Geneva residents looking to meet the city’s new fire chief and deputy chief can do so on Aug. 17, at an open house at Geneva City Hall from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
Following the open house, Matt Lohse and Steve Hernandez are set to be officially sworn in as the new fire chief and deputy chief at a meeting of the Geneva City Council, according to a news release from the city of Geneva and the Geneva Fire Department.
The leadership change is in response to the impending retirement of Geneva Fire Chief Mike Antenore, who spent three decades with the Geneva Fire Department.
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In May, Antenore announced that he’d be stepping down as of August, with Lohse — his deputy chief — set to take over the top spot.
Lohse has been with the department for 27 years, according to the news release from the city and fire department, rising from firefighter to lieutenant in 2015 to deputy chief in 2023.
The department employs 21 full-time firefighter/paramedics, eight contract paramedic/firefighters and more than 35 paid-on-call firefighters, the news release noted.
Taking over as deputy chief is Steve Hernandez, who has been a paid-on-call firefighter with the Geneva Fire Department and paramedic since 2017, per the news release from the city and fire department.
A Geneva resident for more than two decades, Hernandez most recently served as the fire chief at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, where he oversaw fire protection, emergency medical services, emergency management and organizational preparedness for the facility, the news release said.
The open house is open to residents, business owners and community stakeholders, the news release said, and refreshments will be provided. Geneva’s City Hall is at 109 James St.