Owatonna hires new fire chief

Owatonna recently hired Ed Hoffman as its new fire chief.
Hoffman, from North Mankato, succeeds Mike Johnson, who retired May 28 after 20 years as fire chief for the city.
For the past five years, Hoffman has worked for the City of Mankato as one of its two public safety commanders. He was responsible for training Mankato’s firefighters and for the city’s hazmat training. He also served as an on-call firefighter for the city of North Mankato, where he lives.
Hoffman said he and his wife are looking to purchase a home in Owatonna, but they want to find the right house.
Why Owatonna?
“I was looking for a change,” said Hoffman. “ I liked the size of the department.”
“They’ve done a lot of good things here,” said Hoffman. “The department’s very proactive on the fire prevention end of things. And that helps prevent fires.”
In his first few weeks on the new job, Hoffman said, “I’ve been watching, asking a lot of questions.”
As fire chief, Hoffman will also be taking on the role of emergency management director for the city, a position that was previously shared with the county.
And residents can expect more of that, according to Hoffman.
“I want to be open and get to know people,” he said, adding that he’ll maintain an open-door policy.
“I want to hear from people, ” he said.