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Prior Lake Fire Department
| For Emergencies call 911 |
For other information, call (952) 440-3473,
fax (952) 440-3460. |
Main office:
Fire Station No. 1, 16776 Fish Point Rd. SE |
| Satellite station (right): Fire Station No. 2,
3906 Station Pl. NW |
When you need them most, the 41 members of the Prior Lake Fire Department are there for you, providing emergency
PLFD AT A GLANCE
FOUNDED: 1929
MEMBERS: 41
CALL LOAD: In 2006, the PLFD responded to 1,034 calls for service -- an average of just under three per day. That total is a 2.3 percent increase from the call load in 2005.
PAY: Unlike some cities, Prior Lake doesn’t have full-time firefighters. Officers are paid on-call, which means they are paid once a year and only for hours they work -- and at a nominal rate of $10.50 for fires and $7 for training.
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disaster management and planning, fire suppression, rescue, prevention, code enforcement, and public education under the leadership of Fire Chief Doug Hartman.
They are the quiet leaders of this community, holding regular jobs and striving to strike a balance between the demands of work and home. And when their pager sounds - at an average of about three times per day - they stop whatever they are doing, rush to the fire station, put on their gear and hurry to the scene of a fire or traffic accident.
Fire Chief Doug Hartman speaks for many of the department's volunteers when he says he joined the department because he saw an opportunity to give back something to the community. "My father was also a volunteer fireman," he says. "What I enjoy most is
helping people in need and the comraderie."
Fire Department Facts:
Officers serve on a paid, on-call basis, which means they are paid only for the time they put in. None of the 41 memebers are a full-time firefighter. All hold regular jobs. And yet the department maintains some of the best response times in the metro, rivaling those of other communities that have full-time firefighters and serve populations (40,000 including townships) of comparable size.
To staff a fire department of 41 full-time firefighters would cost the city about $2.6 million. By having paid, on-call firefighters, the City of Prior Lake expects to pay out just over $600,000.
Given the 24/7 disruptions to their personal and professional lives and their hourly rates of $10.50 per hour for a fire call and $7 per hour for its mandatory Thursday night training sessions, firefighters aren't in it for the money.
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