Bob Anderson holds up a photo from farm extrication training in April of 1988. Anderson is wearing striped shirt in the photo.

A young boy started training with firemen while in the Boy Scouts. A 65-year-old Bob Anderson remembers being a victim for CPR instruction.

“The instructor actually breathed in my mouth,” Anderson said. “I remember he had cigarette breath.”

Despite the traumatic CPR class gone awry, Anderson became a firefighter following his older brother’s footsteps. His brother was nine years older. When Anderson graduated in 1965, he joined Laramie County Fire District No. 3, serving Albin.

He was on part-time for a few years because of work and moving to Denver briefly. In 1973, Anderson was back on full-time and has been since.

At the January meeting of LCFD3, Anderson was honored for serving 27 years as chief during his time on the department, it also doubled as Anderson’s birthday party. Currently, Brent Lerwick is LCDF3’s chief and Anderson tries not to step into that role. He has reached a point where he will no longer run for officer positions and is content as a firefighter. In 2009, Anderson became training chief and ended adding years to his chief streak.

“Back in the old days, being chief was a popularity contest,” Anderson explained.

In the late ‘70s, Anderson began taking turns as chief. Then in the mid 1990s, rules changed that required officers be Firefighter I or Firefighter II certified. Anderson was one of the few on the department that met that standard. Training with the other fire districts and attending fire schools helped Anderson reach his certification long before the requirement. His years as chief Anderson says have “gone pretty smoothly.”

With over 40 years experience firefighting, Anderson has responded to many different calls, and being in the Albin area, that includes calls to missile silos.

“We started with full apparatus on our descent,” Anderson said, as he described entering one smoke-filled silo. “I realized we weren’t going to make it with one bottle of air, so we went back up and cleared the smoke out then went down.”

Anderson explained he has never been called to open flame in one of the silos, just overheating machinery that started smoking.

The largest fires Anderson has responded to were actually mutual aid calls to assist LCFD5 in Pine Bluffs. The Pastime Theater and wood chipping factory, Anderson listed as the biggest blazes he recalls, though some local house fires over the years come to mind as being challenging.

“Cronk’s was the coldest,” said Anderson.

When describing what makes firefighting worthwhile, Anderson said, “When you actually are able to save a structure. Structures around here are seldom savable. We did manage to save some.”

Anderson hesitated for a long time before answering the question, “When were you most scared on a fire call?”

He described a bizarre scene. A high voltage line was down. It was so hot, it turned gravel into glass. Anderson found out the other end of the line was on a barbed wire fence, and he could not contact firefighters working near the fence on the other end.

“You were yelling that day,” Anderson’s son Aaron said. The yelling was trying to reach the at-risk firefighters. The glass formed that day was in the Albin station for years, but Anderson could not locate it Monday.

For a couple of summers, Anderson worked wildland fires. One summer he working on structure protection at Big Fish Ranch.

“We sat for three days and watched the fire smolder. Then the wind changed. The boss said we were not leaving,” Anderson described, “We watched the fire come down the hill at us. It was a rush.”

After becoming involved with the fire department, Anderson trained as an Emergency Medical Technician in 1977 or ‘78, he estimated.

“Some EMS calls felt like you made a difference,” Anderson said.

A call that stands out to Anderson was one with an elderly woman who would walk a lot. One day she was hit by a piece of farm equipment and broke her pelvis. Another time Anderson had to perform CPR on his aunt the whole drive to Cheyenne.

Being a firefighter or EMT in Albin has the benefit of knowing everyone. When new people join, even if they are new in town, you usually know them by then, Anderson explained. The disadvantages of working to protect such a small community are days with low numbers of responders and training.

“One call nobody was around, so I told my wife to go and she did,” explained Anderson. “I had her drive the tanker.”

Training, he said, is the toughest part. Effort, Anderson targeted as one of the reasons training is a struggle.

“We try to schedule for everyone, but people don’t show up. It’s a safety issue,” said Anderson.

Just as Anderson started because of his older brother, his son, Aaron, and daughter, Alison, both became firefighters. Aaron started in 1998, when he was 18, and has served on both LCFD3 and LCFD5. Wildland and EMS were what Aaron most enjoyed. With his current job, he is not technically on the LCFD3 now, but will help when around.

“It was in the family as long as I can remember,” Aaron said. His mother would even dispatch for the department sometimes.

Alison served on LCFD1 and LCFD2. Aaron estimated his sister to have been on with district one for four to six years. She was a captain when she left. Alison did the EMT thing like her father, and went on to become a paramedic with AMR for eight years.

Anderson glanced around the station before answering if he thinks about retirement. Nodding slightly, Anderson says, “sort of.”

“Eventually I’ll get too old to do the physical part, might be able to drive.” Anderson says adding the national retirement age for firefighters may become 70 to retire completely.

When the day comes, Anderson will retire with a plaque of recognition, many years of experience and many people grateful for the work he has done.