'Truthful' Way To Record Clarendon Hills Fire Shifts

CLARENDON HILLS, IL – Clarendon Hills aims to have five fire department members on duty at all times, but it sometimes doesn't reach that threshold, an official said Wednesday.

"We run four sometimes as we are phasing in 5," Village Manager Zach Creer said in an emailed response to a Patch inquiry. "That was part of the plan as we increase our staffing. Keep in mind, we were at 3 staff on shift as recently as early 2020 on a full-time basis."

The fire chief and two deputy chiefs sometimes help cover shifts, according to the village. On April 2, for instance, deputy chiefs Roger Krupp and Mike DeLillo stepped in to work a shift, including responding to a call, Creer said.

Last week, Patch filed a public records request for the April 2 schedule after questions emerged about whether five department members were on duty.

After the request, Creer said, the department determined it would add the deputy chiefs to the schedule to show coverage for the official record, "as that is most truthful," Creer said.

DeLillo and Chief Dave Godek are fully trained firefighters and paramedics, and Krupp is a fully trained firefighter, Creer said.

It is a common practice in small, paid-on-call departments for top-ranking members to work shifts, Creer said.

"It’s a feature, not a bug in my opinion," he said. "We cannot order people in, as we do not have full-time staff members aside from Chief and (deputy chief). So having them fill shifts allows for coverage in the case of late call-offs or other staffing issues."