“It’s been a fun career,” said Olson.
Glen’s father was the Assistant Chief in Fridley while he was growing up, and Glen decided that was something he wanted to do as well. “I got married, we moved to Lino Lakes and it was just something that I wanted to do. It looked like it was something exciting, something to serve the community with and a great camaraderie. There was a lot of things the fire department did that I wanted to become involved in,” said Olson.
And now, more than three decades later, he still can remember what it was like to be a new firefighter, and he remembers all the fear and the excitement that came with the first fire call.
“I was a rookie, just finished up my firefighter one which is a lot different now than firefighter one back then, and a call came in for a structure fire over on Sunrise [Drive]. Still remember the house and we got there and it was me and another firefighter, Lance Olson, who is no longer with the department. We were the first two on the attack line so the fire was rocking and the doors were locked. Lance put down the door and it was a march inside. Kind of an adventure for a first run because no two houses are the same for floor plans and visibility is not very good at all so we had our excitement on the first one and had our first knockdown,” said Olson.
But now, as he thinks about the calls he’s responded to, he says that the amount of fire calls have gone down as the years have passed, and what the fire service does is much more complex than simply knocking down flames.
“We go to a number of crashes on freeways and local highways and streets. Home medicals is very common, chest pains, difficulty breathing, illnesses, those types of things. I was fortunate enough to become a part of four baby deliveries. At this point I hold the record in the department and being accused of showing off at this point.,” said Olson. “We see so many people check out, people don’t call us until something’s really bad in their life, grandpa’s having a heart attack or someone is not doing well. In a firefighter’s career you see so many people pass and it’s really kind of special to bring new life in so being a part of those four deliveries is really kind of cool,” said Olson.
But on those bad calls, that might not go as hoped…some so bad that firefighters might consider calling it quits, they are surrounded by many levels of support. Support that helps all of the firefighters from time to time.
“There’s been some calls that you become mechanical, you do the job and you’re crying on the way home. The department is very supportive, we have a program for critical instant stress debriefing and that happened as a result of two young boys die in a fire early in my career so occasionally you get this call where you say okay that’s it Then you show up for the next call and these firefighters are there for you and you just keep going,” said Olson.
Another way Glen was able to keep serving the community through all the years was with the endless support of his family, who accepted the times when he had to leave them to go help others.
“My wife, my son, and my daughter they really have to be a part of me when I’m doing this because there is times, usually the pager goes off at supper time, Thanksgiving, Christmas, those types of things and you have to make a decision and the family is very supportive. Pushes you out the door sometimes, go to the call, we’ll catch up with you later,” said Olson.
The support of his family, along with the support of his fellow firefighters has been instrumental in his path. “It’s been a fun 30 years. A firefighter goes through a lot of emotions in his time of service and I’ve been through them all and these people with their hooks behind me have gone through the same thing and if they haven’t they sure will,” said Olson.
After weighing retirement for a few years, he finally decided that the time was right. “In the back of my mind last fall I was going to retire and this spring I was going to retire. We’ve gone through some leadership changes in the department. We’ve got Chief Harlan Lundstrom taking the helm at the department now so I feel comfortable leaving, that was one thing I was waiting for,” said Olson.
As he prepares to step away from the fire service, he is not stepping away from firefighting completely. He plans to continue teaching with the Anoka County Fire Training Academy, and to continue working with the state’s fire board to test and certify firefighters. “Even though I’m leaving, I’m staying in it on my schedule, not the pager schedule is a good way to put it,” said Olson.
He knows he’ll miss responding to calls, and helping his community, but even more than that, he says, he will miss the men and women he has gotten to know so well over more than 30 years.
“The people I think. The calls, there’s been some great calls. In order for those calls to work we had to have great people doing the job on it. I think the camaraderie is going to be the memorable thing. The firefighters that we have now and the firefighters that have moved on, I’ve seen a lot of people come through the department in my years. I’ll miss all those guys, I’ll miss coming through the doors and meeting them at a scene, that’s going to be the tough part,” said Olson.
