The Daily Herald has an article about a retirement announcement of the Arlington Heights fire chief:
After almost four decades with Arlington Heights, Fire Chief Glenn Eriksen announced Monday that he will be leaving the department next month to take a position with MABAS-Illinois, the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System. Ericksen will end his 39 years with the Arlington Heights Fire Department on Feb. 13. He is only Arlington Heights’ fourth fire chief since the village switched from a volunteer department to a full-time paid department in 1958
Ericksen will be working as section chief of administration with MABAS-Illinois, according to the release. MABAS is a statewide mutual response system for fire and EMS teams.
Ericksen’s final salary at Arlington Heights was $139,711, according to the village’s human resources department. Ericksen could be eligible to earn up to 75 percent of that salary in annual pension, in addition to his new salary at MABAS.
Ericksen started as a fire alarm operator with the Arlington Heights Fire Department in 1974 and became a firefighter in 1981. He was a firefighter/paramedic from 1986 until 1993, when he was promoted to fire lieutenant. He had also been a fire captain, fire commander and deputy fire chief before being named chief in 2004.
During Ericksen’s time as chief, the fire department obtained a grant that allowed it to hire an additional nine firefighters and was honored with the 2010 SAFE Communities Designation from the National Safety Council on behalf of the World Health Organization. He also oversaw the addition of an emergency operations center, which is used as a communication headquarters for the village in case of a local disaster.
Dixon said he will name an acting fire chief next month before starting an open search for Ericksen’s replacement.
