship at Westminster. If you want to enjoy it again, or for the first time, here is the link: (You may have to watch  an add before Nimble performs.)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-OhgzpSyWE

 

Our Speaker was Fire Chief Aaron Reinstra who is the only paid fireman in the La Conner Fire Department.

The other 25 are all volunteers, which was what Aaron was before he was selected as Fire Chief. Aaron is also the Town of La Conner’s Code Enforcer. He does pre-planning for houses and construction, boat checking to make sure the owners are paid up, and animal control. He is a fourth-generation La Conner graduate who met his wife in middle school and coached sports here for many years. Aaron discussed his role in managing the La Conner Fire Department, which includes overseeing volunteers, coordinating with other departments, and managing a limited budget. The department has 2 trucks and a marine fire boat.  One truck is 32 years old and needs replacement.  He highlighted the department's efforts in training, equipment maintenance, and community engagement, while also sharing personal anecdotes about his experiences as a firefighter. The state requires 165 hours of training for each firefighter every year. 3 people are currently going through EMT training and one is through an academy, adding 160-200 hours of additional training. There are 3 women volunteer firefighters in the department, one of whom is the Burlington Fire Marshall.

 

He said he always asks potential firefighters whether they would rather find out a friend needed help yesterday when they weren’t there to help or get up at 2:00am to help a stranger. You have to be the second kind of person to be a good firefighter and then treat all the people as if they are your grandma, grandpa, brother, sister, mom, or dad when you respond.