By Michael Van Cassell
The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — If one family had to be the face of service for the city’s fire department as it celebrates its 100th anniversary today, it probably would have to be the Allens.
For 65 years, from 1934 to 1999, there was an Allen man on duty at Cheyenne’s fire stations.
“When you’re doing it you don’t think anything about it,” Billy Allen said. “It just happens over a period of years.”
His father, Barton Allen, served 30 years. His uncles, Bill and Bob, also served a combined 30 years.
Adding Billy Allen’s 34 years with Cheyenne Fire and Rescue, it gives the family 94 years of total service.
Billy Allen began his stint with the department 44 years ago today and eventually reached lieutenant.
As a child, he’d often accompany his mother and siblings to take meals to his father at the station.
Once out of the Navy, Billy Allen took the fire exam and began his career.
“I was proud to be part of the family that was in the fire service and it’s been good to our families over the years,” he said. “As I tell the story, it’s kind of amazing to me because I’ve been retired for 10 years now.”
He called the department’s 100-year anniversary quite the milestone.
“If you want to talk about commitment to fire service in Cheyenne, it’s the Allen family,” Cheyenne Fire and Rescue Chief Guy Cameron said.
On Wednesday, the chief said he wanted to thank the citizens of Cheyenne and city officials for their support and recognize certain individuals who have served during the department’s 100-year history.
Cameron said labor leaders and advocates, men like Keith Henning, Jim Chocas, Robbie Doty, Ray Crosby and now Jon Narva.
And Cameron recalled the early days of his career, when he served along the “smoke eaters,” firefighters like Ray Befus, Don Laurin, Butch Ehrenberger, Larry Waddell and Jim Stilson.
Those men didn’t use a breathing apparatus, because there were none.
“You could be in a firefight with Jim Stilson and he’d be smoking a cigarette,” Cameron said.
Jim Stilson served 34 years and four months, eventually becoming a chief with the department.
After leaving the Army, Stilson worked forest fire crews in the state of Washington.
He started at about $300 a month in the early 1960s and worked 80 hours a week.
In the early days, everyone was a smoke eater, Stilson said.
“That was their job,” Stilson said. “If somebody needed help they’d go in. Sometimes it was pretty smoky and pretty scary.”
Stilson recalled one fire during the 1970s that was particularly frightening.
They were called to a hotel above an old pawn shop on 16th Street.
The firefighters went upstairs.
“All of sudden the fire overran us,” Stilson said.
Stilson and the other firefighters climbed out onto the ledges of the building above 16th Street. They had to raise ladders to rescue them.
“I’d do it again,” Stilson said of service. “Best bunch of people I’ve ever worked with.”
The department has come a long way since its first chief, Percy Hoyt, began overseeing four different volunteer companies on May 1, 1909.
Until 1918, the service used horses and for several years after during heavy snow.
In 1962, the city’s department was the first fire agency in the country to use diesel-engine fire trucks.
In the past year, it has equipped its fire trucks with computers that load pre-plan fire instructions.
Four years ago, the department introduced paramedic services on its calls.
“That has significantly improved the pre-hospital care for our citizens,” Cameron said.
When Cameron and Jeff Pallak joined the department, 32 and 25 years ago respectively, there was no fire academy.
Pallak, the department’s public information officer, was trained on his first six shifts.
“They showed me as many ropes as they could show me and then I was on my own,” he said.
The department is now part of the Front Range Fire Consortium and has a 30-acre, $3.2 million training facility at its disposal in Cheyenne.
Every new firefighter spends at least 12 weeks training at the academy.
“There’s where you learn the tools of the trade,” Cameron said.
And the department continues to evolve.
This month, Cheyenne Fire and Rescue will begin providing service to recently annexed stretches of interstate - including the Interstate 25 and 80 interchange.
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