City of Plymouth Names New Fire Chief

The city of Plymouth has officially named a new fire chief, appointing longtime department member Andy Etzel to the role.

Etzel is a 20-year veteran of the Plymouth Fire Department. He last served in an official capacity as assistant fire chief with the city.

“It’s been a very rewarding journey to get here,” Etzel said. “I’m just grateful and humble that I’m able to do this, and been asked to lead this great department forward.”

Etzel started as a paid on-call firefighter 20 years ago and worked his way up through the ranks. He competed on an extrication team 12 years ago in Nova Scotia. That’s an international competition where firefighters work as a team to get simulated victims out of a vehicle as quickly and safely as possible. 

Today, as Plymouth chief, Etzel said his goal is to lead a professional, values-driven department with a strong response model. He also hopes to use technology to improve responsiveness.

Etzel is a lifelong Plymouth resident, a third generation Wayzata High School graduate, and married to another Wayzata grad.

“We had a family here in Plymouth, and raised our family in Plymouth. We’ve been connected to this community our whole life, and we love it here,” Etzel said.

He said the department next needs to hire two assistant chiefs.

Etzel has served as interim chief since former Fire Chief Rodger Coppa resigned in November.

Back in November, Coppa addressed that decision on his LinkedIn page: “In my eyes, the city of Plymouth leadership and I have different visions for the fire department and I therefore made the decision to leave the organization.” Assistant Fire Chief Steve Baker announced his resignation on the same day.

Etzel’s portrait hangs alongside his colleagues’ portraits on the wall at Plymouth Fire Station 2.

Plymouth