Emergency Response - 2 Miles Above Sea Level

With a mean elevation of 11,702 feet (over 2 miles above sea level) Lake County, Colorado is the highest elevation county in the United States. All-hazard emergency response is managed by Leadville Lake County Fire Rescue which protects their 384 square mile district with a crew of 4 personnel. They respond from Station 1 in historic Leadville and protect a resident population of 7,400. That number significantly increases during various tourist seasons.
In this video we tour their firehouse, the historic Tabor Opera House, respond to a medical emergency and explore the mountainous areas of Lake County.
To learn more about LLCFR please visit -
www.lakecounty...
To learn more about or support the Tabor Opera House please visit -
taboroperahous...

[@zacharygeib9069]

I appreciate how squared away the engineer is! Dude knows his stuff!

[@WorkingFirePIO]

He is dialed in on all of the things! Check out his Instagram @2milerescueco

[@scottthecrazy]

That opera house is incredible. Actually, that tour was helpful to the firefighters they can get a refresher course on the building and where doors and hidden rooms are.

[@firemedic6509]

That's the purpose of a pre-fire plan.

[@patrickmcfarland2610]

Hi

[@mackflickerson6722]

So wait, they can drop to a three-person crew!? Three firefighters for 300+ square miles!? Insane. Best episode yet, Eric. I wasn't impressed at first but their challenges and dedication are legit.

[@406fish1]

That’s the normal for most departments across Montana, even in some places you will see 2 man crews that can do the job of 5 effectively

[@panzerfalcon550]

The largest city in my county, they only have 1 truck and they run 2 person crews on it

[@RomanWar731]

Engineer knows his truck very well. Great to see!

[@wesleymoore8413]

16:10 That is the smoothest I've ever seen someone open the backdoors, kick up the bumper, and grab what they need.

[@geminibear4985]

Most in-depth engineer tour of apparatus ever!

[@jeffpatch5]

Engineer kicked ass with that walkaround...

[@WorkingFirePIO]

1000%

[@Jordanbandy91]

Eric, great video! I am the producing Director for the McPherson Opera House a 488 seat historic theater built in 1888 located in central Kansas. I have no ties to the fire industry but have enjoyed watching your videos for the past few years. Thanks for taking the time to showcase the Tabor Opera House in your video!

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Thank you so much for watching! This was my first opera house tour and I learned a ton.

[@22LR.addict]

These guys definitely seem squared away! Kudos to them!

[@jimwattenburger4545]

The Engineer is extremely knowledgeable of his engine and a Great speaker ! Well done !

[@phwayne]

Tour of the opera house was a real treat. I’ve been past that building many times, and always wondered how it looked inside.

[@keeganrobinson3680]

Love seeing these videos on smaller/unique fire departments. It’s a lot more interesting to me than big city departments. A future video idea could be shadowing an airport fire department.

[@shawnfogle6096]

I’m from a small paid department in PA and we have over 200 Gamewell Street/Master Boxes still in operation. Absolutely love the smaller old school firehouses!

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Wow, 200!? That is impressive. There aren't any Gamewell boxes left on Colorado street corners that I'm aware of.

[@mooseriddle]

Love seeing how smaller departments interact with the community. Thanks for doing this!

[@cmcer1995]

Great review of Leadville's FD and personnel. A huge area to cover with some many different types of calls they have to respond too. I used to volunteer as a paid volunteer for the Colligate Peaks Rescue (CPR) down the hill in BV as an EMT in the early 1970's, now known as Chaffee County Emergency Medical Services (CCEMS) so I was quite familiar with Leadville and its history. Since Climax shutdown it almost became a ghost town after serving as the main wage earner for Chaffee and Leadville Counties. Glad to hear Leadville FD has made a lot of progress over the years with a very capable department offering professional emergency services.

[@panzer3964]

I’m glad I’m not the only one super impressed on the engineers walk around!

[@Screamblade_]

Wow this is- such a unique video. Thank you so very much as always for the insights from those in such a field

[@bunker108]

Well I know where I will be traveling to next summer!!! These guys look very fundamentally sound!

[@Roaring-Run-Homestead]

That was the best firetruck tour I've seen. That engineer was on point.

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Right!? He is dialed in.

[@edsmetaldetecting31]

That was some video!! A learning experience. The fire company all by themselves!!

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed watching it!

[@jaredspear8140]

Very cool station! Loving the channel. Always been interested in emergency services with a few family members currently serving or retired from Fire Services. Thanks for taking us along to meet the heroes of our nation!

