Rural Eagle County volunteer fire department to share in a $1.3 million grant for recruitment

Remote rural fire departments operate largely on determination and generosity. That’s been the case for more than 20 years with the Rock Creek Volunteer Fire Department.

The all-volunteer department, eight people strong most of the time, serves a large area in northern Eagle County, including Bond, McCoy, State Bridge, Catamount and Copper Spur. The group, which uses hand-me-down equipment from other departments, came together in the wake of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, with the recognition that help from anywhere else can be a long time coming.

There’s little to no cell service in some areas. Radio reception — also using hand-me-down units — disappears entirely in areas, thanks to only a few transponders in the area. Internet service depends largely on whether or not individuals in the area have Starlink service.

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Given that the relatively few residents in the area mostly have jobs elsewhere, it can be hard to recruit and retain people, especially with threadbare budgets. That’s the case with volunteer departments just about everywhere.

For the past several years, Rock Creek Chief Brita Horn has been working to find ways to help fund recruitment and retention efforts, particularly for health insurance.

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Horn and eight other volunteer chiefs in Colorado recently landed a $1.3 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response program.

That grant will be split between Rock Creek, the Hotchkiss Fire District, Crawford Fire District, Paonia Fire District, the Yampa Fire Protection District, Rocky Ford Fire Department, Palisade Fire Department, 4 Mile Fire Protection District and Upper Pine Fire Protection District.

The grant will provide financial incentives — particularly insurance — as well as funding for some gear. The grant will also help cover the cost of training.

That training is largely the same for both paid and volunteer firefighters.

“This grant is phenomenal,” Horn said. Among all nine departments, Horn said the hope is to recruit somewhere between another 75 and 100 people. The challenge, she said, will be finding people who will be available during the day.

Gypsum Fire Chief Justin Kirkland was a volunteer for a number of years before taking a paid position, and vividly remembers riding up Battle Mountain several times on the back of one of Minturn’s aging trucks in his early firefighting days. He well understands the challenges of trying to maintain a volunteer firefighting force.

“It’s incredibly difficult,” Kirkland said, both in terms of call volume and maintaining certifications.

In addition, a rural department, especially one that doesn’t have much call volume, just doesn’t have the revenue available for much more than a shoestring operation, Kirkland said.

And the cost of equipment just keeps going up. While Rock Creek relies on hand-me-downs from other departments, so does Gypsum. New equipment is simply too expensive.

“Just our hose is 100 to 125% more expensive these days,” Kirkland said.

Even with a bare-bones crew, Rock Creek still stays pretty busy. Horn said events like bicycle races require shutting down local roads. That required help from Soroco High School.

But the work pays off, she said.

“The other day a patient coming home from the hospital came in and gave us all big bear hugs — that was so worth it,” she said.