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COLERIDGE – Firefighters, the unsung heroes of the rural community.
Last week was National Firefighter Safety Week and with conditions as dry as they’ve been, the topic couldn’t be more relevant.
Coleridge Volunteer Fire Department Chief Josh Loberg said a big part of his department’s duties include educating people about fires and fire safety.
One of his top safety tips is to put cigarette butts out. Those fires are 100 percent preventable, he said.
The Coleridge Volunteer Fire Department is also called out for: equipment fires, electrical equipment, field fires, structure fires and ditch fires.
The last few fire calls the department has received were just on the edge of becoming big fires, he said.
Loberg urges people not to be afraid to call 911 or worry about upsetting the firefighters — that’s why they signed up.
“We’d rather put out a small fire than have to put out a big one,” he said.
The local squad doesn’t just go out on fire calls. They also assist with traffic control at an accident scene and are called out to check out unknown gas smells, as this could result in a huge fire or explosion later.
Most of the fires the department deals with are country fires. Usually, if it’s an in-town fire it is a structure fire. The most recent in-town structure fire was at Coleridge-Laurel-Concord Middle School in 2022. No one was injured.
Being a fire fighter just kind of came natural for Loberg.
Many of his family members have also been volunteer firemen, which helped inspire him to become one. Watching the firemen assist with the tornadoes of 2003 gave him further motivation to become a firemen.
Not everyone is suited to put on fire gear and become a firefighter, though, he said.
One of the top qualities in a firefighter is the desire to help people and serve the community.
“Enjoying a good adrenaline rush doesn’t hurt either,” Loberg said, as the rush of putting out the blaze is a rush like none other.
The most rewarding part of the job is helping people, he said.
The Coleridge Volunteer Fire Department doesn’t just protect the citizens in and around Coleridge, but also helps area departments when mutual aid is needed.
A lot of times they help area departments by bringing in more water, but there are also calls where they need more people on the ground battling the blaze.
Loberg recalls one such instance recently of getting called for mutual aid.
“We just had one the other day, a bale fire. Hay bales on fire are hard to put out so they mostly just needed water,” he said.
The farthest they’ve been dispatched was when a tornado hit Wayne on the east end of town in 2013, but they didn’t have a huge role to play there.
The biggest issue the department faces these days is recruitment.
Coleridge boasts 20 firefighters, which is impressive for the size of the town, but there is room for more on the squad.
People underestimate the reward of helping others and overestimate the time needed to be on the squad, he said.
It’s true, the pager goes off and you’ve got to go, but the time commitment is overestimated and the heart commitment overlooked. Also, the heart of service and the satisfaction that people get from putting out fires is unmatched.
The Coleridge Volunteer Fire Department currently has two big fire trucks and two grass rigs in the works.
The department will be able to haul 4,000 gallons of water once the grass rigs are finished.
The Coleridge squad also has a hidden gem in its fleet — a 99 year-old operational Model T Fire Truck that’s still going strong.
It has been retired from service, but is frequently used in car shows and parades.
