At The Blue Cell Group we pride ourselves on providing great instruction from instructors who are experienced and respected by their peers. We are proud to announce, on August 21, 2021, one of our own instructors, Russ Wenke was inducted into the Wyoming Firefighter’s Hall of Fame.

Russ started his career in 1977 as a volunteer where he quickly rose through the ranks where he became chief in 1984. In 1989 he took on a new role, in a new location, as a Fire Marshall, leading the Park County Fire District #2 in a number of different capacities until his retirement in 2016. Along with those duties he also worked as the Park County Fire Warden from 1991 to 2019.

Throughout his illustrious career in the fire service, Russ obtained a large number of certifications and qualifications including Type III Incident Commander, Type II Safety Officer, Structural Protection Specialist, and many more. Along with those, he also completed a Fire Science Degree from Casper College, the Executive Fire Officer program through the National Fire Academy, and became the first officer in Wyoming to be designated a Chief Fire Officer by the Commission on Fire Service Accreditation International.

Over the years, he also gave back much of his free time to further the fire service of Wyoming. He served as President of the Wyoming Fire Chiefs Association, Secretary of the Wyoming Fire Service Legislative Committee, Secretary and Treasurer of the Wyoming State Forestry Advisory Board, served on the Governor's Commission on Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety, and spent many winters in the State Capitol as a volunteer lobbyist at the state legislature. 

You will still see Russ on a large number of wildland fires each year, and in his off time he teaches courses for The Blue Cell, LLC. His passion for passing information along to the next generation of responders is second to none. We are lucky to have someone as experienced and qualified as Russ, his expertise is imparted onto students all throughout the region through many courses each year. If you see Russ at a course in the future, please join us in congratulating him for this prestigious accomplishment. 

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Collin Baldacci a Firefighter/EMT/HT with Evansville Fire & EMS in Central Wyoming. he has worked in a variety of different Emergency Management and Response roles since 2014. Collin is a Liaison Officer on a local IMT, a team lead for SAR, and serves on a variety of different boards around the region. Emergency Managers, FEMA, G-FEMA,, L-Courses, FEMA Training, Firefighters, Firefighter Training, G191 Courses, G2300 Courses, ICS300, ICS400, Online ICS400, Online ICS300, Virtual ICS300, Virtual ICS400, Online G2300, Online G191, Self Paced LMS, Virtual G191, Virtual G2300, Emergency and Disaster Management Training, Wildland firefighters , Law Enforcement, Governmental Agencies, position specific, 900 series, AHIMTA, incident commander, PIO, public information officer, safety officer, liaison officer, operations section chief, planning section chief, logistic section chief, finance section chief, ICS, Incident Command System, NIMS , National Incident Management System, Fire, EMS, Hospital, Sheriff, Police, Public Health, Public Works, HICS, DOT, Agriculture, EMA, certificate, qualification, taskbook, NIMS training, NIMS certification, FEMA training, FEMA certification, ICS training, ICS certification, ICS300 certification, ICS400 certification