Longtime Oak Brook firefighter Kevin Fleege has been named as the new chief of the Oak Brook Fire Department.
The Village Board unanimously approved the recommendation of Village President Gopal Lalmalani to promote Fleege from Battalion Chief to Chief.
“Kevin Fleege has served as Interim Fire Chief since September 2022, and in that time he has shown great leadership, improved morale among our fire personnel, and has fostered a culture of cohesiveness and cooperativeness within the fire department,” Lalmalani said.
Village Manager Greg Summers said there was a new spirit of cooperation and cohesiveness within the department during Fleege’s tenure as Interim Fire Chief.
“While no option went unexplored following the retirement of the prior chief, it is the village’s pleasure to promote from within whenever we have a qualified individual within or own ranks,” he said.
Fleege has worked for the Oak Brook department for more than 20 years in the positions of firefighter/paramedic, Lieutenant and Battalion Chief. He is a fourth-generation fire chief from within his family.
Fleege said he is looking forward to continue bringing a new and reinvigorated spirit of cooperation within the village.
“Together, we will reignite our department’s spirit, deliver the highest quality of service to those that we are sworn to protect and look forward to the future,” he said.
Fleege said it “seems like yesterday” that he was interviewed 24 years ago to become a firefighter/paramedic in Oak Brook.
“I’m honored President Lalmalani, the Board of Trustees and Village Manager Summers have the confidence in me to lead the fine group of highly skilled and dedicated men and women that make up the Oak Brook Fire Department,” he said.
The Oak Brook Fire Department has operated with an interim chief since the August 2021 resignation of Barry Liss, who worked in the position of chief for seven years and now is fire chief in Lincolnwood.
Following Fleege’s promotion, Lt. David Kaczmarczyk was sworn in as Battalion Chief to fill the vacancy left by Fleege’s promotion, and firefighter/paramedic David Kornfeind was sworn in as a Lieutenant, in place of Kaczmarczyk. In addition, two new firefighter/paramedics were sworn in last week.
Chuck Fieldman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
