Rural Fire
District: Heron's rural fire district is an all volunteer service with
aging equipment and aging personnel. Response time to fires varies from
1/2 hour to 1 hour according to the volunteers available and the
running condition of the trucks. Heron volunteers do not enter burning buildings or get on roofs.
Fire Insurance: Homes in Heron are classification as a
9 or 10 fire insurance classification, depending on home location and availability of water.
U. S. Forest Service: The U.S. Forest Service fire protection is located in Trout Creek, Montana (25 miles) east.
Police Protection
Sheriff: Sanders County Sheriff's Office is located in Thompson Falls (45 miles east) and
serves 2,790 square miles. The county is 115 miles long and about 35 miles wide. The sheriff's department has five road deputies
and only one on duty at any given time. Response time varies from one
half hour to three hours depending on deputy location and services required. The Montana State
Highway Patrol responds to all motor vehicle accidents and response
time is about the same.
Noxon ambulance
Medical Services
Bull River Family
Medicine: The practice is staffed by a Physician's Assistant, an RN,
a physical therapist and a receptionist. It is located 10 miles east on
Highway 200. Staff is provided by Clark Fork Valley Hospital in Plains,
MT. The Noxon-Heron Public Hospital taxing district helps to fund the
building by paying rent, utilities and buying some supplies.
Ambulance: Heron is served by Community Ambulance
located in Noxon, Montana fifteen miles to the east. The service is provided by volunteer basic EMT personnel. There are no paramedics available. Response time, once the ambulance is staffed, is
twenty minutes calculated to the Heron Store in good weather.
Air Ambulance: There are three services. Life Flightin Missoula, Montana, Alertin Kalispell, Montanaand MedStar in Spokane, Washington, have response time with weather permitting of 45 minutes from the call-out.
Hospital: Services
are 40 to 75 miles away in three directions. These services include,
Bonner General Hospital (40 miles west) in Sandpoint, Idaho, St. Johns
Lutheran Hospital (60 miles north) in Libby, Montana, and Clark Fork
Valley Hospital (75 miles east) in Plains, Montana.
Pharmacy:
Pharmaceutical services can be found in Sandpoint, Idaho (40 miles
west), Troy, Montana (47 miles north), Libby, Montana (60 miles north)
and Thompson Falls (45 miles east).
Animals for work and pets
Veterinary Care
The nearest veterinary services are in Sandpoint (45 miles west) and Thompson Falls (50 miles east). The cost for a farm call is around $90 and emergency vet care is virtually non-existent.
Noxon Ambulance barn
Heron-CRD
Heron Citizens for Responsible Development Heron, Montana
