Meadow Lake Fire Chief Joe Grela, left, stands with members of the Wettelbrunn Volunteer Fire Department in Staufen, Germany. The departments have shared a partnership since 2005, marking more than two decades of friendship and cultural exchange. (Meadow Lake Fire Department/Facebook)

By Kenneth Cheung

PARTNERSHIP

Across the Atlantic: Meadow Lake fire chief rekindles 20-year bond with German firefighters

Oct 23, 2025 | 5:00 PM

What began with the curiosity of a young German exchange student more than twenty years ago has grown into an enduring friendship between two fire departments an ocean apart.

Meadow Lake Fire Chief Joe Grela recently travelled to Wettelbrunn, Germany, to reconnect with the Wettelbrunn Volunteer Fire Department, a partnership that’s been official since 2005.

The relationship took root in 2003, when a young German firefighter came to Meadow Lake as an exchange student. His enthusiasm sparked another visit the following year — and an idea that stuck.

“Then the next year, another from Germany came with him, and they suggested, ‘Oh, we should have an official partnership,’” Grela said.

(Meadow Lake Fire Department/Facebook)

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Members of the Meadow Lake Fire Department meet with the Wettelbrunn Volunteer Fire Department in Staufen, Germany. (Meadow Lake Fire Department/Facebook)

This fall, Grela made the trip overseas while on vacation, timing it with Wettelbrunn’s annual fire festival — a community celebration that, he says, captures the pride and spirit of their volunteer brigade.

In comparing the two departments, Grela said geography plays a big role in how each operates. In Germany, towns and fire brigades sit only minutes apart, making collaboration second nature. Saskatchewan, by contrast, stretches its firefighters across wide distances.

“We’re not like Wettelbrunn. For instance, they are part of another fire department, just probably five minutes away.”

“The biggest cultural shock for them is how things are spread out in Canada,” he said.

“The first time [they] came over, they were in Edmonton, and they said, ‘Oh, they’ll be in Meadow Lake in a couple hours,’ which isn’t true, because it’s actually like four and a half hours.”

Despite the distance between countries, he said the fundamentals of firefighting are much the same.

“Their trucks are smaller but they carry pretty much the same equipment we do,” he added.

Fire trucks belonging to the Wettelbrunn Volunteer Fire Department are seen in Staufen, Germany. (Meadow Lake Fire Department/Facebook)

Fire trucks belonging to the Wettelbrunn Volunteer Fire Department are seen in Staufen, Germany. (Meadow Lake Fire Department/Facebook)

The two departments plan to keep their exchange alive on a two-year rotation, with Wettelbrunn firefighters visiting Meadow Lake in 2027 and local crews returning to Germany in 2029.

For Grela, it’s a partnership built on far more than equipment and training manuals.

“It’s not only firefighting,” he said. “It’s also a cultural exchange.”

Two decades later, that single exchange student’s curiosity has evolved into something much deeper.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com