The Wrangell Chamber of Commerce honored the local volunteer fire department at their annual dinner last weekend. 

The department was founded in 1903. The team responded to over 1800 fire and ambulance calls in the past five years. It runs out to fires, search and rescues, emergency medical evacuations and all sorts of situations. This is all while acting as a volunteer unit, having other jobs and obligations.

 

The department was founded in 1903. The team responded to over 1800 fire and ambulance calls in the past five years. It runs out to fires, search and rescues, emergency medical evacuations and all sorts of situations. This is all while acting as a volunteer unit, having other jobs and obligations.

Shawna Buness told the crowd what it is like to date a firefighter. She was out at Rayme’s Bar some time ago with Jordan Buness.

“ His radio went off and so away he goes, out the door. And leaving me standing there alone,” she says. “It didn’t even occur to me that he had just left me in the middle of our date. I was so busy watching him go, thinking to myself ‘Oh my god, he is so hot.’”

And what’s it like to be married to one.

 

“In a perfect world I would stand up here and tell you story after story of Jordan running to the rescue, while I sat at home filled with pride that my husband never missed a chance to help someone in need,” she says.  “But rather I can tell you about the many nights I lay awake waiting for Jordan to return. I can tell you about the time I sat glued to the radio hanging on to every word while search and rescue was out helping a boat in distress and just being so angry: ‘Why was my husband out in the same weather that someone had to be rescued from?'”

The volunteer department also participates in local and regional community events. A group of local firefighters will participate in the Scott Firefighter Stairclimb in Seattle next month. The event raises money for cancer and leukemia research.

And the department puts in 700 hours of work into the annual Independence Day fireworks show, which is held on the 3rd of July.

The department’s administrator Dorianne Sprehe also fosters leadership through the high school EMT and junior firefighter program. Sprehe’s son is in the program now.

 “We’ve had a number of members go through who have gone on to become nurses, firemen and paramedics,” she says. “I know Tim Buness’s daughter is getting ready to graduate in May with her nursing degree.  We’ve got Terry’s son, Ian, who’s a paramedic and firefighter in Anchorage.”

The chamber named Assistant Chief Terry Buness as citizen of the year for his 47 years of service and honored the other roughly 30 members of the department.