Rochester Fire Department

Contact Information

201 4th Street SE
Room 10
Rochester, Mn 55904 (Map)

Phone: 507-328-2800

Mon-Fri 8:00 am to 5:00 pm

Department Contacts


Administration Division

The Rochester Fire Department's Administrative Division is headed up by Deputy Chief Lyle Felsch and is made up of two sections, Fire Prevention and Administrative Services.  Chief Felsch has a BA degree in Business Administration - Marketing from Winona State University and is a graduate of the Executive Fire Officer program from the National Fire Academy.  He is also a Certified Fire Investigator, Fire Inspector, Fire Instructor, and EMT.  Chief Felsch has 30 years of experience in the fire service, 26 years in fire code enforcement, investigation and fire safety education.   He has held his current position as Deputy Fire Chief since 1992.

Administrative Services

The Rochester Fire Department's Administrative Services is managed by Curt Pronk. Curt's responsibilities include managing the fire department's budget including purchasing, facilities, fleet maintenance, communications, information technology,along with grant writing, and strategic planning. Curt has a Bachelor's Degree in Business and a Master's Degree in Organization Management. He has 22 years of management and insurance experience and is certified in Risk Management and Claims Management.

Administrative Services also includes an on-staff mechanic, Fred Rhodes, who is responsible for maintaining the department fleet of apparatus and staff vehicles and assists in writing specifications and for new equipment purchases.

Fire Prevention Bureau

The Rochester Fire Department's Fire Prevention Bureau (FPB) is responsible for fire inspection, fire investigation, public fire safety education programs and public information. These include the adoption and enforcement of fire codes, plans review of new construction, inspection of buildings both new and existing, fire cause investigation and public safety education in schools, businesses and neighborhood groups.

The FPB is headed up by Fire Marshal Vance Swisher. Vance has a BS degree in Fire Protection and a MS degree in Fire and Emergency Management Administration, both from Oklahoma State University. Vance is also enrolled in the Executive Fire Officer Program at the National Fire Academy. Vance supervises and manages the fire prevention and code enforcement activities of the department, devoting much of his time toward new construction and fire protection equipment installation plans review, fire code interpretation and responding to citizen concerns.

FPB staff perform building inspections, fire investigations and public education classes as needed. They are trained and qualified to perform fire code inspections, fire origin and cause fire investigations and public education classes in all areas of fire and life safety.

The goal of the Fire Prevention Bureau is to:
Recognize current public safety risks within the community through investigation of actual incidents, statistical analysis, and work to reduce the number and severity of these threats through public education and code enforcement initiatives.

Code Enforcement

Routine fire safety surveys of businesses are conducted by line fire fighters along with the building pre-plan surveys of high risk commercial and public building within the city. Fire Prevention Bureau staff acts as support for the line fire fighters in fire code issues and will follow up on specific complaints or technical fire code violations referred from the line personnel and the public.

Assistant Fire Marshal's Dennis Olson and Jason Whitney are responsible for inspection of schools, residential properties, automatic fire extinguishing systems and properties requiring a Fire Department permit such as garages, filling stations, hazardous materials sites, restaurants and night clubs. They works closely with the Housing Inspection Division of the Building and Safety Department, Olmsted County Health Inspectors and Deputy State Fire Marshals.

Fire Marshal Vance Swisher is responsible to review new construction plans, meet with architects and contractors, inspect and approve all fire protection equipment systems installed, and act as the "code specialist" providing code interpretation services and Board of Appeals liaison.

Fire Investigation

The cause of routine fires are determined by the responding incident commander or fire fighters at the fire scene. When no cause can be readily determined by fire fighters or when a fire appears suspicious or intentionally set, an investigator is requested to conduct a formal fire cause investigation.

Fire Prevention Bureau staff are trained in fire cause investigation techniques, have completed fire investigation training at the National Fire Academy, Minnesota BCA and other training through the Mn. Chapter of the International Association of Arson Investigators (IAAI).  Rochester fire investigators work closely with Police and Sheriff Department investigators, Deputy State Fire Marshals and other agencies in the course of an investigation.

When a fire is suspected to be an arson, investigators may post the scene for reward offered by the Mn. Arson Reward Project - IAAI sign shown above. Rewards are offered now up to $2500 for persons providing information leading to the arrest of an arsonist anywhere in the State of Minnesota.  Callers simply dial 1-800-273-2020 posted and identify the fire date, time and location and information about the suspect.  All information offered remains confidential and  local fire or police need only confirm the actual fire incident.
Juvenile Fire Setter intervention services are also provided through Fire Prevention Bureau staff.  When juvenile fire setting behavior is identified through investigations or by referral, a staff person will meet with parents and the child to determine the level of intervention required and will make recommendations or referrals to see that the child receives the needed counsiling or education necessary to reduce recidivism.

Public Fire Safety Education

Public fire safety education is the responsibility of every member of the Rochester Fire Department.  Firefighters conduct fire safety and fire extinguisher classes throughout the year for employees of Rochester businesses and neighborhood groups. They also conduct tours of the fire stations and respond to routine requests for fire safety information.
The Rochester Fire Department operates a mobile Safety House which is used to teach home fire safety, fire exit drills and other "Risk Watch" behaviors.  This new model Safety House will also be used to demonstrate to home owners the effectiveness of residential fire sprinklers and severe storm warning take cover lessons.  It is operated by a 2-3 fire fighters during community celebrations, block parties, safety camps and especially in the schools throughout the year.
Public Safety Education is considered key to long term fire and life safety risk reduction within the community.  It is for that reason that the Rochester Fire Department recently changed the name of this unit to Risk Reduction Services and is devoting staff resources within the unit toward community safety education.

Fire Prevention Week is always the second week of October and includes fire station open houses, apparatus and equipment demonstrations as well as fire safety and sprinkler demonstrations.


Affiliations:
Rochester Fire Prevention Bureau Staff are members of the following organizations: