Fire Chief to Retire
Fire Chief to Retire; Search Underway for
Replacement
After 38 years as a professional
firefighter -- 11 at the helm of the Oak Park Fire Department
-- Fire Chief Gerald A. Beeson says this will be his last year
of public service. Beeson's final day on the job in Oak
Park will be Dec. 17 and his retirement effective the following
month. A search for Beeson's replacement already is underway,
and will include looking closely at the current command staff
as well as nationally for suitable candidates to fill the vital
municipal post. Beeson has been credited with refocusing the
Village's fire and emergency medical services programs
around a model emphasizing advanced life support, a direction
that has helped make the Oak Park Fire Department one of the
most progressive, best equipped and trained in the area. Under
Beeson direction, the number of licensed paramedics among Oak
Park firefighters has increased, the latest in advanced life
support vehicles deployed and a technical rescue team created
to better respond to difficult situations, such as high-angle,
trench and confined space situations. Beeson also worked
diligently to get citizens involved in emergency care through
efforts such as automatic external defibrillator (AED) and CPR
training programs, which saw steady growth in participation
during his tenure. He also led efforts to add technology to his
department's tools, such as mobile computers that now
give firefighters on-site access to the layouts of many of the
Village's commercial and public buildings. Beeson's
career as a firefighter has spanned most of his adult life,
beginning in his hometown of Peoria, Illinois. Working his way
up from the bottom of the ranks, Beeson has enjoyed a
distinguished career that includes stints as fire chief in
Inglewood, Colorado and Yakima, Washington, before coming to
Oak Park in 1993. Oak Park offered the resources and management
backing to create an effective, performance- oriented modern
fire department, as the role of fire fighter evolved beyond the
traditional one of putting out fires. Today, nearly two-thirds
of emergency calls relate to providing medical services, a
trend that requires candidates to possess greater skills and be
involved in more sophisticated training. The number of
certified paramedics at the Oak Park Fire Department has more
than doubled over the past 10 years, to about 75 percent of
sworn personnel, with 100 hundred percent likely in the
not-to-distant future. Among Beeson's most significant
accomplishments in Oak Park are maintaining the Village's
high ranking with the firm that provides information used by
insurance companies to set property owners' rates;
earning accreditations from industry groups that assess
capabilities; and implementing an agreement with neighboring
communities to automatically lend aid in emergency situations. He
also was instrumental in the creation of the West Suburban
Consolidated Dispatch Center and the decision to train its
staff to provide medical advice to callers while emergency
vehicles were en route. For more information on the Oak Park
Fire Department, call 445.3300 or email fire@oak-park.us.
