The storms that rolled through the metro over the weekend wreaked havoc on one Chaska family. Lightning struck the Schwarz home on Innsbruck Drive late Saturday night, igniting a fire in the attic.

Chaska Fire Chief Dan Anderson said they received the call just after midnight Sunday from a neighbor on Innsbruck Drive who saw the Schwarz roof was on fire.

Chaska police are looking for persons responsible for a fire at the City Square Park gazebo over the weekend.

"They assaulted the heart of Chaska," said Chaska Police Chief Scott Knight in an phone interview.

For Dan Kane, his first real fire as a member of Chaska’s volunteer fire department was anything but text book.

It was Memorial Day and Kane was with other firefighters participating in a service at Chaska’s City Square Park when his pager went off signaling a fire call. At the time, he was just 19 years old.

“We had the trucks there so we just took off,” Kane recalled.

They made their way to a mobile home ablaze in town.

“I was the second guy in,” he said.

All fire departments in Carver County, the St. Bonifacius Fire Department and the Department of Natural Resources fought an 85-acre grass fire Sunday afternoon in Laketown Township at Airport Road.

A Carver County deputy called in the fire at approximately 3:16 p.m. after seeing smoke in the area. Since the area is in the Waconia Fire District, the Waconia Fire Department was the first on the scene.

Waconia Fire Chief Randy Sorensen called for mutual aid from 11 additional fire departments soon after arriving and evaluating the scope of the fire.

After a wintry traffic accident left its 25-year-old fire engine out of service, the city of Carver is now on the hunt for a new truck. But it won’t come cheap. A new rescue fire engine could cost taxpayers up to a half million dollars.

On March 1, the Carver City Council moved to solicit bids for a replacement fire truck. Whether they buy new or buy used, will depend on what kind of bids they get back, Mayor Jim Weygand said. A new truck, ranging from $450,000 to $500,000 would raise the taxes on a $250,000 home by $22.

Chaska Police Chief Scott Knight recently received an e-mail asking about who is responsible for digging fire hydrants out of the snow and issued this reply:

“We always remind folks to ‘watch over their’ hydrants. In fact I have put out a reminder in our CPD 411 newsletter in the past.

With the sun shining and the temperatures more tolerable than in previous years, the masses flocked to Firemen’s Lake for the 53rd Annual Chaska Fire Department Fishing Contest.

Firemen spent the morning drilling 1,500 holes around the lake. Most of those holes would later be occupied by the 1,200 in attendance at the two-hour event.

Not even a rainy weekend can threaten this year’s ice fishing contest. Cold weather earlier in the winter solidified the ice on Firemen’s Lake, and it isn’t budging. That’s good news for the firemen readying to put on the 53rd annual Chaska Fire Department Fishing Contest (1-3 p.m. Saturday at Firemen's Lake)

The Chaska City Council approved the candidates for the Chaska Fire Department’s elected offices Monday night. The department elects officers annually.

The new fire chief is Dan Anderson. He succeeds Tim Wiebe.

First Assistant Chief is Blair Malmbren. Second Assistant Chief is Kevin Trebiatowski.

First Captain is Kevin Morrisey. Second Captain is Jesse Davey. Third Captain is Cory Trebiatowski.

First Lieutenant is Jason Buntin. Second Lieutenant is Mike Johnson. Third Lieutenant is Chad Merriam. Secretary is Dave Peterson.