Fredenberg Volunteer Fire Department

05/27/2026

Thank you Eagle’s Nest!

Proceeds from playing e-tabs and pull tabs at our establishment will benefit 501c3's that we partner with such as the Fredenberg Volunteer Fire Department. Have fun.

05/22/2026

We would like to thank everyone who came to our pancake breakfast on fishing opener. We would also like to thank all the businesses and individuals who donated towards our event. We were able to get a good start towards obtaining funding towards the purchase of a Lucas 3 mechanical CPR machine. Thank you for your contributions.

05/21/2026

A huge thank you to all our volunteers during EMS week. You go above and beyond in helping those in our area who need help. You are appreciated.

There is a side of EMS most people never see.

They see the ambulance roll by. They see the lights bounce off the houses. They hear the siren for a few seconds, then the night gets quiet again.

But inside that rig, someone’s whole world may be coming apart. A father who can’t catch his breath. A mother clutching her chest. A child burning up with fever. A teenager wrapped around a steering wheel. A husband holding his wife’s hand, looking at the people in uniform like they might have the answer to the worst question he has ever had to ask.

And then there are the ones in the back of that rig.

The EMT. The paramedic. The firefighter who crossed over into medical because helping people once the fire was out still wasn’t enough.

They climb into that small space with a stranger and become the calm in the middle of everything breaking loose. They read the monitor. They listen to lung sounds. They start the IV. They give the medication. They manage the airway. They watch the clock. They talk to each other. They talk to the patient. They talk to the family. They make decisions that matter while the road is moving underneath them and someone’s life is sitting right there in their hands.

That's not just a ride to the hospital. That's responsibility.

And for a lot of them, it doesn’t even come with the kind of paycheck people would expect for that kind of weight. For some, it comes with no paycheck at all. Just a pager on the nightstand. A radio in the kitchen. A family that knows dinner might get cold and bedtime might happen without them.

So why do they do it? That’s the part that’s hard to explain.

Maybe somewhere along the way, they were the one who needed saving. Maybe they watched someone else step up, and it changed them. Maybe they found purpose in a place where most people only see pain.

Maybe they learned that redemption does not always come in church pews or clean endings. Sometimes it comes in the back of a rescue unit at 2 in the morning, when nobody knows your name, nobody sees what you did, and you still give everything you have because someone needed you.

EMS is not soft work. It will test your mind. It will test your heart. It will test your patience, your faith, your sleep, your family, and sometimes your ability to keep walking back through the door. But they do. They keep showing up.

For the chest pain call. For the rollover. For the lift assist. For the overdose. For the stroke. For the cardiac arrest. For the person who’s scared, hurting, embarrassed, angry, confused, or alone.

They show up because deep down, they know something most people never have to think about. When life turns cruel without warning, somebody has to be willing to meet it head-on.

This EMS Week, we honor the people who do exactly that. The paid crews. The volunteers. The EMTs. The paramedics. The firefighters who carry both sets of gear and both kinds of burden.

You are more than transportation. You are more than a uniform. You are more than the few minutes people see from the outside.

You are the calm voice in the worst moment. You are the hands that start hope moving again. You are the reason someone gets another chance.

And that matters more than most people will ever know!

-PJ Cummings

05/19/2026

Beautiful heartfelt thanks to firefighters.

05/16/2026

Another day of critical fire weather. Please don’t burn!

Our department was busy helping out in Lake County yesterday and are back there again today to help contain the wildfires.

05/14/2026

05/14/2026

This….

The Reason He Stayed

He didn’t know what he was looking for when he first walked in. Most people don’t.

They call it service because that’s the word everyone understands. It sounds clean. Respectable. Easy to explain. But sometimes the truth is messier than that. Sometimes a person walks into a firehouse because something in their own life feels unfinished.

Maybe they’re trying to prove something. Maybe they’re trying to become someone. Maybe they’re tired of feeling ordinary. Maybe they’ve spent years carrying things they never knew how to say out loud, and for the first time, they find a room full of people who don’t ask them to explain all of it. They just hand them a job.

