Wheaton Names New Fire Chief

William Schultz, currently the Deputy Chief of the Wheaton Fire Department, will take over as Chief June 3.

Wheaton City Manager Donald Rose has appointed William Schultz as the new Chief of the Wheaton Fire Department.  Schultz, who currently serves as the Deputy Fire Chief of the fire department, will replace current Chief Greg Berk, who will retire May 31 after a 46-year-career in fire service. Berk, who announced his retirement last month, was appointed Chief in February 2003. He was also Chief of the Flossmoor Fire Department prior to his time in Wheaton.  Schultz worked for the Village of Hazel Crest for 12 years before he moved to the Wheaton Fire Department in January 2003 to serve as Battalion Chief. In May 2006, he was appointed Deputy Chief, according to a news release from the City of Wheaton. Chief Schultz has a Master’s in Public …

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Garage Fire Reported in Downtown Wheaton Saturday

The fire is thought to be accidental in nature, officials said. Here's what happened.

An investigation continues into a garage fire that broke out Saturday in downtown Wheaton. The fire occurred on the 700 block of East Liberty Drive in a detached three-car garage with a built-out second floor. The Wheaton Fire Department responded to the fire at about 8:40 p.m., according to a press release. The fire, which involved the second floor of the garage, was quickly extinguished. There was no damage to the house. "Although the fire is believed to be accidental in nature, an investigator began a cause and origin investigation regarding this fire," the release said. As of Monday afternoon, there was no estimate of damages and the fire was listed as undetermined. The property was turned back over to the owners. No one was injured …

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UPDATE: Minor Injury in Wheaton House Fire

Fire officials say an accidental house fire Monday morning may have started because of an unattended candle.

Updated 4:35 p.m. Monday, Feb. 4 A woman was treated and released with a minor injury after a fire in her Wheaton home Monday morning, fire officials said. The Wheaton Fire Department responded to the scene at 1232 E. Oxford Ln. around 9:30 a.m. Monday and controlled the fire within minutes, according to the fire department. The fire started in a bedroom on the second story of the home. The home is now uninhabitable due to smoke and water damage, officials said. One resident was home at the time of the fire. She was able to leave without injuries. The cause of the fire is deemed accidental and appears to have been related to an unattended candle, officials said. Like Wheaton Patch on Facebook

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10 Highest Paid Fire Officials in Wheaton

Projected salaries for Wheaton Fire Department employees is available on the City of Wheaton website.

Salary and benefit information for public employees is public record. We post this information because we think it will be of interest to our readers, many of whom are Wheaton residents and taxpayers who foot the bill. Through the rest of the year, Wheaton Patch will regularly post the highest paid individuals from Wheaton's remaining taxing bodies: Wheaton Police Department,Wheaton Public Library and Community Unit School District 200. We have already posted: The following information on compensation for employees of the Wheaton Fire Department was obtained from the City of Wheaton website and a FOIA request. In order of base salary, the ten highest paid fire officials are:

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Wheaton Watcher

8:17 am on Saturday, December 15, 2012

By the way, his best year was maybe in the low to mid $ 40s after 30 years on the job. Now he lives retired, living in a trailer park. John J & Billy, you should feel lucky to have the dedicated first responders we have.   more ›

Wheaton Fire Department Teaming Up With Neighboring Towns

New West Suburban Fire/Rescue Alliance seeks to reduce costs, improve efficiency.

Wheaton Coordinates Firefighting Resources with Three Communities

Wheaton Fire Department joins Winfield, West Chicago and Carol Stream to create the West Suburban Fire/Rescue Alliance.

Nearly two years of work is paying off for an alliance of local fire departments. The Wheaton Fire Department has joined the Winfield, West Chicago and Carol Stream Fire Protection Districts in creating the West Suburban Fire/Rescue Alliance, a formal effort to create better cooperation among the fire departments. This month, the Alliance launched a dispatch system that better coordinates emergency services and enhances the departments’ ability to share resources. The switch to a unified dispatch system required a great deal of coordination from the departments, as the departments first had to develop common response procedures to incidents and common training. It also required DU-COMM (the dispatch agency) to completely reprogram the …

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Council to Vote on Coordination with Neighboring Fire Departments, Bike Plan, Changes to Police Contracts

City Council will address the following agenda items at the Feb. 6 meeting at City Hall, 303 Wesley St., Wheaton.

Wheaton City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 6 at City Hall. Following a proclamation regarding the 84th anniversary of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Council will address the following agenda items: New business Approve bond waivers and issue raffle license for the DuPage County Convalescent Center and Washington Elementary School PTA Award bid for aerial bucket truck chassis: Council will vote to approve the purchase of an aerial bucket truck for $88,672 for the city’s electrical department to replace the current truck that is showing “early signs of corrosion,” according to a city memo. Adopt resolution authorizing a grant agreement with the State of Illinois Department of Commcerce and Economic Opportunity for Park …

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Riding to Remember the Patriots of Patriots Day

Wisconsin firefighter bicycling across the country to raise awareness for the victims of 9/11 stops in Wheaton.

It’s called Patriots Day, a day when we remember not only those who perished in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but the first responders who braved the flames and fear to help their fellow man—many of whom lost their lives that day. Now, 10 years later, Chris Harley Rupp, a volunteer firefighter and EMT with the Mount Horeb, WI Fire Department, wants to make sure those first responders, particularly the firefighters, are not forgotten. Rupp felt a deep calling to perform some act of remembrance for the firefighters who gave their lives to help total strangers that day. The heroism first responders exhibited that day is one of the reasons Rupp joined the fire department when he turned 18 years old. Rupp was 13 years old that …

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