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Four seek top fire jobs in Edgerton

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Brian Demrow

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David Peterson

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Ryan Beckwith

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Joshua Smith

EDGERTON — The Edgerton Fire Protection District will choose between two familiar faces and two newcomers for the positions of full-time chief and full-time deputy chief Thursday.

Volunteer Fire Chief Brian Demrow is a candidate for chief, and volunteer Deputy Chief Ryan Beckwith is a candidate for deputy chief.

Rounding out the group are chief candidate David Peterson, a lieutenant with the Madison Fire Department, and deputy chief candidate Joshua Smith, a Walworth County dispatcher and volunteer with the Williams Bay Fire Department.

Demrow and Beckwith recommended the district hire full-time officers during the 2009 budget process. The jobs have become too cumbersome for volunteers, they said.

The district set aside $160,000 in the 2009 budget for a full-time chief and deputy chief.

The move came four months after the district settled with three fired employees. The employees fought a five-year legal battle with the district, saying they were fired in 2003 for joining a union. The district said they were laid off for financial reasons.

In June, the employees agreed to resign from the fire department if the district paid them almost $600,000 in back pay and attorney fees.

The money the district had been setting aside each year for the fired employees now will go toward the full-time chief and deputy chief's salaries.

District officials said in fall that the chief and deputy chief positions will be different from the full-time positions eliminated in 2003.

The former employees drove fire vehicles and maintained the station, while the new jobs will be administrative positions with specific qualifications and training, Commission Secretary Nancy Dickinson said.

Several commission members interviewed the four finalists last week, Dickinson said. The group was assisted by Jim Linsley, who recently stepped down as commission president but continues as an alternate commission member, she said.

The district invited a fifth candidate to interview for the chief and deputy chief positions, but the candidate couldn't make it to any of the interview sessions, Dickinson said.

Even though the commission already is familiar with Beckwith and Demrow, they aren't receiving special treatment, Dickinson said.

"I don't know what special treatment we can get them," she said. "We are evaluating the candidates, looking at their applications. What more can you do?"

Demrow and Beckwith believe a full-time chief and deputy chief are best for the district no matter who the district hires, they said.

The two officers have been working twice as hard as usual to help the district transition from a private ambulance service to an in-house one, Beckwith said.

"There isn't enough time to (serve) on a part-time basis and to do this in a professional way," he said. "The main goal of all of this is to improve our service but also to make life better for the volunteers."

THE CANDIDATES

Here's a closer look at the candidates for full-time chief and deputy chief at the Edgerton Fire Protection District. The information comes from interviews with the candidates and their resumes.

Chief candidates

Name: Brian L. Demrow

Community: Edgerton

Occupation: Edgerton Public Works employee

Education: Graduate of Edgerton High School, 1984; certificate in agricultural mechanics from Blackhawk Technical College, 1990.

Qualifications: 14 years on the Edgerton Fire Department, including four years as captain, two years as training officer, six years as assistant chief and more than a year as chief.

Training: Firefighter I, firefighter II training in progress, entry level fire officer, certified first responder.

Why do you want to be chief? Demrow said he enjoys the job of chief and wants to guide the department through the transition from a private ambulance service to an in-house service.

Name: David F. Peterson

Community: Janesville

Occupation: Madison Fire Department lieutenant

Education: Associate degree in fire science from Blackhawk Technical College, 1986; expects to earn bachelor's degree in fire service management from Southern Illinois University in May 2009.

Qualifications: Eight years on the Janesville Fire Department followed by 19 years on the Madison Fire Department. Lieutenant for the last nine years and hazardous materials training coordinator for the last seven years.

Training: Firefighter II, firefighter instructor II, emergency medical technician-basic, halfway through a four-year executive fire officer program at the National Fire Academy and has completed other classes there.

Why do you want to be chief? Peterson said he's looking for more responsibility. He'd like to work in Edgerton because it's progressive in its equipment and the way it handles incidents, he said.

Deputy chief candidates

Name: Ryan J. Beckwith

Community: Edgerton

Occupation: Owner, Beckwith Painting

Education: Graduate of Edgerton High School, 1996

Qualifications: 13 years on the Edgerton Fire Department, including two years as captain, two years as training officer, two years as assistant chief of training, and more than a year as deputy chief.

Training: Firefighter II, fire officer I, certified first responder, National Fire Academy Incident Safety Officer training.

Why do you want to be deputy chief? "I've kind of helped set up the process of recognizing a need for the positions, but also this is a job I enjoy doing, even when it's not a job."

Name: Joshua A. Smith

Community: Geneva Township in Walworth County

Occupation: Walworth County Sheriff's Office dispatcher

Education: Some college from Marquette University, Milwaukee.

Qualifications: Seven years on the Williams Bay Fire Department, including three years as lieutenant and one year as fire inspector, EMS training officer and EMS assistant chief.

Training: Firefighter II, emergency medical technician-basic

Why do you want to be deputy chief? Smith would like to become a full-time firefighter, and Edgerton would be a good fit because it's a small town with a fire department similar to the one he serves with now, he said.