This month, the Encampment/Riverside Fire Department celebrated 110 years of heroic rescues and building saves in the Platte Valley.
It was 1903 when the Encampment Fire Department held its first annual banquet for department members and friends at what was then known as the city hall, according to an archived article from the Grand Encampment Herald newspaper. At that time the new department staff had 31 members, including Fire Chief John Ball, Assistant Chief Frank McDaniels, Secretary Millard F. Nogal and Treasurer Frank J. Lordier.
This year, Encampment and Riverside celebrated what would be 110 years of service Aug. 10, with the department’s annual barbecue and fundraiser. The event included an ATV raffle and took place at Encampment’s Fire Hall on Rankin Street.
Fire Chief Cory Nuhn, who said he has served as chief for about seven years, has been happy to see the department stay usable and grow with new trucks and equipment throughout the years.
“We got a new 1994 pumper truck and a new rescue truck, which is great because we’ve never had a rescue truck before,” he said. “Through county funds, we also received a quick-attack truck for wildland, new pumper truck and a 2,000-gallon tanker truck. Unfortunately, we have shrunk with firefighters over the years and only have about 12 on the roster now, mostly because people don’t have time to volunteer and have to work out of town.”
Even with the drop in active firefighters, Nuhn said the fire department still has a wide coverage area outside of Encampment town limits.
“Our coverage runs from Cow Creek to the Colorado State line from north to south, and from the Rawlins Highway to the Albany County line from west to east,” he said. “I love the opportunity to volunteer and give back to the community, and I also enjoy fighting fire. The worst fire I had seen was probably when Landon McGuire’s house was destroyed by fire.”
One of the long-time and oldest fighters on the squad is 72-year-old Joe Remick, who has volunteered with the Riverside/Encampment Fire Department since 1978. Originally from Casper, Remick said he first moved to Encampment in 1977, and fought fires since he was 19 years old.
A retired range conservationist, Remick said he fondly remembers when he first started working with the fire department 35 years ago.
“I remember when I first got to use airpack equipment and bunker gear, and started going inside houses on fire,” he said.
Though not a young firefighter in his 30s anymore, Remick said he is still active and proud to still be working with the fire department, after all these years.
“We stay pretty busy, and we cooperate a lot with the BLM and Forest Service,” he said. “The department has been going strong for 110 years, and there was even a lot of activity around the 1900s. The town was bigger back then.”
Long-time Encampment resident Gaye Burgess also had fond memories of the department when she and her husband, Wilbur, both volunteered. She said at that time women did bookkeeping, relayed messages, worked with the radio system and performed other in-house tasks, while the men went out to save the town by extinguishing fires.
“I remember when the Cowboy Bar, which was across from Kuntzman’s Grocery Store and on the corner of Sixth Street, burnt down,” Burgess said. “It was during hunting season, around late October, and it was quite a blaze with all that liquor in there. I’ve been here since 1963, and there used to be a lot more businesses in town.”
Remick said he continues to serve and protect his town whenever the call of fire strikes near, even at 72 years old.
“I still do the same stuff I did then, whatever is needed,” he said. “I’ll drive the truck, run the hose or put on an air pack and go into a house on fire.”
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