Musselshell County DES Purchases Multijurisdictional UTV

Department of Emergency Services acts as a liaison between local first responders, and the State of Montana, the middle ground between local services and the state to get extra needed resources during a disaster as well as bridging the gap when state services come in during an emergency, to cover extra funding and reimburse the county as much as possible. Further, they coordinate emergency plans, shelters, and communication to the community in case of an emergency. They coordinate aid through the state agencies such as BLM, DNRC. They update the Facebook page, and communicate between emergency workers, the state, and the public.

The DES is based out of the Department of Homeland Security. The organization is funded through federal grant money from the Emergency Management Performance Grant. The county pays wages, office supplies, the state then reimburses half of those costs. Further, the state then receives federal funds, and that is how the department is supported.

The DES funding does not cover the cost of updated equipment without getting "Special Project Grants" which are called Reverted Funds, the F250 was half paid for through reverted funds, and the other half was paid by the county. The budget is limited, and the departments are only able to purchase the most needed equipment upgrades which generally goes to fire trucks.

Over the past many years with flooding and fires, some of the main roads have become inaccessible in for full size vehicles, so the need for a smaller UTV to access these cut off areas became emergent. However, when DES felt that the county needed a UTV, the Special Project Grants didn't cover it.

Signal Peak Community Foundation donated twenty-eight thousand dollars to the Musselshell County DES for the purchase of Polaris North Star 1000 UTV. The county then purchased "Skid units", a firefighting unit, a medical unit providing for a gurney to be placed in back, and a law enforcement unity, so that if they need to transport people through the hills in any kind of emergency, they would be able to use the UTV. The cost was high, as they wanted the UTV with heat and air conditioning in case of a weather induced rescue such as heat stroke, or the opposite with hypothermia during winter months. Another push for having the vehicle was for the RIDE events. During RIDE, the population of Roundup triples according to Justin Russell. Sometimes there isn't space for the full-size vehicle in a crowded area. DES decided to call the UTV a "multi-jurisdictional vehicle" so that it could be used by any of the departments at any time of need.

The DES also has emergency generators which go to reunification sights in case of an emergency or evacuation such as flood or fire. One of the generators is for Roundup High School, one is for the Hospital, and one is stationed in Musselshell, for the Musselshell school or can be transported to Melstone. DES covers all of Musselshell County. Every county in Montana is required to have a DES department. The smaller counties often assign DES to the county sheriff as "Other Duties". The EMPG grant allows most counties to hire a specific person for that duty.

The Musselshell County DES is located at 12 Main Street in the old Wells Fargo Bank building. Justin Russell manages the department with the help of Darren Rook. Justin Russell is also the county Fire Chief, and Fire Warden, but those are different departments, separate but also managed together because Justin is doing all three. DES is also the rural addressing and 911 communication, when people move to the county, they set up the new address with DES, so that they will be on the Musselshell County Emergency 911 map.

When there is an emergency, Justin switches roles to Chief, and then relays information back to Darren Rook, who then updates the DES information, coordinates phone calls, and manages all the State communication DNRC, or BLM, and Facebook notifications. The DES is also responsible for any government owned, county owned, and city owned infrastructure. If any county roads are inaccessible, or county services are down, it is a priority to make sure that they are repaired, fixed, etc. Road signs also fall under this rule.

The county of Musselshell has a binder that is a County Emergency Operations Plan, all of the departments have a copy to access in an emergency. where most scenarios are planned for, with a breakdown of events, who is primary and secondary for specific duties.

Justin states that we are just getting into fire season. The county has already had two fires, a baler caught fire, and another was a dragging trailer chain. With all of the abundant grass from this spring now drying up, the potential for fire has drastically increased, so please use caution in the days and weeks ahead.