Andreen takes over as fire chief

On January 14, Thermopolis Volunteer Fire Department members voted to appoint Dale Andreen as their new Fire Chief. Previous Fire Chief Mark Collins decided to retire from the position but will still stay involved serving the public. 

Andreen has been with the Fire Department for 28 years and has served in multiple offices. However, he has spent most of his time as a training officer during their weekly meetings. He also coordinates with the Fire Academy to get new members certified as firefighters. Currently, the department has a total of 29 members.

Andreen has been taking incident command for about the past 15 years depending upon who shows up on scene, such as higher officers. These incidents can include structure fires, wildland fires, or car wrecks. Additionally, Andreen will be taking care of incident reports and paperwork. 

Collins was chief for 21 years between 2003 and now, with a year off break in 2013. Andreen said that Collins provided him with a short list of things to consider, such as reporting duties and that he is available to answer his questions when needed. Andreen has served Collins as assistant chief, captain, and lieutenant for all the time Collins had been chief.

According to Andreen, the department works as a whole and he said, “My goal right now is to continue to work together, as we see fit. Maybe we need to make a little bit of a shift and then we make those little adjustments that need to be made.”

Regarding the fire department members voting to make Andreen chief, he said, “I guess it’s kind of an honor to have them feel like I could do the job sufficiently. There’s quite a bit of responsibility that goes along with that.”

Former Chief Collins added that the Fire Department operated together in their decision making where he functioned as the front runner “to make sure stuff gets done.” Collins and his department faced a variety of situations in their service together. This included structure fires, wildland fires, properties burning up. Collins also had to deal with insurance companies, fire investigators, vehicle accidents and law enforcement. 

Collins said his number one goal as fire chief was firefighter safety. He wanted to make sure his people had good or if not the best equipment, such as the Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus, bunker gear, gloves, helmets, hoods, boots, etc. Collins added, “When it comes to firefighter safety I didn’t put a price tag on nothing.”

Regarding Collins’ relationship with the people of his department, he said, “I respected their decision making and their actions on fires.”

If someone is considering becoming a member, the department can vote someone on as a probationary officer member for six months. Collins said that about 75% of the people will stay. As part of their training, they get hazmat awareness / operations and get the basics down to make it to the next level. 

 Regarding working with other first responders, Collins said, “As far as Highway Patrol, Sheriff and the local law enforcement, we would work very well together. I haven’t had a problem and nobody else has. As far as the state people, the state fire marshal’s office, they’ve been very, very good.”

Collins also said, “I’ve been in the fire department for 33 years. And anyway, I’ve held every office in that fire department that there was the whole. I’m kind of proud of that too. Well, all of our accomplishments, like I said, the firefighter safety, the trucks, our new facility up there, that was a major task. And myself and about four or five other guys, we were the front runners of that. We basically copied one that Powell had built, but we expanded it to fit us.”

Andreen appointed Collins to stay in the fire department as the chief administrative officer, where they can go look for grant money.

Regarding Collins’ perspective of Andreen as a colleague, he said, “He’s very good at what he has done because he’s been our training officer for I can’t remember how long. We fought fire shoulder to shoulder. Not too much lately, but in the past. He’s a good listener. He’s easy to talk to. And he’s one heck of a family man. I’ll tell you that.” Collins added that he learned from Marvin Andreen, Dale’s father, who was a previous chief and retired. 

When it came to what kind of advice would Collins give to Andreen, he said, “He’s more than capable in every way possible and he’s very caring.”

Additionally, the Thermopolis Volunteer Fire Department is selling raffle tickets for $2.00 to win first through fifth prizes of gift certifications from $50 to $300. Fill out and return your tickets along with your annual donation. Envelopes can be mailed or dropped off at the fire station at 400 South 14th Street. The deadline is February 10.

The annual fund drive is for the replacement, repair, and purchase of new equipment for the fire department. The Thermopolis Fire Department consists of volunteers within the community who dedicate thousands of hours each year to attend ongoing training, conducting public education, and responding to dozens of emergencies at all hours, day and night. They are proud to serve such a great community and recognize that they could not do it without your support.