The Blue Earth Fire Department responded to 126 calls in 2020, which included 25 structure fires, like this one at Blue Ridge Townhomes back in November.

Blue Earth Fire Department Chief Roger Davis says the department had a very busy year in 2020.

Davis gave his annual report to the Blue Earth City Council last Monday evening as part of their work session held before the start of the regular council meeting.

The chief reported there were 126 total calls during the year, or an average of about one call every three days.

“This is more than we have ever had before,” he told the council. “The year before was 116 and that was the highest at that time.”

Out of the 126 calls, seven were for actual building fires. There were also 12 calls for other kinds of fires, such as vehicles on fire, grass fires, etc. The total fires was a lot more than usual.

There were also 31 calls to assist at vehicle accidents.

“That is a lot more accidents to cover than we usually have to,” Davis reported. “It was a busy year overall.”

The department received mutual aid from other departments at four fires, and gave aid to other departments on seven calls.

The fire department also assisted on ambulance calls 31 times. That prompted some discussion on possible ways the city could charge for those calls. After some discussion, no action was taken.

There were many other types of calls. Those include power line down, carbon monoxide alarms, natural gas leaks and chemical spill. And two of their calls were to assist in looking for missing people.

In other business, Davis updated the council on a variety of topics, including a new truck that is on order. It will become their main pumper truck and is being purchased at a cost of $547,000.

He also reported that at the current moment the department is at its full force, with 30 firefighters on the list.

The council noted that the department has 16 members with more than 10 years of service, with eight of those having 20 or more years. Three of those actually have more than 30 years of service, with one, Mark Mensing, having 42 years with the department.

Davis also noted that he has one more year on his term as chief. Ashley Bleess has been elected to a two-year term as assistant chief, Jim Wirkus is the captain, Nicholas Bleess is the Lieutenant, and Zach Tvedten is the training officer.