Jan. 24—MITCHELL — The city’s firefighting roster is changing faces and making history, thanks to an internal promotion inside the Mitchell Fire Department.
Effective Jan. 21, former battalion lieutenant Tiffany Boehmer became the assistant fire chief and the first female in a leadership role at the Mitchell Fire Department. She is second in command and reports directly to Fire and EMS Chief Dan Pollreisz.
“I just want to help Dan progress the department,” Boehmer said. “We have pretty similar ideas on where we want to go and kind of how we want to get there. My end goal is when he retires to become chief, but hopefully that’s a ways down the road.”
Boehmer, 33, lives in Parkston with her husband. She has been with the Mitchell Fire Department for eight years as a firefighter and paramedic, and most recently was the battalion lieutenant on B Shift, which is a supervisory role over a group of six people.
“She has proven herself from the get-go,” Pollreisz said. “She will be faithful to the department and to the citizens. She believes in the fire service, and you have to believe in what you are doing.”
While the Mitchell Fire Department promotes its first female in a leadership role, the change is also bringing on a refreshed focus on safety and technique. The new position will assume the administrative duties of the current fire marshal while putting building inspections on the task list for the city’s fire department battalions. This enables fire crews to be familiar with building structures and layouts in case of a fire emergency, which has been the most common factor in deaths of firefighters in the nation, according to Pollreisz.
Nearly 400 businesses in Mitchell need to be inspected annually by the fire department. The call volume in recent years has put more inspections in the hands of the fire marshal, because fire crews were away on calls. This means firefighters were less familiar with locations of doors and exits within Mitchell businesses, which could be a matter of life and death in the firefighter profession.
In the Mitchell Fire Department, there have been many injuries over the years, from burns to broken bones to a broken back, but fortunately, no deaths in recent history. The department is a relatively young department, with an average on the job experience of five years per firefighter.
“Injuries are not often, but it does happen. I was at the (Coca-Cola) plant and it was on fire, and not knowing where the loading dock was, I injured myself,” Pollreisz said. “Nationwide — not knowing the layout is certainly a reason for firefighter injuries and death.”
In 2020, the City Council approved a major departmental overhaul of the then-Public Safety Department of the city, effectively separating the fire and police divisions into two unique departments with their own chiefs. There was no assistant fire chief position under this restructuring.
Earlier this month, the Mitchell City Council approved changing the city code to remove all instances of the term fire marshal. Instead it designates those duties to the fire/EMS chief or anyone to whom the chief delegates duties. City Administrator Stephanie Ellwein said this was part of a greater restructuring within the fire department to give the fire chief more flexibility for distributing duties, but did not go into details.
On Jan. 8, an assistant fire chief job listing was advertised. The full-time position has a starting salary of $87,099 per year, according to the job listing. It is $1,686 more than the starting salary level of the fire marshal position at $85,413.
Boehmer will assist the chief in setting policy, directing operations, and developing the department. She will submit reports to the fire incident report system and to governmental agencies, maintain departmental records and apply for grants. The assistant fire chief will guide group tours at the fire station, speak to kids at schools on how to prevent fires, and focus on adding more certifications to the department.
Firefighters go through recertifications every two years to keep their jobs. The training budget under Pollreisz has increased so that firefighters can also be up to date on building code changes and how to fight electrical fires when an electric-powered car catches on fire, which may become more common in the region with the increased sales of electrical cars in recent years throughout the country.
“Dan has a lot of big plans for the department,” Boehmer said, “and I really just want to help him with that. He’s talked about getting the department into South Dakota Task Force 1. So I want to try to get us there.”
Task Force 1 is an urban search and rescue program from the state that focuses on hazardous materials situations. Boehmer recounted how members of Task Force 1 were deployed to a building collapse in Sioux Falls to rescue people from the wreckage. Watertown, Sioux Falls, Aberdeen and Rapid City’s fire departments are a part of the initiative.
“A majority of our current firefighters are swift water certified,” Pollreisz said. “We would be an asset to Task Force 1 for rescues during flooding. The main full-time career departments have their own specializations. Aberdeen is one of the only ones in the state with a disaster paramedic level of training. Rapid City has a live scent dog for building collapses. For us, it’s a water rescue.”
Boehmer takes over the administrative duties of Fire Marshal Shannon Sandoval, who has been in that position since 2018. Sandoval started with the department in 2015 as a firefighter and paramedic. He will work in tandem with Boehmer to transition her into her new role, and continue with the department as a firefighter and paramedic.
Pollreisz said that both Sandoval and Boehmer will maintain credentials as arson investigators for the city.
“Shannon went back to the floor because it was easier for their conflicting schedules at home,” Pollreisz said.
Sandoval, who is 36, and his wife, Beth, have three young children. He said emphasizing his family was the most important aspect to the decision to turn down the assistant fire chief role.
“It would have been easy to step into the assistant fire chief position, but staying home with my kids is the most important thing and that’s why I turned it down,” Sandoval said.
“Tiffany is going to be great. She is super motivated, and has been through a ton of leadership training. I think she is a great fit for our department,” Sandoval added.