Emergency: dial 911. The fire department has no public business line. Non-emergency questions go through City Hall, 507-789-6415; funding requests from local organizations go to fire@cityofkenyon.gov.
Kenyon has no full-time firefighters. It has about thirty people with other jobs who carry a pager, and a station at 620 Centennial Drive with seven trucks in it. That covers the city and seven townships. In 2024 it came to 215 responses and 3,112 firefighter hours — roughly six responses a week, nine firefighters on an average call.
- Members
- About 30, all paid-on-call volunteers
- Chief
- Wayne Ehrich, who is also the city's public works superintendent
- Assistant chief
- Jeremy Eggert
- Station
- 620 Centennial Drive, opened June 2017
- Area covered
- Kenyon and seven townships; 118.5 township sections
- Apparatus
- Seven trucks: 3 pumpers, 2 tankers, a grass rig, a rescue truck
- Responses
- 215 in 2024, 168 in 2025
- Fire fund, 2026
- $237,782, of which the townships pay $93,785
- Emergency
- 911
The station and the trucks
The station opened in June 2017 with an open house that drew between 350 and 400 people; Mayor Mike Engel and the fire officers cut the ribbon and the Kenyon Veterans Color Guard raised the flag. Before it, the department's trucks were kept in three separate places and its hoses were laid on the ground and turned by hand to dry. The new building put every truck under one roof and added a hose tower, a commercial washer for pulling carcinogens out of turnout gear, offices for the chief and the treasurer, a file room and a trophy case. The firefighters were still fundraising for the kitchen appliances when they opened the doors. The building is also the city's polling place.
The drawings are to one scale and are diagrams, not photographs: no picture of Kenyon's own trucks is published anywhere this site can reach. Each is labelled with the unit it stands for.
The city's page counts seven trucks — three pumpers, two tankers, a grass rig and a rescue truck. The books are more specific. Every vehicle below comes from the city's own 2021 Capital Improvement Plan, with the tanker ordered in 2024 added from the purchase contract.
| Unit | Year and make | In service | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Engine 1 | 2015 Rosenbauer “Minnesota” pumper | 2015 | $384,834 |
| Engine 2 (663) | 1997 Ford F700 | 1997 | $150,000 |
| Engine 3 (660) | 1983 Chevrolet | 1983 | $100,000 |
| Tanker 664 | 2009 Pierce Contender DX on a Kenworth chassis | 2008 | $150,840 |
| Tanker 666 | 1988 Chevrolet TC70 | 1988 | $75,000 |
| Tanker, on order | Midwest Fire All-Poly 3,000-gallon on a Freightliner 108SD tandem axle | on order | $297,757 |
| Mini pumper 661 | 2000 Ford F550 | 2000 | $100,000 |
| Grass rig 665 | 2005 Ford F350 pickup | 2004 | $33,367 |
| Utility 662 | 1997 Ford one-ton pickup | 1997 | $75,000 |
| Ambulance | 1997 Ford E Super Duty RV ambulance | 2011 | — |
Cost is the figure carried in the Capital Improvement Plan: the purchase price, not a current value. Sources: 9-8-21 special council packet p. 6; Midwest Fire purchase contract, 5-14-24 packet pp. 89–94.
Four of those rows carry a story. Engine 1, the 2015 Rosenbauer, is the most expensive thing the department owns on wheels. Engine 3, a 1983 Chevrolet, ran out its book life in 2008 and is still on the roster. Tanker 666, the 1988 Chevrolet, depreciated out in 2013 — it is the truck the relief association told the council in 2023 it wanted to replace, and the Midwest Fire tanker ordered in May 2024 is the replacement: $188,940 for the All-Poly tank body, $118,264 for the Freightliner chassis, less a $9,447 Sourcewell discount, built 300 business days after the chassis reaches Luverne.
Beyond the trucks:
- Heavy rescue extrication equipment
- A thermal imaging camera
- A four-gas air monitor, used above all for carbon monoxide
- NFPA-approved turnout gear and full interior firefighting equipment
- SCBA breathing apparatus, replaced in 2023–24 at $116,805, with a $39,640 filling compressor
The department belongs to Southeastern Minnesota Region 15, the Minnesota State Fire Department Association, the Minnesota State Fire Chiefs Association, the International and Minnesota associations of arson investigators, the National Fire Protection Association and the National Association of Fire Investigators.
