Villa Park fire chief retires after 32 years with department

As Villa Park Fire Chief Mark Duski prepares to step down Friday after 32 years with the department, he says he’s amazed at life’s twists and turns.

Duski might have wound up with a career in the travel industry if it wasn’t for Joe DiMaggio, he said.

Not the baseball player, though. Instead, Duski said he owes his career to a Chicago firefighter with the same name. In the mid-1970s both men were working part-time at a travel agency, and DiMaggio told him to try out an emerging field instead.

“He was a Lucky Strikes-smoking, down and dirty firefighter and one day he turned to me and said ‘What are you doing in this office?’” Duski said. “‘Why don’t you go out there and try that paramedic stuff?’”

That’s just what Duski did, attending emergency medical technician school in Chicago and eventually landing a job after graduation in Villa Park.

At the time he joined Villa Park, pension rules gave firefighters an incentive to stay with one department, since the benefits didn’t transfer from one job to the next. He said he’s happy he remained in town for more than three decades, moving up through the ranks, being promoted to lieutenant in 1983, deputy chief in 1999, and ultimately becoming chief in early 2006.

“I loved it here,” he said. “It worked out well. You look back at the serendipity of your life and the twists and turns. I have no regrets because it’s been a great career and a great job.”

During his tenure, Duski said he’s seen more changes than he can name, calling the job these days immensely more complicated.

“It used to just be we fought fires and treated heart attacks,” Duski said. “Now, paramedics can deal with just about anything.”

He said a lot of specialized training has emerged, including water rescue, dealing with hazardous materials and technical rescue. Even the gear, he said, is half as heavy as it once was.

Firefighters also have to deal with changes that emerge from materials people use to build homes and furniture, he said. With many items now being made of plastic instead of wood, Duski said fires burn hotter, faster and destroy items more quickly than ever.

As a result, his department pushed for an ordinance that requires sprinklers in any new Villa Park residential buildings. Duski said the ordinance is one of his proudest accomplishments, and he hopes the Illinois Fire Marshall is able to pass the measure at a state level.

Once he leaves the Villa Park Fire Department, Duski said he’s unsure of what’s next. But he hints he might miss his career.

“It’s been a great career and I hope not to be a stranger,” Duski said. “But my standard line for the next couple months is: I’m going to see if I even like retirement.”