(Riverton, WY) – October 28 is National First Responders Day, and in honor of the occasion the Riverton Chamber of Commerce held their second annual First Responders Appreciation Dinner Saturday night at the Fremont Center.
Local police, fire, search and rescue, and EMS responders were recognized/thanked by Julie Buller from the Chamber, who acted as MC for the evening.
“Whether it’s in the middle of the night, early morning, in the cold, rain, or snow, there you are protecting our community, so we do want to thank you,” Buller told the crowd before having representatives from the attending agencies stand to be recognized.
(It should also be noted that more responders were set to attend the celebration, but ended up out on actual calls for service.)
After the initial recognition, responders and their families were treated to a dinner prepared by Ichiban, which was served up by the various Chamber members.
Speakers for the evening included Riverton Mayor Tim Hancock, Senate District 26 Senator Tim Salazar, and retired Fremont County Judge Wesley Roberts.
Mayor Hanckcock was the first to speak and opened with the following words from Teddy Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena” speech.
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.“
“I think this describes you as well,” Mayor Hancock told the responders. “It takes a lot of bravery. It takes a lot of courage. It takes a lot of willingness to step up to do what you do. And I want to let you know I appreciate it every day, and I think that you’re some of the greatest people that our community has to offer.”
“Thank you very much for being the men and the women in the arena, in our community,” Mayor Hancock concluded.
Senator Salazar took to the podium next, and after thanking the responders themselves first, he went on to give a heartfelt thanks to their families as well.
“I served 27 years in the military, and I know we have a lot of military people here, but we used to say it’s not just the individual who’s deployed, it’s the families,” Senator Salazar stated.
“You first responders, I know that a great deal of the burden also falls on your families, your spouses, your kids, your parents. And I want to thank them as well because they serve with you in an unusual way.”
Senator Salazar closed by pledging to do “everything in (his) power” to protect the responders and their families, “whether it be through legislation, pensions, or pay increases.”
Roberts, who Buller noted has two sons who are in search and rescue, then closed out the evening for the speakers.
He first detailed the events of the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, California, which “burned more than 153,000 acres, destroyed 18,000 structures, including 13,900 family homes and killed 85 people.”
“Altogether, more than 50,000 people were displaced,” Roberts shared. “Imagine returning to a town that is no longer a town, realizing that every house that you recognize in the neighborhood is gone.”
“A week ago, this past Wednesday, a fire started around 3pm and burned rapidly along the river bottom on the northern end of the Wind River Reservation near the city of Riverton,” Roberts then stated before thanking the responders in that situation for their efforts, and preventing what could have been a similar situation to the Butte County fire.
“Everyone in this community breathed a huge sigh of relief when that fire was contained so quickly. And I’m sure every citizen in Riverton, in the Arapaho area were incredibly grateful to you first responders,” Roberts continued.
Roberts then shared about the history of National First Responders Day, which originated from a bipartisan resolution that was ultimately passed in 2019 following the efforts of Andrew Collier.
Andrew is the brother of Sean Collier, who was shot and killed by the two men responsible for the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, which prompted him to begin advocating for the creation of a national day to honor all first responders.
Roberts later went on to share some local numbers about the sheer number of calls for service that local agencies have responded to, which included “between 9,000 and 12,000 calls a year” for RPD, 326 pages for the Riverton Fire Deparment in 2023 and 280 so far in 2024, 5,648 calls for the FCSO in 2024, 1,515 calls for Fremont County Fire this year, 5,734 calls for Emergency Medical Services, and 29 calls for Fremont County Search and Rescue.
Roberts then thanked the dispatchers, the “unsung heroes” who deal with these issues “every day of the week, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” and who have fielded a “total of 12,897 (calls) for the county and over 12,000 for RPD” this year, not including the everyday routine calls.
“You’re going to hear the word heroes to describe every first responder, and I hope that you will never consider that to be anything less than a total honor,” Roberts later stated before concluding with the following words.
“We appreciate everything you do to make our lives better, safer, more enjoyable, because we know you’re there. We need you. We need you. We need you. We need you. We, meaning the community. Everybody, including yourselves. You need each other. We need you. We need you. Our collective community, every citizen, needs you. We need you. Need involves something that is essential by definition. Your services are essential services. Your sacrifices, whether you’re paid professionals or volunteers, are essential and vitally important to peaceful daily life in the lower Wind River Valley. And we need you. We need every one of you because you’ve already proven your willingness to sacrifice on behalf of us. God bless you. I mean that. Keep up the great work.”