SPOONER, Wis. -- For our 5th 'Dock Talk' segment, we recently had the pleasure of sitting down and chatting with Spooner Fire Chief, Darren Vik, at the Dock Coffee in downtown Spooner. We spent twice as long visiting with Darren than anyone else we have chatted with so far; not because it took longer for the story but because he was such much fun to chat with.
The 'Dock Talk' is an every-other-Tuesday segment where we chat with a member of our community in a Q-and-A format over a cup of coffee at our favorite coffeehouse, The Dock Coffee.
DrydenWire: I notice you are not drinking coffee?
Nope, It’s hot chocolate. I have never been a big coffee drinker, I guess I’m not a very good Norwegian.
DrydenWire: You're not from the Spooner area originally, so what brought you here?
DV: I actually grew up in South Dakota where I started in Funeral Service. I worked for awhile in South Dakota, then went over to Minnesota for a short time hoping to move up to the northern part of the state and eventually ended up in Spooner.
DrydenWire: How did you end working for the Spooner Fire Department?
DV: I had worked at Dahl’s since 1990, the business had sold and changed hands and I had enough of the corporate work environment and needed a change. It was 2001, I was the current Volunteer Fire Chief and had been since 1994. Most people don’t know this but in the late 1990's the Board was talking about hiring a person to help handle all the duties that were needing to be tended to at the fire station. It was not a Chief's position but a full-time firefighter. When I left my employer, I notified the Fire District Board and explained that I had left my job and wanted to let them know for consideration. After some discussion, they decided to make the full-time position at the fire department a Fire Chief position and I was hired on.
DrydenWire: As the Fire Chief, what are your duties? What is a typical day?
DV: My duties consist of handling the administrative duties, overseeing 34 firefighters, fire prevention inspections, grant writing, public relations, and of course firefighting. There is no such thing as a typical day. I have plans when I get to work but it seems like things are always changing and I end up going in a different direction. This week along with the normal office work I spent time with fire inspections, gave a couple group tours of fire station, met with the new owner of the Sports Complex and discussed its future, met with the school to discuss building usage questions, took calls from around the State of a truck we are selling, I taught a firefighter class which I teach every Tuesday night and conducted a monthly meeting for the firefighters. Oh, I also cleaned the bathroom toilets, I wear many hats here.
DrydenWire: What is the size of the area you cover?
DV: Our protection area is 322 sq. miles, it is the 2nd largest area in the State of Wisconsin. It consists of the City of Spooner, Townships Bashaw, Beaverbrook, Casey, Crystal, Evergreen, Gull Lake, Madge, Spooner, Springbrook, Trego, and Rusk.
DrydenWire: What challenges does that create having such a large area?
DV: I think it would be the different types of calls that come in due to so many things that go on in the Northern Forest area of Wisconsin. Sometimes calls are hard for Dispatch to determine what is going to be needed or how to do it. The fire department fills the void for many of those scenarios due to the number of personnel that we have and many minds we have working on it to be able to think it through. Also, our Fire Districts normal population is 9000. At times when the cabin or 2nd homeowners are here, the population doubles and humans are usually the reason for things going wrong.
DrydenWire: How many people are on the Spooner Fire Department's payroll?
DV: The Chief’s position is the only full-time position on the department. The other 34 serve as volunteer firefighters. The firefighters do get a stipend for being on the department to help them out. As you can imagine personal clothing gets a little beaten up while working a fire call, especially with a white shirt that you don’t have time to change.
DrydenWire: So outside of volunteers putting out fires when they pop up, who does everything else?
DV: The volunteers spend many hours at the Station, they may be training, attending regular and committee meetings, doing vehicle maintenance on the 10 trucks, doing work projects such as the completion of the administration building. Firefighters spent many Wednesday nights with Hammers, drills and screw guns completing that project. They also spend time doing 4th of July fireworks, Jack Pine Security, Golf Fundraiser, Fire prevention visits to the station, Safety Poster Contest and Safety Smokehouse at the Elementary School. We also have Auxiliary which provides on-scene support. They also get involved with community activities with Root Beer Floats at 4th of July Fireworks, October Pumpkin Roll and a December Santa visit to the fire station.
DrydenWire: Do you think most people know how much these volunteers do aside from putting their lives on the line fighting fires?
DV: I really don’t think they do. A few years back the Department was called out to a structure fire on Christmas morning around 6 am. We got back to the station around 2 pm. The firefighters missed out being with their own kids on Christmas morning. I felt really bad for the guys but there was nothing I could to do to change it. I think most people don’t realize the sacrifices the firefighters have to make.
DrydenWire: Why do you think they do this?
DV: Community! All of them feel that they are fortunate to live where they do and they want to give something back where it is needed and make a difference.
DrydenWire: What are the other myths about volunteer firefighters?
DV: People tend to think that the firefighters get called to go on a fire, return to the station to park the truck and then go back to work and that’s all there is to it. There is a lot more to it than that. There are many hours of training prior to that call. The firefighters also have to clean up the hoses and equipment back at the station. The trucks need to be prepared for the next run.
Do you work with other agencies, as well?
DV: We work with all the emergency service agencies in the County, there are a lot of good folks out there and we are thankful for them. We work very closely with all the surrounding Fire Departments. We have mutual aid agreements with all of them and we rely on each other when needed.
What are three things that most people probably don’t know about you?
- I really don’t like heights
- If you go to Mitchell, South Dakota you will see me in a picture at the Corn Palace
- Morgan Fairchild winked at me in an Elevator in Dallas, Texas back in 1988, I have never recovered.
Last Update: Jun 28, 2017 7:59 am CDT
