ANSWERING THE CALL
A SALUTE TO THE JAMESTOWN AREA FIRST RESPONDERS
Jamestown Sun | Saturday, October 5, 2024
University of Jamestown student becomes a firefighter
Wyatt Reid was sworn in on Sept. 23 at the Jamestown Fire Department
BY KATHY STEINER
The Jamestown Sun
JAMESTOWN — The newest member of the Jamestown Fire Department is also the first one to be a full-time student at the University of Jamestown Wyatt Reid, 20, is a junior communications major from Sidney, Montana. He was sworn in as a firefighter on Sept. 23 in Jamestown with his father, two brothers and grandmother in attendance.
Reid said he was proud and honored, noting it’s work that not a lot of people want to do.
“It’s awesome and I absolutely love it,” Reid said of being a firefighter. “I am so happy that I did it and I definitely encourage more people to step out of their comfort zone and try something new.”
Reid chose to attend the University of Jamestown after his sister, Brianna, graduated from UJ with a nursing degree in 2020. He said their grandfather attended Jamestown College.
Reid said a friend he met in Jamestown, Donovan Zuck, talked him into becoming a firefighter. Zuck asked him to apply during his freshman year, but Reid said he wanted to focus on school.
Zuck raised the idea again during Reid’s sophomore year.
“And I thought to myself, ‘You know, that wouldn’t be a terrible idea,’ and I said, ‘I think I could do it,’” Reid said.
It’s awesome and I absolutely love it. I am so happy that I did it and I definitely encourage more people to step out of their comfort zone and try something new.
WYATT REID, FIREFIGHTER, JAMESTOWN FIRE DEPARTMENT
“I said it would be a really good community service especially. UJ really preaches giving back to your community so that’s another thing that made me think about it. But I think it’s just a really good way to give back.”
Reid said his father, Wayne, served in the U.S. Air Force, which also influenced his desire to help others.
Reid filled out the application for the JFD and began his six-month probationary period and training on Feb. 23.
“Initially I was a little uncertain, I didn’t know what I was really signing up for,” Reid said. “... I think it was more of just beginning nerves.”
He said doing the work made him love it.
“I really do enjoy helping people and the adrenalin that comes with it,” he
said. “One of the best things you can do is help somebody in need …”
Fire Chief Jim Reuther said Reid excelled in training.
“His work ethics are just amazing,” he said. “He’s trained very hard. He’s made sure he had all his stuff done during his six months. ... He just stepped up. I think he’ll be a darn good firefighter. He’s got such a positive mind and he’s fun to be around.”
Reid says a challenge of the work is getting up in the middle of the night, whether it’s for a 5-minute call or a “full-fledged” structure fire.
“One of the challenges is obviously some of the stuff you have to see and some of the people you get to talk to when they’re not in the greatest state of mind when you’re talking to them when something like that is happening,” he said.
Reed will begin training for Firefighter 1 certification, which is required, Reuther said.
“I would hope to get it done in the next two years at least — ideally before I graduate college,” Reid said. “Once you get your Firefighter 1, it’s good for anywhere in the U.S.”
In addition to his studies and work for JFD, Reid also works part time for the city of Jamestown Water Department. He said he reads water meters, flushes hydrants, cleans pump houses and does other tasks.
Regardless of whether his news
anchor career works out, Reid says he sees firefighter work in his future.
“I do want to stick with it,” he said. “I think I’ll try and stick with it for the rest of my life. I am absolutely in love with it. I never thought I would like doing it this much. You create a brotherhood with all those guys too and that’s fun and the people I’ve ... gotten to meet and just integrate myself into the Jamestown community rather than just UJ.”
If his news anchor career goal doesn’t happen, he said he would consider becoming a full-time firefighter, preferably in Montana, his home state.
Reid would advise people who are interested in firefighting to be outgoing, driven and have a bit of discipline and a sense of humor.
“You definitely got to want to do it,” he said. “… And stay on top of the training for sure with Sheldon Mohr, the training officer. He makes it super easy and if you stay on top of it, it’s pretty easy to do. I mean, I’m a fulltime college student and I did it while in college.”
