This from Dave Weaver:
11/25/17 SANDWICH – Fire Vehicle Procession and Memorial Service for Don Rimgale – Procession Video by Tom Burns/Memorial Service Video by Dave WeaverDonald S. Rimgale, Sr. retired from the Chicago FD in November 1996 after 31 years of service. He then became Fire Chief in his boyhood town of Sandwich from which he retired in July 2016. It was during his years of service as a Chicago FD Office of Fire Investigations (OFI) arson investigator that Don became the inspiration for Robert De Niro’s character, Inspector Don Rimgale, in the 1991 film ‘Backdraft’. Don passed away at his home in Elmhurst November 13, 2017 at the age of 77.