[@jaymewilliams8944]

I was born & raised in Colorado. Been to Leadville a couple of times. Thank you for your videos

[@denflyr]

Great video! So many similar stories in the mountains of Colorado! Always look forward to your videos!

[@MKEPTV]

Comes to Pittsburgh . City of Pittsburgh is a great fire dept .Also don’t forget the volunteer fire departments as well. Another great video keep up the great work

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Thanks for your suggestions!

[@P-J-W-777]

To my fellow brothers in Leadville you have a beautiful and historic station. Your views are absolutely amazing as well. Stay safe out there!

[@thisisjspence]

Oh I like this Humbler circuit a lot. Consider that stolen for my shift workouts 😂

[@patspencer5649]

Very interesting Eric. You always bring a fresh look.

[@LakesRegionEmergencyPhoto]

Another great video! super unique stuff, and BEAUTIFUL views of the mountains. The 45min mutual aid is wild props to them for making it work!

[@nosauce3039]

this video was really interesting! Thanks for taking us on another ride-along eric! Any new content for the PIO channel coming out soon? I saw the HAZMAT response a few days ago near centennial airport.

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Glad you enjoyed the video! Yes, there will be some new SMFR content coming out in October. Thankfully the Hazmat was just an investigation call with no problems found.

[@Aa.Rr.2023]

Superbly made video.👏 Great hospitality from a great team in Leadville. Excellent to see them trimming off the seconds of their response times by practicing fundamentals, like slickly putting on their breathing apparatus, and details of hose management. I've watched plenty of exercises where performance would have been so much better if the firefighters were this skilled at basic techniques. Of course, it makes a difference when you know you are the one who's going to have to be on your game at each and every shout - no hiding place. Thank you all very much, and for taking time out to make these videos. Aa (in Cheshire, England).

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts!

[@ricco0911]

Great video, man those guys have a huge area to cover with such limited manpower. Their engine is outfitted very nicely for their needs!

[@travisarmstrong9395]

I love their training as group!

[@northtexasfireresponses]

Such amazing content you bring us! Amazing work! Stay safe!

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Thank you!

[@corycollier]

That view.... damn....

[@indianawxbuff3186]

Another great video Eric! That scenery was fantastic!!

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Thank you!

[@davetarr7257]

As a firefighter I would have videoed or have you Eric send video of this tour of the opera house for future referral of layout in the event a fire ever happens and structure search is performed.

[@bradgowins4812]

Thanks for another great video!

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Thank you!

[@77SunsetWest]

This was so enjoyable. Amazing views and best wishes to all the FF's.

[@bm7151]

Hey Eric! I know I'm asking quite a bit, and it would be a hike. But Hillsborough County Florida has a really great career fire department. I may be working at Station 42 in the future. Nevertheless, a ride along would be amazing to learn a little more about their 24/48 hr schedules. If you're looking for busy, Station 32 is the biggest and busiest. But again, if you do this, station 42 is my preference Just my wish, keep doing what you're doing man! Edit: Less units but station 13, 31, and 41 also seem like they're worth checking out. Again, I'm not necessarily expecting it, just would be cool. Cheers!

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Thanks for your suggestion!

[@ktar7189]

Thank you Eric for the awesome videos your friend in Springfield Missouri kyle

[@bfdmatt98]

Ain’t gonna lie. I just caught the FF at 20:15 sliding the Haligan into his SCBA straps and guess who is stealing that!

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Check out his Instagram page for more tips and tricks - @2milerescueco

[@joshuaboggs1058]

I would love to live there! I actually did my wildland fire training with some people from Leadville when we were training with the USFS out near Salida!

[@thomasconger9846]

Congratulations a job well done. I am sorry about the loss of your brothers just remember it’s all in God’s hands.

[@ryanstewart9666]

Cool video thanks for sharing

[@HeathBar181]

Wheres the Eric Hurst Merch?? My fire department runs a very similar setup to this. We have two stations with a minimum staffing of 4 for the department; Two at each station. One station cross-staffs an engine, Tower and Rescue while the other station cross-staffs an engine and brush truck. We cover a town of 25,000 as well as a major university that has 23,000 undergraduates. We are surrounded by volunteer departments which we rely on for mutual aid. Eric you should come do a ride a long with us to showcase our unique challenges.

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Oh man, I better get started on some sweet merch designs lol. Thanks for watching and sharing the details about your department. Send me an email and we can chat about a ride along... [e-mail]

[@HeathBar181]

@@WorkingFirePIO I saw the hoodie and wanted one! Thank you for the awesome videos. I’ll shoot you an email about the ride-along.