Reuther said he hopes Reid’s decision to become a firefighter while being a student at UJ sparks interest in firefighting for other students.
“I think this is pretty unique,” he said. ksteiner@jamestownsun.com | (701) 952-8449
Kathy Steiner / The Jamestown Sun
Wyatt Reid is the newest member of the Jamestown Fire Department. He is also a full-time student at the University of Jamestown and works part time for the city of Jamestown Water Department.
monoxide
BY KATHY STEINER
The Jamestown Sun
JAMESTOWN — With the official start of fall on Sept. 22, personnel from the Jamestown Rural Fire Department said safety is a good topic to review.
JRFD Fire Chief Brian Paulson, 1st Capt. Rylee Woehl and 2nd Capt. Tygh Yatskis offered safety information related to smoke alarms, carbon monoxide alarms and lithium-ion batteries. Carbon monoxide alarms
The three JRFD fire officials recommend people have carbon monoxide alarms and smoke alarms.
“Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas,” Yatskis said, adding that breathing high levels of it can be fatal.
While every manufacturer of carbon monoxide alarms may be different, most recommend replacing the alarms in seven years, noting they expire in 10 years, he added.
“You normally want to place them near mechanical rooms,” Paulson said. Carbon monoxide is denser than oxygen, so it fills the basement first, Woehl said.
“Nine times out of 10, most people’s mechanical rooms or furnaces are down there and that’s where you’re going to get the carbon monoxide is from the exhaust from the furnace or water heater a dryer that’s gas,” Paulson said.
A carbon monoxide alarm should also be used in the kitchen if there is a gas stove, Yatskis said.
It should preferably not be placed in front of a vent, Woehl said. Paulson said fresh air from the vent can trick the alarm, even if there is a lot of carbon monoxide in the air.
“Make sure the alarm is in an area that you can hear from your bedroom so that if it did sound off and you were sleeping, you would hear it,” Yatskis said.
Yatskis recommends placing a carbon monoxide alarm in garages and shops as well.
“We did notice this year, too, running generators blowing exhaust into doorways into the house,” he said. “When we had that big power outage (this year in Jamestown), we had instances where people were running generators like right outside their front door but (they) had all the cords running in so it pushed that exhaust from the generator into the house.”
He said if people are running vehicles and generators, they should be doing so in a well-ventilated area, not an enclosed area.
Never ignore a carbon monoxide alarm, Yatskis said. People may think
Most house fires we have, that is one thing we make sure we go through and take note of if there’s smoke detectors or fire alarms in there. The vast majority don’t (have them), and if they do, they ‘re not working.
BRIAN PAULSON, FIRE CHIEF, JAMESTOWN RURAL FIRE DEPARTMENT
it’s due to a low battery but they should be cautious if it does alarm.
“Be aware of the symptoms,” Woehl said. “If you start to experience nauseous headaches, remove yourself, go outside and get some fresh air.”
Paulson said people will call the Stutsman County Communications Center when alarms go off and JRFD is dispatched in its fire district. It has responded to five carbon monoxide alarm calls so far this year, he said.
The carbon monoxide alarm should be tested monthly, Woehl said.
Smoke alarms
Newer constructed homes must have hardwired alarms but they are required to have a battery in them in case there is a power outage, Paulson said.
Yatskis said smoke alarms need to be replaced 10 years from the date of manufacture.
Paulson noted that smoke alarms have the manufacturer’s date stamped under or behind it. Combination smoke/CO alarms should be replaced after five to seven years, Paulson said, depending on the model.
“Make sure to mount them (smoke alarms) on the ceiling or a high point of the wall if you install them yourself,” Yatskis said.
Smoke rises and the ceiling traps it as it rises, he noted.
The alarms should be located outside of each bedroom, kitchen, mechanical room and on every floor of the home, Paulson said.
“A good practice is if, let’s say you have one in the kitchen and it’s been exposed to smoke, actual smoke, and it’s gone off, you should replace that because that … module that’s in the detector, that sensor, is now compromised,” he added.
