By Mara H. Gottfried
Pioneer Press
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Firefighter Timothy Bertz was “all in, all the time.”
“You will hear those words when someone talks about Tim Bertz — that was his motto, and he was the embodiment of those words within his family, his friendships and the fire service and beyond,” said Harris Fire Chief Drew Chapeau on Monday at Bertz’s memorial service.
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Bertz, 52, graduated from the St. Paul Fire Department academy on Dec. 17, worked at the training facility on Dec. 19, and had a sudden and major medical event at home on Saturday, Dec. 20, according to the fire department. He died at the hospital on Dec. 22.
He’d been a paid-on-call firefighter at the Harris Fire Department in Chisago County, Minn., for the past three years, and later became a duty crew member with the Lino Lakes Fire Department. It was his dream to become a St. Paul firefighter.
Bertz’s sister, Katie Karels, got to see her brother receive his St. Paul Fire Department badge at the graduation.
“I’ve never seen Tim so happy, except when he married Andrea,” she said at her brother’s memorial service at Maranatha Church in Forest Lake.
Andrea and Tim Bertz would have celebrated their 24th wedding anniversary Tuesday. Sunday was 31 years since their first date, Andrea Bertz remembered Monday.
She said she supported him “wholeheartedly” in his fire career.
“I was glad that he wanted to help our community and our neighbors,” Andrea Bertz said. “I always felt that if you were the one having your worst days medically or with a fire in your home, you would want my husband showing up at your door. He would do everything in his power to save you. He was brave, smart and skilled.”
At the Lino Lakes department, Chief Dan L’Allier said Bertz’s shift started at 6 a.m., but that didn’t mean Bertz pulled into the parking lot at that time. It meant “trucks were checked, gear was ready to go, and he was prepared to respond the second the tones dropped.
“He believed deeply in the phrase, ‘All in, all the time,’ and he lived it quietly, consistently, professionally,” L’Allier said.
Bertz had joined the Navy to be a firefighter, but “the Navy saw other skills that led him down the road to become a ( Navy ) SEAL,” Andrea Bertz said.
“Tim carried his military discipline and life experience into the fire service and in the academy,” said St. Paul Fire Chief Butch Inks.
“He mentored younger recruits, offered perspective when it mattered most, and modeled what it meant to be part of a team,” Inks said. “He earned respect through humility, preparation, and just good old-fashioned hard work and integrity.”
Bertz also was an organ donor.
“His legacy will continue, not only in memory, but in the lives of people he will never meet,” Inks said, adding that because of Bertz, he just renewed his driver’s license and opted to indicate on his license that he will be an organ donor.
Bertz was interred at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, and flags were flown at half-staff at state buildings Monday. His family prefers, in lieu of flowers, memorials to the St. Paul Fire Foundation.
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