GREENWOOD TWP — Greenwood Fire Chief Brian Trancheff took to the lectern at Greenwood’s Nov. 12 meeting to describe the incident in Angora on Oct. 25 that damaged the department’s main fire engine. The truck suffered mainly cosmetic damage and is still in service. The department does plan to have the electrical systems on the truck checked out. The township is working on submitting their insurance claim, and they said fire department staff had spent at least 20 hours working on it. There was damage to some of the truck’s lighting as well as some small equipment.
“This was a live fire exercise,” Trancheff said. “It’s an extremely good fire training exercise. We don’t have that very often.”
The training was put on by Minnesota North College, and Greenwood was invited to attend by the Cook Fire Department.
“When you go to one of these,” Trancheff said, “you are a student, not a chief. You listen to your instructors. You are there to learn.”
The two Greenwood department members who attended the live burn, Trancheff along with Brianna Lofquist, learned a little more than they expected.
“The biggest issue was the chain of command and lack of communication,” said Trancheff. “Hopefully, we never have anything like this happen again.”
Trancheff said there was a lack of water on the scene and that they were told there was ample water there. He said they had to request a drop tank, which stores extra water, and they did get one, but the instructors told them they’d be fine with the water in their engine and booster tank.
“There was a lot of underestimation of the fuel load in that building,” he said.
“What happened took place over a maximum of 15 minutes,” he said. “In two to three minutes, that fire went to fully engaged.”
Trancheff said the radiant heat from the fire was so intense it scorched the green grass between the house and the department’s truck in the first five minutes.
“That fire was extremely volatile and extremely fast,” he said. “I’ve been at a lot of fires in my career, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one that progressed as rapidly, except the [house] explosion on Everett Bay.”
Lofquist, who was attempting to hose back the flames as they approached the truck, said the heat was so intense that her fire gear was totally dry even though someone from the Cook Fire Department was spraying her with a fire hose to keep her cool.
“The silver lining is that we learned a lot,” Trancheff told the board. He said he had expressed concern at the beginning of the exercise about no water supply being in place and no clear assignment of roles.
“This was not the learning experience we expected,” he said. “But hopefully we can take something positive out of this.”
Trancheff said the next few fire department trainings will focus on lessons learned during the live burn.
Trancheff, who was stationed at the fire engine control panel, said he needed to have gloves on keep the water flowing. Otherwise, he would have been burned by the heat.
“I did have to deploy the remote monitor,” he said, “and we put up a water curtain with the last 1,500 gallons of water we had in the truck.” The truck did have a booster tank, with 1,000 gallons in reserve, but Trancheff said that only lasts a few minutes.
Trancheff said he came away very impressed with the support they received from firefighters from Cook when they realized the Greenwood truck was in danger. The team worked to quickly move the truck back, away from the heat and flames.
“If everyone hadn’t worked so well together,” he said, “we’d be having a different discussion about the truck. I do want to thank everyone from the Cook side.”
Trancheff said the department did have an after-incident meeting with Cook to discuss what had happened. He said the department’s relationship with Cook has been growing stronger. Trancheff said there had been no pre- or post-briefing at the scene with the instructors from the college.
In other fire department news, Trancheff asked the board to approve hiring, contingent on a background check, a new firefighter, a member of the Cook department who has already completed the required training. The board approved the hire.
“We worked with him on the live burn,” Trancheff said. “He lives about 10 minutes up the road toward Cook.”
The board also approved the purchase four new sets of fire gear, though the costs for two of them will be reimbursed by Bois Forte since they are for band members. This gear is only certified for use for a 10-year time frame. The cost per set is $6,527 plus shipping.
The board also approved a change in fire department policies changing the meeting date for EMS training to the second Thursday of the month.

2026 revised budget
The board reviewed the 2026 revised budget prepared by treasurer Tammy Mortaloni. The revisions were needed because residents, at the March 2025 annual meeting, approved a $600,000 levy, much higher than the $300,000 proposed by the board and included in their 2026 budget.
Mortaloni told the board that spending this year is pretty close to budgeted amounts, except for higher costs for legal fees and for PERA, but that both of those categories were currently offset by lower spending in other areas.
The residents who approved the higher levy had asked that these funds be set aside for fire department capital spending, such as the future need for a new fire engine.
Mortaloni told the board that she had worked with Trancheff to get estimates of annual repair and maintenance costs, and they have added those into the budget.
The revised budget sets projected 2026 revenue at $708,000, up from $405,500 for 2025. The major increases in the 2026 budget are related to fire department spending for repairs, training, equipment, and capital outlay. Another increase in the budget was dedicated for community affairs/recreation, upping the amount from $3,000 to $15,000.

Other business
In other business, the board:
• Approved allowing Mortaloni to use 10.5 hours of extra time for completing some township grants in November and December. The board discussed, but forwarded to the township’s personnel committee, increasing the allowable hours for the treasurer position from the current 20 hours a month to 22 hours or possibly higher.
• Are still waiting for the latest public water test results. Supervisor Gilbert said they are trying out a new water filter that is advertised to reduce arsenic amounts. They will post the latest test results once received, and once the new filters are in use will test again.
“I am hearing a lot of concerns from the public,” he said. “I am trying to stay positive on this.” The township spent $2,400 on replacing the water system’s filtration media but that only really helped for about four months, he said.
• Will install no motorized vehicles signage on the walking trail.
• Approved new town hall and pavilion rental rules.
• Discussed but took no action on a request from the St. Louis County Association of Townships, which is putting a dues structure in place. The township is waiting for more information before deciding to join.