Kathy Steiner / The Jamestown Sun
From left, 2nd Capt. Tygh Yatskis and 1st Capt. Rylee Woehl of the Jamestown Rural Fire Department show equipment used by firemen. Yatskis is holding a carbon monoxide detector and Woehl is holding a four-gas meter that can detect several types of gases.
Female police officers have different approach to address certain situations
BY MASAKI OVA
The Jamestown Sun
JAMESTOWN — Women who work in law enforcement have a completely different approach to how they address certain situations, according to Scott Edinger, Jamestown chief of police.
Edinger said there are things that female officers do that male officers can’t.
“Some things work with certain problems or certain people, some approaches work, and if you just don’t have that style and then you get a woman that could come in and have a completely different style in how they’re handling something,” he said. “Sometimes that makes all the difference.”
Edinger said it would have been nice to have a female police officer while he worked in patrol to have a diverse set of abilities and techniques around.
“Now we are going to have that,” he said.
Currently, four women — Miranda Meier, Kayla Olson, Macie Schulte and Stephanie Schutt — work as Jamestown police officers.
“It’s great that there are more women in the field and in the career because growing up, we didn’t really see too much of that,” Olson said. “I remember growing up as a kid, there was one female officer in my hometown police department so I always thought that was super cool.”
Olson said it’s good for children to see more women working in law enforcement.
“It just shows younger girls that you don’t have to be a boy to do things that boys are doing,” she said.
Meier said male officers have told her it’s nice to have female officers around because women see things differently than men do.
“They see things differently than us, especially when it comes to female aspects, so it keeps them out of trouble,” she said. She added that female police officers can help male police officers by preventing any wrongful accusations against them when they are dealing with a situation involving a woman.
Olson said a female officer might get a better response out of someone in a certain situation.
“You get like these male officers, obviously they are going to be taller, bigger, could look more intimidating,” she said. “Whereas a female officer can help calm a situation because maybe that person is not so amped up and having that issue, intimidation factor of this big guy coming up and talking to him. … It’s just calmer, not as deep of a voice, smaller statute of person. … They aren’t going to let some other male tell them what to do so sometimes having females around helps certain situations too.”
Schulte said some children might feel
more comfortable talking with a female officer. During domestic situations, she said some victims would rather speak with a female officer.
Meier said it’s nice to have more women in the Jamestown Police Department because there’s a good support system for them.
“Everyone sees a female officer and they are like she’s not as strong, not as tough, not as fast as my male partner that I’m standing with,” she said. “It’s nice having other females so I know I’m not going through it alone. If I’m having struggles, I can talk to one of the other female officers and they are kind of going through the same kind of things as I am.”
Edinger touted the experience of the four female police officers. He said they are all well rounded in experience and have either worked at other police departments or in corrections, which helps them communicate with others.
“They are really good people to have,” he said.
The female police officers
Schulte, who was born and raised in Jamestown, has been with the Jamestown Police Department for about 2 ½
years. She joined the North Dakota Army National Guard when she was 17 and went to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, on her 18th birthday.
She had an interest in law enforcement when she was younger, so she started with the Military Police. She worked as a correctional officer before she became a police officer.
Schutt is from Quebec City, Quebec, and has been with the Jamestown Police Department since June. She has four years of experience as a police officer and previously worked with the Bismarck Police Department.
Schutt said she has a degree in science from CEGEP Destfoy in Quebec.
Schutt said she always wanted to be in law enforcement. She said investigations and crime scenes are what she watches on TV.
“I just feel like it was my calling helping people,” she said. “I love the medical aspect like an EMT (emergency medical technician). … It feels like it’s when we are the most needed.”
Meier, who is from Thief River Falls, Minnesota, has been with the Jamestown Police Department for a little over a year. She previously worked as a
police officer in the Devils Lake Police Department at Devils Lake, North Dakota, for about three years. Meier’s interest in law enforcement began when she would go on tow-truck calls to accidents with her father.
“Usually every time around an accident, you would see law enforcement in the area,” she said. “That’s what kind of piqued my interest is seeing them do their job there, worrying about what’s going on scene, trying to figure out what happened. That aspect of it, that’s how I first kind of got introduced to it.”
