CALLENDER — Shawn Urban always wanted to be a firefighter, but given the odd hours of his full-time job, he wasn’t sure if he would have much of an impact on Callender’s volunteer department.

But Shawn George, Callender’s fire chief, assured him that any time he could provide would be valued.

“Shawn told me someone who can show up to some stuff is better than someone who can’t make it to anything at all,” Urban said. “So ever since then I’ve made it to as much as I can.”

Urban, a Sioux Rapids native, is a carpenter/superintendent for Jensen Builders, of Fort Dodge. He’s been with the company since 2005.

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Shawn Urban, a Callender volunteer firefighter, holds a tool belt that he uses as a carpenter for Jensen Builders in his right hand and a Halligan tool used as a firefighter in his left hand.

Urban joined the Callender Fire Department in December 2016. And since that time, he’s seen plenty of action.

In one instance, during the winter of 2017, Urban was paged out to a structure fire at Was Broken Pallet Co. at 625 Second St. W., in Moorland.

Callender provided mutual aid.

The call came in at about 1:30 a.m. Urban’s truck was the second on scene, he said.

“I took a hose line to the north side and was trying to do an exterior attack to visible flames,” he said.

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Shawn Urban, of Callender, makes sure this fan is good to go at the Callender Fire Station. Urban works full-time for Jensen Builders and is a volunteer firefighter for Callender’s department.

The fire was memorable due to the bitter cold temperatures firefighters faced.

“It was 27 below wind chills,” Urban said. “So with the severe cold and water splashing, when it was my turn to be relieved from the hose line, I was basically frozen to it. I didn’t even realize it, with the adrenaline going.”

Urban was on scene until 7:00 that morning.

The building sustained damage, but could have been worse if not for the efforts of firefighters.

“Basically, they lost a portion of their storage building and they had to rebuild that section,” Urban said. “It was a steel section. It got hot enough that the steel started to collapse, so it was unsafe.”

-Messenger photo by Chad Thompson
Shawn Urban, a Callender volunteer firefighter, looks on at the Callender Fire Station.

The reason why Urban said he wanted to be a firefighter in the first place is to help people.

“More than anything, it’s the fact of being able to help when you are able to and be there for people when they are at their lowest point,” he said.

He’s enjoyed being on the department.

“I have made some really close new friends through the department,” Urban said. “It is like a brotherhood. We can joke around. Camaraderie is really good there.”

Not including his work as a firefighter, Urban puts in about 50 hours a week.

But he said his job does offer some flexibility.

“With being the superintendent, I can kind of set my schedule a little differently,” Urban said. “If I need to get to certain meetings, otherwise when it comes to the calls themselves, if I am local I will go to them, but if I’m too far out of town, that might be a call that I would miss.”

In terms of carpentry skills, Urban said he acquired those through his high school’s shop classes and building trades class.

He likes the process of creating something.

“When you work with your hands, you can see it happening,” Urban said. “Seeing it evolve. In the end you’ll hopefully have something really nice.”

Through Jensen, he has completed trim work inside places like Pizza Ranch, Pancheros, and Jimmy John’s, in Fort Dodge.

He also did work at UnityPoint Health — Trinity Regional Medical Center and First State Bank in Fort Dodge.

When he’s not busy building something or responding to a fire call, Urban still finds time for family activities.

He helped his oldest son, Creighton Urban, 13, through Cub Scouts in 2012.

His other child, Weslyn Urban, 8, is currently in Cub Scouts.

“We do at least one camp out every year for an overnight stay,” Urban said. “We have done that for all the years since I have helped. We do wreath and popcorn sales before Thanksgiving. I have prepped things for birdhouses and done different tool boxes to help them out.”

Urban also has a daughter, Malia, who is 10.

Urban credits his wife, Jamie, for making sure everything gets done.

“If it wasn’t for my wife, a lot of this wouldn’t happen,” he said.

“All the stuff we are running and doing. We’ll have one kid over at confirmation and another over at soccer practice.”

Urban said he mainly helps out his children on the weekends.

“But as long as it’s a scheduled event, I’ll make sure I have off for it,” he said.

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