New full-time Altoona fire chief shares excitement about new role

Friday, April 14, 2017
Kaitlyn Riley | WQOW

Withee (WQOW) - The City of Altoona puts out its burning search for a fire chief after hiring it's first full-time official Thursday night.

From the rural village of Withee, Mark Renderman joins the growing City of Altoona as its new fire chief.

"Withee is about 500 people, but Owen and Withee together is about 1,500, and including our rural communities, with Owen, Withee and Curtiss together, we are just about 5,000 people," Renderman said.

Renderman became the Owen-Withee-Curtiss fire chief and EMS service director about five years ago. "I started as a volunteer and worked my way up to be a career firefighter about six years ago. I was the first administrator hired for the Owen-Withee-Curtiss Fire District," Renderman said.

Renderman said he's had to cope with unique issues working in a rural area. "One of the biggest challenges is the distance of transport for the EMS calls," Renderman said. "There's not a hospital in town, so there is some time that it takes us to do a transport to the hospital and then return."

Renderman said he typically has as many as 600 EMS calls and up to 70 fire calls each year. Calls are increasing for Altoona Fire and EMS from around 700 two years ago to nearly 1,000 in 2016. Most of those are for EMS services. Renderman said he's not concerned about contrasts.

"With the growth that they are having, I want to be a part of that, but I also want to be a part of the Altoona team for the city and offer any of my experiences to help them grow with their community," Renderman said.

On Thursday, Altoona hired it's first full-time fire chief to meet the increasing needs of the city. Altoona's population grew from 6,700 in 2010 to more than 7,300 in 2016, according to the Wisconsin Demographics Service Center.

From three rural communities to one expanding city, Renderman said he is excited to take the Altoona Fire Department into the future.

No official start date has been set for Renderman at this time. 

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