All four finalists working to become the 11th chief in the history of the Rockford Fire Department already are high-ranking officers in the department. They were chosen as finalists from a field of 13 applicants.
The Rockford Board of Fire and Police Commissioners is working to choose one of them to succeed Derek Bergsten, who in the spring accepted a job as fire chief of a Fort Collins, Colorado, department.
Finalists will answer questions during a public virtual forum online at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Each will take a turns answering questions. They won’t be able to hear the questions or how the other candidates respond. No questions will be taken from the live audience.
Trent Brass
Armed with a bachelors degree in assets protection and a minor in computer information systems from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky, where he graduated magna cum laude, Trent Brass entered the business world in 1995.
He went to work for the DeKalb Fire Department in 1996, completing fire science training at the Elgin Fire Academy in May 1997.
Brass was hired in Rockford in March 2001 after working five years as a firefighter-paramedic in DeKalb. Promoted to lieutenant in 2013 and captain in 2018, Brass has had a hand in developing and implementing some of the Rockford Fire Department’s most innovative programs.
He helped to develop and guide the department’s mobile integrated health program that works with SwedishAmerican Hospital to reduce unnecessary emergency room transports and visits while providing needed services to patients. He also helped to implement a new program that allows Rockford to transport patients, when appropriate, directly to a mental health treatment facility as opposed to an emergency room.
Kyle Hill
Kyle Hill, leader of the region’s hazardous materials team, is a 1990 graduate of Christian Life High School who got his start as a volunteer firefighter before hiring on with Rockford in 1999.
Promoted to lieutenant in 2010 and captain in 2017, Hill oversees Rockford Fire Station No. 7, where he is responsible for station maintenance, budgeting and record keeping in addition to managing firefighters and paramedics.
He earned an associate’s degree in applied fire science from Rock Valley College in 2008 and a bachelor’s degree in public safety management from Southern Illinois University in 2020.
Among his proudest accomplishments was co-founding a small committee in 2007 that would go on to establish a memorial to honor fallen firefighters, police officer and EMS workers who had been killed in the line of duty. The memorial was dedicated in 2015 and Hill continues to work with the Winnebago County 9/11 Emergency Responders Memorial as treasurer of the organization.
Matthew Knott
An award winning Rockford firefighter and paramedic hired in 1997, Matthew Knott was promoted to division chief in 2009. He is currently in charge of administration and is responsible for planning, organizing, budgeting, directing and supervising the administrative and human resources divisions of the department.
Knott was recognized with a Humanitarian Service Medal from the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System and Illinois Fire Chiefs Association for “outstanding individual and team actions” after responding to Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005. He has represented the fire department as part of Transform Rockford, Alignment Rockford, and myriad other community improvement efforts.
In addition to his certifications, Knott holds a bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University in geology and master’s degree in industrial management-safety.
Knott is a proponent of metrics-based performance evaluations and continuous improvement policies. He has led fire prevention, public education, and arson investigation programs.
Michele Pankow
Michele Pankow could become the first woman to be chief in the history of the Rockford Fire Department, which dates back to 1880.
When a major disaster strikes the region like a tornado or large-scale incident, she is in charge of mobilizing the response and running the special operations center.
Over a 28-year career she has worked her way up the ranks serving as a firefighter, emergency medical services operations chief, lieutenant, captain, and district chief. She holds an associates degree from Rock Valley College, a bachelor’s degree in fire service management from Southern Illinois University and a master’s in public administration from Northern Illinois University.
In 2017, Pankow became the first woman in the history of the Rockford Fire Department to attain the rank of division chief. She is in charge of all fire suppression and special tactical operation companies and directs emergency medical operations of the department.
And Pankow was recognized this year as an “everyday hero” with the 2021 Red Cross Disaster Services Hero Award.
Finding out what or who is sparking fires in vacant buildings in Rockford is the fire department’s top priority.
Rockford Fire Department Division Chief Matt Knott says it’s “clear we have a fire problem” after a fourth vacant building was destroyed in an early morning fire on Thursday. The first fire happened at the old Hanley Furniture building on June 25th, followed by a fire on 7th Street a week later on July 2. On July 4, a third Rockford downtown building caught fire in the 800 block of South Main Street.
Investigators are actively working on finding the cause of a fire in the 600 block of 7th Street, the site of Thursday’s fire. Three of the four walls of the building collapsed.
The fire department says they are treating all the fires as independent events and have confirmed that there was no electricity in either the Hanley Building or the fire on South Main Street. Division Chief Knott says arson remains a possibility with some of the fires, but they are not ruling out other causes.
Red X’s have been popping up on vacant homes all over Rockford as part of a new program by the fire department. The Red X program is designed as way to let firefighters know that the building has some structural weaknesses before going inside.
“The roof structure did collapse and narrowly missed some of our firefighters. That’s a situation where a sign like this would have warned our firefighters this building has some structural issues and would help drive our tactics a little bit more,” says Rockford Fire Department Division Chief Matt Knott.
The Red X also defines some of the buildings as being on a demolition list and helps neighbors keep an eye on what’s happening next door.
Emergency respondersFirefighters say there haven’t been any fires in the marked buildings since the program started six months ago, which is something that doesn’t surprise Curtis.
Right now, there are more than 80 structures with the ink. The fire department hopes to have over 100 within the next two months.
Rockford currently has more than 4,000 vacant homes, though not all vacant homes qualify in the international fire code to have a red x.
