Volunteer Spotlight: Kathy Weiand

Name: Kathy Weiand
Title: Chief
Department: Buyck Volunteer Fire Department
Location: Buyck, MN

Why are you an NVFC member?
A lot of great information. Also, I love hearing from other departments and how everyone handles situations.

What is your occupation?
Self-employed business owner.

Why are you a fire service volunteer?
Mostly to do everything I can for this community. I love this small town! I also saw that the department needed to grow or there was a chance we would lose it, which turned out to be very rewarding as I found out how much the community supports our department. I’m partly with the fire service because my dad was a volunteer fireman when I was growing up for over 25 years.

What year did you join the fire or emergency services?
2010

What are your memorable moments as a firefighter or EMS provider?
Seeing the support from the residents of the community and their appreciation of us. With EMS, it was my first call that was memorable. It was a Sunday and a tourist stopped me when I was at the fire hall as they didn’t know what to do because their Great Dane had gotten into a bee nest and had been stung and his face was swollen. I gave them some liquid Benadryl for him, which helped. The gratitude on their face will always stay with me.

What contributions have you (and your department) made in your community?
We’ve not only kept the department going, but increased our membership and added equipment to keep up with the changes in the community, including snowmobiles and side-by-sides to do rescues on the trails that we don’t have access to with our trucks. We increased our EMS crew four-fold since I joined, which has helped the community tremendously as we have four times more EMS than fire calls. We also cleared land and made a beautiful landing zone for the air medical helicopters in our community so they have a safe place to land.

Interested in serving your community? Find volunteer fire service opportunities at www.makemeafirefighter.org.