Looking Back...
In 1886 a group of concerned citizens joined together to officially form the foundation for the Rawlins Fire Department. Equipped with a horse drawn pumper, little equipment and donated space in a firefighter's garage they were off and running, providing fire protection for the community. As the years went by the Fire Department continued to grow in personnel, equipment, and the need to move out of the neighborhood garage was evident. Members also realized the need for full time employees to organize and maintain the department.
In 1939 property was dedicated and the first official Fire Station was erected at the corner of 5th & Buffalo. In 1940 the Fire Department went from all volunteer to a Combination Department, and the first firefighters were hired by the City of Rawlins to man the new station. It remained in service until 1971 when a new station was built at 320 West Walnut. Presently the site of the first station is the entry way for the Community First Bank drive up window. It was torn down in 1972.
Station 1 was manned 24 hours a day 365 days a year by a staff of 5 employees working 8-hour shifts. The engineers were responsible for maintaining the facility and equipment and operating the apparatus during emergencies. In the late 1970's and early 1980's, Rawlins was in an economic boom along with the rest of Wyoming. With the influx of business, people and construction of the New State Penitentiary south of town the fire department expanded with the community.
The Response Area for the fire department made it necessary to build another Fire Station to meet the demands of the City. Station 2 at 501 E. State, was built in 1981, and began serving Rawlins in 1983. To provide manpower for both stations in a cost effective manner, the paid staff working hours changed from 8 hours to a 24/48 schedule. This allowed manning of both stations on a full time basis. Today both stations are still operated with 6 full time employees working a 24/48 schedule, and a Fire Chief employed 8 hours, 5 days a week.
Over the course of time the Fire Department operated a full time ambulance service from 1940 through 1985. This was given up to the Carbon County Memorial Hospital because of funding and other conflicts at the time. We currently provide Basic Emergency care and a heavy rescue service for the entire county. Our service has expanded into hazardous materials response for Carbon County. We have several individuals that are HazMat Technician certified and are equipped to deal with a wide variety of hazardous situations.
The latest addition to our department is the development of our Training Center located to the west of Station 2. This project was first conceived in 1983 and had resided "on the back burner" due to lack of funding. Finally in 1999 the erection of a 40' drill tower and two-story burn building were completed. The facility sits on approximately 4 acres and is equipped with a burn building/training tower, confined space training vault/pump test pit, smoke house, a 30 X 60' storage building and a marked NFPA Standard 1002 driving course.
Leadership for the department is provided by a full time Chief. During our evolution, volunteers have served the department, part time Chiefs, a Public Safety Director and various other combinations. The Rawlins Fire Department, under the leadership of full time Fire Chiefs, has developed into a professional and progressive department with state of the art equipment and training facilities. We have been able to achieve an ISO rating of 3. We are hoping the new millennium will continue to bring us to the forefront in the Fire Fighting community.
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