Next Highland Park fire chief has deep ‘hometown’ roots
His interest in firefighting went deeper than childhood curiosity.
"I was always interested in it because my father was a volunteer fireman in
"Back in those days, they didn't have pagers to let the volunteers know there was a call," Amidei recalled. "They blew the whistle so the whole town would find out. The first person in the station would write the address."
On
Amidei spent seven years as a "paid on call" and full-time firefighter in
"Once I did the 'paid on call' thing, within a few months, I was just nuts about it," said Amidei, who added that he earned about
Moving up the ranks in
Pease said he was looking for a position that would pose new challenges after he became eligible for full retirement benefits in
He'll step into his new position
Pease said that while
The
"Whereas
In naming his replacement, City Manager
In the immediate area, he serves as chief of the MABAS Division 3 joint fire investigation team, a collaboration of 17 departments. MABAS, which stands for Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, provides emergency rapid response and sustained operations in the event a jurisdiction or area is overwhelmed by a man-made, technological or environmental threat.
Amidei holds the designation of
In the near term, Amidei said the department will be working to improve its fire suppression rating for insurance purposes when it comes up for review this summer. The ISO (
"We are now rated a 3 and we want to get to 2," said Amidei, of the notch just below the best possible rating of one.
Another major undertaking, he said, will be planning for the new
Reflecting on his 31 years of service, Pease cannot help but recall the high number of traffic fatalities that once occurred where the
Motorists traveling at high speeds on the
"We used to have accidents there every week, and a lot of them fatal," Pease said. "
Pease views one of the biggest accomplishments of his tenure as the merger with
"There were two unions we had to get on board to agree to the situation," Pease said. "That was one hurdle. The other was getting the citizens of
He said the merger also required
Pease said the planning paid off and the transition turned out to be smooth and transparent.
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