By Deana Stroisch
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Ken Fustin fondly remembers his father taking him to a fire station in Taylorville when he was 4 years old.
The red American LaFrance fire truck caught his eye.
“I was smitten,” he said.
Now, roughly 46 years later, Fustin is poised to become Springfield’s new fire chief, the culmination of a 22-year firefighting career in Springfield.
Aldermen are expected to confirm Fustin on Tuesday. He has been the department’s acting chief since Mayor Mike Houston announced the appointment last month.
Fustin, if approved, faces a number of challenges during the next four years, from pending union grievances and budget constraints to negotiation of a new contract with the International Association of FireFighters Local 37.
“All I can do is try to make this place a better department, better profession, and leave this place better than it was the day I walked in here,” he said.
First day job
Fustin has never had a regular day job before.
His first job as an adult was working nights as a miner at the Peabody coal mine where his father worked.
While attending college in Iowa, Fustin worked the afternoon shift as a nurse’s aide at a mental health institution and later worked rotating swing shifts at Commonwealth Edison. He also was a volunteer firefighter in Pawnee.
In 1988, he left Commonwealth Edison and took a 50 percent pay cut to pursue what he always wanted to do -- work as a firefighter.
He was hired by the Decatur Fire Department in 1988 and started at the Springfield Fire Department in 1989.
Fustin, 50, has worked his way up through the ranks, most recently serving as battalion chief.
He helped coordinate and command responses to several major incidents, from high-rise fires to the 2009 tornado in Williamsville.
Fustin also was on duty the night of Nov. 10, 2007, when a City Water, Light and Power electrical unit exploded. He was the incident commander.
“We had a gigantic building on fire, a large amount of fire, an untold amount of electricity, live electricity,” he said. “The members of the fire department who put out that fire, to me were just -- I can’t speak highly enough of them, the bravery that they showed.”
Other deployments
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Fustin went to New York City to help. But by the time he arrived, there were too many volunteers, and people were being turned away, he said.
Instead, he offered his support by attending funerals and memorials for those who were killed. He called the experience life-changing.
“The East Coast brings a whole different level of commitment to our profession,” he said. “I was just really struck by it. It just kind of changed my whole general attitude on how important it is to not only do a good job while you’re working as a fireman, but also be a good person and try to be a leader to the people you work with.”
He also was part of a Springfield crew sent to the Gulf Coast to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005.
He speaks highly of his fellow firefighters and of the profession.
“It sounds a bit corny, but I just love what I do,” he said. “I love my job.”
Phil Harris, who retired as battalion chief in October 2009, was a union steward alongside Fustin.
Initially they had some disagreements, Harris said, but they learned to trust each other and worked well together.
Harris described Fustin as committed to firefighting, competent and thorough.
“He loves the job,” Harris said. “I think that comes through in his desire to serve the public ultimately.
“If he can hold on to that love for the job in the midst of political crisis and turmoil and budget battles and deficits, if he can hold on to that love for the job, he will do well,” Harris said.
Tony Burton, president of the International Association of FireFighters, knows of Fustin as a front-line firefighter and battalion chief.
“He runs a good fire and always has,” Burton said. “I don’t know how he’ll be as staff.”
Burton said he will approach the new chief with an open mind.
Already, Burton said, union members are happy that Fustin reversed former Mayor Frank Edwards’ decision to reassign fire safety inspectors, which the union believes was a contract violation.
The Fustin-Houston connection
Fustin and Houston were neighbors more than 20 years ago, both members of a neighborhood potluck committee, when they lived on Glenwood Avenue.
Fustin said he would hesitate to call Houston a friend — they’re more like acquaintances, he said. Fustin moved off of Glenwood in the early 1990s and had little to no contact with Houston until recently.
He said he attended a couple of Houston’s mayoral campaign events with his wife, Judy Cole, who is a real estate agent/broker with Remax Professionals.
Then the phone rang on April 4, the day before the election. Houston said he wanted to see Fustin and asked him to bring a resume, Fustin recalled.
He said he didn’t want to get his hopes up too high.
Fustin had been one of three finalists to become chief when the job last came open last summer, but Robert “Barry” Helmerichs was picked instead.
Houston and Fustin didn’t talk after the meeting, until the phone rang again on April 26, and Houston offered him the job.
Doesn’t mince words
Helmerichs, who has agreed to return to his previous job as deputy chief, “absolutely bent over backwards” to help him transition to the new job, Fustin said.
“I can’t think of enough positive attributes that you could even describe Barry Helmerichs with. Stand-up guy, he’s a good leader. He’s well respected. He — Thank God — chose to stay on the staff and has been nothing but helpful.”
Fustin thinks others might describe him as somewhat rigid, driven but fair.
“I’m not one that minces words,” he said. “If people wonder what’s on my mind, all they got to do is ask me, because I’ll tell them.”
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