By Christena T. O’Brien
Leader-Telegram
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — The outlaw Jesse James was a frequent target on wanted posters in the Old West.
More than 130 years after the murderer and thief’s death, a man by the same name is doing a little stealing of his own.
Jesse James, Altoona’s police and fire chief, Wednesday hung a 3-by-8-foot banner outside the Emergency Services Building in an effort to attract firefighters and emergency medical services responders.
Seeing a Dec. 8 article in the Leader-Telegram, James stole the banner idea from the Durand City/Rural Fire Department, which placed a large banner seeking department members on a fence along Highway 85 on Dec. 2.
“So far, in less than 48 hours after putting up the sign, we’ve had more publicity than anything we tried combined,” Durand fire Capt. Matt Gilles, who got the banner idea from the Spring Valley department, told a Leader-Telegram reporter.
That’s what James — the fire chief and lawman — is hoping for.
“Right now, we’re thin, and I want to change that,” said James, who currently is enrolled in firefighter training, along with his 19-year-old son, Bailey Hawke-James, at Chippewa Valley Technical College.
“It’s a whole new world for me,” he said of the fire service, “and I’m having fun.”
The Altoona Fire Department is staffed by paid, on-call workers who provide full fire protection, fire inspections, emergency medical response and patient treatment until an ambulance arrives. (Altoona contracts with the Eau Claire Fire Department for ambulance services.) They also issue burning permits and offer community outreach and education programs.
The Fire Department is operating with 25 workers — some trained in firefighting only, some in EMS only, and some in both. James’ goal is to have 40 on the roster because the number of calls his department responds to is steadily increasing.
“We need to have enough staff to fill our equipment,” he said.
In 2013, the Fire Department responded to 692 calls, James said. This year, the department has responded to more than 725 calls, and as of Dec. 15, two-thirds of those calls were EMS-related, such as diabetic reactions, heart attacks, ill persons and lift assists.
As Altoona grows, he expects the demand for fire and EMS services will increase too.
Altoona has mutual aid agreements with the Eau Claire and Township fire departments, James said, and at times, the neighboring departments provide assistance or coverage when needed.
James is hoping to hear from “anyone and everyone who wants to serve the city” as a firefighter, EMS responder or both.
Interested people must be at least 18 years old, possess and maintain a valid Wisconsin driver’s license, have graduated from high school or the equivalent, meet the maximum distance requirement from their residence to the fire station, have no criminal record, and pass a criminal background check and employment physical and drug screen.
The city will cover the cost of first responder training, and the state will sponsor firefighter training. People going through training also will be paid.
“It’s like a part-time job,” James said.
Lawrence “Pit” Plumer of the Durand City/Rural Fire Department wasn’t surprised to learn James is trying a banner. As president of the Wisconsin State Firefighters Association board, he has heard a department in the Green Bay area also might try the approach.
“I think it’s a good tool,” said Plumer, whose department also tried Facebook and a notice in the local weekly paper to attract workers. “The sign really caught people’s eyes.”
James is planning to move his department’s banner around in an effort to get more people to see it.
©2014 the Leader-Telegram (Eau Claire, Wis.)