Wisconsin communities served by the Red Wing Fire Department were presented with the organization’s annual report, which sheds light on services provided in the area.

The Red Wing Fire Department provides ambulance service in southern Pierce County townships.

Fire Chef Mike Warner reported on a challenging year, due to COVID-19. He said that in early 2020, with word of a “strange virus,” the department worked to secure personal protective equipment.

“We were able to get ahead of the problem,” he said. “Paramedics deal with infectious diseases every time they respond to a call, but this was different. The speed at which COVID-19 was spreading was unprecedented. As with the entire world, the Red Wing Fire Department was reacting to the new changes. We stopped all inperson training. We required full PPE on all calls. We separated the paid on-calls and career firefighters as much as possible to ensure we had backups in place. We appeared to be in survival mode. There was a fear that was hanging over all of our heads.”

He credits the department staff for helping move the community through the pandemic safely.

“I never once watched anyone give up, complain or not respond when we were called upon for service,” he said. “This truly exemplifies the type of people we have working for Red Wing Fire Department.”

The fire department’s ambulance service covers 262 square miles in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Overall, there were 3,751 emergency calls in 2020. Of those, 2,991 were Emergency Medical Service calls.

Calls to Pierce County communities break down as follows: Hager City 44 Bay City 15 Diamond Bluff 6 Trenton 3 Maiden Rock 2 Hartland 2 Isabelle 1 Ellsworth 1 Of the total calls, 48 percent are transported to a hospital emergency room, 24 percent are transported between medical facilities and people are treated on the scene 28 percent of the time.