(Editor’s note: Carolyn Bertsch, the woman mentioned in this story, happens to be the multi-award-winning freelance photographer for the Newsleaders newspapers.)
by Dennis Dalman
Kasey Betts just might have to add another item to the skills list on his resumé. He is a professional remodeler, house painter, roof repairman, carpenter, sheet-rock hanger and flooring installer. One skill is missing: “On-the-spot firefighter.”
Thanks to Betts’ impromptu fire-fighting skills, he prevented the spread of a nasty fire between two homes May 9 on the 400 block of Eighth Avenue N. in Sartell.
On that day, at about noon, Betts was in Sartell doing a remodeling project at a home about two blocks from Eighth Avenue N. Suddenly he happened to see plumes of dark-black smoke rising to the sky in the distance.
“I better go see what’s the matter,” he remembered thinking, before getting into his work van to go check it out.
A minute or two later, Sartell resident Carolyn Bertsch heard loud pounding knocks on her front door. She went to the door, opened it and saw and smelled the wind-blown roiling smoke. The knock had come from impromptu firefighter and Good Samaritan Kasey Betts.
The fire, which had started in a utility trailer owned by Bertsch’s next-door neighbor, A.J. Wood, was a swirl of ferocious flames, some of which spread to a wood fence dividing his and Bertsch’s yard.
Before alerting Bertsch and her neighbor to the imminent danger to their houses, Betts had grabbed the neighbor’s hose off the lawn to try to douse the fire.
When Bertsch ran to the fire, he said “Grab the hose!”
Bertsch quickly turned on the outside faucet and stretched the hose as far as it would go while at the same time dialing 911. A dispatcher asked her if there were any gas cans or propane tanks near the fire. She was grateful for such a question as she ran to remove several gas tanks near the fire, carrying them across the yard.
At some point the neighbor grabbed Bertsch’s hose and kept spraying the flames.
Meantime, Bertsch ran back and forth to and from her kitchen, filling pots with water to toss at the fire. The smoke was getting blacker by the second, twisting in the wind.
Betts was in the thick of it, moving here and there with lightning speed (at one point jumping right inside the trailer) spraying burning tires and other burned debris and spreading them out with gloved hands.
Soon, sirens could be heard as a fire truck, two police squad cars and an ambulance pulled up in the street. The fire department firefighters were able to douse the conflagration.
At the scene, as Betts received gushing-grateful thank-yous and bouquets of praise, he handed Bertsch and police officer Kari Bonfield each a business card as everyone said warm goodbyes.
On her Facebook page, the next day Bertsch posted this:
“He (Kasey Betts) stopped instead of driving by, and that made all the difference. He pounded on our door and on the neighbor’s door. He fought the fire himself before either of us were out of our houses.
“He potentially saved our houses, campers and many possessions from being destroyed and put himself at risk to do it. He made an impact and changed an outcome!”
The day after the fire, the Newsleaders contacted Betts.
A resident of Rice, 33-year-old Betts is the owner-manager of “All About Remodeling LLC.”
When asked about his firefighting efforts, he scoffed at notions of being some kind of hero.
“I just did what I had to do,” he said. “And it was the right thing to do. That fence was on fire and there was a fear of it spreading to a recreational vehicle parked in her (Carolyn’s lawn). The RV was about a foot away from the fence on fire.”
He said he just happened to be in that neighborhood.
“Good timing,” he said with a smile.
When asked if he’d ever considered being a firefighter, Betts was quick to answer.
“Yeah, it’s crossed my mind,” he said. “Oh yeah, several times.”
Born in Nevada, raised in Montana, Betts lived in Washington for a time and worked in construction-related businesses for many years. He founded his current remodeling company in 2023, three years after moving to Minnesota, his wife’s home state.
Betts and his wife, Colleen, have three home-schooled children – Aubrianna, 10; Sophia, 7; and Waylon, 6.
Kacey Betts
