Over the period of May 5, 6, and 7, five men from the Lusk Volunteer Fire Department (LVFD) attended Cody Fire School in Cody, Wyoming. Classes taken over the course of the weekend included Arson Investigation, Car Fires, LP Fires, and Initial Attack Incident Commander. Comments Fire Chief John Eddy—school attendee—on the value of attending fire trainings, “[The] Major benefit is hands on instruction for situations that we may deal with, but have no way to train on in our community because of limited resources. The instructors come from departments and entities that deal with the course material daily so they bring a lot of insight and knowledge to the classes”. 

By the LVFD bi-laws, a new probationary fireman must complete Firefighter 1 certification within their first two years on the department—this could take anywhere from six to twelve months and is a national requirement for anyone dealing in interior fire attack or rescue in a structure fire. The majority of fire schools offer over twenty classes to choose from based on the needs of those attending. Fire Chief Eddy makes the point that because of the broad selection of training, new firemen have the opportunity to get classes they have to have while more experienced firemen can take advanced or leadership level classes. As a rural department with limited resources, Fire Chief Eddy stresses another advantage of the school(s) is that most, if not all of the classes, require a certified proctor to teach and administer a test in order to obtain the accreditation and certification which is provided. “In this day and age, you just can’t be a volunteer fireman and show up to a fire or car wreck without training and certification. We have to be trained and accredited to the same level that career paid fire departments are. Not only for structure fires but car wrecks, hazmat incidents and wild land fires” states Fire Chief Eddy.

Cody Fire School will be the final ‘official’ school for the LVFD until September; however the department has recently implemented trainings to be run in conjunction with their monthly meetings, “The monthly training helps on several different levels. We practice skills that we don’t use every day, which when an emergency does happen, we can perform our duties more effectively and work together and everyone knows what their role is and what’s expected of them to get the task completed efficiently and quickly  if the situation demands that. It also helps with the Town ISO rating for insurance purposes. Fire departments that have routine trainings together, along with other things like equipment age and capabilities, get more points which helps keep insurance premiums lower”.  

Currently, the department has thirteen members certified in Firefighter 1, thirteen certified for hazmat awareness, two with Fire Instructor Certification, ten hazmat operations, and eight are taking classes to be certified in Fire Officer 1, “Along with the structure side of what we do, many of our firefighters are certified or getting certification for the wild land fire side of what we do. Including Engine Operator, Engine Boss, Faller, Incident Commander, Fire Instructor and Dozer Boss just to name a few” says Fire Chief Eddy. 

In addition with the monthly -meeting-trainings, LVFD will host local trainings as needed over the summer period. The first of these trainings is set for Friday, May 19 and will be the Annual Wild Land Fire Safety refresher course, a mandatory class every two-years for anyone looking to operate a rural fire truck. Per Fire Chief Eddy, a BLM instructor will be coming to Lusk for the May 19 class.

Recently, LVFD was recognized by the State Fire Prevention and Electrical safety office for participation in the Wyoming Firefighters Certification system, “Special acknowledgement is given to the Fire Chief, Training Officer, and firefighters for their efforts in advancing their professional capabilities by certifying with the Wyoming Firefighters Certification System. Certification leads to increased safety and professionalism on the fire grounds and thus better service to the organizations community”. 

The Lusk Volunteer Fire Department has sixteen firefighters, “Any training that the members do, I feel makes our jobs safer and allows us to better serve our community. We are very blessed to have such a dedicated group of firefighters on our department who strive to provide a professional service to our community. They take pride in their abilities and the service that they provide to the people we serve.”