By Logan Wells, News Director | Logan@kymnradio.net
In October, the Northfield Area Fire and Rescue Services (NAFRS) was called to a fire at POST, formerly Malt-O-Meal. Fire Chief Tom Nelson noted that calls happen like this a few times a year:
“It seems like it’s a fire, typically in one of their process pieces of equipment. The big thing that makes whatever kind of cereal it is. You know, and think of it like a mill or like a grain elevator where they’re processing grains. And so that’s organic and it can burn just like we’re talking about cooking.” Northfield Area Fire Chief Tom Nelson on the KYMN Morning Show
Nelson was Northfield’s first full-time Fire Chief; in that role, he is also Northfield’s Fire Code official. Nelson noted that in this role, he was able to follow up on issues at POST regarding future fire safety issues. POST is unique compared to most fire calls because it is a food production facility, and specific cleaning standards must be maintained for food. After having a follow-up meeting, Nelson noted that the Fire Department and Post are true partners working together to prevent future fires:
“They’re our partners because it’s in their best interest to get the plant running again, to prevent this stuff; get us in and out. And they always sit down with us afterwards And so I brought kind of a list together and said, can we get this, this and this, can you change the programming so that these doors open?” – Northfield Area Fire Chief Tom Nelson on the KYMN Morning Show
Nelson thanked POST because many industries have different amounts of partnerships with other local Fire Departments.
We will talk about Nelson’s role as Fire Code Official in future news stories and its effect on Northfield.
