Colorado River Fire Rescue is a combination fire protection district utilizing Volunteer, Part-Time and Full-Time staffing.  The Fire District maintains six stations:  three staffed stations, one station staffed, through an ongoing partnership by Interagency Firefighters, and two non-staffed stations.  

Station 43 (South Rifle) Closure

Please click here for information about Station 43 (South Rifle) Closure

In 2019, CRFR serviced 2,736 calls.  This was a decrease of 10.8% from the previous year, but an increase of 10.3% from 2017.  1,733 of those calls were medical and inter-facility transport calls, 127 were fires, 102 Hazardous Materials, and 774 were other types, such as good-intent calls, false alarms, and special hazards.  The primary cause for the 10.8% decrease from 2018 was due to CRFR realigning services to our Mission Statement and reducing the number of long-distance inter-facility transports (non-emergency type calls) which took crews out of district for prolonged periods of time.   

In 2012, Burning Mountains Fire Protection District (New Castle, Silt) and Rifle Fire Protection District (Rifle) began the process of merging in order to provide better services to all three communities. This process resulted in the creation of Colorado River Fire Rescue (CRFR). CRFR provides all-hazards service, including structure and wildland fire protection, emergency medical services, hazardous materials, and rescue response for the Town of New Castle, the Town of Silt, the City of Rifle and surrounding areas with a total response area of approximately 851 square miles.  

Over the last two years, CRFR has gone through some big transitions.; we adopted our first ever Strategic Plan, created new job descriptions for our personnel, developed a promotional process, and implemented a competitive compensation policy.  Not all of our transitions have been easy though, with some bordering on alarming.  A failed mill levy attempt in May of 2020 resulted in CRFR unable to fill six vacant Firefighter/EMT positions, forced the closure of a station in Rifle, and reduced seven administrative job functions into four positions. However, throughout it all, our crews have remained resilient and steadfast in their commitments to public safety. 

Despite the challenges of last year, our leadership team continues to focus on doing what is right for our organization and the communities we serve. CRFR is committed to being an engaged, professional, and high-achieving organization.  Our people are our greatest asset, and as such, CRFR personnel have been and will continue to provide excellent service to our district citizens.  

Respectfully, Leif Sackett - Fire Chief