SEAN BOSTON
Hutch Post
BUHLER, Kan. — Charlie Wells, a volunteer firefighter with the Buhler Fire Department, has been named the Allen Samuels Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram First Responder of the Month for May.
Wells, who joined the department in September of 2022, balances his service with his full-time work as a finished carpenter and owner of Wells Carpentry. Despite the demands of running his own business, he responds to calls whenever duty calls.
“I am a self-employed finished carpenter,” Wells said. “That’s what I do during the day. I travel around doing mainly remodels, and if I’m close enough when a call comes in, I drop what I’m doing there and respond to that.”
Though his professional path took a different turn, firefighting was always on Wells’ radar. He completed the Fire Science Program at HutchCC in 2005.
“I actually went to Hutch JUCO, went through the Fire Science Program '03 through '05,” he said. “I didn’t go that route. We ended up moving close enough to Buhler a few years ago that we moved into the fire district, and it worked out to where I was able to get on the fire department there, and that’s kind of where I ended up where I am now.”
The Buhler Fire Department includes about 20 volunteer firefighters who remain on-call year-round.
“We are all on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” Wells said. “We carry pagers and we have an app on our phones that when we get dispatched they both go off, and anybody that is available makes an effort to show up for it no matter when it is.”
Wells said the department typically handles about 100 calls per year, but that number was slightly higher in 2024.
“I think last year, the year total we ran about 130 calls,” he said. “That’s pretty typical. That was a little more than average, usually we’re a little closer to 100 — and a lot of those come during the dry season, late winter before things start greening up in the spring time. A lot of those are grass fires, brush fires. That’s really when we’re the busiest, grass fire season.”
The department operates a range of equipment, including a command unit, a fire engine, a new tender acquired about a year ago, a large brush truck with a 1,200-gallon tank, and three small brush trucks outfitted with 300-gallon tanks.
“We have a command unit that we got here a few years ago,” Wells said. “Typically our chief or captains will respond in that.”
Training is a key component of the department’s readiness. The team trains monthly, with larger joint sessions held quarterly with neighboring departments.
“The first Thursday of every month, we have training in the evening,” Wells said. “Then once every quarter, we have countywide training where we get together with Haven and Nickerson and the guys out in the western part of the county. We work together with Hutch Fire and we all get together and have big training days usually on a Saturday morning.”
For Wells, the call to serve is rooted in a desire to help those in their most urgent moments.
“My favorite part is just giving back to the community,” he said. “We’re all problem solvers, and when somebody calls 911 it’s because they’ve got a problem and they’ve exhausted all of their resources. They can’t solve it, and they need somebody else to help do that for them. It’s kind of just the excitement of the unknown. You don’t know what’s going to be next. Unfortunately, it could be something really tragic, but it’s just an opportunity to give back to somebody in need.”
Wells was nominated by Beck Wells: "Charlie Wells is a hardworking and passionate firefighter, Boy Scouts leader, husband, and father. He is always prepared to lend a hand to anyone who needs it with a calm and patient demeanor. He takes his leadership very seriously, always seeking out new opportunities to learn how to be a better leader through the books he reads and the people he associates with. I have never met anyone with a cross word to say about Charlie, and we are all beyond proud to have him in our community. He deserves so much praise and is rarely recognized for all of the work he does for his family, his friends, and everyone around him, so I hope you will please consider him for this award.”
Wells' Fire Chief Casey Howard said this about Wells: "He is an extremely dedicated member of our department. He goes above and beyond the standard to provide the services needed every time the pager sets tone. He is well-deserved of this award."