Fire department report, fluoride, K-9 purchase on Monona council agenda
By Audrey Posten | Times-Register
The Monona Volunteer Fire Department responded to 55 calls in 2025, according to chief Garett Palas. That was a slight decrease from the 58 reported in 2024.
Palas shared the department’s annual report with the Monona City Council on Jan. 5, noting that those calls included 13 traffic accidents, eight EMS assists, eight grass field fires, one down power line, one gas leak and one drone search.
“We had 11 CO2 calls that we responded to. A lot of times it is a dead battery or a bad alarm, but it’s nice to be able to just go in and reassure somebody that’s what’s going on,” Palas said. “And we did have one HAZMAT chloride spill, which was a bucket of something that came out of a basement that started smoldering once it hit some moisture.”
The department currently has 31 members, including two new this past year, said Palas. Meetings are held the first and third Wednesdays of each month, with the first being the business meeting and the third for training. According to Palas, firefighters have at least two hours of training per month, and additional training is available through the county. Volunteers are also trained in CPR and first aid.
In the past year, an Upper Mississippi Gaming Corporation grant helped the Monona Volunteer Fire Department purchase new wildland gear. Palas said the gear is used for fighting brush fires, grass fires and any non-structural building fires that firefighters don’t have to go into.
“We can also wear this stuff for car accidents in the middle of summer, where we’re not actually fighting an active fire. So lighter gear, less wear and tear. It’ll consist of a new pair of pants, coats and boots,” he explained.
Other upgrades in the past year included new thermal imagers as well as radios that will result in fewer dead zones in valleys and inside buildings.
This year, the department will take possession of a new tanker.
“That’s exciting for us and something we’ve been waiting for a while now,” Palas said.
Also at last week’s meeting, discussion continued on community water fluoridation. At the suggestion of former mayor Grant Langhus, the council, in October, approved starting the process to remove added fluoride from the city’s water.
Kiane Smith, the oral health and I-Smile coordinator for Clayton County, asked the council to reconsider due to the potential impact on those in the community—especially children—who don’t have access to regular dental care or oral health products.
Smith said tooth decay is the top preventable disease among children and that fluoridated water is an easy and more affordable way to support those efforts. She brushed off claims of fluoride’s connection to other health concerns, a statement Langhus, who was in the audience, disputed.
Langhus claimed data is often “cherry picked” and cited other communities’ decisions to remove added fluoride in recent years.
Last week’s meeting was simply informational. The council did not make any further decisions.
Additionally, the council approved increasing the number of backyard chickens per property from six to 12.
An offer of $17,863.08 was also made to purchase a K-9 from the city of Postville since the Monona Police Department recently hired the K-9 officer from that community. Postville was slated to consider the offer this week, before the purchase could be finalized. Funds to purchase the K-9 would come from Monona’s remaining forfeiture funds from a scam case.
