(Lander, WY) – Lander Volunteer Fire Department Chief Bobby Johnston shared an end-of-year department summary during the Lander City Council meeting on January 12th.
In 2020, the Lander Volunteer Fire Department fulfilled 188 calls for service. Johnston shared this number is up from 155 calls in 2019 and up from 123 in 2018.
The calls for 2020 breakdown as follows:
- 21 Fires – these include buildings, mobile homes, vehicles, grass, brush, and other fires.
- 17 Rescue and emergency service incidents – these include EMS assists, motor vehicle accidents (with or without injuries).
- 35 Hazardous conditions calls – these include gas leaks, fuel spills, carbon monoxide, power lines down, and arcing or faulty/shorting electrical equipment.
- 58 Service Calls – these are Business and School inspections, fire drills, and assisting police or other agencies.
- 32 Good Intent Calls – these are dispatched and canceled in route, wrong location or no incidents found, smoke scares or odor of smoke or other.
- 25 False Alarms – these are faulty smoke detectors and alarm system malfunctions or pulled alarms.
“The Lander Volunteer Fire Department had an estimated dollar loss of around $20,000 in 2020,” Johnston noted. “This is down from the $30,000 estimated dollar loss in 2019.”
Two members also resigned from their post in 2020. In addition, firefighter Jeff Leafgreen retired after 15 years of service.
The Officers of the Lander Volunteer Fire Department for 2020 were as follows:
- Fire Chief: Bobby Johnston
- Assistant Chief: Stefan Petersen
- Captain: Nick Hudson
- Captain: Keith Poston
- Lieutenant: Matt Ward
“I can’t thank the 2020 officers enough for all their help and the countless hours put into the last year and helping to get us through this difficult time.”
“Like everyone, the COVID19 pandemic was something we’ve never experienced before and drastically altered how we do our jobs. Everything from responding to fire and rescue calls, how we clean our apparatuses and gear, and even how we train our members, changed virtually overnight. LVFD leadership drafted a preemptive S.O.P. plan just prior to the COVID19 situation moving into a full-blown pandemic. This allowed us the opportunity to reach out to our partner agencies like AMR & LPD to ensure that we had the operational plan and proper equipment in place to support and protect our firefighters, our partners, and of course, our community.”
“Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to meet and train as a team as we usually would which has been hard on membership morale. We’ve also not been able to do our annual events such as Fire Prevention Week which is capped by our public Open House event (though we did do a virtual FPW campaign that seems to have been well received), or our annual Christmas Tree Festival. However, even with all the turmoil everyone experienced in 2020, I was constantly amazed at the support and care the community has provided to the department.”
“We would like to thank the Lander community for its continued support! We strive to provide the absolute best service to our community and it wouldn’t be possible without your support.”-LVFD Chief Bobby Johnston
The Lander Volunteer Fire Department Officers for 2021 are as follows:
- Fire Chief: Bobby Johnston
- Assistant Chief: Josh Hahn
- Captain: Rod Wietzki
- Captain: Eric Siwik
- Lieutenant: Matt Ward
- Lieutenant: Kyle Heinrick
“I would like to thanks each and every LVFD member for their continued dedication over the past year, and a special thanks to all the families of our firefighters for continuing to love and support us even when we drop whatever it is we’re doing in an instant to respond when the alarm goes off.” -LVFD Chief Bobby Johnston
Johnston was sworn in for his second term as Fire Chief during the January 12th meeting. Click here to see our earlier post.
ICYMI: Here is the end-of-year update for RFD.