By John Daniels, Jr.

On March 8^th tribal representatives joined the Mountain View Fire and Rescue in the push-in ceremony for a new rescue wagon. In earlier times, horses were used to pull fire wagons, and horses couldn’t push the wagons backward into fire stations, so the firemen would push the wagons into the fire house by hand. 

Nowadays,  pushing new vehicles into the station is part of that history carried forward. 

In a ceremonial way, it’s done to remember and honor all the past generations of firefighters.

Sam Obrovac and Keith Stevenson provided art for the new vehicle. Thank you guys! The truck is also donned with the Muckleshoot Tribe and Casino Resort logos – very classy. 

Thinking back on fire stations and rescue services, I remember elders saying a lot of our families don’t have many old family photos because they got burned in house fires. I remember the days when people said that when they had emergencies they didn’t even know if they called for help if help would come. 

Efforts were made to remedy this situation. Back in the 90’s myself, along with Leo J. LaClair, Pete Jerry and Sonny Miller, worked together as Tribal Council members to see what it would take to operate our own fire department. We soon realized that this would be a very expensive operation and at that time was cost-prohibitive. 

We started looking at other options, and started to work closely with Fire District 46 to enhance emergency services to the unincorporated portion (not in the city limits) of our reservation. Along the way, we had some of our tribal members trained in wildfire fighting and one of our members was trained as an EMT with District 46. 

Back in the early days, our Health Department also worked with District 46 to do safety fairs to emphasize in a fun way the importance of things like child car seats, bicycle helmets and home fire safety, to name a few examples. First-aid training, too, was provided by the department, and these trainings are still available. 

As time went on and we continued working with Fire District 46, it was time for the fire department to be upgraded and modernized to better serve the community. The district needed a better location and we had the available land. This was a great option for us, because we could have the services closer to our homes and also keep an eye on the department. 

Times sure changed. Some land swaps were done and the new fire station became a reality. The Fire Chief became a local community member representative on Our Land Use Planning Commission and the department gives us regular updates at our Tribal Council meetings. 

It's been a nice journey to be part of, and celebrating the acquisition of this new state-of-the-art rescue vehicle was a great occasion. Thank you to those who were able to participate, including our canoe family members who sang and drummed, and the many others that helped make the day a success.‍