This time, though, there was a catch. A catch that came in the form of a Violation Notice from the Rock Springs Fire Department.

Rock Springs Fire Department -
600 College Drive
Rock Springs, WY 82901
Phone (307) 352-1475
Fax (307) 352-1481
HIDDEN EMAIL
Violation Notice

Date: 10/18/2006

To: Sweetwater County Fire District #1
3010 College Drive
Rock Springs, WY 82901

RE: Public Fire Education within City Limits*
_____________________________________________________

It has been noted that on October 18, 2006 your agency conducted public fire prevention activities*, within the City of Rock Springs, without permission or coordination with the Rock Springs Fire Department. This is a violation of the International Fire Code 2006 edition as adopted by the City of Rock Springs.

104.12 Public Fire Education. The Rock Springs Fire Department, or other agents appointed by the fire code official, shall be charged with the coordination of public fire education within the corporate limits of the City of Rock Springs.

You are hereby ordered to immediately cease in this activity and coordinate all future public fire education, within the City of Rock Springs, with the Rock Springs Fire Department. If this action continues further action may be taken, as the law requires. If there are any questions please contact the Fire Inspector at 352-1484.

Carl Blanksvard
Fire Inspector

*Emphasis Added by author.

Apparently, it is illegal in the City of Rock Springs, Wyoming to educate children about fire prevention and safety without the permission of Carl Blanksvard, the City Fire Inspector.

Historically, there has always been friction between the Rock Springs Fire Department and Sweetwater County Fire District #1. Fire District #1 was, in fact, created to do a job that the members of the Rock Springs Fire Department had previously be paid by Sweetwater County to do: give fire protection to the populated but unincorporated parts of Sweetwater County. The Rock Springs firefighters, worried that the possible success of a mixed department (partially made up of full time firefighters but mostly made up of on call volunteers) would put their own job security at stake, have for years hoped that Fire District #1 would be a miserable failure. To their dismay, Sweetwater County Fire District #1 has grown to be one of the most highly trained, and highly respected rural fire departments in the nation.

There have been many of these territorial disputes in the past. The Rock Springs Fire Department has demanded that the Fire District not participate in Safety Day at the local Wal-Mart. They have demanded that the volunteer firefighters not raise donations for the Muscular Dystrophy Association in Rock Springs. And several times in the past they have complained when Fire District #1 firefighters have provided fire prevention training to other school children in the community, both at schools, and by hosting the children at the Fire District #1 headquarters.This is the first time, however, that the Rock Springs Fire Department has gone so far as to claim that it is actually illegal for Fire District #1 to provide fire prevention education to the public.

Using their interpretation of the International Fire Code, it is also illegal for an elementary school teacher to teach the children in their classes fire education without Inspector Blanksvard’s permission. It is illegal for a teacher in the high school welding class to teach his students how to use the fire extinguisher without Inspector Blanksvard’s permission. It is illegal for the college to teach it’s personnel how to react to a fire at the campus without Inspector Blanksvard’s permission. It is illegal for Halliburton, Schlumberger, and ExxonMobil to teach their employees fire safety in their Rock Springs facilities without Inspector Blanksvard’s permission.

Give me a break! The Rock Springs Fire Department needs to get over itself, and Fire Inspector Carl Blanksvard needs to find something else to do with his time than prevent school children from receiving fire prevention and safety education. The fact is, schools are requesting these services from the staff of Sweetwater County Fire District #1 because they have found that the educational opportunities the District provides are better than those they can get anywhere else, including from the Rock Springs Fire Department. The Rock Springs Fire Department should be happy that other agencies are teaching these types of classes in Rock Springs because it means their job will be easier and their constituents lives will be safer.

More than that, even, Rock Springs’ interpretation of the 2006 International Fire Code is a clear violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. For any government agency to think that they can force iron fisted control over any segment of public education is pure fascism, and that kind of censorship has no place in Wyoming, or anywhere else in this country. I am interested to know how the Sweetwater County School District #1 Board of Directors feels about that interpretation.

And do you know what, Inspector Blanksvard? The saddest part of all of this is that you completely misinterpreted the intent of the paragraph from the International Fire Code that you cited in your Violation Notice. The code isn’t really attempting to give you control over public fire education. What it is saying, is that it is your job to make sure there IS public fire education in the City of Rock Springs. So do your job, sir! Coordinate some public fire education in your city! Call the schools, call the preschools, call the churches, and call the businesses and tell them you want to provide quality public fire education to all of them, and tell them you will do it to the same standards that the Sweetwater County Fire District #1 is doing it now. Recognize the Fire District #1 personnel for the valuable community resource that they are and ask for their help! And if you can’t do that, stay the Hell out of the way and let the professional do their jobs.

Peace,

Wisdom

________________________________

Want to tell The Rock Springs Fire Department and the City of Rock Springs how you feel about this insanity?

Rock Springs Mayor and City Council

Rock Springs Fire Department

Chief
Brad Sarff
Phone: 307-352-1475
Fax: 307-352-1481

Battalion Chiefs
Lyle Armstrong, A Shift
John C. Rodiack, B Shift
Allen K. Bird, C Shift

Fire Inspector-Battalion Chief
HIDDEN EMAIL" >Carl Blanksvard
(307) 352-1484