The Fire Chief’s Blog

Awhile back Edina fire responded to a house fire. It was a large fire and the house was almost completely destroyed, luckily the homeowner was able to barely escape the smoke and flames and was not seriously hurt. The cause has been under investigation for awhile and now the cause has been determined and it is very unusual, at least from my perspective.

The cause has been ruled the result of potting soil in a planter on the deck of the home. Decomposing material in the planter resulted in the generation of heat which eventually ignited the potting material and started the fire. The complete details of the investigation can be found at this link, a report on WCCO TV about the incident. I have seen a lot in my 21 years in the fire service but this is a new cause and another thing to think about in terms of the potential cause of fires.

Edina’s Fire Marshal, Captain Tom Jenson is highly regarded in his profession and gets a lot of credit for sticking with this unique case and getting to the bottom of the cause.

Retired Eden Prairie Firefighter, Mike Laden travels the globe for his business, Trade Innovations. When he is out and about he sends me pictures of things fire related. Below are pictures of the Berlin Fire Department’s fire prevention vehicle in action. although we are half a world away, their messages relating to fire prevention appear to be very similar to those being promoted in the United States.

Thank you for the pictures, Mike.

Last Thursday evening, around 6:30pm, we had some visitors stop by our Fire Station # 2. Mark & Kirsten Miller, along with their children Sienna, Analese and Kelly dropped off some pictures and a gift card from Costco.

Two years ago this past Labor Day weekend the Millers were out of town when their home on Oxbow Drive was struck by lightning and started on fire. The fire was confined to the bedroom and was quickly extinguished by fire crews. The Millers have since recovered from their loss and are again living in the home. They wanted to pass on their thanks to all of the firefighters that responded that evening and to everyone on the department for all that we do.

While it has been two years since their tragic event, they have been trying to find a way to say thank you. Attached is a copy of the pictures that the children made for us (They are proudly displayed on the board at Station # 2). We will use the gift card from Costco to purchase something for the department on behalf of the entire Miller family.

Thank you to the Miller family for your support of the Eden Prairie Fire Department, and know that you are welcome at the Fire station any time!

Recently a reader of this blog asked me to take some time and review or comment on unique emergency situations the fire department is called to. Well that reader only contacted me a week or so ago and sure enough a rather unique call come in this past Tuesday evening.

The call came in as a fire on the face of the clock that adorns one of our city water towers….Unique indeed, although in Eden Prairie we have had at least two other fire calls involving this very same water tower, so that could characterized as unique as well.

As you can see by the photos, this was not much of a fire in terms of it’s size, although the damage to the clock was significant. It appears that the neon lights shorted out and caught the plastic face of the clock on fire. Once the electrical supply was shut down to the clock face, the fire went out by itself. Sometimes I get asked what I like most about my career in the fire service and my response is always the same, getting to work with a group of dedicated people and also the great variety that comes along with responding to calls. Truly, there is never a “routine” call and never a dull moment,