MAYER, Minn. - Mayer Fire Captain Jeffrey A. Vollmer died early Tuesday at his home from an apparent heart attack. He was 40.
Captain Vollmer passed suddenly after returning home from a training exercise.
Captain Vollmer was a second-generation firefighter and a 12-year veteran of the Mayer Fire Department. He was a graduate of Ortonville High School and the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks.
In addition to serving as a firefighter, Captain Vollmer was employed as a construction journeyman and had operated his own business. "He was, you know. The best as you could have," said Mayer Fire Chief Rod Maetzold. “He was a great firefighter and a great guy.”
Maetzold says fellow firefighters were called to Vollmer's home roughly six hours after a strenuous firefighting training course. "3:55 a.m. we got the call. Some of the guys knew the address, and say that's Vollmer's (house.) We were not expecting him."
Funeral services for Vollmer will be held 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 23 at Mayer Lutheran High School, Fifth Street NE, Mayer.
Governor Mark Dayton has ordered all flag fly at half-staff Saturday in honor of Vollmer.
Vollmer leaves behind both parents, his wife Emily and two daughters: Anika, 9, and Kennedi, 7.
Firefighter Dennis Clark is a friend of Vollmer's and has been with the Mayer fire department as a volunteer for 6 years. “He was the type of person you could approach,” Clark says. “He was a great dad. I want people to know that this isn't a headline, a firefighters dies in the line of duty. There is a really great person behind that.”
If you would like to help out there is a fund set up for the Vollmer family at the Hometown Bank of Waconia under the Jeff Vollmer family fund.