WINONA, Minn. — The Winona fire chief the past 10 years, Curt Bittle, will see his last active-duty fire call on October 30. He’s retiring. Bittle joined the department part-time in 1992 and three months later went full time. Asked what he sees as major accomplishments, Bittle said he’s proud that more firefighters have qualified as paramedics. He also mentioned helping coordinate thousands of CoVid vaccinations when he was doing double duty as the city emergency management coordinator. Bittle’s retirement sets in motion a series of hierarchal changes:
> Joel Corcoran, assistant fire fhief, to chief.
> Brandon Czaplewski, captain, to assistant chief.