“We were figuratively tapped on the shoulder, and I think we rose to the occasion as what I see as one of our finest hours collectively as an organization," Capt. Ben Andersen said.
The department announced in a Facebook post Wednesday morning that the Colorado Fire Training Officers Association had named Klaas the 2023 Larry Ketelhut Instructor of the Year Tuesday; the department added in its post that Assistant Chief Time Smith had nominated Klaas with endorsements from fire chiefs across Northern Colorado and the Front Range Fire Consortium Board of Directors.