BROOKINGS But for a change of heart, Brookings might never have had Fire Chief Pete Bolzer, and he might very well have become involved in a very different kind of firefighting.
I always wanted to be a soldier Im an adrenaline junkie, and thats kind of why I wanted to do that, Bolzer, 66, said, recalling his childhood growing up during the Vietnam War era in an interview with the Brookings Register. Well, then as I get older and closer to draft age, I go, Well, this is a really dumb idea. he chuckles a little bit Maybe I dont want to do that. So I had to find something to fill that adrenaline void, and it just happened to be firefighting.
He started his firefighting career as in battling wildland fires and such, not engaging in combat with enemy troops as a volunteer in 1979 in Martin, his hometown in southwest South Dakota just a little north of the Nebraska border. Now, 45 years later in 2024, he is retiring, with his last day as Brookings fire chief being Dec. 31.
It still has that adrenaline rush every once and a while, its just now Im getting older and its getting difficult to function at peak capacity that I wish I could function at, Bolzer said.
His decades-long career took him to several places, including his first paid job as a fire captain with the city of Lead. From there, he joined the South Dakota State Fire Marshals Office, where he served as a deputy state fire marshal for 12 years, spending time in Mitchell and Pierre. He also served as a volunteer firefighter in those communities.
It wasnt until 1999 that Bolzer landed in Brookings, when he accepted the then-new position of deputy fire chief, being the first to fill it. Fast forward to today, hes the chief, having earned the title, and responsibilities thereof, in June 2021.
(Theres) a lot of good memories. In the past, Ive met a lot of different people around the country, around Brookings County, he said. This position has afforded me the opportunity to travel and do a lot of training and meet a lot of big names in the industry.
Bolzer touched on a variety of topics during his interview with the Register, ranging from a local shortage of volunteers to fire incidents that cant be forgotten to how firefighting has changed over the years and much more.
I remember every last one of them
Some fires are never truly extinguished in the sense that a firefighter will always carry the burden of the memories and emotions from those blazes. Bolzer knows this first-hand, but the ones he remembers arent necessarily what youd think.
Theres a lot of them that stick out in my mind, and sometimes its a little difficult to relay to people why, he said, his tone reflective. People think, OK, its the great big huge fires and large monetary losses that you remember. A lot of times, its the small, seemingly mundane ones rescue calls, fires, whatever that I remember, because something significant happened.
He paused, then continued, In the past 45 years, Ive dealt with a lot of fire fatalities I remember every last one of them. Things like that stick with you. Theres certain accidents, because of the circumstances and ages of the victims, those stay with you those are the ones I remember.
Mental health an ever-present concern
To say that being a firefighter or being part of any emergency response organization, really is stressful is an understatement.
It takes a big mental toll. For years weve been studying the suicide problem among emergency responders. Even to this day we dont even know how big the problem is because theres no reporting system for that. The statistics that we have are basically garnered from news reports, Bolzer said. Yearly, its just becoming a bigger and bigger problem.
That mental toll also means there are likely times a firefighter might not be open when theyre faced with a specific question.
There are certain things that a firefighter will dance around and never tell you as a member of the general public, Bolzer said. Theyre probably never going to tell you the worst call theyve ever been on because its kind of a secretive thing for them. Its something that they dont like to share, even though talking about it helps, they dont like to share it because its a personal thing. They feel that the public wont understand what they go through.
Theres hope, though, as society begins to grapple with the challenges of mental anguish, and its something welcomed by the fire chief.
The state legislature has been appropriating money for mental health for emergency responders the last couple of years, Bolzer explained. The federal government has been appropriating money and providing some assistance. The city is extremely good when it comes to the mental health of emergency responders. So the help is there.
Still, Ive always hated to see people leave the profession because of issues like that but Id rather have them leave than take their own life.
Not your grandfathers firefighting
On its surface, battling a blaze seems pretty basic: Firefighters attack it with water, foam and so on, and out it goes.
Theres more complexity, though, more depth to it than that. The material thats burning has to be considered is it natural or artificial, that sort of thing training regimens accounted for and, well, the list runs long. Suffice to say, firefighting in 2024 is vastly different than it was in 1979, and getting to here from there wasnt always a smooth ride.
