Alto Fire Department

04/14/2026

The only way small volunteer depts survive is with the support of their community and man do we have a great community. A special thanks go out to Brian Tenpas, Bruce Bille, Jim Nummerdor, Paul Huizenga, Brian Kemink, Josh O'Leary, and Tyler Medema for grilling the pork chops. Also man we all miss you Jeff Medema. Also big thanks to Piggly Wiggly, Brandon Meats, Alsum Produce, Sams Well Drilling, Nolan Insurance and The Rock golf course for supplies, and the wives, girlfriends ect for helping us serve 1320 dinners Saturday night

04/12/2026

04/11/2026

Tonight at our pork chop dinner, Joe Vande Zande will be selling tickets. Monday April 20 will be Joe's last day with the Alto Fire Department. Joe is retiring after 35 years of service!! Be sure to congratulate Joe on his retirement & his dedication to the Alto community for so many years.

04/10/2026

The Alto Fire Department Pork Chop Dinner is tomorrow night serving from 4:30pm - 7pm. We have DINE IN. The video is a couple years old but it will be set up the same way. There will be condiments, coffee, & silverware there for you.

PLEASE FOLLOW SIGNS FOR PARKING AT COMMUNITY CENTER.

Also remember to stop down & visit the Alto 4H bake sale at the community center.

Today (Friday April 10) is the LAST DAY to get Pre-sale tickets. Get your tickets from any firemen or stop down at the Alto Service Garage. They are open until 4pm.

04/06/2026

The pork chop dinner is fast approaching. Friday April 10 is your last day to buy Pre-sale tickets. You can get them from any Alto Firemen or from the Alto Service Garage. We will be serving Saturday April 11 from 4:30 - 7pm.

Reminder we do have DINE IN. All meals will be served in the drive up line. Once you get you meal, if you wish to dine in, just follow the directions to drive behind the fire station & head over to park at the community center. Bring your meals inside & enjoy visiting with friends, neighbors, & family.

The Alto 4H Club will also be holding a bake sale inside the community center so be sure to stop & support them.

We are also looking for more VOLUNTEER FIREMEN to join our crew. There will be applications available in the drive thru line. If you or someone you know would like an application, just ask one of the firemen selling tickets in line.

03/28/2026

Head over & give some support to our neighbors to the west tomorrow morning. Markesan FD has one if the best breakfasts around.

We are a few weeks away from our spring breakfast!

We are a week earlier due to Easter.

We hope you will be able to join us!

03/22/2026

See these?

Do you know what they are and what they represent?

They are the shoes of volunteer firefighters.

They are the comfortable shoes, worn at home, running errands, taking the dog out, raking the leaves.

They were shed without hesitation to put on heavy uncomfortable boots and bunker gear designed to offer at least some protection from fire, broken glass, and jagged metal.
Clothing whose sole purpose is to protect..... those who protect you.
Local guys and gals.

They work in the construction, dept store, clinics, trucking company, phone company or area farms.
They leave their spouses, children, parents or whomever to come to complete strangers aid.
12 noon, 3pm, 2 am, it makes no difference.
And their families want little more than to see them put their shoes back on at the end of the call.

There are no words to describe the task of picking up that pair of shoes after a call, knowing the man or woman who put them there will not be returning to do it themselves.

Pay attention.
Get off your cell phone.
Move over.

Help them put their shoes back on.
We all want to make it home.

03/20/2026

Do you have what it takes to be a volunteer firefighter? The Alto Fire Department is looking for new members. You can message us here, talk to any of our Alto firemen, or come talk to us at our pork chop dinner on April 11. We will have applications available in the serving line.
You must be at least 18 years old to apply.

If you have questions, about what it all takes to be a volunteer firefighter for Alto, message us & the Chief will get back to you.

03/13/2026

Alto Fire Department Pork Chop Dinner. Join us on April 11. We are also having a sportsman's raffle. Tickets for both available from any Alto Firemen.

02/22/2026

Last night the Alto Fire Department had our annual fireman's supper. This is a time for us firefighters to gather together with our significant others to thank them for allowing us to serve our community. There are many times that family plans are spoiled by the pager going off. That's just the way things go when you are a volunteer firefighter & we are grateful to our families for being so understanding when that happens.

