Crookston Fire Chief Tim Froeber announced his retirement from the Crookston Fire Department at the end of the year after 26 years of service to the Fire Department and ten years as the Fire Chief.
Froeber first began his work as a firefighter in 1996 as a paid on-call firefighter before applying as a full-time firefighter in September of 1997, where he served in that capacity until 2012, when he was hired as the Chief of the department. With over 26 years of service, Chief Froeber has seen and done many things with the department, such as changes in how the equipment and technology that has changed for firefighters, notably their masks, trucks, cameras, and self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBAs) that help them serve the community and provide protection to the firefighters. He also noted how research has advanced with cancer awareness for firefighters and other safety measures that have been identified to help keep firefighters safe and help them return home after every call. His favorite service with the department was when he did public education with the preschool and elementary students. “It’s been a very rewarding career. If you’re asking what my favorite part would be, I would have to say it’s doing the public education with the preschoolers to the 6th-graders,” Fire Chief Tim Froeber explained. “We do a lot of public education, not only with the children of our community, but we also do it with church groups, community members, and industries. Public education is probably my favorite part because what we do is try to reduce the amount of fire, injuries, and property damage. Anything we can do to prevent the fire from starting is way better than having to go out and put them out.”
Froeber announced his retirement earlier this year, and at the last City Council meeting on November 28, the city announced that firefighter Shane Heldstab would be succeeding Froeber as the next Chief of the Department. Froeber explained that he and other members of Crookston City Hall had released applications for the job and gave the applicants civil service and fire code tests to complete before interviewing the applicants. Froeber was accompanied by City Administrator Charles “Corky” Reynolds, City Human Resources Director Jordan Bergquist, and East Grand Forks Fire Chief Jeff Boushee on conducting the interviews, where they asked several questions to the applicants. After completing the process with every candidate, the interview committee chose Shane due to his test results and answers in his interview. “He’s been on the fire department for quite a few years also, and he takes on a lot of the responsibilities of the department and doing extremely a lot of training. He really is a great fireman and does a lot of extra training and preparing himself for this position. He’s a very dedicated firefighter, who lives in this place, 24/7 365,” Tim Froeber explained. “I can rely on him to take care of issues that I need him to take care of. If I pass something onto him, I know it will get done, and he’s just a great fireman, and he will do a really good job, and I’m excited for him and his family.” With less than a month left until his retirement date, Chief Froeber has begun training Heldstab to prepare him for the transition and the hiring process for another firefighter to fill Shane’s place. Froeber reported that he has sent out applications to the city, and they are due back on Monday, December 12, before they can begin the hiring process. Some of the things Froeber has already started teaching Heldstab include budgeting for the department, tracking personnel, and other day-to-day operations of the department.
While Froeber is retiring from the department, he’s reported that he’s not ready to stop working yet as he has received several job offers around the community, notably by the city’s Community Development Director Kari Kirschbaum, for his help in the city’s Section 8 Housing. “She contacted me, and we’ve had several meetings, and she would like me to come over to help them out with their Section 8 HUD Housing Inspection Program and maybe help them with some maintenance at their Apartment Building, Oak Court Apartments,” Tim Froeber explained. “We don’t have everything all flushed out in that conversation, but we’re still working on that. I will probably be working right back into January and not take a lot of time off. I really like working and don’t sit down very much, I like to keep moving, and this looks like a very good opportunity.”
Froeber thanked the community for all of the support it had given him over the years to him and the department and assured it that they could be confident in Shane succeeding him as the Department Chief. He also wished to thank the city’s department heads, his department, and both full-time and on-call firefighters for all of their service and help they have given him. Chief Froeber’s final day at the Fire Department will be on Saturday, December 31, with an Open House Retirement Party later this month.
