Black Hawk Fire Department’s Open House offers behind scenes look at firefighting
And Firehouse Chile – now that’s hot!
Monday, October 5, 2009, was the start of National Fire Prevention Week and Black Hawk’s first observance of their newly proclaimed Firefighter Recognition Day. To mark the event, Black Hawk Fire Chief Bob Norris and the city’s firefighters opened the fire station to the public and welcomed all comers with tours, rides and food.
Black Hawk’s Fire Department began with a volunteer force in 1879 and the city has been protected by firefighters ever since. The department still has some of the “bunker gear” from the early 1900’s on display in the lobby of Black Hawk’s big modern fire station just off Highway 119 at the north end of the city. There, in a tall wooden cabinet are the hats, lettered belts and silver horns (used as megaphones to shout orders and communicate during fires). Photographs of that day show groups of bearded, mustachioed men wearing the very same gear, posed in front of their original fire station, the current City Hall. Chief Norris hopes to recreate that photograph with the firefighters and gear of today.
Black Hawk’s firefighters are now full-time professionals who work and live at the station in 24-hour shifts of several days duration. On Monday, the crew consisted of five firefighters and four medical responders from Gilpin Ambulance (who also work out of the fire station). Visitors to the Open House were taken on tours of the station, including the living quarters upstairs where firefighters can gather in a circle of recliners after dinner before bunking down for the night in the bedrooms down the hall – if there are no fire calls, that is. Meals are cooked at the station and served at a big stainless steel table about 10 x 10 feet square. Visitors were treated to lunch at the table; bowls of spicy green chili (pork or vegetarian) or milder red chili ladled and served by uniformed firefighters from big pots bubbling on their stove. Everyone had contributed to the Open House, said the firefighters on duty. While they were serving and offering tours, their colleagues, “B Shift,” had cooked using a recipe created by firefighter, Chris Reid, who had shopped for roasted green chilies and other ingredients down below, just for the Open House. There was also honeyed cornbread, tortillas, cookies and plenty of ice tea and lemonade. Guests got to practice sliding bowls of grated cheese across the wide silver expanse of the table between them, an art the firefighters have mastered so well (they said) that they can curve around beverage glasses and other obstacles. And when the table’s been polished – look out!
After lunch, it was time for a ride in the ladder truck, a big engine that seats five in the cab (two in front, three facing back.) When the sirens are going, firefighters communicate inside the cab via headphones and microphones. Visitors who rode “shotgun” had the added treat of sounding the horn (way down at the end of Main Street when there was no traffic.) Driver Dave offered information about the City as he drove through town. Locals got a kick out of the idea of touring Black Hawk, “Here we are on Main Street,” they joked, “and on your right you have Fitzgerald’s and then Fitzgerald’s and then Fitzgerald’s and oh, here’s the Gilpin…” But out-of-towners enjoyed the whole experience. A couple from Denver had seen the event announced on the Black Hawk website and journeyed up just to see the trucks. Sometime in the 1980’s said the man, he decided he liked fire trucks and set about seeing as many of those in the small towns of Colorado as he could. He’s got pictures of hundreds, now, said his wife grinning, recounting how they’d finagled viewings in some towns, “But this time we get lunch!”
Chief Norris had planned a noon demonstration showing how firefighters extricate people trapped in cars, as sometimes happens in automobile accidents. But there were never enough people at one time to do it justice, he said. They’ll use the old car for a later training session. With wet, cold dreary weather and the event on a school day, there were only a few youngsters and not as good a turn-out as hoped. Those who took the time had a good time and got to see behind the scenes of BHFD. This was the first time for the event, which will now be done annually, during National Fire Prevention Week. Chief Norris and the crew are already planning for next year’s.