By STEVE BROWNLEE, Journal Staff Writer

He's on the scene at area fires whenever the Negaunee department is called upon. He went through training that included 135 hours of classroom work when he joined the department back in 1989, and still goes through several sessions every month with the Negaunee department.

"You have to have a real commitment to be a firefighter," he said. "A lot of departments, including our own, are short people, and it's understandable. Time seems to be the most precious commodity with today's lifestyles."

Asplund, 48, came to the area - twice - because of TV6. A native of the Milwaukee area, he first arrived here in June 1979 as a reporter and also wore the hat of weatherman and anchor of the five-minute "Today" show cut-ins before he left to work at a Milwaukee-area station in 1982.

That lasted about a year before he got married and returned to Negaunee, where he has lived for the last 20 years. "I wanted to return, and when an opportunity opened up because TV6 was increasing its staff, I came back in '84," he said. He came back as an assistant producer with on-air duties, too, then took over as the main anchor on the 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. telecasts from 1985 to about 1992.

When he became news director in about '92, he cut back to the 6 p.m. news. Then when the station beefed up its local news with additional hour broadcasts at 6 a.m. and 7 p.m. about six or seven years ago, the news director responsibilities became so great that the position was shifted so that he became assistant news director while retaining the 6 p.m. on-air anchor position.

"I guess now that I think about it, next year will be 20 years on the 6 p.m. newscast (as anchor)," he said. Fellow Negaunee residents can thank TV6 for Asplund's interest in firefighting.

"I was always interested in firefighting, all the activity and the excitement of it," he said. "I used to go out to fires when I was covering the news, and since I knew some of the guys (from the Negaunee Fire Department), they kept saying I should become a fireman, too." He toyed with the idea for awhile until he made the decision in 1989, one he has never regretted.

"It's a nice way to get involved in the community," he said. "Like a lot of firefighters, over the years you see the gratitude of families when you're able to put a fire out, save a house, save a families' memories. "It's nice to get those cards in the mail from people thanking us for saving their homes."

Asplund has been secretary of the 25-person department for about 10 years, and helps organize some of the events the department is involved in, such as the Pioneer Days picnic and smoke alarm distribution to Negaunee-area kindergartners. He started at the bottom like any "new kid" does, and said that despite all the training he's had, there's nothing like the training earned at a real fire scene.

"We have a fire run maybe once every month, and a house fire maybe every three months," he said. "Luckily, they don't come along any more often than that." He said the department, which has been fully volunteer for more than a century, is a "tight-knit group," since members can be put into life-and-death situations at any time.

"A large part of our training is relying on each other and knowing exactly what your role is," Asplund said. "It's kind of like a football team. It only really works when everybody is doing their job." And we also know that our first priority is life, then after that is property. It's not worth losing a life over a house or possessions. Those can be replaced - a life can't."