TORRINGTON – During Tuesday’s meeting of the Torrington City Council, the Torrington Volunteer Fire Department spoke to Mayor Herb Doby and council members requesting permission to host the Wyoming State Firemen’s Association Convention.

“I am the President of the Wyoming State Firemen’s Association which kind of represents volunteer firefighters across the state of Wyoming,” Cody Scott explained to the council. “This will be the 92nd year that the competition has been held. On Wednesday (June 11), it starts with a Wyoming fire chiefs’ meeting at the fire station – kind of kicks off the whole thing.”

According to Scott, fire chiefs from around the state come to attend the association’s quarterly meeting and firefighters from multiple departments will participate in a handful of drill exercises throughout the weekend.

“We’ve been working pretty hard here lately, getting things ready for next week,” Scott explained while showing off a wall of trophies and awards of recognition, honor and bravery deep inside the halls of the fire department Wednesday morning. “Most of them are all [from the] Wyoming State Firemen’s Association Convention. There are some old ones that date back to the 20s, that are actually part of what they use to call the North Platte Valley Firefighters, I think. I think the oldest one I’ve ever found was like 1923 or ‘24.”

As Scott began pointing to different awards, he explained the collection of accomplishments was something for the department and community of Torrington to celebrate.

Scott took a moment to explain the convention and the importance of the association.

“It’s held annually in June,” he explained. “The way it works is it rotates throughout the state. Right now, there’s six departments still that participate in it. Whoever’s going to host the drill competition, they elect a president of the association and then they’re responsible for hosting the annual meeting as well,” Scott said. “The association is the body that represents volunteers throughout the whole state. The association’s main goal is lobbying on behalf of volunteers in Cheyenne to make sure legislation doesn’t hurt us.”

Scott noted this year had been an active year in legislation.

“We were really active this year with the property tax bill and some of that stuff that had a direct impact on a lot of funding,” Scott expressed. “Then, dating way back before me, a lot of members, I think it was in the late 60s, early 70s, somewhere in there – Gene Dietrich from Newcastle was a key part of it – Jim Ellis from Lingle, Norm McCabe from here – they were all the guys that got out pension established through the state.”

“Volunteer firemen in the state of Wyoming have a pension similar to law enforcement and the career guys, not at the same dollar amount but they do get to draw a pension at 60 as long as they put in time with their community,” Scott explained. “That’s one of the big things that the association does. Then just to keep people interested in coming, we host the drill competitions, which is where all the trophies come from.”

Drill competitions are scheduled to begin at Pioneer Park at 12 p.m. on Thursday, June 12 with the final run scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m.

“There are five different runs that each team competes in for a best overall time, hopefully. It just keeps people engaged. We do a fundraiser every year, a raffle, which helps fund the associations and helps fund the drill competition,” Scott explained. “The first run that is always done, normally, the order is determined by the host city, but we kind of keep it in the same order. The five runs are a replacement contest, which is replacing a section of hose. Then there’s a wye, where we have to add a wye and split into two different nozzles and spray two targets at the same time.”

On Friday, June 13, departments will compete at the drill field at 1 p.m. with the double male double female drill.

“Then there’s what we call the horn, but bylaws stated as the double male, double female. They make a straight run down (the field) and spray a target. The truck comes all the way back, the other side of the drill field to the hydrant, hooks up another hose and then you spray two targets,” Scott said.

On Saturday, June 14, competitions start on the drill field at 11 a.m. where Torrington’s department will face off in the cellar and wet test drills.

“Then there is the cellar contest, or what we call the chop, where we go and we chop a hole in a couple boards to simulate a floor and then stuff a nozzle in it. Then the ladder, or the wet test, where you run up the ladder,” Scott explained.

The traditional drills hold history, according to Scott, but more importantly, the drills build teamwork and show the progression of technology for firefighting equipment.

“It very minimally ties into today’s fire service just because of advancements of technology and everything that we’ve seen both in safety and in practice but back in the ‘30s and ‘40s, everything that we do in these [drills] were based in everyday fire scenes. It was a lot more common to cut a hole in a floor and stuff a cellar nozzle into the basement or cellars of a farmhouse, and just let it spin like a sprinkler head, as opposed to trying to send guys down because we didn’t have the gear and the air packs that they do now, back then,” Scott elaborated. “The ladder run, the wet test, that probably has the most direct impact today because we still use ground ladders a lot. We still operate hose lines off of ladders, so that one ties into today.”

“The replacement drill, not so much today because hoses have come a long way, so don’t don’t see hose burst like they used to. That’s what that run simulates,” Scott said. “As if they were fighting a fire and a hose in the middle of 300 feet, the hose bursts, they could shut it down with a clamp, replace the section of hose and return water up without shutting the whole fire truck down.”

Scott further noted the wye test isn’t as practical for today’s use, thanks to the advancements of technology. He further explained the drill would simulate a situation where firefighters needed another hose to spray, noting the older fire trucks had two discharge points where hoses could be connected.

“Today, our ladder truck, our newest piece, the aerial out there, I think has six different discharges on it,” Scott stated. “So, it’s not an issue today but that’s where it originated from.”

“They are more of a tie to the past and a nod to history, but some of them still do have direct ties to here. It’s great teamwork. Even here, with our teams and the guys here, there’s five guys on the team, each guy has a specific job. It doesn’t go smoothly, then your run doesn’t end well. Minimal mistakes equal a better overall time and that’s what we’re going for there,” Scott continued. “It takes everybody from Albert [Lira], who is our plug man on the city team, Aaron Rutz, who is the plug man on the rural team, they’re the start up. They come off the truck as it drives past the hydrant at 15 miles an hour. If they miss getting their anchor with the hose or taking the cap off or getting the hose on the startup or even stumble, it throws everything off down the line. You’re talking, tenths [of a second], sometimes even hundredths of a second difference in the team times.”

Teamwork drives everything, Scott explained.

“Here it works really good on local team bonding and correlates to active fire scenes here and just stuff around here, but it also builds camaraderie throughout the state,” Scott said. “Kind of like I mentioned in the council meeting, myself and Denise [Estes] and some of the other guys have been around a long time. We’ve got friends all over the state and it’s so fun to see them and hang out for the week and just have fun, friendly competition – you know, bragging rights,” he said with a smile.

The Torrington Volunteer Fire Department will have two separate teams, city and rural, competing during the drills next week, Scott explained.

“It’s a lot packed into three days. It’s not as much as it used to be because we only have 10 teams now. I was never fortunate enough to be a part of it back even in the early 2000s but I hear guys like Cactus Cavello and those guys talk about they used to have 18, 19, 20 teams arriving.”

The last time Torrington hosted the Wyoming State Firemen’s Association Convention was in 2007. Teams will be traveling from Afton, Newcastle, Wheatland, Riverton and Lander to the convention.

Representing Torrington’s city team will be Albert Lira, Mike Lira, Seth Norris, Brandon Gasseling and Scott. Torrington’s rural team consists of Aaron Rutz, Matt Matlock, Michael Schuler, Taylor Walters and Justin Byers.

The three-day event is free and open to the public, with competitions running from Thursday through Saturday at Pioneer Park and the drill field. Spectators can witness nearly a century of firefighting tradition as teams compete for bragging rights and honor their shared commitment to protecting Wyoming communities.

Teams will be camping on-site throughout the weekend and spectators are asked to respect their tent spaces and preparation areas.