by Logan Gruber
operations@thenewsleaders.com
Marty Radi has lived in Sartell for 23 years and served on the fire department for 20 of those. He retired on June 1 of this year.
“I just passed through . . . There are more people there who have contributed more than I,” Radi said in a Newsleader interview.
“The year I started the population of Sartell was about 4,200 . . . the city quadrupled in size in 20 years,” Radi said.
He added he had three very good mentors throughout the years: Bob Becker, Dennis Molitor and Lint Edgerly. He said they were invested in the future of the department.
But the fire department has evolved along with the city, and for the better. Radi mentioned training and equipment as having changed a lot over the years.
“A lot of the new people who come in have their Fire I, Fire II and EMT certificates. They come in with a lot more training than we did,” Radi said.
Radi mentioned Ben Kockler, Lucas Dingmann, Rick Lyon and Mark Heinen as a good group of younger people in the fire department. He added the new chief’s goal from day one will be to create the next leadership group.
“We’ve been fortunate to have good leadership for the past 20 years,” Radi said, referencing current Fire Chief Ken Heim, who will retire Dec. 31.
Heim joined the department as a firefighter in 1985. After serving some years as assistant fire chief, he became chief in 1995.
Radi said one of the best things about being a Sartell firefighter is the camaraderie. He said Heim’s kids learned to water ski at his cabin. Radi and his wife, Kelly, have two daughters — Brook, 19 and Karen, 16.
The new fire chief’s name hasn’t been announced yet, but it will be soon, Radi said. He added the assistant chiefs, Claude Dingmann and Jim Sattler, as well as Capt. Wayne Harrison, are all great leaders and will help the department move forward.
“They do a lot of things people don’t see,” Radi mentioned.
He said Claude is at the school, where he maintains the buildings, at 5 a.m. and at 4:30 p.m. he is at the fire station backing up the computers.
“One time, we needed a new brush rig [a brush rig is a truck which can go out to fight small grass fires], so Claude went and bought a 1978 pickup and using spare parts built a brush rig with a 150-gallon water tank, a pump and hose,” Radi said. “For 20 years I showed up with a yellow hat when the beeper went off . . . There are others who did a lot more.”
“The people of Sartell and LeSauk Township are well served,” Radi added.
To view the Salute to Firefighters, turn to pages 8 and 9.
