Duluth Firefighters Celebrate Christmas at Their Station

They Made a Holiday Meal and Ate Together as a Family

DULUTH, Minn. – A lot of people in the Northland were working this Christmas including police and fire departments across the region.

Duluth firefighters say Christmas is just another day on the job for them. They still have work to do and calls to respond to, but that didn’t stop them from sitting down together to eat Christmas dinner.

At Duluth’s Fire Station Number Four, near UMD, the firefighters made a meal of turkey, stuffing, rice, and other holiday favorites, and they enjoyed them together as a team.

“We invite another station down and kind of make it a big family thing,” said firefighter Shawn Houser. “This is our family away from our family, so we try to treat it like a holiday like it is and have a good time.”

The firefighters joked that the biggest difference between today’s meal and their normal ones was that grocery stores were closed today so they had to pre-plan more than usual.

One thing that made that easier was the food donations. They say Duluthians stop by the station with gifts of cookies and other treats to give back to the department.

“It makes you look at the big picture and realize that it’s not just us helping them but they help us as well and it’s kind of a big thing with the community and being involved with the community and that’s a big part of the job is dealing with the public, not just going on the runs but being an ambassador and representing Duluth,” said firefighter Davan Scott.

The Duluth Fire Department has the same size staff on Christmas as they do on every other day.