PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Green Bay Metro Fire Department has some big shoes to fill. The department is losing hundreds of years of experience as a dozen firefighters retired at the end of 2024.
Included in that class of retirees are Captains Barry Wiegert and Matt Gerber.
“I won’t miss waking up. I won’t miss most of the calls. But I’ll miss hanging out with the guys and girls and just hanging around, talking and then goofing off,” said Barry Wiegert.
“I want to thank the City of Green Bay for everything they’ve given my family and I. We did our best, we all did our best,” added Matt Gerber.
Combined, the two have nearly 60 years of experience serving the Green Bay community. And they’re part of a larger group of 12 veteran firefighters — all retiring around the same time.
Wiegert said, “We’ve more than tripled the amount of calls from when I started. It’s getting to be a lot of the body.”
“My back is shot. With a bad back, I can’t do what the young guys do, what I used to do,” added Gerber.
The retirements leave the department of more than 200, with 8 active stations, in Green Bay, Allouez and Bellevue down a dozen firefighters. It’s something Green Bay Metro Fire Department Chief Matthew Knott says the city planned for.
According to Knott, “We anticipated year ago that this year we would need between 10 and 15 people, we’re right in that number. So, when we did our recruiting, we did our hiring process. Actually, conditional offers have been out, we’re working on physicals and all that process to get them started in a February recruit class for us.”
It will take about eight to twelve weeks for the recruits to complete the city’s training program – leading to full staffing again.
“We are starting the recruit class a little bit early with hopes of getting them out quicker because we have a big event coming up with the draft and we hope to use those new people to help with staffing for that time period,” said Knott.
In the meantime, the chief says the gap in staffing, caused by the large group of retirements, won’t impact city services.
Sentiments reiterated by those who’ve gone on their last call with Green Bay Metro.
“When that call comes in, just know that the guys and girls are going 100%,” added Gerber.
Green Bay Metro anticipates another 10 or so retirements at the end of the current year – something it’s already starting to plan for.
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