2025 Participation Awards

We are forever grateful to all our paid on call firefighters and their families.  Dropping their lives or jobs at a seconds notice to answer fire pages can be a challange.  More yet, time spent training, keeping gear in check and supporting the team at public events takes planning and commitment that can't be done without support at home.  Throughout the year we track our attendance at incidents, training, public relations, public education, duty crew events and business meetings which is then tallied in December.

We are honored to showcase the following members for their outstanding performance in 2025!

Perfect Meeting Attendance - 2025

(front L to R) Marcus Rothove, Marc Volk, Brandon Boettcher, Brandon Cook, (back L to R) Corey Schaefer, Jason Polzin, Zach Lundberg, TJ Pagel, Mitch Gerold, Jake Semmens and Al Jankovich  Not Pictured: Cory Haskamp

Perfect Training Attendance - 2025

(L to R) Marc Volk, Philip Schmidt, Zach Lundberg, TJ Pagel, Rick Cieluch, Jake Semmens, Jason Polzin with Chief Al Jankovich  Not Pictured: Cory Haskamp

Perfect Meeting & Training – 2025

(L to R) Marc Volk, Zach Lundberg, TJ Pagel, Jake Semmens, Jason Polzin with Chief Al Jankovich.  Not Pictured Cory Haskamp

Station 1 Participation- 1st place Rick Cieluch.  Engineer Rick Cieluch is a 10 year member of the fire department, and our overall top performer in 2025.  Rick is often found behind the wheel of one of our trucks making decisions that support our operations, and has proven himself very good at it.  In Ricks “spare” time, he and his wife Elizabeth together raise their 6 kids in the City of Isanti.  Rick works for Mn DOT during the day and has a background operating big trucks and equipment which has helped him to be one of our best talents behind the wheel.  Over his 10 year tenure, Rick has earned several of these participation awards which reiterates his dedication to our department and support of our mission.  Thank you Engineer Cieluch!

Station 1 Participation- 2nd place Zach Lundberg.  Assistant Chief Zach Lundberg is a 16 year firefighter with the IFD, and has become a large asset to Isanti Fire and the Fire Service statewide.  Through fire department opportunities, Zach staffs several State and Metro groups advocating for firefighters by working on teams who support the business side of the fire service, as well as staffing roles as a large scale incident manager.  At home in Isanti Township, Zach and his wife Shanna have 2 children and a dog named Molly.  When Zach isn’t working his many roles in the Fire Service, he works in a management position in a metro area municipality.  Thank you Chief Lundberg!

Station 1 Participation- 3rd place Alex Gough.  Alex is a 1 year veteran of the IFD who has hit the ground running with a passion for the Fire Service, which he carried with him across the country!  Alex’s interest in the fire service started when he lived in Orange County California, volunteering as a watchman for wildfires.  Since moving to Isanti with his family, Alex didn’t stop when hired as a paid on call firefighter with us.  Alex continued to work through training we offer and through training that he took on himself to ultimately join the team at the Saint Paul Fire Department- full time.  Alex has earned himself accolades from the IFD this year through his many hours of incident response, far exceeding our minimum requirements as well as volunteer hours at our non-profit Isanti Firefighters Rodeo Association.  Thank you, Firefighter Gough!

Station 2 Participation Award- Jake Semmens.  Jake is a 1 year veteran of the IFD who has quickly made himself an asset at our sub-station in Spencer Brook Township.  Jake works in construction at his day job, operating all kinds of heavy equipment mainly doing excavating work, which has greatly helped us train him on the operations of our fire apparatus.  Since having his 1 year anniversary, Jake has earned himself the informal naming of a fire we responded to we call “Jakes Fire”.  Jake drove our fire engine to a scene, arriving first then quickly got masked up and lead our interior attack team in to quickly knock down a growing fire, stopping the spread to areas which would have quickly consumed the home.  Whether it is a thank you to Jake for accomplishments like Jakes fire, being chairman of our Firefighters Rodeo Association Parking committee or taking the extra initiative for little duties around the station his response is always the same – happy to help.  Its guys like Jake and his family who share him with us that make us who we are.  Thank you Firefighter Semmens! 

Station 3 Participaton Award- Connor O'Gary.  Our most active firefighter at our Athens Township sub-station this year is our 2025 new hire Connor O’Gary.  Nicknamed as the OG, Connor’s willingness to respond to calls and help out is quite obvious as it is rare for someone who has less than a full year of time to have such high attendance records.  Connor is a great guy to have around, besides his strong back and willingness to learn, he is great at keeping some of us up to speed with trends that only a young man in his 20’s would know.   Connor and his wit can make an hour of overhaul in horrible conditions something to look forward to.  Connor is an arborist by trade with his sights on options in public safety.  Thank you Firefighter O’Gary!

Alan Jankovich- Fire Chief | Rodeo Association Advertising Chair & Maintenance Co-Chair, Rodeo Association Officer at Large

Zach Lundberg- Assistant Chief/Fire District Deputy Secretary | Rodeo Association Ticket Sales Chair

Jason Polzin- Captain | Rodeo Association President

Nick Bartz- Lieutenant | Fire District Deputy Treasurer

Rick Cieluch, Jr- Engineer

Jason Altermatt

Brandon Boettcher- Rodeo Association Advertising Co-Chair

William Bostwick

Dylan Calander

Paul Cesafsky

Brandon Cook

Stefanie Farrier

Mitch Gerold- Rodeo Association Beverage Sales Chair

Jimmy Gordon

Alex Gough

Cory Haskamp

Zach Heidebrink

Briana Johnson

Nick Lardy

Steve Nelson

Connor O'Gary

TJ Pagel- Rodeo Association Beverage Sales Co-Chair

Marcus Rothove

Corey Schaefer

Philip Schmidt- Rodeo Association Secretary

Jake Semmens

Marc Volk- Rodeo Association Treasurer, Front Office Chair

Rodeo Association Coordinator, Chairman- Tom Pagel