JACKSON, WY — Who is Jackson Hole Fire/EMS?
Technically speaking, it is a group of highly-trained career firefighters and paramedics, plus a network of roughly 100 equally-trained volunteers. But as a team, they are much more than that. They are our neighbors, our friends, our family members. They’re also part of an all-encompassing team of responders ready to respond to any emergency. From fires to medical emergencies to HAZMAT (hazardous materials) incidents, Jackson Hole Fire/EMS is there.
It’s a big responsibility, so the question of “who is JH Fire/EMS” is a hard one to answer. But a new video released by Fire/EMS yesterday takes it to task.
Career Firefighter/EMT Ian Cranston is also the station’s resident historian. He wanted to document the history of emergency response in Jackson, including the moment in history we’re in now. He dreamed of a powerpoint, but Fire Chief Brady Hansen helped the vision grow into a series of four videos.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about emergency response,” Hansen said. People are frequently asking who runs the ambulances versus the fire engines. Who responds to fires? Who responds to medical emergencies?
The answer is everybody. “We want the majority of the community to understand that Fire/EMS is a combination department. We do everything.”
The video’s mission is two-fold: Cranston wanted to share the history of Jackson’s emergency services, but he also wanted to capture the moment in time Fire/EMS is in now. He wants to solidify a legacy and a culture that generations to come can replicate and adapt.
“Our culture is shaped by the people that came that came before us,” Cranston said. “And there’s another whole generation that’s going to carry the torch from us.”
It’s especially important to capture the culture as it is now because Fire/EMS as a joint entity is still relatively young. Before 2001, emergency responders in the county were in their own silos. In 2001, the fire departments started to merge. By 2004, firefighters and paramedic EMTs joined forces to become the all-hazard organization we have now. So the culture of Fire/EMS is one of evolution, and of collaboration. It is one where teammates with diverse backgrounds can play to their strengths in order to save lives, or, as in a more recent case, historic buildings.
It is also defined, Hansen said, by passion and service.
“We bring together a large group of very passionate and well-trained individuals for the purpose of serving this community. And we feel the weight of that responsibility every shift.”
That shared sense of purpose also brings them together in ways no other line of work could. “We tend to have somewhat different personalities,” Hansen said. “But when you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with someone performing CPR and saving a life, that’s a bonding experience. You suffer together, and come out on the other side with a relationship you wouldn’t otherwise have had.
Serving a small town adds an extra layer of responsibility, Hansen said. They’re saving friends and neighbors. When a fire starts at Café Genevieve, responders know the value of that historic space and how important it is to save it. There’s no room for error.
“In that instance, we did everything right,” Hansen said. “That doesn’t happen by circumstance. [Responders] train. They’re ready. We do everything, every day, thinking about how we can be a little quicker.”
Different stations still fundraise for their own ancillary needs through events the community has come to know and love: the Chicken Fry in Wilson, the Hoback Barbecue, the Moran Barbecue, the Fireman’s Ball. Those funds help with training, food, the Fallen Firefighter Memorial Fund, and anything else town and county dollars can’t finance. “It’s reflective of the history of this department,” Hansen said. “That culture and history of fundraising — people want to go to the chicken fry. It’s woven into the community that way, and it really does support your neighborhood station.”
The six-minute video is the first in what Hansen and Cranston hope to be a series of four. They’re also working on a recruitment video, a marketing video that’s a little more fast-paced and high-energy, and a longer documentary about the full history if Fire/EMS in Teton County (sneak peek: it started with hoses on a cart in the ’30s). The videos are being produced by Rescue 1 Studios, a company out of Utah run by a fellow firefighter/EMT. The other three videos are still in the works. But first, take six minutes to learn who, exactly, is Jackson Fire/EMS.
Who is Jackson Hole Fire/Ems? from Rescue 1 Studios on Vimeo.
