New Fire Chief Cites Department’s Exceptional Reputation For Taking Job

(KNSI) – St. Cloud’s newest fire chief is exchanging the beaches of Florida for the lakes of Minnesota. Fort Myers Beach Fire Chief Matt Love will take over the 70-person St. Cloud Fire Department in December. Love, his wife, and two sons visited the area in May, and he says it felt like the right place to be.

“I can’t tell you how excited our family is this. This recruitment, I know they take a long time but it is well worth the weight. When you find the fit that we have found in St. Cloud. Our family is very close to there in both Nebraska and Colorado and we’re certainly Midwest type of people. So when we came out there to interview and learn about the organization, it was just immediately had a good feel to us and felt very comfortable.”

Love was born in Colorado and said he missed seeing snow and the four seasons. Love says he was very impressed with the reputation and professionalism of the St. Cloud Fire Department.

“They are known for a good group of individuals that care about their community and work hard. And that’s just exactly the environment I want to be in. So I’m excited to kind of take that fire department to the next level with some of the experiences I’ve had over the last 22 years. And I think it’s just going to be a really, really good fit.”

Love says he’ll be dedicated to keeping the department’s skills sharp.

“I’m a big training guy. I love getting out there and practicing what we do. You know, the fire service is unique because you probably don’t want to actually have to do what we practice in practice to do when it comes time to do it. My goodness, we need to be near perfect. And so I’m a big believer in that constant training.”

He says he’s also excited to get out and meet the local community.

Love will be helping transition his old department and train a new fire chief there before coming to St. Cloud. Love’s wife is an elementary teacher, and his kids are 10 and 6 years old. They’ll be in the process of looking for a home and moving to the area.

St. Cloud Fire Chief Dean Wrobbel retired in January. The department has been led by interim Chief and former fire chief Bill Mund.

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