Skip to main content

Firefighting brothers keep family traditions

Firefighting brothers keep family traditions
Tyler McGowan, left, and his brother Nolan McGowan take a breather after responding to a car fire as members of the Ellendale Fire Department. At the department’s annual awards ceremony, Tyler was recognized for responding to the most calls; Nolan received a life-saving medal for his quick action with an unresponsive motorist on Interstate 35. Submitted photo
By
Kay Fate, Staff Writer

As fire departments go – especially rural, volunteer fire departments – it’s not unusual to have members of the same family serve.

That’s the case in Ellendale, where Nolan McGowan, 29, and his brother Tyler McGowan, 28, are dedicated volunteers.

So dedicated, in fact, that Tyler, who’s been on the department for seven years, was recognized for making 117 calls in 2022 – fully 70% of the total calls.

It was just one of several awards given out at the Ellendale Fire Department’s annual holiday party and award ceremony on Jan. 7.

Tyler shared the spotlight with his brother on another award: Most ‘Kids’ Saved – which, despite its dramatic name, is a sweet little rescue story.

The call came in about 1:30 a.m. Jan. 15, 2022, requesting help for a structure fire; in this case, an attached garage.

Thanks to an outbreak of COVID, “we were pretty short-handed that day,” said Nolan, who’s been with the EFD for nine years. “What I thought was funny is the chief was driving the truck, the assistant chief was sitting up front, I’m captain, and Tyler’s lieutenant – so it was a truck full of officers going.”

Another firefighter came in and drove the tanker up, making it a crew of five.

“I went in first,” Nolan said, “and there wasn’t a super amount of heat, but it was really thick smoke. We got in there, and all of a sudden, you could just hear them, and I was like, ‘what the hell is that?’”

It sounded like babies screaming.

He deployed the department’s thermal camera, “and lo and behold, there were 10 baby goats standing next to the fire,” Nolan said.

The kids were about two weeks old, huddled together in their pen inside the garage.

“He took five, I took five,” Nolan said, nodding toward Tyler, who added, “it took two trips.”

“The first group was fine, but the second group, we had to wrangle them,” Nolan said.

Once outside and away from the garage, “we set them down, and they sat right there until the owner could get them to a different location,” Tyler said.

That wasn’t the only rescue award presented at the ceremony.

Waylen Busho received a life-saving medal for his actions after seeing someone having a heart attack while delivering mail. His quick action got the help the man needed and saved his life.

Nolan McGowan received his second award of the night, also for his life-saving efforts.

The call came as he was driving home from Owatonna on Interstate 35, his 4-year-old daughter in her car seat.

“They were literally right in front of me, with their four-way (flashers) on,” Nolan said. “I parked my car ahead of them, so my daughter wouldn’t see what was going to happen.”

He ran back to the car, where he found the unresponsive man in the passenger seat and started to perform CPR.

The man’s wife was also in the car, struggling with the scene.

“I ran her up to my car … and her and my 4-year-old daughter became best friends,” Nolan said.

He then ran back to the patient and continued CPR until additional help arrived.

The man was taken to a Rochester hospital but died of other complications four days later.

“The good thing was, his son was in the Air Force in Korea, and he got to come home” before his father died, Nolan said.

The McGowans grew up in Windom, but their father was a volunteer firefighter in Nebraska when the boys were little.

“We were both very young when he was on the department,” Tyler said, “but we always hung out at the fire hall.”

In addition to firefighting, the boys and their father all work in the natural gas field.

Nolan and their father, Steve McGowan, work for Minnesota Energy Resources; Tyler works for Northern Natural Gas.

Even during his day job, Nolan has put his emergency skills to use.

Not long ago, he was working in the basement of a home in Blooming Prairie when he heard a commotion. He learned the homeowner’s granddaughter was having a seizure.

While the grandmother called 911, McGowan got the child in the recovery position and checked her airway to ensure she wouldn’t choke.

Once BP police arrived, McGowan took the patient’s little brother into another part of the house and kept him occupied during the rest of the call.

“I just wanted to help the grandmother however I could,” McGowan said in his employer’s newsletter. He also said BP Chief Greg Skillestad called and thanked him the next day.

Of course, that’s not why most first responders do the job, and it’s not why the McGowans do the job.

Tyler, who responded to the majority of the calls in 2022, said he doesn’t consider any of that when his pager goes off.

“Nope, not at all,” he said. “Someone needs help, and that’s what I signed up for.”

His brother has a similar answer – with a twist.

“All the new guys, they get nervous at first,” Nolan said. “So I always tell them, once you get through the class, it’s not as bad as you think. There’s some guts and glory, but it’s the funnest thing you’ll do with your clothes on.

“Honestly, that’s why,” he said. “And I like helping people.”

 

Other 2022 Ellendale Fire Awards

 

• MVP: Allison Muilenburg

• “Lost and Found”: Brian Flatland

 

• Department handled 124 medicals and 43 fire/rescue calls in 2022.

Sign up for News Alerts

Subscribe to news updates