CIRCLE PINES, Minn. – (Feb. 11, 2016) – As of the end of January, the Centennial Fire District was officially a two city operation with the withdrawal of Lino Lakes. The transition period went as smoothly as could be expected and now Centennial is living in its new reality.
One of the biggest changes for Centennial was the loss of its fire station in Lino Lakes. The station on Lake Drive was the location of its administration offices and training space as well as a home for many firefighters. “The firefighters that were out of the Lino Lakes station were most affected…you are basically tearing them away from there home” said Centennial Fire Chief Harlan Lundstrom.
With the firefighters who previously responding out of the Lino station deciding to remain with Centennial the district has very strong numbers and will not need to recruit members for the foreseeable future. “We are currently at 50 firefighters.”
As a part of the split with Lino Lakes the assets of the fire district were distributed out to the member cities. Chief Lundstrom is confident that the remaining equipment is enough to get the job done.
Now that the transition phase is over the focus for Centennial has shifted to what’s next. “We need to look at what it is that we need to rebuild. We did lose our training facility, that was the Lino Lakes station. So currently we are training at Good Sheppard Church and then we are also going to utilize Centennial High School for training as well.”
A part of the future planning for Centennial will be to identify potential future partnerships as Chief Lundstrom still strongly believes in the shared fire service model. “It is so much more cost effective to have multiple cities involved. It is huge benefits I think for everybody not to have that full cost of a fire department. The more you can take away from the cost because you have more partners, it is just better for everybody.”
For now the Centennial Fire District will continue to serve the residents and businesses of Circle Pines and Centerville, with a commitment to provide the same level of services as they always have. Chief Lundstrom concluded by assuring residents that “we are still a very strong department.”