Answering The Call: St. Cloud Fire Department Ready to Respond

ST. CLOUD - We're taking a look at the St. Cloud Fire Department during this National Fire Prevention Month. They are a full-time department with 66 firefighters, along with 12 administrators, with four fire stations.

Assistant Fire Marshal Greg Adamietz says they typically respond to 15-20 calls a day, with 98 percent of them being medical calls. He says they also have several specialized teams.

We have a technical rescue team, which is rope rescue.  So, in the quarries, we'll get involved with those.

Adamietz says other special units include the hazmat team and the ice and water rescue team.

This year's theme for Fire Prevention Month is "Have 2 ways out. Every Second Counts".

You hear the fire or smoke alarm going off, it doesn't take long for a fire to progress from just being a stove fire to a fully involved house fire.

Adameitz says the number of major fires has been trending down. He says the majority of fires are still cooking related. Also, carelessly discarded cigarette butts still spark a lot of deck fires.