Letter to the Editor: Rangely Fire Board thanks employers

Dear Editor:
This is proof that Rangely truly is a “great place” to live. Where else would employers allow their employees to miss work because they were volunteering their time to fight a house fire?
On Jan. 6 at 3:28 a.m., Rangely firefighters were called to a house fire at 5300 Highway 139. Andy Shaffer, Bo Lucas, Mike Cushman, Nathan Millsaps, Justin McClure, Brandon Rose, Mike Zadra, Jasper Whiston and Kindal Cushman responded to the fire alarm. These firefighters were on the scene for 10 hours — until 2 p.m.
All of these firefighters have full time jobs, but they are also volunteer firefighters in order to protect their community. Their community includes their own homes, the places where they work and all the businesses and schools in their community as well as the open land and highways in and around Rangely.
Not only do the firefighters put in a lot of time for training, but once they are at a fire or vehicle accident, they are always in danger. But they still do it to protect their community.
The Rangely Rural Fire Protection District would like to thank all the employers who support our firefighters by letting them miss work once in a while because they are still fighting a fire even though it is time for them to go to their full-time jobs.
For the Jan. 6 fire, the employers were Summit MidStream, Encana, Prather Plumbing, Alliance Energy Service Co., Ace West Trucking, Swabco and Blue Mountain Energy. I want to thank all the employers in town because we know now and in the future, some of the firefighters will miss some work due to fire calls.
It is nice to know that if it was your house or your place of employment or your business or a wildfire was threatening to come close to a business or its equipment that we have firefighters who would volunteer to get up in the middle of the night to fight this fire.
It is nice to know that the owners or bosses of the businesses in town support their employees. It all comes full circle at some point, Owners hire employees, employees protect owner’s homes and businesses by being a volunteer firefighter.
Target Trucking, David Cassavaugh and Andy Mann also got up in the middle of the night to provide additional water to fight this fire. This isn’t the first time they have stepped in and provided additional support to the fire department.
Target Trucking goes above and beyond to help support the fire department, and they are greatly appreciated.
The Meeker Fire Department also filled our SCBA bottles for us after this fire for no charge while our air compressor is being repaired.
It is amazing how much people are willing to help each other.
The Rangely Rural Fire Protection District thanks all the employers of the firefighters and the other businesses for their constant support. We would like to thank the firefighters’ families also for the support they give. We will continue to serve and protect our community.
Tim Webber
Chairman
Rangely Fire Board
Rangely