Paul Walsh
Star Tribune
(TNS)

Several beer cans were found near the scene where a firetruck “rolled several times” with a suspected drunken driver behind the wheel, according to a newly released court document filed by police.

The crash occurred Friday in Wood Lake while the town’s Fire Department was participating in Lakeview High School’s annual homecoming festivities.

Rescue crews found Patrick Steven Remiger, 43, trapped beneath the truck when they arrived. He died at the scene.

related link

• Troopers Investigating Fatal Fire Truck Crash in MN

The driver, Andrew Vanhecke, 37, and passenger Beaux, his 6-year-old son, were injured and have since been released from the hospital, State Patrol Lt. Mike Lee said Monday.

The patrol said it believes Vanhecke was under the influence of alcohol when the firetruck crashed on its way back to Wood Lake after participating in homecoming festivities.

Police in nearby Marshall, after getting court permission, collected a sample of blood from Vanhecke while he was being treated for his injuries at a hospital in that city, according to a search warrant affidavit made public Tuesday.

The sample was sent to the state Bureau of Criminal Apprehension for testing to determine Vanhecke’s degree of intoxication. Those results are pending.

Vanhecke was driving the firetruck north on 490th Street just north of Cottonwood “when it veered into the [right] shoulder, struck a mailbox, overcorrected and rolled several times” before landing in a ditch,“ the filing read.

Several 12-ounce cans of beer “were located close to the firetruck,” to affidavit noted.

Charges against Vanhecke are pending, Yellow Medicine County Attorney Mark Gruenes told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Tuesday, adding, “that could change at any time, of course.”

No one in the truck had on restraint devices, according to the patrol.

On Monday, Vanhecke’s wife filed for divorce, court records disclosed.

Part of the festivities included Lakeview’s cross-country team delivering the homecoming game ball on a 10-mile run to the high school from Wood Lake. Two of Remiger’s children are cross-country runners and are coached by their mother, Becky Remiger.

Remiger was a 20-year member of the volunteer Fire Department while also running a dairy farm, according to his obituary.

“Pat was proud to be a dairy and beef farmer,” his obituary read. “He was incredibly punctual, reliable, had an unmatched work ethic, and could fix anything that would break down.”

Along with his wife, Remiger is survived by their children, Cole, Tate and Shelby Remiger; parents Steve and Jane Remiger; and a sister, Hope Mammele.

©2025 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

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Sponsored by Mercedes Textiles, Ltd.

Firefighting is built on progress—passing down the trusted traditions while considering new information and adjusting to new realities. This is how we continuously advance the line.

About a decade ago, that progression brought about the resurgence of 2½-inch hose for aggressive interior attack armed with water mapping data. Today, most departments rightfully understand the need for getting Big Water to the seat of the fire.

The shift to 2½-inch handlines hasn’t been without its challenges though—particularly with limited staffing growing throughout the fire service. The good news is that there are options that strike a balance to meet technical attack requirements without sacrificing tactical performance like Mercedes Textiles’ KrakenEXO SUPER II^®.

“TO BE MORE EFFECTIVE ON THE FIRE GROUND”

While the 2½-inch line has become the preferred handline to reach those required flows for fires in commercial occupancies and standpipe-equipped buildings, the larger diameter comes with disadvantages related to weight, maneuverability, and quick water application.

Those limitations are felt across North America, as Kevin Pfluger points out. Pfluger is an 18-year veteran of the fire service, currently stationed with Guadalupe County (TX) Fire Rescue. He also leads the DAGUM Training Cadre and recently joined Mercedes Textiles as its Southwestern sales representative.

Pfluger says that moving and flowing with the 2½-inch through tight urban spaces or expansive suburban homes can be challenging even at full staffing, because the weight and inflexibility require considerably more strength and effort, slowing down response times and putting lives at risk.

“UL studies show us we need to be getting to the seat of the fire, but with the restrictions of where you can get the 2½-inch line, that becomes significantly harder,” he says. “With victims possibly inside, you’re delaying that time of putting the fire out. It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

He set out to find a line that delivers the 265-gpm flows with less weight and more maneuverability for his department back in 2021.

“The whole point of this is to be more effective on the fireground…”
– Lt. Pfluger, Live Oak (TX)

MAKING THE MOST OF MINIMAL MANPOWER

Limited staffing exacerbates these realities. Captain Franklin “Linn” Baxa—with the Buckhannon (WV) Fire Department—is among those who experience this regularly.

“We are

Kayla Tucker
mlive.com
(TNS)

GRAND HAVEN, MI – Grand Haven voters are being asked this November to pass a new millage proposal that would fund a major renovation to the city’s public safety building.

The proposal asks for a 2.0 mills tax levy for 10 years, 2026 through 2035. If approved, the city is expected to take in $1,588,799 in tax revenue the first year, according to city records.

The new millage will be on the Nov. 4 election ballot. The next public information session is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 24 in the Mackinaw Ballroom at Central Park Place, 421 Columbus Avenue.

Grand Haven homeowners could pay on average between $250 up to $1,000 more per year, depending on the home’s taxable value. Homeowners with a taxable value of $125,000 (which would be a home value of $250,000) would pay $250 more per year, according to city records.