[@damokangaz]

really enjoyed this video, love the small community fire stations

[@ariessilva]

Love the content on the new channel

[@Mike25654]

It's so wild to me that they wouldn't count on volunteers even in such remote areas. Rather trying to work with 4 dudes for an hour.

[@johnnyenglish8289]

Great video, I think I’ll take a trip. Lovely scenery

[@CostaMesaMobileAutoGlassCA]

Impressive.

[@scottfeatherstone7156]

I agree, best episode! Great video, keep ‘‘em coming

[@Allison-ti5vv]

Leadville is only a few hours from me. Thanks for doing colorado twice from a denver metro resident

[@Dark_solider]

I used to live in co and one of my friends lives in Leadville

[@gregfurkin4667]

That engineer is 1st class.

[@user-vi7bw5pt7t]

Hey Eric, very good video. The old theater was so interesting to see and it is so unique. Thanks for your videos and all the travel. Do you know when there will be new PIO's for SMFR? You're doing a great job with SMFR as well. Thanks

[@Amills50]

I'd completely forgotten about the train call watching the Opera house tour

[@mikeweeks9799]

Keegan, awesome to see you are doing great out there buddy!! I stumbled across this video on my feed and had to check it out. Recognized the leather work on them helmets too bro, looks good. And that ass kicking workout yall did probably isn't as bad over here in Jacksonville Florida at near sea level. I got 2 more years at L34, good luck to ya. I got to show this I'd to your dad if he hasn't already seen it!

[@viratvishwanadhula4010]

never seen that trick used with the halligan at 20:00, very cool

[@tbuff91]

Lol, typical engineer enjoying his ice cream

[@ColoradoFireBuff]

Loving these videos! Nice work Eric

[@jsuperman7672]

Very Cool. Wooden Water Mains, still in operation, interesting.

[@joscythe556]

Four FFs to serve a population of 7'400? That seems insane to me. Granted I live in Switzerland where we have different procedures, but a town like mine with similar population (and a loooot less square miles) is covered by a volunteer department with 90 people. Granted volunteer and career departments are not the same thing, but I think four FFs is really not that much!

[@joshburger1216]

The four on duty would be the career staffing for one engine. If there were to be a large incident like a structure fire, crews would be called back in, and volunteers would respond as well. Having 4 full time staff just allows them to handle a lot of smaller calls like medical assists, automatic fire alarms, minor car wrecks, fuel spills, CO alarms, dumpster fires and smoke checks without having to use volunteers.

[@alexpaulson2024]

Does anyone know the song that Eric put when the firefighters did their workout? Love your content Eric! Keep it up man

[@reutzelfred]

Another awesome video

[@SittingWithDogs]

I’d love to go back in time & watch the 4 departments fighting it out while the city burned down lol

[@WorkingFirePIO]

That'll be the first stop on my Time Machine journey.

[@user-lh5tq9ik4k]

They can afford new Pumpers but not at least two more men on each shift. Next need to run nozzles to produce fog. Can fight fire better in my opinion . I had 33 years on..

[@mikefahey5590]

IM 10 So I CANT BE A FIREMAN YET BUT I LOVE YOUR VIDOS

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Only 8 more years to go! Thanks for watching.

[@JoelBulger]

great video

[@EmergencyGuy]

On Friday October 6, 2023, I took a heck of a fall and landed very hard after tripping over the rope that separates the football field from the track and likely knocked myself out of chiropractic alignment in many places while leaving myself slightly dazed. Thankfully, I never lost consciousness. I’m still feeling the effects of my fall.

[@raytinelljr2778]

That's a lot to know on a fire truck wow

[@LegalShield3000]

I stayed in Leadville once. I walked into my hotel and immediately smelled marijuana. Apparently, someone misinterpreted what "highest city" means.

[@ashleyhoward8926]

Retired UK Fireman here. With regard to your Honda extrication pump, if you left the throttle set on the rabbit, wouldn't the rescue be quicker at the end if the day?" ( just asking?)

[@MrLordwrecker]

Sounds like they are all struggling to breath after any exertion. Like walking up stairs.

[@kylehughes6324]

The air really must be thin everyone is out of breath lol

[@davekilby4515]

I really miss the Leadville lace Castle. What happened to the poor thing?

[@nate18268]

Who do they most commonly use for mutual aid? Buena Vista?