The call record
The fire chief brings a response report to the council every autumn, because the townships' bills are calculated from it. Two years of it are below. Responses fell from 215 to 168 between them; the structure fires barely moved, from eleven to nine.
| Where | 2024 responses | 2024 FF hours | 2025 responses | 2025 FF hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Kenyon | 136 | 2,195 | 105 | 1,235 |
| Kenyon Township | 20 | 287 | 17 | 126 |
| Richland Township | 26 | 220 | 17 | 245 |
| Holden Township | 24 | 308 | 22 | 165 |
| Cherry Grove Township | 5 | 51 | 3 | 27 |
| Warsaw Township | 1 | 12 | 3 | 25 |
| Wheeling Township | 2 | 39 | 0 | 0 |
| Wanamingo Township | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Leon Township | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mutual aid, other | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 215 | 3,112 | 168 | 1,823 |
Wanamingo and Leon townships are inside the service area and were quiet in both years. Source: Kenyon V.F.D. response reports dated November 4, 2024 and November 13, 2025.
| Call type | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | 11 | 9 |
| Wild land | 7 | 8 |
| Vehicle | 5 | 2 |
| Farm machinery | 1 | 0 |
| Hazmat | 0 | 0 |
| Rescue | 0 | 0 |
| Miscellaneous | 19 | 9 |
| Fire calls | 43 | 28 |
| Distress | 118 | 110 |
| Injury | 11 | 2 |
| Car accident | 2 | 4 |
| Non-emergency | 14 | 4 |
| Fire and medical | 0 | 1 |
| Medical calls | 145 | 121 |
| Community service | 6 | 2 |
| Combination, medical and fire | 2 | 6 |
Fire and medical calls are counted separately; a combination call is both at once. Source: the same reports.
The busiest single category is distress: 118 medical calls in 2024 and 110 in 2025, more than half of everything the department does. Kenyon runs a first-responder service out of the same roster, and has done since March 1, 2011. Its second-biggest fire category is wild land, which is what a grass rig is for.
What it costs
The department is its own fund in the city's books, fund 203. In 2026 it runs on $237,782: the city levy carries $100,922, the seven townships $93,785 under contract, and the state $43,000 in fire aid and grants. The station itself is not in that figure — it was borrowed for, on a USDA bond that costs the city $115,989 a year until 2057, more than running the department does. The budgets line by line, the township contract and the charge for a call are set out separately.
What the department asks of you
Clear the hydrant
If there is a hydrant near your property, shovel it out when you shovel. The city newsletter carries this reminder every winter, and the reason is that Kenyon's water system was built around 42 double hydrants on about five miles of main. A hydrant buried in a drift has to be dug out before it can be used, and that time comes off the start of the fire.
Get the burning permit
Open burning inside the city needs a permit from City Hall. The application is on this site, at forms/burning-permit, and it routes to the city. A fire the department is called out to put out is billable whether or not anyone asked them to come.
The fire department in the council record
69 meetings mention it, 870 times in all; the most recent 14 below; each date opens the packet or minutes scrolled to that exact mention.
- September 8, 2026 packetand therefore, wishes to return the $90,000 transferred in 2025 to the Fire Fund
- August 6, 2026 packetGeneral Levy Debt Service Fire Levy Library EDA Capital
- July 14, 2026 packetGeneral Levy Debt Service Fire Levy
- June 9, 2026 packetTotal 2016B GO USDA BOND FIRE HALL $95,681
- May 12, 2026 packetApproval of use of Fire Hall for Community Summer Safety Event – June 2, 2026
- April 12, 2026 packetRequest for use of Fire Hall for a Community Summer Safety Event
- March 10, 2026 packetKenyon Fire Relief Association – Don Kirchmann and Scott
- February 10, 2026 packetKenyon Fire Relief Association – Don Kirchmann and Scott
- December 9, 2025 packetWHEREAS, the Kenyon Fire Relief Association has offered to contribute the cash amounts set
- December 2, 2025 special12-2-25 Township Fire Contracts and Public Budget Mtg
- November 12, 2025 packetTownship Fire Contract Meeting: Tuesday, December 2nd @ 6:00 p
- October 14, 2025 packetWHEREAS, the Kenyon Fire Relief Association has offered to contribute the cash amounts set
- September 9, 2025 packetResolution 2025-14: Accepting Kenyon Fire Relief Association Donations to the City of Kenyon
- August 26, 2025 packetGeneral Levy Debt Service Fire Levy Library EDA
Questions
How do I reach the fire department in an emergency?