It is also a time for us to reflect on the previous year, & hand out some awards. We talked about our fire calls & reflected on a few of the bigger ones & some tough ones. Every single call we go on is bad. When the pager goes off, someone is having a bad day & some are worse the others. Some of the toughest calls for me is when we have to deal with someone who is hurt or having a medical emergency. I think the toughest call we went on this past year was when we responded to assist Lifestar with CPR & it was for Retired Fire Chief Jeff Medema. I know this one affected some of our firemen especially those that served with Jeff for so many years.

In August there were 4 of us who went out to Midwest Fire in southwest Minnesota to pick up our new truck. Marty Huizenga, Kyle TerBeest, Wayne Bailey, & myself took the 6 hour road trip. We left on a Thursday afternoon, spent the night in a hotel, & on Friday we had some training with the new truck & drove it home. It was a very enjoyable trip.

There were also some firemen who were recognized for different accomplishments. We welcomed Blayne Kloosterboer to the department this past summer. Blayne has passed his entry level & firefighter 1 classes & is doing a fabulous job so far.

There were 3 firemen who were recognized for 10 years of service. Jordan Klumpers, Jared Stelsel, & Joel Ruis.

We also recognized Marty Huizenga for 30 years of service. Marty retired a few years back & in 2021 decided to come back when he heard we were looking for "part time" firefighters... mainly for running our pumper.

We also celebrated a few officers who have new positions. Derek Bille has taken on a Captain position, & Joel Leyh has taken on a Lieutenant position.

The final award of the night was for our Don Bade Memorial firefighter of the year for 2025. At our December meeting, 4 firefighters were nominated for this award. Josh DeJager, Joel Leyh, Kyle TerBeest, & Chas Glewen. Out of these 4, the department voted for firefighter of the year. The winner for 2025 is Kyle TerBeest.

When you look at the Alto Fire Department as a whole, we have a bright future ahead of us. A good example of this is in the four that were nominated for firefighter of the year. All four have been on the fire department for less than five years & two of them (Kyle & Josh) have been recipients of this award in previous years. We have a wide variety of young & ....."experienced" firefighters on this department. It takes everyone to make this department work.

There are two officers I would like to recognize, Wayne Bailey & Jon Bruins. Wayne is a Captain & training officer for us. He is in charge of monthly practices & keeping track of all of the training records. There are times that he gets crap for how detailed he is, but its that attention to detail that keeps our department running as good as it does. Jon Bruins is our Assistant Chief. He has been my right hand man for the last 11 years. There have been many discussions between him & I about many different subjects for the fire department over the years. Some tougher to deal with than others. I'm sure there has been a time or two where he wished I would just quit calling him. Jon has told us that he plans on retiring from the department at the end of 2026 & there will be a big void to fill when he does.

I personally want to thank all of our firefighters & their families for the time commitment for fire calls, practices, maintenance nights, fundraisers, & anything else that needs to be done to keep this fire department going. This summer will mark 25 years for me & it has been a very rewarding experience serving alongside so many different people over the years. I know that my time as a volunteer firefighter has peaked & I am definitely on the downhill side of my career... but I have some years left in me yet. There are parts of this job that get to be very stressful that I could do without. Overall, the good far outweighs the bad. It is truly an honor to have the job as Chief & I thank everyone for trusting me in this position.

Cory Kok
Alto Fire Chief

02/20/2026

Press release:
On Friday February 20 at approximately 5:30am the Alto Fire Department was called to Saputo Cheese for a large gas leak. Upon arrival, we were directed to the back of the plant where some large natural gas lines were that feed the plant. One of the lines had a pressure relief valve that stuck open & was releasing a large quantity of natural gas up into the air. Prior to our arrival, Saputo had called Alliant Energy & began evacuating all of their employees from the plant & they were sent up the road to the Alto Reformed Church for shelter. Alto firefighters worked on securing driveways to keep additional employees & contractors from accessing the Saputo property as they were arriving to work. While making an assessment about whether or not to evacuate any residents from the area, the pressure relief valve stopped leaking. With no more gas escaping out into the air, it was determined that it was safe for all residents to remain in their homes.

When Alliant Energy arrived on scene, they were able to shut off the main valve to ensure no more gas would be leaking. Alto fire crews were then sent into the plant, under the direction of Saputo maintenance staff, with gas meters to make sure there was no gas inside the plant areas that were in the path of the escaping gas. Ventilation was performed where needed & the plant was turned back over to Saputo employees to return to there operations.

A big thank you to Alto Reformed Church for providing shelter for Saputo employees, to Miron construction employees for helping block access to the driveways, to Alliant Energy for a quick response & to the Saputo maintenance employees who helped direct our crews through the building.

Cory Kok
Alto Fire Chief