by Robin Tarnowetzki
Journal Staff Writer
There are two things that deputy fire chief Darrell Wickenhauser wished that the public knew about fighting fires: when an emergency vehicle is rushing to a scene, the proper protocol is to get into a different lane, and that fighting fire requires a lot of training.
"There are a lot of times that they don't see how much training we need, how much education we take in all our firefighters to get to the level they are; to be knowledgeable about how to control fires and accident scenes."
The Humboldt Fire Department has 24 volunteer firefighters and two full-time firefighters - Wickenhauser and fire chief Mike Kwasnica. The volunteers attend fire practice and are on-call to respond to emergencies. Wickenhauser and Kwasnica are responsible for building inspections, upkeep of equipment, city-wide inspections, and sometimes training with home fire alarms. In addition, they have a public education program and give talks in schools mostly in October, which is fire prevention month.
"I enjoy the public and I really like helping people, and the involvement with the community and other emergency services," he said. "It makes me feel good about helping the city of Humboldt."
To become a firefighter, interested parties fill out an application found online. Then if they are deemed acceptable, they attend firefighter practice to see if the prospective firefighter is adequate. If accepted, the new firefighter is on probation for six months before they became a full firefighter. It takes about two years to get all the training needed to be a firefighter, including training for Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) and fire behaviour training.
The fire department has a ladder truck (which contains a 78 foot ladder), a rural pumper, rural tanker, and rural rescue truck.
"Humboldt is very fortunate to have a very good fleet of fire trucks," he said.
The Humboldt Fire Department also responds to other types of emergencies and all members have to have first-aid training. To help in other types of emergencies, the fire department has two sets of jaws of life and basic medical equipment. If the EMS is flooded with too many calls, the fire department will step up and respond. The EMS staff will sometimes attend fire practice as well.
"Very regularly the ambulance service will attend our practices if they're not busy that night," Wickenhauser said. "Especially if we're doing any kind of extrication out of a motor vehicle and stuff to that end, the emergency side."
The fire department doesn't give advanced medical attention; their role is to stabilize the patient until an ambulance can arrive.
The fire department receives in the vicinity of 180 calls a year, and the area they cover is north to Pilger, over to Bruno, south to Burr, and then to St. Gregor. The rescue boundary is slightly larger than that. Members of the Humboldt Fire Department must be from Humboldt, however.
In over 20 years working with fire departments, Wickenhauser is able to give some tips on how to avoid fires.
"Kitchens are probably one of the highest spots that we have in our home that start a fire," he said. "Never leave a stove unattended, know how to control a fire, be able to cover the lid, be able to shut the burner off. For electrical fires, don't overload circuits, don't use poor quality extension cords."
And with all these duties, Wickenhauser hasn't lost sight of what he loves about being a firefighter:
"I enjoy the public and I really like helping people and the involvement with the community and other emergency services," he said. "It makes me feel good about helping the city of Humboldt."
