Deputy chief tapped to head PWFD

PORT WASHINGTON - Deputy Fire Chief Joe DeBoer will be Port Washington’s new fire chief on Jan. 1, succeeding retiring Chief Mark Mitchell, the Police and Fire Commission agreed last week.

But DeBoer will essentially take over the position next month. That’s because Mitchell will retire on Oct. 31, prompting the commission on Monday to name him interim chief as of Nov. 1.

DeBoer, 38, who told the commission Monday he is “humbled and honored” by the appointment, has been with the department for 20 years. He has become the defacto face of the department during the past year as the city considered a referendum to increase the tax levy to hire full-time paramedics.

“The fire service was always something I was interested in growing up,” DeBoer, who was also part of the department’s Explorer program for four years while in high school, said. “I always had a passion for helping people.

“Now, I’ll be able to help people in a different way.”

Police and Fire Commission Chairman Jim Biever said Friday that both DeBoer and Assistant Chief Steve Schmidt, who were interviewed by the commission on Wednesday, were “excellent candidates.”

“Either one would have been good for the department,” Biever said. “They certainly know the department, the city.”

But DeBoer, he said, had the “education and experience we were looking for to lead the Port Washington Fire Department into the future.”

DeBoer’s role in the department has increased during the last several years, Biever noted.

“We’ve had the opportunity to test drive him,” he said. “Chief Mitchell has a lot of faith in him, and he’s trusted him with a lot of decision-making lately, which says a lot.”

DeBoer, who is the department’s emergency medical services director, understands the department’s ambulance service, which is a plus given the fact that ambulance calls make up more than 80% of the department’s work, Biever said.

“He’s very knowledgable, especially with the ambulance side of the business,” he said. “That’s important. At this point, we’re running an ambulance service that happens to have fire trucks.”

DeBoer, a graduate of Port Washington High School, joined the fire department when he turned 18.

He went through firefighter training at Milwaukee Area Technical College, then trained as an emergency medical technician. He decided to study biomedical science in college, earning a master’s degree in physician assistant studies from Marquette University in 2011.

He worked as a physician’s assistant in emergency medicine in Fond du Lac for a decade while living in Port and being a paid on-call member of the fire department.

Mitchell offered him a full-time job as deputy chief and emergency medical services director when American Rescue Plan Act funding became available to pay for it two years ago.

When he took the job, DeBoer said, he and Mitchell discussed the possibility of his becoming chief someday.

“This was the finish line of that,” he said. “It’s been really good to have him (Mitchell) as a mentor to feel ready to take the next step forward. Since day one, chief has been really good at pulling back the curtain and letting me get involved with everything.”

DeBoer and Schmidt split the chief’s duties when Mitchell has been unavailable, such as when he had knee replacement surgery.

“It was a good trial run,” DeBoer said.

As chief, DeBoer said, he has a couple of goals.

“The biggest thing is we’ve got to get the public safety building across the finish line,” he said, referring to the proposed $33.5 million police and fire building to be constructed at the corner of highways LL and 33 on the city’s far west side.

Filling the six full-time paramedic positions authorized in the spring referendum and training those new members is also a priority, DeBoer said.

The department opened the application process late last week and has already received some applications, DeBoer told the Police and Fire Commission on Monday.

Applications will be accepted through Nov. 1.

And, DeBoer said, he wants to sit down with department members to see what their vision for the agency is.

“The Fire Department is a team,” he said. “I want to see where they want to go in the future and what they see for the department.”