Orland Park firefighters were busy Tuesday afternoon, hours before a new district fire chief was sworn in at a formal ceremony.
Michael Schofield was named to the top fire district job earlier this month.
On Tuesday, emergency personnel shut down South La Grange Road as a crew repaired a ruptured gas line and battled an attic fire at a home on Huntington Court.
“Serving the residents of the Orland Fire Protection District has been my life and I am humbled and honored to be able to continue that service now as the district fire chief,” said Schofield in a news release.
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The active afternoon for Orland firefighters started about 2:45 p.m. The gas line broke in a section of La Grange Road near 147th Street that is under construction, said district Battalion Chief Nick Cinquepalmi. The leak lasted about one hour, he said.
A utility company crew in the area struck the line, causing the gas leak. Personnel from the Orland district and NICOR gas company were able to contain the situation in about an hour, Cinquepalmi said.
Just as firefighters were wrapping up the gas leak, another call brought them to a different part of Orland.
Crews were dispatched at about 3:15 p.m. to the 15200 block of Huntington Court for the report of a fire, Cinquepalmi said. Firefighters found no one was home at the time inside the single-family detached home when they arrived, he said.
The fire was contained to the attic of the house, Cinquepalmi said. He estimated the fire damage to total more than $50,000.
No one was injured, he said. Firefighters took about an hour to extinguish the fire. Mutual aid from neighboring departments was not requested. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Schofield, who previously served as a district battalion chief, was named chief on March 1 after serving as interim chief since August 2015. He replaced former chief Ken Brucki, who took a leave of absence before retiring from the district in January.
Brucki, who had been chief since June 2012, became the subject of an administrative review of his job performance and financial matters during his paid personal leave. Brucki has described the evaluation as a contractual performance review, and has said he left the district on professional terms.
Schofield, who has lived in Orland Park for 44 years and is the son of former district President Margaret Schofield, will serve as chief under a three-contract.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.