Q&A: Richfield Fire Chief Reflects on Career, Looks Toward Retirement

The City of Richfield recently announced that Fire Chief Brad Sveum would be retiring at the end of June 2011 after 38 years in the field—29 of which were spent in Richfield Fire Services.

Sveum grew up in Richfield and as a matter of fact, the house he grew up in was demolished to make room for the . His office is almost exactly where his childhood bedroom used to be.

While Sveum is sad to go, he said he’ll hand the reigns over to Wayne Kewitsch— currently the assistant fire chief—who is “ready to get going."

Sveum sat down with Richfield Patch’s Caitlin Burgess for a little chat before his departure:

Richfield Patch: Why did you decide to retire now?

Brad Sveum: [Well], I’m young enough that there are still other things that I want to do …  and after a while its good for any organization to let others take the reigns. I can’t look at it as I’m necessarily retiring … I am quitting something that I like to do … and I think you’re lucky if you get to retirement and still like your job.

Richfield Patch: What are you going to miss most about your career?

Sveum: It’s been fun. I’ll miss the people. I’ll certainly miss the action end of it, which I think most people in this profession like ... But really I think the biggest thing I take away from here are all the acquaintances within the city departments, other cities and across the country.

Richfield Patch: What is one of the most memorable calls you responded to?

Sveum: [Well], two jump out. Certainly one would be the [I-35W] bridge collapse in 2007 ... The other, I think, was back in 1974, there was a big propane explosion at an apartment building in St. Paul and a few civilians and firefighters died … And, of course, there’s always the humorous runs that any firefighter has had to go and I’d probably be violating HIPAA rules if I was too specific.

Richfield Patch: Tell me about how it feels to sit in a new office that is actually where your childhood home once stood?

Sveum: I wish I could say exactly how it feels …. Right now we are still trying to get everything running in the [new] building … I probably don’t think about it as much now, but in the back of my mind I think it’s an opportunity to come full circle in life. I grew up here … and now I’ve worked here for so many years. I think its something that I’ll back on in 10 years and think its pretty neat.

Richfield Patch: What plans do you have for retirement?

Sveum: [Well], I have a farmstead up in North Dakota, that’s where a lot of my family is from so I will be spending the winters there since it’s not cold enough down here … But I’ll do what my schedule allows for … teach at Hennepin Technical College and I’m able to stay on the Minnesota All Hazard Incident Management Team, [which is a] state resource that deploys to areas that have had a major incident, such as the floods a few years ago in Moorhead.

Richfield Patch: Do you have anything you’d like to say to your staff or the community?

Sveum: [The city staff have] been a great group to work with. And the folks in the city that we serve, I think, have always been appreciative of our services … being able to serve them has been great. [And while] there’s been challenging times with the budget cuts and such, the people always rise up and figure out a way to get something done. It’s been fun and I’m going to miss it a lot, but there comes a time to move on to some other things, too.

Sveum's last day is June 29, 2011. Kewitsch will officially take over June 30.