Did you know that Waconia’s fire department is staffed primarily by people who could be your neighbors? People who leave their jobs, families and the comfort of their homes to respond to your emergency?
Did you know that 96 percent of the calls for service this year had nothing to do with fires and 12 percent of calls are for false alarms?
Fire Chief Chris Nelson shared those insights and offered a plea for recruits recently at the Waconia Chamber of Commerce monthly luncheon. Nelson explained to local business leaders that while calls are up – they are at 769 so far this year compared to 576 all of last year – the department is 14 firefighters short of what is needed to meet growing demands for service.
“We have 26 members, we could use 40,” he said, urging Chamber members to encourage their employees to consider service.