La Grange Park added two new firefighters to its paid, on-call fire department on April 23.
Both La Grange Park residents, Joseph Schmitt and Scott Hennke were sworn in and pinned with their fire department badges before family and friends on hand at the Village Hall.
Fire Chief Dean Maggos spoke before the ceremony and talked about the unique commitment that paid, on-call firefighters brought to the community.
“They don’t have to take that responsibility on as their full-time job, they have to do it also in addition to their full-time job,” he said, saying that the commitment that got the two to this position was “pretty extreme.”
Indeed, Schmitt is a full-time supervisor with Nicor Gas, and Hennke is a business owner selling shoes and footwear.
Both new firefighters began as candidates with the department on January 6, 2022, Schmitt completing his probationary period on Jan. 6 of this year, and Hennke completing his probation on April 5.
Maggos stressed the achievement of simply making it through the probationary period.
“There’s a lot that goes into probation,” he said. “There is basic fire operations, the fire academy, many, many topics, and much physical activity that they have to go through … EMT school, much education and much understanding of the human body and what goes into care for an emergency out in the field.”
Coping with disappointing recruiting in recent years, La Grange Park changed its rules in September of 2023 to allow people residing outside, but near, the Village boundaries to serve on the department.
Maggos indicated that of the nine recruits presently in the fire academy, one was a resident of nearby Brookfield.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
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