Albany County Fire District 1 sets June budget hearing and board meeting

How many volunteers, engines and dollars will be in place for the miles outside Laramie city limits? Albany County Fire District 1 will put that question in front of the public this month, with a budget hearing set for June 10 and a regular board meeting scheduled for June 17.

The district’s 2026 meeting schedule also shows an executive session on June 3 at 8 a.m. at 501 E. Garfield St. in Laramie for legal advice. The June 17 board meeting will begin at 3:30 p.m. with another executive session at the same Garfield Street address, then recess at 5:30 p.m. for the public portion at Central South, 4925 Fort Sanders Rd. in Laramie. The split format underscores how district business moves between downtown offices and the fire service side of the county.

That matters for residents in Big Laramie, Centennial, Central, Tie Siding, Vedauwoo and WyCo, the six volunteer departments the district lists on its website. The county’s fire district page names Matt Burkhart as chair, Jon Essley as secretary and James Jackson as treasurer, with their terms running through 2026 and 2028. Their budget choices will shape the staffing, training and equipment that volunteer crews need to reach everything from rural homes to remote terrain.

Centennial Valley Volunteer Fire Department, one of the district’s most visible rural units, says it has about 12 volunteer members and serves western Albany County with mutual aid across the county. The City of Laramie Fire Department also says it responds in Albany County Fire District 1 under an operational agreement with volunteer departments, which ties city resources to rural coverage when calls stretch beyond the edge of Laramie.

Budget pressure has shown up before in district planning. Earlier county budget documents for Albany County Fire District 1 said customer charges were added to help cover consumables and personal protective equipment used on motor vehicle accident responses. The district’s administrative pages also include firefighter qualification guides, reimbursement forms and an annual fire pay intent statement, all signs that June’s hearing could touch not just apparatus and fuel, but the support system that keeps volunteers on the roster.

The district’s resources page links to the 2022 Albany County Annual Operating Plan and Wyoming cooperative wildland fire-management agreements, a reminder that Fire District 1 is budgeting for more than structure fires. With wildfire risk, backcountry rescues and traffic crashes all part of the same response system, the June schedule will show how Albany County plans to hold that network together before the next fiscal year takes shape.