City of Sycamore may have suspended its fire chief this week. Mayor and city manager refuse to comment, but Shaw says a firefighter in the department has confirmed the chief’s been placed on administrative leave.
This follows a fire that burned down a Sycamore restaurant in late January, during which the department couldn’t send a fire truck because the available staff were responding to an ambulance call. Mutual aid companies fought the fire.
The fire chief, Bart Gilmore, has been vocal about Sycamore’s understaffing issues both before the fire and since the fire.
- yinn - Thursday, Mar 5, 26 @ 10:51 am:
City of Sycamore may have suspended its fire chief this week. Mayor and city manager refuse to comment, but Shaw says a firefighter in the department has confirmed the chief’s been placed on administrative leave.
This follows a fire that burned down a Sycamore restaurant in late January, during which the department couldn’t send a fire truck because the available staff were responding to an ambulance call. Mutual aid companies fought the fire.
The fire chief, Bart Gilmore, has been vocal about Sycamore’s understaffing issues both before the fire and since the fire.
I’ve done some reading and found the department’s annual reports show concern about the rising number of simultaneous calls for emergency services. There are also other potential complications to understanding what led to the failure to respond to the fire, including the transition to a new fire station and a labor contract that makes callbacks voluntary. https://www.shawlocal.com/daily-chronicle/2026/03/05/sycamore-has-new-interim-fire-chief-source-confirms-while-mayor-city-manager-refuse-to-speak-on-matter/
- Friendly Bob Adams - Thursday, Mar 5, 26 @ 11:05 am:
We could use a little sunshine here in beautiful DuPage County today. I’m voting for the candidate who can make that happen….
- OneMan - Thursday, Mar 5, 26 @ 11:36 am:
Good for Jason Benetti getting the NBC Sunday night baseball gig and a reminder of the gross stupidity of my Chicago White Sox.
- Lurker - Thursday, Mar 5, 26 @ 12:39 pm:
@OneMan, amen(bp)