Excerpts from the Dailyherald.com:
Elk Grove Village Fire Chief Richard Mikel has been named 2018 Fire Chief of the Year by the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association. He will receive the award at the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association Annual Conference in Peoria on Oct. 16.
Mikel won the award in the category of Career Fire Chief with a population over 25,000. He oversees a department of 94 full-time employees and four fire stations that provides fire protection to 33,000 residents, 22 shopping centers, and the largest industrial park in North America.
Elk Grove hired Mikel as chief in 2012, after he spent the previous two years as the deputy fire chief of administration for Downers Grove. Before that, he served 26 years with the Naperville Fire Department, starting as a firefighter/paramedic and rising through the ranks to become the deputy fire chief of operations.
Mikel currently is overseeing the construction of two new fire stations, a $9.5 million, four-bay station serving the west side of the village, and a $15-million, four-bay station and training tower serving the village’s industrial park. The new stations will replace facilities that are 42 and 47 years old, respectively.
thanks Scott
