Photo courtesy of Insight News

The Minnesota Chapter members welcomed the newly-appointed Fire Chief of Minneapolis, Bryan Tyner, at the March 3rd chapter meeting. Chief Tyner was appointed as the Minneapolis Fire Chief in December. Chief Tyner has served the City of Minneapolis for more than 27 years in a variety of capacities within the department, including Fire Marshal from 2008 – 2012.

Chief Tyner, who was out of town traveling on business, joined the chapter meeting remotely and provided an overview of his service history and the major initiatives for the new position. He listed three major work efforts:

1. A pledge to lead the department with honesty, integrity, and fairness. Those are the cornerstones of his personal philosophies, and he will continue to incorporate them into the work of the department.
2. Grow and develop the leadership of the department. The department had a good succession plan, but the Chief intends to add action to the plan by broadening the experiences of department leaders and developing the leadership talents in younger department members.
3. Modernizing some of the department processes and facilities and “bringing the department into the 21st century.”

The Chief also outlined the importance of department preparations for the upcoming trial of former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin. Minneapolis experienced numerous arson fires and other emergencies following last May’s death of George Floyd. The department is incorporating the lessons learned from those incidents into the preparatory activities.

Chief Tyner voiced his full support for fire sprinklers in homes and high-rise buildings. He supports HF 109 and SF 155 requiring retrofitting existing high-rise buildings. He has been in contact with the House bill author to support and advise on the legislative efforts. Chief Tyner’s predecessor, Chief John Fruetel, also was a strong and public advocate of sprinklers, and chapter members were pleased to see that public support by the Fire Chief’s office continue.

The Minnesota Chapter of NFSA meets on a bi-monthly basis. Meetings are hybrid events, with a plated dinner for in-person attendance and a Teams link for virtual attendees. The next meeting with be held on May 5, 2021. See the NFSA Events Page for details and registration: https://member.nfsa.org/Events