(Watertown) The city of Watertown hired Tanya Reynen to be their new fire chief in March and she started her role in April. Reynen says she wanted to follow in the footsteps of her father as a volunteer firefighter.
“So, I started out as a volunteer just like my dad and after a couple of years of getting my initial certifications, I started looking for jobs and working part-time, and then I was hired at the Watertown Fire Department as my first career,” says Reynen.
Reynen says she began at Watertown in 2008 and worked there for about eight or nine years before wanting to keep growing and challenging herself. From there she became the deputy chief of training officer at Lake County Fire and Rescue.
“So, what I did is I ran internal Mayville EMS courses for the local high schools, and then we partnered up with companies like Bell Ambulance, Gold Cross Ambulance, and the Mayville Fire Department as well,” says Reynen.
The fire chief says she did more education for herself and completed the Executive Fire Officer program from the National Fire Academy. Reynen says for the first few months into the job, everyone has been supportive.
“Everybody [has] picked up and helped me grow into this position for sure,” the fire chief says. “So, I spent a lot of time obviously learning the city, progress and processes, and the department processes, and then going out and meeting with our local partners.”
Reynen says those partners included local healthcare centers and fire chiefs of neighboring departments.