During her senior year in high school, she said she participated in a ride-along and an internship with the Thief River Falls Police Department.
“After doing that, I really realized that this is something that I want to do,” she said. “Doing something different every day is important and great for me.”
Olson came to Jamestown from Palmer, Alaska, on a wrestling scholarship for then-Jamestown College, which is now the University of Jamestown. She graduated with a
in criminal justice.
degree
John M. Steiner / The Jamestown Sun
Jamestown police officers Macie Schulte, left, and Stephanie Schutt talk about their work with the Jamestown Police Department.
Masaki Ova / The Jamestown Sun
Jamestown police officers Kayla Olson, left, and Miranda Meier already have a wealth of experience in their young careers in law enforcement. Olson worked at the Stutsman County Correctional Center for seven years before working as a Jamestown police officer for the past three years. Meier worked at the Devils Lake Police Department in Devils Lake, North Dakota, for three years before joining the Jamestown Police Department over a year ago.
CONTINUED FROM 3
People should test their smoke alarm monthly, Woehl said.
Paulson said people should replace the batteries in the smoke alarm twice a year.
“A good reminder for that is when the time changes,” he said.
Yatskis noted that there are also smoke alarms with strobe lights that can be especially helpful for older people or people with hearing issues. The alarm will shoot off a strobe to alert them.
Yatskis said it’s important to have a fire plan and talk to family members about what to do if an alarm goes off. Make sure they understand what to do and where to meet outside the house.
“Most house fires we have, that is one thing we make sure we go through and take note of if there’s smoke detectors or fire alarms in there,” Paulson said. “The vast majority don’t (have them), and if they do, they’re not working.”
POLICE
CONTINUED FROM 4
After graduation, Olson worked at the Stutsman County Correctional Center for seven years before she became a police officer at the Jamestown Police Department. She has been with the Jamestown Police Department for three years. Olson said her interest in law enforcement came when she was a young child and had fond memories of spending time with her father watching “Cops” and “America’s Most Wanted.”
“As I got older, I wanted a job where I wasn’t going to be stuck doing the same thing every day,” she said. “I wanted to go out and have fun and do something different every day and have a job that matters.”
Challenges for police officers
Schulte said Jamestown police officers get exposed to a little bit of everything.
“It’s a small community, but we have mental health crises, we have abuse situations including domestic violence situations,” she said. “We have drugs, substance abuse situations, sexual assaults.”
She said police officers must know how to react and handle any situation during any given moment.
Schutt said resources can be limited.
“Because we are a small department so we don’t have everything a big department would have from say East Coast or West Coast,” Schulte said. Olson said some people don’t fully understand what a police officer’s job is or the ins and outs on how they handle tasks.
“We have a lot of support from the community but sometimes I think there are some community people or members that don’t understand that we can’t be everywhere all the time,” she said. “We aren’t going to stop every crime that happens.”
Meier said sometimes police officers get looked at as “the bad guy” because they might have arrested somebody.
“Then there are some people in the community that are very good and you can give them a ticket and they will be like, ‘Hey, thanks for what you do. I really appreciate what you do for our community,’” she said. “That’s amazing. It makes you feel so good.”
Lithium-ion batteries
Woehl noted lithium-ion batteries are more common today.
“They’re in cellphones, power tools and especially, electronic bikes now,” he said. “It’s important to read the manufacturer guidelines: proper charging, not to use any knockoff batteries, knockoff chargers. They don’t always have the same safety features built into them that the standard one would. Make sure to monitor them while you’re charging.”
People should check for temperature and heat and not charge lithium-ion batteries in direct sunlight or near points of egress — windows and doors, he said.
“If it starts on fire, they burn very hot and violent,” Woehl said. “You don’t want it near an exit that would potentially block your path out.”
They should also be disposed of properly, he said, encouraging people to call their local recycling plant.
If they’re damaged, people shouldn’t try to do their own repairs or modifications, Woehl said.
