The Fire Chief’s Blog

Recently in Eden Prairie we had two fire fighters retire each with 32 years of service, a remarkable accomplishment. Not only were their years of service impressive, but more importantly the way they served, always at the highest and most positive level.

Well the Hopkins Fire Department in Hopkins Minnesota is experiencing the same event. Three outstanding fire fighters just retired after a combined 80 years of service. Don Beckering (left), out going Fire Chief served for 30 years, George Magdahl (right) outgoing Fire Marshal served for 27 years and Assistant Chief Dave Klocek ( middle) served for over 23 years. Hopkins Fire has benefited from these three individuals outstanding and selfless service for many years. Despite the fact that all three are leaving at the same time, they leave behind an outstanding legacy and had the foresight to groom their replacements. The excellence in Hopkins will continue without interruption for many years to come.

I know I speak for all Eden Prairie fire fighters when I say that we truly appreciate all that these three fine people have done for the fire service in Hopkins as well as around the state. Hopkins Fire is often our first call for assistance when we get a large scale emergency working in our city. At the state level, all three have been instrumental in raising the bar for how fire departments train and operate on the fire ground.

Thank you, Don, George and Dave for careers performed at the highest levels! You three will be missed, but never forgotten.

From left to right: Me, Steve Koering, Rick Hammerschmidt, Tom Schmitz and Scott Taylor.

We want to wish everybody a safe and enjoyable Holiday Season!

There are many ways that our Police Chief serves the community. Today Police Chief Dan Carlson served his fellow employees by dishing out entrees at the employee holiday lunch.

Dan was described recently as “Burly” on a website that tracked a “blogging” symposium we both attended in Northfield, MN this Summer. I would add fashionable to the description after seeing this picture taken at today’s lunch.

Way to go Dan! You truly do live to serve!

Fire fighters Jolin Tyler (left) & Jay Bohlen (right)
One of our Engines decked out for this Bell Ringing event

It is a tradition at the Eden Prairie Fire Department to support the Salvation Army, as they provide countless hours of support to us each year. This year our assigned “Bell Ringing” post was outside of Jerry’s on the East side of Eden Prairie.

We always get a good turnout of fire fighters for this event, even in cold weather it is an enjoyable way to spend some time during the holidays. It always amazes me how generous people are towards this cause. Especially gratifying is how many younger citizens stop by and donate. I am not just talking about little kids that are given some change by their parents as they approach, but young adults (teenagers no less) that reach into their wallets and take out their own hard earned money and put some of it into the kettles.

There are too many fire fighters that spend time on the bell ringing event to name them all, but certainly Jolin Tyler and Jay Bohlen get kudos for getting things ready early for the rest of us. Included in their efforts was the decorating process on one of our trucks, it was a nice holiday touch.

Thank you to all the fire fighters that were able to make it to this event and thank you to all of our citizens for their donations to the Salvation Army. If you would like to donate to the Salvation Army either in your own name or on behalf of someone else you can do so by going to the Salvation Army website.

John Hobbs (right) and Chuck Schaitberger were both recognized for their 32 years of service as volunteer fire fighters here in Eden Prairie. Both of these fine people joined while still in High School. John joined first and then got his good friend Chuck interested and Chuck then joined about a month later. Those events took place back in 1973! At the time these two joined the Fire Department was only 6 years old, and the city was nothing like the developed city we live in now.

Often when the call to service came in the two were in class. The head custodian, Ray Mitchell, was also the Fire Chief. Chuck and John would jump into Ray’s pick-up truck and head off to the fire!

Through thick and thin these two have remained close friends as well as dedicated and selfless fire fighters.

When I first joined the department these two were both at the station I responded to for calls. Chuck was my Lieutenant and John was already one of the informal leaders at the station and within the entire department. What a pair. Both taught me and other new fire fighters so many lessons, both about fighting fires and about the history of the department and the city.

The city and department will be forever indebted to these two for their selfless service and positive influence on the last 32 years of new fire fighters. Their legacy will last forever.

Thank you both for a job incredibly well done!

This past week, Mark Vandenberghe (Technical Operations person) and I attended a symposium sponsored by Microsoft and the(IAFC) International Association of Fire Chiefs in Redmond, WA.

The purpose of the meeting was to be exposed to the latest developments in technology that are being directed towards first responders, in particular the fire service. Microsoft is committed to assisting first responders in making our jobs safer and more productive. Having Microsoft involved in supporting product development is a huge step forward in terms of driving technology development that is focused on the unique needs of the first responder community.

During the two day meeting I was exposed to a lot of new ideas and emerging products that will change the way we are able to process information at emergency scenes. Of particular note are products that will assist the “Command and Control” functions. The early minutes at an emergency scene are often very chaotic. With some of the new products I saw, this chaos factor can be greatly reduced and educated guessing can be minimized to a large extent.

Even more impressive to me, though, was the unique position that our police, fire and public works leaders enjoy. In Eden Prairie we have always been committed to working together. Surprisingly this is not always the case in other jurisdictions. None of the product developments are effective if the people running the show from the three disciplines aren’t on the same page. Eden Prairie is well positioned to take advantage of the new developments because we do work well together, the new technologies will only help to make those relationships more effective when dealing with emergencies of all types.

This is the kind of call that conjures up all sorts of bad scenarios. In this case the driver got out without incident and the role of the Fire Department was to help get the car hooked up to the tow truck. Basically a good training exercise for our fire fighters to get the cold water rescue suits on and get into some icy water! No really it is fun…..

Our towing service is Matt’s Auto. Matt, the owner is in the foreground of the second photo and is a one of a kind guy. Matt is always there and an integral part of the public safety team.