The Sage Page Vol. 13 | Num. 2 | Summer 2019
Official newsletter of the Boulder Community Alliance
A nonprofit serving Boulder, Utah.
Inside This Issue
Benevolence Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Boulder Fire Dept. continued. . . . . . . . . 2 Boulder Town Park Thrives . . . . . . . . . . 3 Hats Off! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Boulder 4th of July Celebration. . . . . . . 5 The Free Box. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Congratulations to Elizabeth Julian! . . . 6 Ready for Summer! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Rockets & Stars!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 From the Ground Up: Agricultural Community & Collaboration. . . . . . . . . 7 Letter from the President . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Community Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 On Boulder Creek Canyon Ranch by Colter Hoyt
ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS PART 1:
“ PEOPLE JUST SHOWED UP”
Sage Page continues to accept original poetry, photographs, and feature submissions. Email ED@bouldercommunityalliance.org with ideas.
By Tessa Barkan
Before the 1980s, and to an extent up until the late-1990s, there was no organized fire department in Boulder; community members relied on each other to come together whenever flames were seen. In this miniseries, we will explore the development of the Boulder Volunteer Fire Department from its inception to today.
Many stories exist about early fires in Boulder, the school house fire in 1935, for example. Though news about the early morning flames traveled quickly via the town’s party line, when people arrived to help there was nothing to do but watch the structure burn. Without a fire department, residents at that time had to rely on themselves and each other when fires broke out. Almost fifty years after the school house fire, plans to organize a Boulder Volunteer Fire Department were just beginning to take shape. “Before we really had a department, people just showed up to help,” said Judi Davis, who became Town Clerk in 1971 and was instrumental to the department’s development over the next decades through her funding inquiries and record keeping
efforts. By the beginning of the 1980s, the Town was equipped with fire hydrants, but had no hoses and no budget to buy them, and furthermore, even if they did have them, did not have anyone trained to operate them. Under Municipal Law 11-7-1, however, town governments were required to “provide adequate fire protection within their own territorial limits.” Donna Jean Wilson, who was mayor during the 1980s, sought to make this happen. “We needed ten volunteers to take a training to get a department started and get the building set up,” she said. “The volunteers were hard to come by, so I ended up taking the training myself with a few others.” In 1985, the Town secured a grant for $50,000 from the Department of Community and Economic …continued on page 2
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