More Top Picks Best Dell Laptops
player ready...La Grange Park’s Fire Department is beginning a recruitment drive in an effort to hire six new paid-on-call firefighters.
The effort kicked off Sept. 29 with the first in a planned series of orientations where department officials give interested residents an overview of what the job entails. The details didn’t tamp down any interest from the potential recruits.
“I’ve been living here for quite some time and I’ve wanted to be a firefighter for some time,” said resident Pablo Garcia, 34, who has spent 12 years in the Army and is married with one child. “But life takes its turns, and I joined the military and I’m still doing that. I would like to serve the community and when I saw there was an opportunity, I’m going to jump on it.”
Peter Shebelski, 36, and married with two daughters, comes from a military background.
“Both my wife and I grew up in the Brookfield/La Grange Park area,” he said. “I was enlisted in the Navy for six years and got out about 10 years ago.”
While the Fire Department took steps to address its staffing issues in 2023 when the Village Board approved allowing some citizens of nearby municipalities to serve in the department, depending on where they lived, all of the potential recruits at the Open House were La Grange Park residents.
“What tonight is going to do is give you an understanding of what the job at La Grange Park is about,” Fire Chief Dean Maggos told the potential recruits. “Our goal is to constantly staff our department the best we can with part-time, paid-on-call personnel. Some people do that for the rest of their life and keep a regular career, but a lot of our people go on to become firefighters in other communities. … We’re here to cater to everybody.”
Deputy Fire Chief John Psenicka spent about 45 minutes explaining to the potential recruits what to expect if they were hired. He highlighted several topics new firefighters would contend with, including training at the Illinois Fire Service Institute in Champaign.
Psenicka also listed services the department provided in addition to structure fires, including EMS calls — 85-90% of the department’s calls are ambulance calls, rescue/car accident extrications, hazardous material responses, fire investigations, public education at school, fire inspections, and open houses.
“We respond to all kinds of different calls,” he said. “Honestly, I’ve responded to a cat up a tree. … I never thought I’d see the day.”
Psenicka stressed there is a two-year training period that includes regular Monday-night training sessions and continuing education toward an EMT certification.
He also said if a firefighter quit before his two year probationary period was up, they could be asked to reimburse the department for some of the training costs.
“It’s a very large investment for us to make in you,” he said.
Lt. Steve Storey, of Fire Station No. 2, pointed out that each applicant must consider how much time away from their families they were willing to sacrifice. Paid-on-call firefighters are expected to respond to at least 10 calls per month.
“That’s a lot of time away from your families. Away from your kids, away from your activities,” he said. “It’s a lot, so be brutally honest with yourself. ‘Do I have the time to do this?’”
None of the potential firefighters at the orientation were dissuaded from the challenge, with all of them saying they planned to officially apply, although Shebelski did say ‘I’d have to run it past my wife.”
Two more orientations are scheduled, for Oct. 13 and 22. Both are scheduled to run from 6 to 7:00 p.m. at Fire Station Number 1, 447 N Catherine Ave.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.