For Fire Chief Stephen Welgat, last week’s massive fire at the Cernovich scrapyard was the biggest challenge he’s faced in his 27 years on the Kewanee Fire Department.
“I would say that was the most daunting fire,” Welgat said.
That fire occurred just a few weeks before Welgat is set to retire at the end of May.
Welgat, who has been fire chief for about five years, will turn the job over to Capt. Jake Forney as of June 1.
He recalled other major fires the department handled during his career. Until last week, the biggest fire Welgat was involved with was the fire that destroyed the “Bat Cave” behind the 200 block of West Second Street a few years ago.
Another major fire, which destroyed the former Kewanee Boiler Corp. office building, happened while Welgat was on vacation.
Welgat said he’s the last firefighter who had worked at the old fire station, which was in a building in the 300 block of North Tremont Street, on the block that is now Berrien Park.
He rose through the fire department’s ranks on his way to the chief position.
That included a stint at Station 2 at Tremont and Eighth streets. At the time, all ambulance runs were dispatched from there.
Since that was difficult duty for the crew at that station, the procedure was changed so that half the ambulance runs come from there and the other half are from the main fire station on East Third Street.
In recent years there has been increased emphasis on training in the Kewanee Fire Department. All firefighters must earn the designation of paramedic, and they take advanced training in other areas of firefighting.
“We’re always getting a lot of compliments about our professionalism and how well we do our job,” Welgat said. “It’s a very impressive list of qualifications we have for a department our size.”
During Welgat’s tenure as chief, the department has received a number of state and federal grants for purchasing equipment. Most recently, a new fire truck was added, due in large part to a grant.
Forney joined the Kewanee Fire Department 10 years ago after being a volunteer firefighter in Brimfield for five years.
Like Welgat, he went through the department’s four ranks.
“I was fortunate enough to move up pretty quickly,” Forney said.
“I think the department is in a good spot,” Welgat said. And Forney said, “I plan on building on what he’s done” in the future.