How has firefighting changed? Man, a lot! Bolzer told the Register. And one thing the fire service hates is not changing, and change they hate both of them! Because you get used to doing something a set way, and then it changes, so you resist it. Even though for years you were complaining we should change this. Thats just the way the fire service is.
Change is inevitable, and it has been nudged along, especially in the last few decades, by a pair of entities the National Institute of Standards and Technology and Underwriters Laboratory. Together, with knowledge gained from their fire research laboratories, theyve made the profession safer for everyone involved in it, much to Bolzers relief.
It would have been very difficult for the fire service to adapt all of those changes if we didnt have that research that is currently being done, he said. That research that they do kind of validates everything. Like I said, the fire service is always very resistant to change he laughs for a moment but that validates it and makes it a lot easier to change, because it shows that we could injure or kill firefighters. When its put in that perspective, we pay attention.
Finding volunteers not easy
For the most part, change is a welcome thing see above for proof of that. Nonetheless, it can also bring more unwelcome developments. In the case of Brookings, that would be a drop in volunteers seeking to join the citys fire department.
Its getting harder and harder to find volunteers in Brookings. Its kind of a hard pill to swallow because Brookings was always very unique they always had a waiting list, Bolzer said. If you wanted to be a volunteer firefighter, sometimes you had to wait one or two years for a spot. And, right now, were short, and we have no applications.
The department normally has 45 volunteers. Right now, it only has 41. Thats four short of optimal staffing levels not bad, right? Well, not so fast. Bolzer said filling those open positions would give his crews a bit of a buffer.
On weekends, especially in the summertime, we can be extremely short because I cant control vacations or family functions or anything like that, he said.
In the long run, though, it could get expensive for the city if there arent enough volunteers to staff its fire department.
Theres going to come a time where were going to run out of volunteers and, I hate to say it, but then this department is going to have to move to a paid department, Bolzer said. Which I dont want to see because that impacts the taxpayers and the service theyre going to get, and it impacts all the other city departments, also.
Historically, a paid fire department is going to be one of your biggest city departments, he continued. So now the bulk of the budget is going to transfer, and Im afraid it will affect the number of parks that the citizens in Brookings have, itll affect the number of police officers and itll affect how your streets are. I dont want that.
He said applications can be picked up at the East Fire Station at 607 20th Ave., just east of Burger King, or can be found online at the citys website, https://cityofbrookings-sd.gov/.
It wasnt all me
Bolzer has played a huge role in getting the fire department to where its at today. You wont ever hear him taking full credit for that, though.
I had help building this department. It wasnt all me, he emphasized. There were a lot of people involved in making this what it is today.
Hes certainly humble, his experiences over the last 45 years in firefighting having likely played a significant role in who he is today. Hes earned the respect of others over those years, and, he said, thats something his successor will also have to earn.
The person coming in to replace me is going to have to earn the trust of the public I think thats one thing Ive always enjoyed since Ive been here: The public has always trusted me and to me that is a big thing right there, Bolzer noted. Then youre going to have to earn the trust of the volunteer firefighters, and thats going to be the difficult task right there. You may talk the talk, but youre going to have to walk it, also. Thats what theyll expect, and thats why youre going to have to do to earn their respect.
He hopes to help whoever fills his shoes by also giving that person the opportunity to fill the now-vacant deputy fire chief position.
The reason that position is vacant is I want to leave it up to the new fire chief, Bolzer said. Rather than me hire somebody that might clash with the new fire chief and create friction right up front, lets let the new fire chief build a program the way they want to.
He also wants to have time to work with his replacement to ensure a better transition.
I really want my successor to be in place before I retire, he said. That way we can work together and have a really smooth transition, rather than I leave and he laughs Here. Heres the keys. Its up to you. Dont burn the town down!
Turning serious again, he thinks for a moment, quiet.
Im not one just to leave. I want an orderly and long transition period so that the people who take these positions are successful, Bolzer finally said. In the long run, its going to make the department successful and its going to make the city of Brookings successful and thats my main goal.
Contact Mondell Keck at [email protected].
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