Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Jeffrey Howell retired as chief of the Lake Forest Fire Department on Sept. 2 after 26 years with the department.
He was first hired at the Elk Grove Township Fire Department in 1988, where he worked for two years before moving to the Lake Forest Fire Department in May 1990. He made lieutenant in 2003, captain in 2005, deputy chief in 2006 and chief in 2007.
The biggest challenge of running a fire department, says Howell, has been the tightening of budgets.
Howell is most proud of the Lake Forest Fire Department gaining accreditation from the Center for Public Safety Excellence in both 2010 and again in 2015. The 2010 accreditation was a three-year process where representatives looked at fire department practices, training, call response, equipment, strategic plan, capital equipment replacement plan, city government financing and other aspects of running an effective fire department.
On Sept. 6 the Lake Forest City Council appointed Deputy Chief Pete Siebert as acting fire chief. The city has formed a committee called to consider the future of the fire department.
