Firefighter embraces new leadership role

In a way, Sara deBruijn is looking for trouble.

That’s because the Saukville firefighter wants to do something about it.

That passion is why she has been a Saukville firefighter and emergency medical technician her entire adult life and also why she was named the new Village of Saukville emergency management director.

Where does the passion come from?

“It’s just helping people and the camaraderies of the fire department, the community service,” said deBruijn, 30. “It’s really high on that list. The fire house is kind of a second family for me.

“That’s where the passion starts and where it lies,” she said.

DeBruijn has been a member of the Saukville Fire Department for 16 years, having joined the Explorer program when she was 14 years old. She joined the department full time at 18.

She said she wanted to be a firefighter ever since she was a little girl when her father, Ray, was a member of the Fox Point Fire Department.

Ray deBruijn is the village public works superintendent. Her mother, Kristi deBruijn, is a member of the village Plan Commission and an election worker.

“When my dad started in Saukville he brought home a brochure for the Explorer program and so I volunteered,” she said.

Explorers practice firefighting skills and during fire calls provide support to firefighters.

DeBruijn graduated from Port Washington High School in 2006. She earned an associates degree in business management from Moraine Park Technical College in West Bend and a bachelors degree in natural resources management from University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

She works as a project manager and grants administrator for the state Department of Natural Resources in Milwaukee and is working toward a masters degree in public administration with a fire and emergency management emphasis from UW-Oshkosh.

“My passion is fire and emergency services,” she said. “I hope to focus and go in that direction.”

She recently served on the organizing committee of the Saukville in September Car, Truck, Cycle Show at Veterans Park, which is a major fundraiser for the fire department.And she has used her experience as a grant administrator at the DNR to help obtain grant funds for the fire department.

Last week, the department received a $200,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to replace the department’s air packs, which were outdated and needed to be replaced.

“They were bound to fail and maintaining them was getting expensive. We got enough to replace 30 air packs, which is about enough to replace all our inventory,” she said. “They’ll last another 15 to 18 years.”

She also helped the department procure a grant from We Energies that will help buy a UTV, a small off-road vehicle that will help firefighters get to places their trucks can’t. She also has applied for a grant from the DNR to be used in purchasing the UTV.

“The DNR position has given me lots of grant-writing experience, even though I more administer grants than write them,” she said.

Between school and her job at the DNR, deBruijn said she’s on call as a firefighter at night and on call for 12 hour shifts on weekends as an EMT.

And now she will add to her busy schedule as emergency management director, a part-time position that pays about $4,000 a year, village Administrator Dawn Wagner said. The position had been vacant for some time.

Those duties include working with Ozaukee County Emergency Management Director Scott Ziegler, Village President Barb Dickmann, Wagner, Police Chief Robert Meyer and Fire Chief Gilly Schultz in an emergency.

She’s also responsible for maintaining the siren system, keeping emergency management plans up to date and coordinating  emergency response efforts with the county.

“Training and preparedness is a big part of it so that in case an emergency happens we know what to do,” she said.