Mount Prospect recognizes two fire department members

Two members of the Mount Prospect fire department were recently recognized for their achievements.

Lt. Kevin Swat was recognized for his deployment from Sept. 25 to Oct. 10 with the MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System) Swift Water Rescue Team as they responded to Hurricane Helene.

Swat, along with two dozen specially trained water rescue technicians, was deployed on 24 hours notice to a remote area of North Carolina, Mount Prospect Fire Chief John Dolan said at the Nov. 19 village board meeting.

“Kevin did not hesitate to step forward. What was supposed to be a seven-day deployment ended up being over two weeks of nonstop search and recovery efforts in conditions many of us can't imagine,” Dolan said.

He said Swat hadn’t even unpacked his gear before he was pressed into service rescuing people trapped by water and debris. His efforts and those of the other water rescue team members resulted in a number of lifesaving rescues, evacuations, assistance to those sheltering in place and to local fire and emergency response organizations.

Swat said his team arrived prior to the storm and stayed during it.

“We were out in the field, trying to get people out of harm’s way,” he said. “It was pretty chaotic those first few days.”

He spent much of his time in Swannanoa, North Carolina, describing it as a humbling experience.

“We just wake up the next day and go to work and keep on doing it, because you see the people out there that really need it. I think that's what drove us. We saw the need, how many people were affected,” he said.

Swat previously received a Humanitarian Award for his swiftwater deployment to Hardin, Illinois, in 2019.

Mitchell Winkelmann was recognized for completion of the Illinois Professional Development Series Certification in Emergency Management. The curriculum consists of more than a dozen independent Federal Emergency Management Agency, Illinois Emergency Management Agency and Office of Homeland Security courses.

Winkelmann recently celebrated his fifth anniversary with the department, serving as an emergency management assistant for the last two and a half years. During that time, he has played a critical role in developing the village’s emergency operations plan, as well as emergency action plans for such village events as the annual Block Party and Fourth of July Parade.

“The fire service is largely a reactive environment,” Mount Prospect Fire Chief John Dolan said at the Nov. 19 village board meeting. “Like all our fire prevention efforts, however, emergency management is all the preemptive steps we take to minimize risk to the community.

“These behind-the-scene efforts, while less glamorous, are some of the most important things we do as a fire department. They are the proactive steps we take to keep not only the community safe, but our own personnel safe.”