“... Signs of damage could be just expansion of the battery housing itself,” he said.
Lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable and have a longer lifespan, Woehl noted, but they eventually will go bad. With harvest work in progress, check the fire danger
Paulson said with harvest fall work, it’s important to be be aware of the fire danger.
“When we’re burning off sloughs or fields, there’s always supposed to be a barrier, a tilled barrier where you’re starting that fire and it is in the North Dakota administrative code of the Department of Environmental Quality that burning activities must be attended and supervised at all times when burning is in progress,” Paulson said.
People can visit NDresponse.gov to check the wildland fire danger map. The updated website is more user friendly and provides a lot of information, Paulson said.
When visiting the website, people can click on Wildfire Fire, then select Burn Restrictions and Fire Danger Maps.
tions and Burn Restrictions
People can view the counties on the map and burn restrictions. The fire danger and red flag warnings are also available for view.
“And … if you’re going to burn and especially if you’re near a major roadway like I-94 or a highway or a county road make sure you call into the dispatch (Stutsman County Communications Center) to let them know you are burning,” Paulson added.
It’s common for passing motorists to call in a fire, he said, that turns out to be a controlled burn.
“People driving by don’t see somebody sitting there and they call it in,” he said. “Well here, the farmer’s in the next field over starting to burn and we make a trip out there for no reason. Unnecessarily.”
Farmers should call the dispatch center at 252-1000 to tell them they will be burning, the time of the planned burn and provide a callback number.
ksteiner@jamestownsun.com | (701) 952-8449
Meier said some people don’t view police officers the best because of what happens on the national news.
“Not everyone of us are like that,” she said. “Some may have made bad decisions somewhere. We are just doing our job trying to keep Jamestown as safe as we can and handle situations the best we can.”
Being a police officer has its rewards
Olson said when she helps people and it makes an impact on their lives, it feels good.
“It gives your day a little more meaning,” she said.
Olson said working at the Stutsman County Correctional Center allowed her to get to know some of the inmates because she dealt with them longer. As a police officer, she might deal with an individual for 20 minutes.
But Olson said police officers don’t want the worst to happen to anyone. They don’t want to see anyone go back to jail, she said. She said she will sometimes see former inmates in public and can tell that they are getting better.
“It’s nice to see them and make contact with them,” she said. “It’s nice to see them and say, ‘You look good.’ It’s
rewarding to see that. People can better themselves and not have to run into us.”
Meier said she’s seen people get clean. She said she hopes she helped make an impact on that person’s life.
Schulte said she has seen individuals as inmates while she worked as a correctional officer. She said some inmates do struggle with substance abuse.
“I think substance recovery is an everyday struggle,” she said. “So even if it’s one day, a month or a year, you can see the advancements of them working again or even getting their kids back or just getting on their feet so they have housing, a home. I think that’s probably one of the most rewarding things. Or even say, it’s not a substance; it’s mental health. Just seeing them out and smiling and pushing from that day-to-day struggle, I think that’s very rewarding for this job.”
Schutt said her favorite part of being a police officer is she never does the same thing twice.
“You never know how your day is going to be,” she said.
Olson said she enjoys the public relations part of being a police officer. She said she gets to talk to children, stop at sporting events and participate in National Night Out.
“Those aspects of the job are a nice break rather than calls for service,” she said.
Meier said it’s fun to be out in the community. She said the community is supportive of law enforcement.
Meier said she also wants to help the community by getting drunk drivers off the road or getting drugs off the streets.
“It’s going to help in the long run,” she said. “At least that will prevent you or someone else from overdosing or hitting a family member when you are drunk driving.”
Schutt said the community is very supportive of police officers.
“They go out of their way to come and interact with us,” she said.
Schulte said Jamestown is a very small and tight-knit community. She said there are many people who are willing to stop and help police officers.
“If they see an officer struggling on the side of the road, we’ve had multiple instances where people have stopped and said, ‘Hey, do you need help? Can I help you? Is there something that I can do,’” she said. “Or they will call and say, ‘Hey I saw this.’”
mova@jamestownsun.com | (701) 952-8454
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