The retirement of Clearwater Fire Chief Ryan Pridgeon at the end of 2021 left the department with an opening that would take just the right person to fill. That person was found in long-time firefighter Mike Keller, who stepped into the Clearwater fire chief role Jan. 1.

Keller grew up in St. Joseph, and other than a stint in the army from 1989 to 1995, has continued to live in the area. He worked for Coborn’s for nearly 15 years and was the assistant manager for the Delano location after it opened. 

During his time with Coborn’s, Scott Ziehl, who was the Clearwater Coborn’s store manager at the time, ‘put a bug in his ear’ about joining the city’s volunteer fire department. In 2007, a year after he had moved to the Clearwater area, he decided to try it out so he could do more for the community. He’s been a member of the department since.

Growing up, Keller was involved with the Boy Scouts and through the organization performed a lot of community service.

“It was the way I grew up, so the fire department was a good fit for me,” he said.

He began taking extra classes so he could learn more about the fire service and the different things fire departments do.

“The fire service is a close network of people,” said Keller, “I started getting ideas of different things we could do here in Clearwater.”

Knowing he was going to be retiring soon, last year Chief Pridgeon asked Keller if he was interested in taking over the position. Keller declined but agreed to serve as assistant fire chief. The position helped prepare him for his new role as fire chief this year.

“It’s a lot of work,” he said. “There’s considerably more riding on the fire department besides responding to calls. There’s paperwork, phone calls, and making sure training opportunities are appropriate and everyone’s up to date. But I’ve surrounded myself with good officers and good people.”

The 13 years he spent teaching self-defense through community education in Becker and Buffalo, along with his previous supervisor positions, are also helping him in his new role.

There have been a number of fire service calls that have stood out to him over the years, but the worst he saw was also the best, when in 2010 fellow firefighter Cory Broich was severely injured after being struck by a passing car while responding to a car fire on Interstate 94. 

“We all really came together as a team after the accident,” said Keller. 

Everyone at the department was there for Broich and his family through it all, holding fundraisers, visiting and encouraging him, and even making his house wheelchair friendly for when he first came home from the hospital.

“Helping the community is why I’m in it,” said Keller. “Being chief has given me the opportunity to lead these guys.”

One of the goals he has in his new position is to bring back the fire auxiliary, which was disbanded a number of years ago. 

“Restarting the auxiliary will hopefully help department moral,” he said. “Bringing the spouses and others in will make the fire department more of a family thing, something we can all get together for.”

The Clearwater Fire Dept. is always looking for firefighters, especially now as numbers are lower and Keller doesn’t want to risk burning out the firefighters already on the department. 

“We’ve already had around 50 calls, which averages out to one and a half per day,” he said. “Last year we averaged one call per day, closing out the year with a total of 366.”

Anyone interested in joining the fire department is encouraged to stop by city hall to pick up an application.