Former city fire chief dies

Glenn Hill, a former fire chief credited with bringing the Green River Fire Department up to date passed away last week at the age of 83.

“He evolved the fire department into what it is today,” current GRFD fire chief Mike Nomis said.

Hill started serving with the volunteer fire department in 1949 while still in high school. According to his 2010 Green River High School Hall of Fame induction biography, he was immediately excused from class when the fire whistle blew and allowed to fight fires. Graduating in 1951, Hill served in the U.S. Air Force until 1956, when he returned to Green River and its volunteer fire department. In 1965, Hill became the town’s fire chief.

The job was part time, which he fulfilled while working as president of First National Bank. In 1985, the city made the department’s fire chief and emergency management director position full time and Hill continued heading up the department until his retirement in 1995.

Nomis worked under Hill for five years, saying he could always tell if the department was fighting a “good fire” depending on how Hill sounded on the radio when issuing orders to the firefighters.

Nomis said he also didn’t shy away from letting someone know when they made a mistake.

“He was a great fire chief and a great leader,” Nomis said. “He did a lot of great things, not just for the fire department, but for the community.”

During his time as fire chief, he coordinated a successful city-wide effort to lower the city’s Insurance Service Office fire rating in 1984. This resulted in lower insurance rates for Green River’s residents. He also represented Wyoming as a member of the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the Missouri Valley Fire Chiefs Division from 1991-1993. He was the first president from Wyoming to serve the MVFCA, as well as the first person in 50 years to be elected to two terms.

In 2002, the city recognized Hill’s service by naming the fire department’s headquarters on Shoshone Drive in his honor.

Outside of the fire department, Hill was a founding member of the “Hole in the Wall Gang” ambassadors for the Green River Chamber of Commerce. He also served for 14 years as a member of the Sweetwater County School District No. 2 Board of Trustees, 10 of those years being the board’s chairman. In 1973, Hill served on the Nomination and Resolution Committee for the Wyoming School Board Association.

Outside of education, he was appointed by former Gov. Mike Sullivan to be a member of the State Investment Fund Committee in 1990 and appointed to the Wyoming Community Development Committee by former Gov. Jim Geringer in 1996.

To honor Hill’s memory, Nomis said the fire department drove Engine 22, the last fire truck the department purchased under Hill, in the Flaming Gorge Days Parade Saturday.