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Kurt Leavitt, Rural Coordinator, Clark County Fire Department

Steve Marcus

Kurt Leavitt, rural coordinator of the Clark County Fire Department, oversees 250 volunteer firefighters at 13 locations. He is a former volunteer in Logandale.

By Mike Trask (contact)

Monday, Feb. 9, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Clark County Fire Department: Map of Rural Stations

When the Mormon chapel in Logandale caught fire at 4 in the morning Wednesday, it was volunteer firefighters who got out of bed and showed up within 10 minutes to try to quell the blaze.

More than 20 volunteers helped fight the fire throughout the morning in the tiny town nearly 60 miles northeast of Las Vegas. They are not alone in volunteering time and energy in small Nevada towns. There are 13 volunteer fire stations in Clark County — from Logandale to Searchlight to Goodsprings.

Kurt Leavitt oversees the stations as the rural coordinator of the Clark County Fire Department.

How many volunteer firefighters are in the county?

About 250 total at the 13 locations. They all live in the community they serve, and carry pagers. When a call from their area comes to the dispatcher in Las Vegas, they are paged and leave wherever they are — whether at work or home in bed.

Do they have the same equipment as the full-timers?

None of the stations has a ladder truck. They all have fire engines. They go on all the same kinds of calls as the full-timers. Anytime 911 is called in those areas, they respond. Our average response time is about 12 minutes.

How does someone become a volunteer firefighter?

They contact one of the other members and fill out an application. I do a background check before they are allowed to join. They go through an entry-level fire firefighter training. We cut it down to the basics. We also go out to each station for training once a month.

How are these stations funded?

Overton, Logandale and Moapa have tax districts. The other 10 are funded with about $300,000 in county money.

Who’s in charge?

I oversee them all. I was a volunteer in Logandale for five years before I joined the department. I like the job. But it is a lot of driving — about 4,000 miles a month.

What role did the volunteers play in Logandale at last week’s fire?

They were the first ones on scene and they did the initial attack until we had time to get the paid firefighters in from Las Vegas. A lot of people just took the day off from work. They told their employers they were busy.

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