Wadena Firefighter Retires After more than 26 Years Serving Community

DETROIT LAKES (KDLM) – After 26 years and 9 months, a Wadena Firefighter is calling it a career.

Dean Uselman’s last day with the Wadena Fire Department was Thursday; he joined the department in 1984.

The Department thanked him for his years of service saying, “A big congratulations to Dean Uselman! Thank you for your years of service and the countless hours of dedication to the success of this department.”

Uselman served through a handful of memorable events including the 1990 Wool Growers Fire, June 2010 Tornado, 2014 Summer Flood, and December 2014 BNSF Train Derailment west Wadena. 

During his career Dean recalls saving two people from inside their homes during a fire and in a Facebook post, Dean said his career was “full of memorable events and sometimes you wish some of those events could be unseen, but overall the good outweighs the bad.”