OUR NEIGHBORS: Butte fire chief honored for 40 years of service

BUTTE — What keeps a man responding to fires for 40 years?

For Charles Von Gunten, it’s a bunch of things.

“First is they always say that you join the fire department because you like playing with big toys,” he said. “Second is just the people that are involved in emergency services they’re a great bunch of people.”

Von Gunten is chief of the Butte Fire Department, a position he has occupied since 1984 when the previous chief passed away. He said he first signed up when he moved to Butte 40 years ago.

“I started out basically as just a firefighter in September of 1970 when I moved into the area I went down and Bud Barnhardt owned the sawmill down there and I needed some lumber but I didn’t have any money,” Von Gunten said. “He said, ‘I’ll give you the lumber but you go down there Monday and join the fire department.’”

Barnhardt was also the fire chief and Von Gunten’s immediate predecessor. Von Gunten said he did as he was asked and firefighting just got in his blood.

“I just really like to be able to help my neighbors out,” Von Gunten said. “I get great joy out of being able to get there and help them out.”

Since he arrived at the department he’s seen it grow from a strictly firefighting organization into one that runs ambulance and rescue service. Butte has also expanded to meet the needs of the many outdoorsmen who use the area each year. The department covers off-road rescues in the Jim Creek area.

“Over the years we used our own personal ATVs or pickups to be able to do that rescue work,” Von Gunten said.

But as the department grew and applied for grants, gradually it was able to acquire its own equipment. Which, of course, means the fire station has had to grow to house all those things. The station was built in 1978 or ’79, Von Gunten said, with a two-bay addition the volunteers built themselves coming a few years later. Another addition came in 2006.

“We built a 4,000-square-foot annex building next to the building there and that’s used to house a bunch of our equipment,” he said.

Which is why that Butte station on the Old Glenn Highway is so big. The department also has a substation out on Knik River Road.

Von Gunten said that over the years he has seen firefighting evolve in Butte. It used to be that structure fires were a common occurrence. That was particularly the case, Von Gunten said, when residents were using wood stoves. When the area got natural gas service he saw a significant decrease in structure fires.

“We’ve been very lucky this past year that we’ve only had one structure fire which was very small and minor,” he said.

But while structure fires decrease, the department has stepped up its wild land firefighting. The Butte fire department is usually the first in the Valley to have to roll out its brush trucks each year.

“We usually get the first fire of the season just because of where we’re at and the big fields and stuff,” Von Gunten said. Another thing accomplished under Von Gutnen’s watch, something that Dennis Brodigan cited Saturday in awarding him a plaque at the an Elks’ Club Dinner honoring first responders, was a reduction in the area’s ISO rating.

ISO, or the Insurance Services Organization, is something like the industry standard for firefighting and a means departments use to gauge their own effectiveness. Two years ago, Von Gunten and his team managed to drop Butte’s rating from an 8b to a 6. Which, since insurance companies often base homeowners insurance rates on ISO ratings, saves Butte homeowners $200 to $400 in annual insurance costs.

That plaque at the Elks’ club was just the first of the awards Von Gunten received recently. A second batch came Tuesday at a borough assembly meeting. Outgoing mayor Talis Colberg proclaimed Oct. 19 to be Charles Von Gunten day in the borough and handed Von Gunten a ceremonial fire axe.

“I’d seen them in the catalogues but never figured I’d ever have one,” Von Gunten said, joking that he hasn’t picked out the right wall of his home on which to hang it. “That was a great honor and I really appreciate what the borough did there.”

And how does he personally intend to celebrate Charles Von Gunten Day next year?

“I’ll just continue to do the best job I can,” Von Gunten said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.