Crookston firefighter Bob Magsam has announced his retirement from the Crookston Fire Department at the end of the month after 24 years of service to the Crookston Fire Department and the Crookston Firefighters Association. His last day working of service will be on Wednesday, March 29, and his last official day as a firefighter will be Friday, March 31.
Magsam began work as a firefighter in the spring of 1999 with the Firefighters Association as a paid-on-call firefighter before applying for a full-time job in the summer of 2001. With over 20 years of service, Magsam has served most of his career as an instructor for the fire department at local schools in the area and to new firefighters.
“Pretty early in my career, I want to say three to four years in. I took the opportunity to join up with the Tech school program and become a fire instructor. I’ve been doing that for about 20 years through Northland Community College and, as of late, in a bigger part of my career, for about 15 years with M State (Minnesota State Community and Technical College) out of Moorhead, and that’s very rewarding,” said Magsam. “One of the things I viewed myself as is that I want to try and make a difference in the fire service by hopefully making a positive impact in teaching new firefighters and allowing them to change the fire service and make it better.”
Magsam has taught thousands of firefighters around the area.
Despite retiring as a firefighter at the end of the month, Magsam still plans to continue teaching fire safety and training new firefighters at colleges and other schools around the area with M State’s Technical Training program with several firefighters he taught.
“My career as a far as doing some instructing and teaching, I’m going to continue to do that. I just have this feeling in my gut that my work is not completely done there, and it’s something that I really enjoy,” Magsam explained. I love seeing these new young firefighters come in, kind of green behind the ears, and watching them grow in their careers and see the changes as they get educated and experienced. That’s really a great part of it.”
Magsam has been a significant contributor to the Crookston Fire Department’s efforts to bring back fire safety presentations and teachings to the Crookston School District after the COVID-19 pandemic this year and believes the fire department will continue to improve the program and teach children about fire safety.
While he is retiring from being a firefighter, Magsam is not ready to stop working as he is the chairperson of the Crookston Visitor’s Bureau (CVB) and one of the managers at Scobey’s Pub & Grub in the Crookston Inn.
“Anybody that knows me knows that I can’t sit still. I wear a lot of hats with the CVB and being the Board chair. I like challenges, and it’s been a little bit of a challenge rebuilding the CVB, and I’m really excited about the path the CVB is going. Anybody who knows me knows I have five or six jobs besides the fire department, and I enjoy it and like to stay busy.”
Some of the plans Magsam has with his new free time will be to help a family farmer friend in the fields in Fisher and to continue to fill in positions to help at Scobey’s Pub & Grub along with other potential jobs in the future.
To celebrate Magsam’s retirement, the Crookston Fire Department is holding an Open House on Magsam’s last day as a firefighter on Wednesday, March 29, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The Open House is open to the public and will have coffee and cake. Additionally, on the day of his retirement, Scobey’s Pub and Grub will throw a party on Friday, March 31 (also Magsam’s 50th birthday) from 5:00 p.m. until the bar closes. Magsam wants to thank all of his fellow firefighters and the community of Crookston for all of their support over the years to him and the Crookston Fire Department.
