Pillager Area Fire & Rescue

Pillager Area Fire and Rescue Officers:

Chief Greg Ringler
Asst.Chief Thomas Cremers 
Lieutenant Jay Personius
Lieutenant Jason Eastman
Captain Trent Hawkinson
Captain Chris Kappler    

Being a volunteer firefighter takes commitment and courage

When you speak to somebody that has been affected by an emergency to which Pillager Area Fire and Rescue has responded, it is not easy to put a dollar amount on the service provided. As a society we often are trying to quantify services by assigning a dollar value. The problem is, when it is your emergency that the department is responding to, the value of the service provided suddenly increases and dollar signs tend to lose their meaning.

This past year Pillager Area Fire and Rescue put forth more than 5,000 personnel hours towards responding to calls, training, and community events. This does not include administrative hours that were put into the organization of the department's training, A 2007 study by Independentsector.org assigns a value of $20.25 per volunteer hour. This translates into over $101,000.00 of services provided to the area free of cost. This makes a nice argument that could be used to validate expenditures in running a fire department, but not in this case.

The reality is the residents of the Pillager area are fortunate to have individuals who serve as volunteer firefighters and medical first responders. When an emergency arises, it is a small group of dedicated individuals who respond. Regardless of how many emergency calls there are, these individuals consistently train to keep their skills sharp. This is truly the best demonstration of the commitment of a volunteer responder. To spend countless hours training for an event that may or may not happen while they are around, is a testatment of the dedication these individuals have for our community. Attempting to simplify this by assigning a dollar value will lead to a misunderstanding of the real value.

The emergency service is only as strong as the ability of the volunteers to respond. This is a factor that sets volunteer emergency personnel apart from other organizations. Imagine that you serve for an organization, but the time that you will be needed to serve is unknown. Members must wear a pager that will notify them and they must be ready to take appropriate actions within minutes. No matter the time of the day, in a deep sleep, child's birthday party, or a holiday dinner and still be expected to respond. This might give a glimpse of what it is like to wear a pager for an emergency service.

The impact on providing a volunteer service goes far beyond the individual. To be an effective volunteer, the member needs to have an extremely supportive and understanding family. Family members are always impacted when the responder leaves for an emergency call. Someone is always left to keep the family going and this can be a very difficult position. Employers are also impacted when supporting a volunteer responder. The Pillager area is fortunate to have many great employers who recognize the value of releasing a vounteer from work to respond to an emergency. Some of our responders are self-employed, so when they respond they know that they are effectively closing their business while on a call. Great sacrifices are made by all to provide emergency services. The impact of an emergency is huge and has a ripple effect on many people beyond the actual responder.

At this point, the thought of joining a volunteer emergency service might not sound very appealing. Before it is discounted as something that "someone else should do," look at the benefits. When the pager does go off due to an emergency, somebody is having a bad day and you have the oppportunity to try to make it better. The person requesting the assistance doesn't have a choice as to who will come to their aid. They dialed 911 and will get the local emergency responders. This is a huge responsibility and with it can come great rewards. To leave this responsibility for "someone else" to do of course is the easiest option, but this would leave us without a functional timely response to an emergency. It is this service above self that drives most volunteers, and this is pretty hard to place a dollar vlaue on.

The Pillager area is fortunate to have emergency volunteers who work together with the common goal of providing the best service possible with the resources available. The most important resource available to this organization is the dedicated vounteers who not only respond to the emergency calls, but continually train and train for the wide variety of events.

Pillager Aea Fire and Rescue is always seeking individuals who are interested in serving on the volunteer fire department. Interviews and testing take place in May and October for hiring in June and January. There are a few objective requirements to be on the fire department such as being at least 18 years old and residing or working daytime within eight minutes from one of the fire halls and more. However, the subjective requirements are ones the applicant needs to assess such as family support, employer support, and personal commitment. The latter is much more difficult to assess, but with good communication it will become apparent if the fire department is a viable option for you.

Being a volunteer firefighter is not for everyone, those who are willing to serve in this capacity should be commended. If you are interested in serving as a volunteer firefighter for Pillager Fire and Rescue please contact Fire Chief Greg Ringler at 218-746-4577 or pillagerareafire@scicable.com.

The townships of Sylvan, Fairview, Homebrook, Rosing, the east half of May, and the City of Pillager are the governmental units that own the fire department under a joint powers agreement. The Association Board is comprised of one representative from each township and the city. The group meets monthly to take care of the months' business and bills. The Association has two stations: Station #1 is in Pillager and Station #2 is on the west side of Gull Lake in Fairview Township.

The Pillager Fire & Rescue also supplies fire coverage for the city of East Gull Lake on a contract basis, but they are not members of the Association.

Pillager Area Fire and Rescue (PAFR) is the firefighting or "hands on" part of the Association. At this time there are 22 firefighters on the team. The firefighters are required to make at least 40 hours of in-house training and 25% of the runs per year. All firefighters are also required to be medical First Responder and Firefighter I with Haz Mat Ops certified within 2 years of joining the team. Most all have gone on to be Firefighter II certified.

PAFR members serve on a volunteer basis and members are paid for runs they respond to. Retired Fire Chief Randy Lee used to say "I do not think of the team from Pillager Area Fire and Rescue as just volunteers. I think of them as Professional Firefighters that volunteer." Firefighters do receive a lump sum retirement for each year of service after 20 years of service.

The PAFR , as most fire departments now, do a lot more than just fight fires. Their responsibilities include responding to fight fires, medicals, vehicle accidents, ice and water rescues, searches, Haz Mat, C.O. alarms and many other calls. As the saying goes, if no one else can or will do it, "Call the Fire Department".

Furthermore, the fires of today are not like they used to be. A fire in a new furnished home can be 3 times hotter and grow 6 times faster than it would have in a new furnished home 20 years ago.  Today's home is like a building full of cans of solid gas. Also, today's rafters and floor trusses can collapse within as little as 6 minutes of flame impingement. Twenty years ago, with the solid floor joists and nailed together rafters, it would have taken 20 minutes or more to get to the same point. The cheapest life insurance you can buy is one or more working smoke alarms on each level of your home. 

All residents should take a good look at their driveways for emergency vehicle access. There should be at least 13 feet of height and 20 feet of width cleared of trees, branches, wires and snow banks. The firefighters must be able to get two or more trucks into the driveway and then to be able to work and move all the way around them.