Excerpts from the rblandmark.com:
After more than 38 years on the job as a firefighter for the Village of Brookfield, Fire Chief Mark Duffek quietly retired last month after serving the top job for the past 19 months. His last day on the job was Nov. 30, and his departure was announced at the village board’s Nov. 25 meeting.
Duffek had eyed retiring at the end of November 2018, however, those plans were put on hold when former Chief Patrick Lenzi announced he was leaving that April. In recent months, the 59-year-old Duffek began to contemplate retirement. The decision was an emotional one for him.
He started with the fire department in 1981 as a paid-on-call firefighter before being hired full time in 1986. He worked his way through the ranks, serving as the department’s HAZMAT team coordinator, EMS coordinator, and union president.
Capt. Brian Baldwin, an 18-year veteran of the Brookfield Fire Department, has been named interim fire chief. The village will conduct a search that will be open to internal as well as external candidates which could to take two to three months. Until a new chief is hired, there will be a vacancy in the ranks. If an internal candidate is named chief, a new firefighter will be hired. If the new chief comes from outside, staffing will otherwise remain the same.
