Report: Minn. Fire Chief Dies In Fourth Of July Wagon Accident

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The fire chief of a small southern Minnesota town reportedly died over the Fourth of July weekend in a hay wagon accident.

The Post-Bulletin reports that Mike Kehren, the chief of the Goodhue Fire Department, was killed early Monday morning after he fell off a tow bar between two hay wagons. He struck his head on the ground and was run over.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The accident happened shortly before 2 a.m. in Wanamingo, as a group of firefighters were heading to an annual holiday dance.

Dick Banidt, a fire captain and lifelong friend of Kehren, told the newspaper that the "whole town is in shock."

Kehren, 58, had been Goodhue's fire chief for eight years. He was also a member of the Lions and Goodhue School Board.