The Seeley Lake Rural Fire District Board heard remarks from its fire chief over a recent Pathfinder story, approved its spending, checked in call numbers and talked about potential grants during its Jan. 16 meeting.
Dave Lane, the fire chief, said he has written a letter to the owner of the Pathfinder, Jesse Mullen, to ask for corrections and an apology over the Jan. 11 story, which said facts from Lane and the Montana Board of Medical Examiners do not match county records.
“This last article was very slanderous with the lies that were published and I cannot talk about patient care legally, so I'm not gonna, I can't respond to that,” Lane said. “And I won't. I won't talk about it here either. But the information was wrong.”
The patient, Debra Kittrell, spoke in-depth with the Pathfinder about the incident. She alleged Lane was not accurate about what happened during a two-hour ordeal that ended with a LifeFlight. The full story can be found online at seeleylake.com.
Lane said the Pathfinder did not respond to any letters sent from the fire district. The Pathfinder cannot find any record of a letter sent from the district on email or printed as of Jan. 22.
The Pathfinder also called the fire district three times on Jan. 3, 4, and 5, and left a voicemail on Lane’s personal cell on Jan. 4 and Jan. 5 to talk about the story. No response has been made as of Jan. 22
Pathfinder editor Griffen Smith asked Mullen to see if he got the letter on Jan. 22, as no member of the Pathfinder had been informed of any letter. The Pathfinder is editorially independent from Mullen.
Lane said he and the fire department have been unfairly treated by the newspaper in the last several stories. He said he disagreed with the way a Sept. 14 story portrayed a deal for a type one fire engine
“One of the pieces was very insulting to me,” Lane said. “(It) could have damaged our relationship with Missoula rural fire when the article stated that I convinced Chief Newman to lower the price on the engine. That was not true at all. The conversation that I had with Chief Newman, we couldn't afford it as it was put out to bid. He himself came up with ideas to help us purchase the engine.”
The Pathfinder story from Sept. 14 said a slightly different version of Lane’s account.
“The fire truck, a 2001 engine from the Missoula Rural Fire District, was originally listed for auction in June for $35,000. Lane said he wanted the engine, but couldn't afford the starting bid. The department has never before owned a type one engine,” the Pathfinder wrote. “He said he talked with Missoula Rural Fire Chief Christopher Newman, and asked to discuss it more if the engine didn't sell at auction. Two weeks later, Lane said the engine had not been sold and he convinced Newman to offer the vehicle for $20,000.”
No correction was sent to the Pathfinder over the issue, according to former Pathfinder editor Griffen Smith.
During the meeting, Seeley Lake volunteer firefighter John Baker pointed out that the Pathfinder wrongly said he was on scene for Kittrell’s incident, as John Richards was the third responder on scene.
Lane said he has been on the hot seat since he started six years ago. He said a small number of people have been trying to get him fired for years.
“When I say small group, I mean like five or six people. Since then, those five or six people have filed complaints against my license,” Lane said. “All of the complaints were dismissed almost immediately by the Board of Medical Examiners.”
Except for Kittrell’s complaint, which advanced through a private hearing over the incident in 2022. Lane said he got a call from a lawyer from the state of Montana more than a year after the incident.
“Close to the end of the year from that complaint I get a letter from the attorney from the Board of Medical Examiners that said, ‘You probably could have done things a little bit differently. We're gonna require you to take some continuing education hours and that'll be the end of it,’” Lane said.
The four hours of continuing education was done by a visiting instructor last week, Lane said. He added that the training was already required for him for paramedic recertification.
Also at the meeting, the board heard that the call number for the district was slightly down from 2022, as 2023 had 324 responses compared to 362 the year prior. The district also heard about several grant projects to improve equipment.
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