FORT PIERRE - By final count Saturday evening, more than 850 people had come through the doors at Parkview gymnasium in Fort Pierre to register to participate in State Fire School in some capacity.
The number includes more than 600 firefighters actually enrolled in classes, instructors for those classes, Firefighters Association state board members, vendors, 125 auxiliary members and more, but it does not include 200-some odd volunteers who helped serve meals, clean up recreation areas and make sure all needed supplies were available. Also left out of that number are wives, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends and children of all of those visitors
Lodging facilities and restaurants throughout Fort Pierre and Pierre were busy all weekend, despite the several meals provided to fire school participants by the Fort Pierre Volunteer Fire Department.
The department hosted a social event Thursday evening at the Stanley County Fairgrounds, which included a barbecue pork feed and a dance. The South Dakota Beef Industry Council donated steak to feed the firefighters and their guests during a picnic Friday in Fischers-Lilly Park, and Premier Pyrotechnics, Inc., put on a fireworks display. Another picnic was held Saturday at the Expo Center before the closing ceremony.
Many visitors even stayed in town through Sunday afternoon, even though the fire school closing ceremony was held early in the evening on Saturday.
Dennis Gorton, president of the South Dakota Firefighters Association, said during the closing ceremony that the Fort Pierre Fire Department did "a whale of a job" coordinating and hosting the annual event.
"I want to thank the community and the people here," Gorton said. "We appreciate what they've done, and they made us feel pretty darn welcome."
Also at the closing ceremony, many door prize and raffle drawings were held and the winners of Thursday's evolution competitions and the parade entries were announced.
Beating their closest competition by only 1.68 seconds, the Fort Pierre Fire Department three-man team won its division to bring home the championship trophy for the 10th time since Fort Pierre's first championship in 1968.
The Fort Pierre team won two of the four races, and a team from Beresford won the other two. The men also competed against Yankton.
The women's auxiliary team placed third in the evolutions, winning one out of their three races. But the women won a traveling award for their efforts as well.
The overall auxiliary evolution winner was Yankton. Teams from Brandon and Beresford also competed.
A Madison team won the five-man evolution competition, and the Madison department also took home the trophy for parade participation, which is based on the percentage of the departments' members who are marching in the parade.
Fort Pierre Fire Chief Joe Meligan and Assistant Chief Rick Cronin both said they are pleased with the turnout at State Fire School and the effort made by their members coordinating and hosting the event.
