Two brothers were among four new paid-on-call firefighters sworn in Jan. 28 in La Grange Park, bringing that force closer to optimal staffing, officials said.
Joining Alex Kiessling and Christian Kiessling in completing their probationary periods are fellow new La Grange Park firefighters Emma Ellison and Daniel Griffin.
“It takes a lot of work to get to this point and it takes a lot of work by our personnel to get through the training, especially when they have other things going on in their lives,” Fire Chief Dean Maggos said before Village Clerk Meghan Kooi swore them in as a group.
Paid-on-call firefighters typically have other full-time jobs or might be students, Maggos said, and they have their own family obligations.
“To stay with our department is a rather large undertaking,” he said. “Almost all of them attended firefighting academy on nights and weekends.”
Each new firefighter has completed the Basic Operations Fire Academy, becoming state certified firefighters. They’ve also completed Emergency Medical Service training and are licensed EMT-Bs.
While their formal training is completed, Maggos said the department’s policy is that all personnel will continue to train weekly.
“Down the road, they’ll probably take on leadership roles themselves,” he said.
The hires come at a busy time for the La Grange Park department, Maggos said.
“We are close to being fully staffed, but not quite,” he said. “The firefighters being sworn in tonight are only four of about 12 that were hired within the last two years.”
Maggos also stressed that the department was not done growing.
“We also have six more that we hired just this month and actually begin the fire academy tonight.”
In the fall of 2023, facing declining recruitment, the village relaxed its residency requirements for firefighters.
While previously requiring recruits to live within village boundaries, the practice was relaxed to allow hiring from nearby municipalities, including parts of La Grange, Brookfield, Western Springs, Westchester and Broadview.
While village staff acknowledged concerns about response times, they said in some cases current firefighters lived farther away from the fire stations than the newly-included areas.
“The new rules regarding expanding our hiring boundaries slightly beyond the village limits are beginning to pay off,” Maggos said. “As you see, Dan Griffin, who is being sworn in tonight, is actually a resident of La Grange, and two of our probationary firefighters, who are working on finishing their training requirements, are also residents of Brookfield.”
The next La Grange Park Village Board meeting is 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 11, in the Village Boardroom, 447 N. Catherine Ave.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.