Oakdale Firefighters Ring for The Salvation Army

For the fifth year Oakdale firefighters spent a day Saturday bell-ringing for The Salvation Army outside .

This year’s sunshine and minimal snow cover was a stark contrast to last year’s effort—which landed on the day that about 20 inches of snow fell on the Twin Cities, said organizer Tate Carlson.

Those who’d volunteered to help could barely get out of their garages, and so one of the firefighters ended up staying for the full six hours, he said. When The Salvation Army official showed up to collect the kettle, he arrived on a snowmobile, Carlson said.

At least it made for a good story, he said.

“We’re still talking about it,” he said. “We were talking about it all summer.”

This year’s weather was more conducive to raising funds. Firefighters switched out the red kettle for a boot, and were getting lots of well wishes and donations from the store’s customers Saturday morning.

About 15 firefighters volunteered to help out with the effort, he said, and it’s the department’s second most popular volunteer event after the Summerfest Parade.