[@jauneilbrooksphotography8707]

Don’t know if they always respond that fast for a medical but that’s fast 😂😂 especially to get cancelled by a one hour ETA MEDICAL

[@georgecox9937]

Props to these guys for what they work with but I would have thought that the town would want to make use of volunteers in combination with paid staff?

[@carterczapiewski7691]

Eric, is this department a combination paid on call and career ? Like if they get a big fire they do an all call for additional help ? That’s common around me anyways for departments like this.

[@WorkingFirePIO]

This is a primarily paid fire department with resident firefighters who live in apartments at a second fire station rent free, and in return they work shifts at Station 1. If there's a major incident they'll do an all-call for off-duty personnel to report for duty in addition to calling for mutual aid resources.

[@Playsfor1]

How does sea level affect fires?

[@firemedic6509]

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5936960/

[@WorkingFirePIO]

The oxygen level drops to between 14% - 15% at the high elevations in Lake County compared to that at sea level (20.9%). Fires need between 15% - 16% oxygen to freely burn, so fire is minimally affected at this elevation. Anecdotally, structure fires seem to burn the same, but wildland fires tend to be more subdued unless low humidity, gusty winds and terrain all align.

[@pauljohnston3510]

What kind of rescue tools are they using?

[@randybaker9265]

The opera house is awesome for sure . A fire fighters nightmare for sure . 5 fire fighters and no one has a edc flashlight shame on you guys .

[@REDLIVESGAMING]

@Eric Hurst Are you still with South Metro and will we see more videos for South Metro?

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Yes, I am still with South Metro and we have a couple video shoots scheduled for the SMFR channel.

[@CheckeredFlagPodcast]

Eric, when you contact these departments, are you doing so as an individual or fellow PIO? I ask as while I’m not active anymore in the fire service, I’m very much into film photography and preserving old stations and vehicles in photographs before construction or replacement. I’d love to pitch a similar idea to them, with a still photography aspect, but I’m not too sure how to go about it as a now-lay-person. Thoughts?

[@WorkingFirePIO]

I'm often invited or I pitch the idea as a public safety journalist with PIO experience. There are many fire apparatus photographers who travel the country and shoot firehouses and rigs. Fire Apparatus Journal is a long running publication that features a lot of great work. I used to photograph apparatus often for 5280Fire.com and just emailed the hosting PIO to set up photoshoots. Other folks just ring the doorbell and hope the crew is there with time to pull the vehicles out into the sun.

[@daviemccallum7759]

Are they doing up the building very nice building if they are.

[@johnlebzelter4208]

@daciemccallum7759 Re/type your comment please. It makes NO SENSE.

[@Zoolife22]

What is their work schedule and total staffing on dept

[@WorkingFirePIO]

They work a 48/96 schedule. I'm not sure what the total staff number is, but it includes 4 personnel per shift and some command / admin staff.

[@anthonywyma6232]

Gtfoh how did I miss this I live blocks from the fire house and may or may not be in public service

[@matthew81158]

Hey Eric, do you still work for South Metro as a PIO

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Yep, I sure do!

[@TB35754]

Eric, love the channel I sent you an email I’m at a department in Colorado i’d love to do a show and tell with me. Tyler Brown

[@WorkingFirePIO]

Thanks Tyler, I will follow up with you!

[@EricWhiteTheGamer]

What are the different types of aerial trucks?

[@cameronmoore5135]

What song is playing at 17:45????

[@WorkingFirePIO]

"Its going down" by Nite Owl

[@jamesandrasi3304]

Get rid of the music my god I counted 102 it’s going downs

[@jeffpatch5]

ANd they are doing that PT at 11k!

[@gaigenacke]

i live in ililons

[@tvb3265]

5:26 ONE PIECE?!??!?!?!

[@Straw_Hat_Holmstrom]

Luffy is the kind of Captain I aspire to be so I figured it was fitting.

[@tvb3265]

@@Straw_Hat_Holmstrom is that you’res?

[@Straw_Hat_Holmstrom]

It is! I've had it up for almost 3 years and you're one of the first people to comment on it

[@tvb3265]

@@Straw_Hat_Holmstrom that’s really awesome man, Thank you for seri

[@Straw_Hat_Holmstrom]

@@tvb3265 thanks man and we appreciate your support!

[@donkey-xd9fh]

glad to see Eric focusing on himself instead of south gay fire rescue

[@johnlebzelter4208]

@donkey-xd9fh Look who the jack ass is taking a photo of himself facing a mirror.