5.6 Gathering Places: The Fire Department
Research About the Counterculture
“The hippies on the CVFD ate just as much smoke during the fires as the rednecks did.” [Old-timer respondent]
The fire department is where Comptche forged a new normal in the 1970s. This happened through open and volunteer membership and fundraising events. They organized and determined to build a firehouse and buy new trucks. Fundraisers were usually held at the Grange Hall. Accomplished musicians living in Comptche had a tradition of playing benefit concerts for our commonly-valued fire department. These were sometimes at larger venues like the Mendocino County Fairgrounds.
The Comptche Volunteer Fire Department (CVFD) is a great example of a thriving and healthy civil common. The people of Comptche worked to overcome differences and agreed to disagree, in the name of common good.
Fire Chief Larry Tunzi is a member of an old time ranch family. He was a teenager in the 1970s. During my fieldwork (2011-12) I interviewed him and shared my research showing the town’s old-timer/newcomer division, and CVFD as common ground. Not surprised, Tunzi said:
”We all live and work here so why wouldn't we want to do our best? The Fire Department is intentionally inclusive—everybody has something to lose from a fire.”
In Comptche, residents can support the fire department and they can be the fire department through different levels of volunteerism. Volunteer firefighters become stronger through training with the department, learning new skills and knowledge, which consequently enhances their standing in the community.
Volunteering with the fire department is also a way for newcomers to integrate with established residents. Training is open to anyone who lives in Comptche, there’s a job for all abilities. There’s also a auxiliary branch of members for fundraising events. The fire department and all the associated support activities create common ground that is open and easily accessed by everyone in the community.
A series of devastating fires in 1962 and 1963 burned so many homes and barns, the residents organized a volunteer fire response team and plan. The Comptche Volunteer Fire Department (CVFD) was formally organized in 1964.
“Our first engine was a 1956 surplus tank truck, which we purchased in November 1964 for one dollar from the State of California. Our second engine was acquired in 1969. These two engines along with an old equipment truck were our fire fighting force for many years.” [CVFD 1998b]
By the end of the 1970s, events in Comptche were open to all and occurred on common ground. Area musicians often organized benefit concerts to raise funds to build a fire station. After 1976, the fire department had a permanent home; they brought the fire trucks out of storage in area hay barns and were able to park them under one roof. A fire house kitchen was added. The firehouse now accommodates fundraisers and feeds fire crews fighting fires.
The high level of volunteer commitment is an expression of the value bestowed by the community upon this shared infrastructure. Firefighters meet weekly—one meeting per month is for business and the other meetings are devoted to training and education.
The fundraising branch is the Comptche Area Fire Auxiliary (CAFA). They meet monthly to work on the primary annual fundraising event, The Father’s Day BBQ Chicken Dinner. They conduct other fundraising projects such as community cookbooks, producing a local phone directory, and create an annual quilt up for raffle at the Chicken Dinner in June. (See post 4.12 on Volunteering for more about community quilts.)
“The annual Father’s Day BBQ Chicken Dinner has become more than a fundraiser, it’s a community event.” Assistant Fire Chief Randy MacDonald, 2010
Through time, the residents of Comptche have generated a legacy fire department and a community of land stewards who create defensible space around their homes and barns. Being well-prepared is preventative fire insurance.
The CVFD provides non-secular ritual for the community. Rituals are part of the human experience. Some are personal, some are group. The rituals that bring us together for the common good are powerful draws—and it’s not just the fun and food that feed us. It’s communitas: the joy of being people together. Feeling safe together because we’re neighbors. In this type of togetherness, we often experience a peak, like a group high, called collective effervescence. This is the joy you feel and you look around to see thae joy others are feeling. You’re in a collective groove. This is “feeling groovy”.
The CVFD’s annual Chicken Dinner fits the basic description of a ritual:
People make preparations such as food, special clothing, buying tickets
They leave their normal daily modalities behind
They enter a designated space, sometime’s with a gate or entry requirement
In this special space, they have a group experience of togetherness (communitas)
They usually experience collective effervescence, a group high
They return home, rest and reflect
Having contributed and enjoyed communitas, people are enhanced in some way
The group and community are likewise enhanced
Repeat cycle
Gatherings that provide communitas are vital for healthy, thriving communities. Each one of us experienced the absence of communitas during the global pandemic quarantine. We can understand the personal and shared significance of collective effervescence.
Up next: Chapter 6 (new) - Land Use Conflicts and Resolutions
Resources for this post:
Comptche Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., 1998a. Comptche Past and Present.
Comptche Volunteer Fire Department, Inc., 1998b. Comptche Cooks: A Collection of Mendocino County Recipes and Traditions.
Spicer, Lisa Gruwell, 2012, 2024. Finding Common Ground: When the Hippie Counterculture Immigrated to a Rural Redwood Community.
Turner, Victor, 1969. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure.
