Fireman's Convention coming to Milan

By Mike Marino
Cibola County Bureau

MILAN — The Milan Volunteer Fire Department will host this year's Tri-State Fireman's Convention Thursday through Saturday, Aug. 2-4. The event has been a staple in the fire fighting community for 69 years and includes fire department teams from New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. It's designed for training and educational purposes but there is some good old -fashioned competition involved too.

The convention is a distinction for the community and will draw firefighters and their families to the area for the three-day event, which is good for the economy of the community.

"We'll start off on Thursday with greeting the attendees and then on Friday and Saturday we'll have our morning training sessions that will be closed to the public," said Milan Fire Chief Keith Austin. "We'll wrap our training sessions up at noon on both days and break for lunch then we'll start the public competitions at 1 p.m. The Milan department won't be competing as we will be handling the judging aspects of the events.

The exact figures of attendees is not certain yet but in an earlier statement to the Lodgers Tax Board, Jimmy James, the associate chief of the fire department estimated attendance to be around 300 or more for this year's event.

"We've heard from 13 of 22 fire associations that have responded and said they would be attending this year and they will be staying in motels here in Milan and also in Grants. This year we'll have fire training at the Milan fire station and various competitions. The competitions will be great for the family to attend and watch," Austin said.

Grants Fire Chief, Elliot Knighton is looking forward to the competitive events.

"We have trophies for the department that date back to the'50s and we hope to win a few more this year," he said. "The big event is the six-man competition that involves hooking up a 2 1/2 inch or 3 inch hose to a hydrant. Then you add a hose to that and at the end of it is a gated Y joint that two more hoses are hooked up too and you go from there." As in any competition or sport there are top contenders and teams to watch. "There is a team from Colorado we have our eyes on and they are definitely the team to be on guard against," Knighton said.

The Grants team will have the majority of their department on the full roster but the team captain will be in charge of actually picking the individuals to send in.

The morning activities will be department-oriented but the outdoor competition and events are strictly geared for the family to come out, have fun and cheer on the teams. "We always have a lot of fun at these events and the families like to get out and enjoy it too. We don't have the full schedule of competitions yet but will by early next week."