“Hold this. Pull that. Watch your back. Trust me. I’ve got you.”

And somehow, in the middle of all that noise and pressure and imperfection, something inside them starts to settle. Not because the fire service fixes everything. It doesn’t. It won’t save a marriage by itself. It won’t erase grief. It won’t make a hard childhood disappear. It won’t quiet every doubt or make a person feel whole overnight. But it gives the pain somewhere useful to go.

That’s the part people miss. There are men and women in firehouses all over this country who have carried disappointment, failure, loss, anger, loneliness, and fear into that building. They have sat through meetings with things on their mind nobody else could see. They have laughed with the crew while quietly wondering if they were falling apart. They have answered calls while fighting battles of their own.

And still, they showed up for someone else. That's not a small thing.

There is something powerful about being needed when you don’t feel like you have much left. There is something sacred about becoming steady for someone else when your own life feels anything but steady.

Some people find their faith in a church pew. Some find it in a quiet room. Some find it years later, standing beside people who would never let them carry the weight alone. And maybe that is why they stay. Not because every call is dramatic. Not because every night feels meaningful. Not because anyone says thank you often enough.

They stay because service gives shape to the parts of them they thought were broken. It teaches them that courage is not always loud. That purpose is not always obvious. That family is not always blood. That healing does not always happen by stepping away from hard things. Sometimes it happens by walking straight into them with people beside you.

And over time, the reason changes. What started as curiosity becomes responsibility. What started as wanting to belong becomes being counted on. What started as a way to prove yourself becomes a way to give yourself away.

That’s the why! It is not one moment. It is not one call. It is not one story.

It is the slow realization that your life is bigger when it is connected to someone else’s need. It’s knowing that even on the days you question everything, there is still a place where your presence matters. A place where your hands can help. Your voice can calm. Your strength can lift. Your name can mean something to people who may never know the full story of what it cost you to be there.

That is why they continue to serve. Because somewhere along the way, they stopped asking, “What am I getting out of this?” And started understanding the better question...

“Who would I be without it?” 🚒

-PJ Cummings

05/08/2026

Don’t let your fire be the one that gets away this fishing opener! ❤️‍🔥🐦‍🔥
Fire danger has been increasing due to dry and windy weather.

Follow these wildfire prevention tips to drastically reduce the chances of your fire getting away.

Always:
• Keep it small, not tall. Campfires should be 3 feet high by 3 feet wide or smaller.
• Build campfires in a fire pit or rock ring to keep it contained.
• Clear all flammable material 5 feet around the fire.
• Always stay by your fire.
• Make sure it’s out cold. If it’s too hot to touch, it’s too hot to leave!

Play it safe; if fire danger is high or the weather is dry and windy, consider foregoing the campfire this weekend.

Learn more about campfire safety at www.dnr.state.mn.us/wildfire/prevention/campfiresafety.html

02/02/2026

As you probably have heard by now we had quite the call last night. There was a press conference recorded by local media and a press release put out on hermantownmn.com and we'll let that speak to the facts of the incident. However HFD would like to send out a huge thanks to all of our public safety partners that helped us last night. Duluth Minnesota Fire Department , 148th Fighter Wing Fire Department, Proctor Fire Dept., Canosia Fire Dept., Fredenberg Fire Dept, St Louis County Rescue Squad , St Louis County Sheriff's Dept, St Louis County Dispatch, Hermantown Police Department, Proctor PD, Duluth PD, MN DNR, MN Power, MN Energy Resources, St Louis County Emergency Management, Red Cross, City of Hermantown and Hermantown Public Works, Mayo Clinic Ambulance Service.

Additionally, thank you to the neighbors who ran over to assist in the evacuations and to give people temporary shelter until a central site could be coordinated.

Lastly, thank you to this great community as a whole. We know people have reached out to help the people who have lost everything. We also had food and drinks supplied to the working crews all night and morning to keep us going.