Des Plaines fire chief hangs it up after 30 years

Des Plaines' top firefighter, Chief Randy Jaeger, is retiring after 30 years of service this June.

Jaeger began his career with the Bensenville Fire Department in 1979. He joined the Des Plaines Fire Department in 1983, rising up the ranks as lieutenant, captain and training officer before being appointed battalion chief/shift commander in 1999.

Jaeger was promoted to deputy chief in 2003 and was tapped to be fire chief by then-City Manager Dave Niemeyer on Sept. 6, 2007. His last day is June 30, when he turns 54 years old.

"I am very thankful to the city of Des Plaines for the opportunity they've given me," Jaeger said. "It's the highest honor I could ever imagine or expect."

Jaeger said he would have stayed on longer had the city moved ahead with plans to build a fourth fire station along Central Avenue to serve north side residents, and pursued fire department accreditation from the Center for Public Safety Excellence.

Jaeger said the fire department is not accredited and the process involves an extensive review of its policies, procedures, training and equipment by peers from fire departments nationwide.

"Those were two of the projects that I wanted to see through to the end," he said. "Obviously, when the economic downturn came, all those programs were scrapped."

The roughly $5.6 million fire station project was delayed, along with plans to add a training tower at another fire station, in budget cuts in November when officials also laid off 12 city employees and slashed a variety of programs.

Jaeger said he chose to retire now because he wanted the new fire chief to be part of discussions that would significantly impact future fire department operations.

In June, the city begins its budget process for next year, and will start negotiations with the firefighters union. Their contract is up January 2010. Early next year, the department also will conduct its promotional testing of firefighters to become officers, done once every three years.

"I thought it would be a great time to transition in a new chief ... get his feet wet in all those areas," Jaeger said.

Jaeger's successor likely will come from among the ranks. It could be either of the two deputy fire chiefs, Ron Eilken or Scott Small, or any of the three division chiefs or three battalion chiefs.

"We've always promoted from within and hopefully they will do that again," Jaeger said.

City Manager Jason Bajor could not be reached for comment Wednesday about the appointment process.

Jaeger said the biggest challenge ahead for the new chief is rebuilding the fire department's infrastructure. The department has three fire stations and 102 firefighters.

"We have to rebuild Fire Station 2," Jaeger said. "We've been trying to rebuild (it) since 1990. They may even have to look in the long term at replacing Fire Station 1 also."