As many of our readers may know, the Fridley Fire Department has six full-time firefighters, not including a vacancy created by the recent retirement of Fire Marshal Ralph Messer. This small crew along with thirty-three paid-on-call fire fighters responds to between 2,500 and 3,000 calls, including fire and medical assistance calls for service, each year. Weekly calls range between thirty-five and seventy calls. While a few days go by with one or two calls, there are as many as eighteen or twenty calls on a really busy day. Many of these calls, including mutual aid calls, tend to occur concurrently. The bottom line is that the Fridley Fire Department and Fridley residents depend very heavily on the paid-on-call firefighters.

The two newest paid-on-call fire fighters are Eric Arvidson and Jason Ortman. Eric's full-time job is with Allina Medical Transportation which he serves as a paramedic. Prior to his Allina job, Eric was a Medical Service Journeyman in the United States Air Force and has also served as a paramedic with ALF Ambulance, a municipally based ambulance service which serves the cities of Apple Valley, Lakeville, and Farmington. His Allina duties include being sent to Louisiana to assistwith the Hurricane Rita relief effort and response to the 35W bridge collapse on August 1, 2007.

Jason holds a full-time job as a firefighter/paramedic with the St. Paul Fire Department. He began his firefighting career as a paid-on-call firefighter for the City of Columbia Heights in 1991. He has also served as a fulltime firefighter/paramedic with the cities of Grand Island and Lincoln, Nebraska, and has been a full-time firefighter/paramedic with the City of St. Paul since 2003. He has a two year degree in fire science and many certifications, including all of those required by the Fridley Fire Department.

Jason began duty on November 17, 2010 and Eric began duty on January 1, 2011. Both will be sworn in as Fridley firefighters at a ceremony in March. As with other paid-on-call firefighters, Jason and Eric must provide at least ten hours of scheduled duty per month in addition to training and unscheduled duty for the Fridley Fire Department. Scheduled duty includes work on day, evening, and night time shifts. Unscheduled duty includes emergency response to calls for service from their homes. Pay for scheduled duty ranges between $12.99 per hour and $14.28 per hour. Unscheduled duty pay ranges between $11.14 and $17.97.

Fire Chief John Berg reports that he is very happy to have Eric and Jason as paid-on-call firefighters. He also indicates that he expects a third new paid-on-call firefighter to complete his certification within the very near future. This fall he anticipates the hiring of two additional paid- on-call firefighters to replace two retirees. Residents who are interested in service as paid-on-call firefighters should call Sherree Smith at 572-3612.