• Homes with a taxable value of $250,000 (home value of $500,000) would pay $500 more per year in taxes.
• Homes with a taxable value of $375,000 (home value of $750,000) would pay $750 more per year in taxes.
• Homes with a taxable value of $500,000 (home value of $1,000,000) would pay $1,000 more per year in taxes.

Of the tax revenue that’s collected, 65% would go towards facility upgrades.

The Grand Haven Department of Public Safety building is located at 525 Washington Avenue next to city hall. It was first built in 1975 with federal funds as a community bomb shelter, with separate spaces for police and fire services.

Now, employee safety concerns about firefighter fumes and air quality issues, on top of a crumbling building, are causing city leaders to make a decision.

The first priority in future building upgrades would be a decontamination area, where firefighters can properly clean their gear and shower after being exposed to fumes while battling a fire.

The department has an employee who is battling a “work-related firefighting form of cancer,” said Nichole Hudson, director of the Grand Haven Department of Public Safety.

“So, it is our goal moving forward that we never have a second or a third,” Hudson said. “One is not acceptable.

“Firefighting is a very dangerous job that brings a lot of risks, not only on scene, but even after scene … No one’s immune to potentially getting cancer from this career. It’s just a little bit higher here, due to our lack of decontamination and some of the systems that we have in place.”

The department is hosting tours where the public can get a behind the scenes look at the fraying parts of the building.

Another public information session is scheduled for Oct. 23 and guided tours are available on several dates in September and October.

Repairs are needed on the front of the building, where emergency vehicles exit the garage, where pieces of the building are crumbling and fall to the ground.

The building’s age also shows in its small doorways old floor tiles that are coming apart in some places and that still contain asbestos from the original construction.

“You can actually hear tiles cracking and chipping,” Hudson said. “That continues to fill the air with asbestos and mold.”

In the past years, staff have volunteered time to replace floors and paint in certain areas, and some spots are covered by rugs.<

Thermal imaging technology has transformed firefighting tactics over the past decades, enhancing firefighters’ abilities to detect heat signatures invisible to the naked eye. While thermal imagers are commonly associated with search and rescue or fire attack, their role in overhaul is equally critical.

Manfred Kihn, discusses how firefighters should use thermal imagers during overhaul operations in this episode of TIC Talk.

Using a thermal imager during overhaul provides valuable “eyes” that detect hotspots still radiating heat but not visible due to smoke or debris. Thermal imaging enables firefighters to ensure a complete extinguishment, enhancing scene safety and reducing liability.

During active firefighting, thermal imagers seek large, intense heat sources: open flames, fire extension, possible victims trapped inside. In overhaul, the focus shifts to smaller pockets of heat, residual embers, and hidden hotspots.

Kihn explains that thermal imagers display heat using color scales or grayscale images. In basic black-and-white mode, white represents hot areas and black cold spots. Colorized imagers assign colors like yellow, orange, and red to indicate increasing temperatures. However, once the fire is mostly out, most of the scene will appear dark or gray, making subtle differences crucial to detect.

Any white or colorized hotspot that appears during overhaul warrants investigation. These may signal a residual ember or smoldering material that can cause rekindle.

Learn more about how thermal imagers are used in overhaul by listening to the full TIC Talk episode above.

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In Inside Fire Facilities, Chris Mc Loone sits down with Zach Willard, general manager of Fire Facilities, to discuss the critical role of live fire training towers in firefighter preparedness. Fire Facilities has been manufacturing steel live fire training towers for over 35 years, pioneering innovations that have shaped firefighter training nationwide.

Willard stresses that live fire training provides an irreplaceable experience that simulation technologies cannot match. “When you get into situations with heat, combustible gases, and smoke inside buildings, you don’t get that from simulated smoke or radiant heat lamps,” he explained.

Modern fires burn hotter and spread faster than they did decades ago due to changing combustible loads in homes and commercial spaces. Fire Facilities designs towers that create realistic fire environments, replicating conditions firefighters face on the job. The towers’ patented burn rooms, featuring either refractory boards or the innovative West Tech stainless-steel panel system, allow repeated burns while withstanding intense heat, sometimes reaching 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.

The West Tech system, in particular, offers durability by flexing under heat and resisting thermal shock from firefighting water streams—a frequent pitfall in older training props. This innovation reduces maintenance downtime and enhances training longevity. In emphasizing safety within realism, Willard highlights how these design features prepare firefighters to recognize fire behavior and manage real emergency scenarios more confidently.

Safety features also extend to risk management on site. For example, advanced temperature monitoring systems—such as Scout and Fire Watchman thermocouples—track burn room heat in real time and relay data via cellular devices to safety officers who don’t need to be in hazardous zones. Emergency systems including exhaust fans and pull-stop controls facilitate quick evacuation if conditions become unsafe. These integrated safeguards help departments maintain control over live fire training operations and reduce incidents that could halt training progress.

Looking ahead, Willard identified decontamination (decon) areas and advances in technology as shaping the future of live fire training. Decon facilities are growing in importance to manage carcinogen exposure from modern synthetic materials burned during training. On the tech front, partnerships with companies like Simtek are advancing gas-fueled props and thermal imaging tools that provide instant feedback on fire suppression and search patterns within training towers.

For more information, visit www.firefacilities.com.

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