BLAINE, Minn. – (April 28, 2016) – After 34 years in the Spring Lake Park – Blaine – Mounds View Fire Department, Chief Nyle Zikmund is retiring.
“You wake up everyday and you don’t even think you are going to work, because it’s just one fulfillment after another,” said SBM Fire Chief Nyle Zikmund.
“My parents had installed a pretty strong sense of civic duty, involved in scouts, involved in church and I thought it’d be fun, that was the attraction,” said Zikmund.
He might not remember the training, but he does remember a few calls early in his career that changed the way he thought about firefighting. One of these fires was an arson fire on Oak Park Boulevard in Blaine.
“We were the first crew, it was a day call. We went in to knock the fire down and I thought this is pretty cool. On the attack line with the captain we would crawl, find the fire, put it out. After we got it out and the smoke cleared we were able to see we came within inches of falling down a stairway. It had a railing around it but the railing had burnt away. We were sweeping with our hands so hopefully that would have saved us but when you’re sweeping and leaning on it you go in. That clearly woke me up and you’re young, eager, ambitious fighting a fire and that’s where I realized you better really pay attention,” said Zikmund.
After a few years under his belt responding to fires, he got an idea. That’s when he first thought about making a career out of firefighting.
“I was sitting there cutting the grass Chief Fagerstrom talked about retiring in five years and I thought ‘well that might be a good thing to do, work full time for the fire department’,” said Zikmund.
Shortly after that, he was able to become a full time employee and then the fire chief. Now, as Chief Zikmund walks around the fire department and talks about what he and others have accomplished, his pride in their achievements is clear.
“I look at some of the things we were able to accomplish here at SBM and first on the list is the safety record that we’ve had,” said Zikmund.
With the improvements in equipment and training, the department has an impressive safety records for their firefighters. But it’s not only the safety of department, but also the safety of the community that they serve.
“Lots and lots of mobile home fires when I first got on, we had 30-40 a winter. The codes have changed the construction has changed and they’ve just made them much safer plus their is a lot more prevention. That became one of my key prevention programs was a manufactured house,” said Zikmund.
But, one code that hasn’t changed in home safety is in home sprinklers.
“I think my biggest disappointment is how difficult it’s been to move forward the issue of residential sprinklers,” said Zikmund. And for Chief Zikmund, home sprinklers are not only the smart choice, but also a choice that saved a life. “We had a fire at our house, our house is still there today, my life is still alive today because we had a residential sprinkler system. If the fire chief can have a fire in his house with a house that meets and exceeds all codes, anybody can have one.”
Even though he leaves with some disappointment that he wasn’t able to encourage legal changes in building codes for sprinklers, he has been a successful leader of a fire department that is full of support, education, and camaraderie.
“The most gratifying thing is creating an environment where people have not only met but they’ve exceeded their potential. So they come here like I did naive, some are young and some are old, we’ve hired 53-year-old people, but they come here with dreams and helping them live that dream and seeing that gratification, that fulfillment, if by far the most fulfilling thing.”
“You hear the best thing in life is to get to do a job you love to do because it doesn’t seem like work and 34 years total, 22 I got to serve full time, it’s been a dream. It’s been incredibly fulfilling,” said Zikmund.
