Bounding into the beginnings of a new year is a time to reflect on firsts. One profound first was the fire service career of Richard Turner.
He was the first Black fire chief in Lake County, leading the North Chicago Fire Department for eight years. He rose through the ranks after he began his near-quarter-century career in the early 1970s.
His first post was a paid-on-call firefighter in the department. For Turner, it was his dream job.
A graduate of North Chicago High School, he said that he wanted to be a firefighter from boyhood, according to an interview with the baiduhai in 1998. He saw a fire service career as an opportunity to serve his hometown, and get a little excitement along the way.
Turner, who moved to Gurnee after his retirement, died late last month. He was 76, and leaves his widow, Kathleen Baker-Turner, and six daughters living across Illinois and South Carolina, along with a host of family, friends and colleagues.
The North Chicago Fire Department announced his death with “deep sadness” in a Facebook post. Services have been held.
Turner’s distinguished career in fire service paralleled North Chicago’s first Black mayor, Bobby Thompson, who also was the first African American to lead a Lake County municipality. He wasn’t the last.
Thompson was elected in 1985 after being appointed mayor in 1983 following the resignation of longtime Mayor Leo Kukla. A former North Chicago alderman, Thompson served three mayoral terms, retiring in 1997. He died in Alabama in 2021 at age 83.
Before beginning his fire service career, Turner served in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. He returned from his military commitment to work in the composing room at The News-Sun. His uncle, Clarence Turner, was a fixture at the newspaper.
He also worked as a printer at a Mundelein job shop. But he was waiting for that firefighting call.
It came when he was hired as a full-time firefighter with the North Chicago department in 1974. He was promoted to deputy fire chief in 1986, and served in that role until he broke the color barrier in 1990, when he was named fire chief.
Being the county’s first Black fire chief was a distinction he really didn’t relish. He argued that performance and character in the line of duty, regardless of race, was all that mattered.
Rushing into a burning building with a hose and putting out a fire isn’t easy. Firefighters are loaded down with pounds and pounds of gear to keep them safe while battling blazes, some toxic, which can turn on firefighters in seconds.
Then there’s the science of extinguishing fires, which include the Venturi effect and positive pressure ventilation. Backdrafts, updrafts, downdrafts, fire whirls — which can reach 2,000 degrees in one estimation — and more all come into play when fighting fires.
It’s a dangerous business. Members of the Chicago Fire Department can attest to with the loss of four firefighters in 2023.
But as Turner knew, it also was thrilling. Lots of firefighters will second that emotion when the fire calls come to the station.
Like the paid-on-call firefighter I know who left his rehearsal dinner in his parents’ backyard when his pager sounded after a passing motorist saw flames shooting from a nearby house. With some of the bridegrooms also paid-on-calls, they left to fight the blaze.
When they got there, in civilian clothes, they jumped on the roof and started using axes to ventilate the home whose owners were out of town. They worked the fire until department trucks arrived on the scene and saved the house from being fully engaged. Then they returned to the rehearsal dinner.
Turner, too, was that kind of firefighter. When he announced his retirement, he was praised by North Chicago officials as a dedicated professional, who stayed out of the political arena which can come with the territory as a department head. City officials said he kept the department “in fighting trim” in its mission to protect city residents.
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At that time, he said in a Tribune story: “I’ll always be a part of North Chicago, and North Chicago will always be in my heart.”
His obituary also spelled out his dedication to community and family: “He was a good friend, and very loyal to his family which he loved so much. He hosted many memorable family gatherings and made a difference in the lives he touched.”
For many, like Richard Turner, dreams and hopes don’t just apply during the holiday season. Some may even come true in the new year of 2024.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
X @sellenews