Dial 911. The department has no business line of its own; non-emergency questions go to City Hall at 507-789-6415, and funding requests to fire@cityofkenyon.gov.
Is the Kenyon fire department paid or volunteer?
It is a paid-on-call volunteer department of about 30 members. Nobody is employed full time as a firefighter. The chief, Wayne Ehrich, is also the city's public works superintendent. The Sanborn insurance report described it the same way in 1944: "Volunteer. Paid for calls."
Where is the fire station?
620 Centennial Drive, at the north edge of town. The building opened with a public open house in June 2017; 350 to 400 people came through it. It also serves as the city's polling place.
What area does the department cover?
The city of Kenyon and seven townships: Kenyon, Holden, Richland, Cherry Grove, Warsaw, Wheeling and Wanamingo, with Leon also named in the contract. The city's own page calls it 122 square miles; the contractor who built the station and a 2017 radio report both say 90. The contract itself counts township sections, and there are 118.5 of them.
How many calls does it run?
215 responses in 2024 and 168 in 2025. Roughly 63 percent of them are inside the city both years, and roughly seven in ten are medical rather than fire.
Will I be billed if the fire department comes?
The fee schedule sets a $1,000 fire call charge plus equipment time, and the township contract lets the city bill the property owner even when the owner did not call. Unpaid charges can be certified to the county and collected with the property taxes. Insurance covers the charge in most cases.
Who pays for the department?
In the 2026 budget, the city levy carries $100,922, the seven townships $93,785 under contract, state fire aid $33,000 and other state aid $10,000, for a fire fund of $237,782. The townships pay 49 percent of the operational budget in aggregate and the city 51 percent.
What did the fire station cost?
$2,583,395, the figure the city carries for it in the 2021 Capital Improvement Plan, depreciated over 40 years from 2017. It was paid for with a USDA bond: $2,120,000 issued August 28, 2017 at 0.90 percent, maturing in 2057, with $1,889,727 still outstanding at the end of 2025. The two debt funds that service it are named in the city's books for the fire hall, and their 2026 levy is $115,989 — more than the fire department's own operating levy.
Do the townships have a say in how it is run?
They pay, and the contract gives them an annual joint meeting, access to five years of fire cost data, and notice of anything that would change the insurance fire protection grade. They own none of the equipment and carry no responsibility for the firefighters. Either side can end the contract on 120 days' notice.
Can I join if I live outside the city?
The rules do not require residence in the city, only that you are 18, in good standing, licensed and certified. What matters in practice is being close enough to the hall to make calls.
Is there a pension?
Yes, through the Kenyon Firemen's Relief Association. It is a defined-contribution plan: state fire aid, the city's levy and the association's own fundraising go into a special fund and are divided among members in good standing. Ten years vests 60 percent, twenty years vests 100 percent.
How does the department raise money?
A June dance, a Rose Fest pancake breakfast, bingo on the third Thursday of the month, and, since the council moved the premises permits in November 2023, pull-tabs and e-tabs at the Muni. The relief association's gross receipts went from $163,000 in fiscal 2024 to $1.99 million in fiscal 2025 on the strength of the gambling.
What should I do about the hydrant in front of my house?
Clear the snow away from it when you shovel. The department asks for this every winter in the city newsletter. A buried hydrant has to be dug out before it can be used, and that time comes off the start of the fire.
Can I burn brush in town?
Only with a burning permit from the city. The application is on this site and routes to City Hall.
How do I get a copy of a fire report?
Through the police department's data request form; a police or fire report is $35 under the 2026 fee schedule.
Sources: City of Kenyon fire department page and 2026 fee schedule; Kenyon V.F.D. 2024 and 2025 response reports and the 2025 township fire contract, council packets of December 3, 2024 and December 2, 2025; fire fund revenue and expense summaries of October 20, 2025; fire department standard operating guidelines of February 2021 and relief association by-laws, council packets of November 9, 2021 and June 9, 2026; 2025 city audit; IRS Form 990 and Minnesota Gambling Control Board filings for the Kenyon Firemen's Relief Association; Franklyn Curtiss-Wedge, History of Goodhue County (1909), pp. 205–206; Sanborn Map Company, Kenyon, Minn., May 1933 revised May 1944, Library of Congress; KDHL Radio, June 26, 2017; USDA Rural Development, Community Facilities Direct Loan and Grant Program. Compiled September 14, 2026. This site is independent of the City of Kenyon and of the fire department.