Fueled by a common desire among area residents to protect their communities, the Rist Canyon Volunteer Fire Department was established 50 years ago. In 1975 volunteers from all walks of life came together to begin building a fire department that today has 35 volunteer firefighters serving a 110 square mile area. The coverage area includes Rist Canyon, Stove Prairie, and the Buckhorn, as well as providing mutual aid for an additional 50 square miles in conjunction with other local emergency response agencies.

The first fleet of vehicles were donated and using their own personal credit, the volunteers-built Station 1 on Rist Canyon Road. In 1975 it acquired its first pumper, a 1947 Army-surplus, 2 ½ ton 6x6 converted by the Colorado State Forest Service into a 900-gallon capacity vehicle. Today the RCVFD owns, operates, and maintains 12 vehicle and three stations with the planning process for a fourth underway.

Excerpts from a RCVFD letter to residents outlined four reasons for creating the Department: “The fire danger is getting much worse because of the rapidly increasing population, the greater number of tourists, and the many pine trees killed by bark beetle which serve as ready fuel for any fires that do start.” A state forest service warning to the founders provides reasons 2-4: “that we’re just sitting on a pile of kindling waiting for the right match; that the small-fire capability, with slurry bomber backup, of past years is not going to be enough to save our forests, range, homes, and lives under these conditions; and that we must organize ourselves for the possibility of larger and more frequent fires than we’ve had to worry about before.”

Today the RCVFD is staffed by approximately 30 volunteer highly-trained emergency responders. Its response area has grown from 38 square miles (more than 24,000 acres) in 1975 to approximately 110 square miles (more than 70,400 acres) today.

This year we will be celebrating the 50th anniversary with Ristwatch articles, Facebook and Website updates as well as with celebrations during the annual Mountain Festival on Sept. 6 and at the RCVFD annual meeting next fall. We want to thank and celebrate 50 years of volunteers’ dedication to our community.

RCVFD responds to between 70 and 100 calls per year.  Currently, the mixture is about 20/80 fire/medical (rescue).  RCVFD is a classic Wildland Urban Interface (houses in the woods) fire department and faces all the challenges created by that. As the population density and number of visitors to our area increases, RCVFD continues to see a more diverse set of responses and a higher level of expectation.  It is important that if you visit or live in a rural area such as RCVFD’s response area, you understand the limitations imposed upon emergency response by that area.  The fact that we have no hydrant system and must deal with diverse weather and topography and long travel distances (not to mention volunteer staff) means that RCVFD will never provide the 4-minute response expected in town.  This means that we, RCVFD and the community, must work together to provide appropriate and timely responses.  RCVFD is committed to providing the very best professional emergency services we can and we continually strive to improve or expand our services.  Your support is critical.