The City of Rochelle has named Dave Sawlsville as their new Fire Chief.
He replaces Brian Johnson who retired last September following 34 years with the department. Johnson was named chief in 2009.
Sawlsville has been with the Rochelle fire department for the past 34 years. He has been a full-time employee for the last 28 years. He said that he never thought he would be fire chief for the department when he started 34 years ago. He started thinking about the position around 5 years ago.
Sawlsville was the senior Lieutenant with the department and was named interim chief since Johnson's retirement. He was also acting chief during a leave of absence at 1 time for the department.
He said that there would be some minor changes with the department, but nothing major. Sawlsville said he may have an internal audit done on how the department runs involving the day to day operations.
Sawlsville has been a flight medic for the past 10 years and paramedic instructor for 15 years. He plans to give up working in emergency helicopters for the present time.
Sawlsville stressed that response time to calls remains the top priority with the Rochelle Fire Department.
7 candidates had applied for the position.