After 40 Years, Rosandich Retires From Oak Creek Fire Department

OAK CREEK, WI — When you're a firefighter in a city that's home to a billion-dollar power plant, a territory that has a freeway running through it, that is next to a major airport and that has seen exponential growth in the last 30 years, you've just about seen it all.

And on Friday, after more than 40 years with the Oak Creek Fire Department, including the last seven as chief, Tom Rosandich officially retired.

Rosandich started as a paid on-call firefighter in his hometown fire department in 1977 and worked his way up the ranks. Over the years, he has seen his share of major incidents.

In a Patch report from 2012 when he was named as Fire Chief, Rosandich noted at the time that he was the only Oak Creek firefighter left who responded to the Midwest Express Flight 105 crash, which killed all 31 people on board shortly after it took off for Atlanta in 1985. He was on an ambulance that day and came around the corner just as trucks arrived to put out the fire.

Rosandich was the first Oak Creek firefighter to call for a Flight for Life when that was introduced to the Milwaukee area in the 1980s. He dealt with the Anthrax scare in 2001, and in 2009 helped battle the largest fire he's seen in size and scope at the Patrick Cudahy plant.

Many other incidents have involved the We Energies power plant -- the last year, an explosion in 2009, a tunnel fire in 2007.

Major changes

Since Rosandich joined, call volume in Oak Creek tripled and the department has adjusted to changing technology.

"We used to have to answer the phone - 762-3030 was the emergency line and you would talk to the person," he said back when he was named chief. "Well now you have the whole 911 system, we have joint dispatch with the police and fire, and there's more regimented dispatches which helps in the long run. Sometimes you're going with 2 or 3 guys to a house fire, where now if everybody's in quarters, I could get 12 right off the bat."

Rosandich's career spanned the generations. As a youngster, he watched the fire trucks go by his house on Howell Avenue. As an adult, he drove those trucks himself. An now after more than 40 years on the job, he gets to turn that leadership over to a new generation.

"He has proudly served the citizens of his beloved hometown of Oak Creek with a passion and enthusiasm that is second to none," fire officials wrote on Facebook Friday. "We are happy to have called him our Chief, our leader and as he would say, our "Coach". We wish him the best in his retirement and want him to know that we will do our best to carry on his legacy for decades to come."