Press releases

Edina Fire Department welcomes new paid-on-call firefighters

Edina, Minn., Oct. 8, 2009 – The Edina Fire Department recently welcomed four new firefighters to their volunteer paid-on-call (POC) group.

Edina’s new POC or “volunteer” firefighters are Dan Diepenbrock, a paramedic for North Memorial Medical Center; Doug McLeod, an IT consultant for Genesis10; Adam Petrella, a Marketing Program Manager for U.S. Bank; and Peter Knaeble, a high school special education teacher at Cooper High School in Robbinsdale.

In addition to their day jobs, POCs are required to come together three times a month for three-hour training sessions and be on call 24/7. To maintain their status as volunteers, each member must respond to general alarms and group pages and take part in 20 hours of shift work over a six-month period.

“Serving as a volunteer firefighter is a challenging and rewarding way to give back to the community,” said Edina Fire Chief Marty Scheerer. “The training is rigorous, but at the end of the day, I think all of our volunteers will tell you it’s worth it.”

Edina operates a full-time firefighting and emergency medical service, but also employs a 16-person POC group to help ensure that all shifts are adequately staffed and every emergency receives the fastest and most efficient response possible.

“If a shift member is out ill or the station becomes short-staffed due to emergency calls, POC volunteers can be called to cover,” said Scheerer. “If an emergency requires ‘all hands on deck,’ the POCs provide an additional 16 pairs of hands we can call on.”

Cameron Counters, Mark Armstrong, Seth Johnson, Harry Blanek, Jay Lippert, Todd Wakefield, Mike Pearson, Mike Seeger, John Hardacker, Ron Elmquist, Leah Bower and Brandon Winkel round out Edina’s POC group.

For more information, visit www.CityofEdina.com/Fire or call the Edina Fire Department at 952-826-0330.