Charges Pending Against Wood Lake, MN, Firefighter Driving Rig in Fatal Crash

Wood Lake Firefighter Patrick Steven Remiger, 43, was killed when he was ejected from a fire truck.

By Paul Walsh

Source Star Tribune (TNS)

Sept. 30, 2025

2 min read

Visitation will be held from 4-7 p.m. at St. Luke's Lutheran Church in Wood Lake. On Friday, the visitation will be held from 9:30 until 11:00 a.m. Following the 11 a.m. service, interment will be in the church cemetery. Hamilton Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Services are Friday for the southwest Minnesota firefighter who was killed when the firetruck he occupied overturned with a suspected drunken driver behind the wheel.

The crash occurred Friday in Wood Lake while the town’s Fire Department was participating in Lakeview High School’s annual homecoming festivities.

Rescue crews found Patrick Steven Remiger, 43, trapped beneath the truck when they arrived. He died at the scene.

The driver, Andrew Vanhecke, 37, and passenger Beaux, his 6-year-old son, were injured and have since been released from the hospital, State Patrol Lt. Mike Lee said Monday.

The patrol said it believes Vanhecke was under the influence of alcohol when the firetruck crashed on its way back to Wood Lake after participating in homecoming festivities.

Charges against him are pending, Yellow Medicine County Attorney Mark Gruenes told the Minnesota Star Tribune on Tuesday, adding, “that could change at any time, of course.”

No one in the truck had on restraint devices, according to the patrol.

Part of the festivities included Lakeview’s cross-country team delivering the homecoming game ball on a 10-mile run to the high school from Wood Lake. Two of Remiger’s children are cross-country runners and are coached by their mother, Becky Remiger.

Remiger was a 20-year member of the volunteer Fire Department while also running a dairy farm, according to his obituary.

“Pat was proud to be a dairy and beef farmer,” his obituary read. “He was incredibly punctual, reliable, had an unmatched work ethic, and could fix anything that would break down.”

Along with his wife, Remiger is survived by their children, Cole, Tate and Shelby Remiger; parents Steve and Jane Remiger; and a sister, Hope Mammele.