On the record with ... Bill Glade

If you asked a good friend of Bill Glade to describe him, “martinis and sailboats” would most likely be included in the answer.

But that doesn’t give a full picture of the 54-year-old Wauconda resident, who not only spent the last 35 years as a Wauconda firefighter, but served as the deputy chief of operations for the district the past 17 years.

Glade retired May 29 and has spent the last several weeks gearing up for the Wauconda Farmers Market, which he chairs, babysitting his two grandchildren and traveling. But, despite his retirement status, he also spent time at the department he’s watched grow from a volunteer organization to a fully-staffed, multi-faceted rescue squad.

Glade went on the record with reporter Stephanie Lehman to talk about life as a firefighter.
 
Lehman: Why did you become a firefighter?
Glade: Way back when, when I got out of high school, my dad was an episcopal priest, and in that profession, of course, you do a lot of helping of people. And I thought I might, early on, follow in those footsteps, but then realized it probably wasn't for me, not for any particular reason. But I thought doing some kind of public service work was up my alley,...
So, in 1974, I was working both for the fire department as a volunteer and working for the sheriff's office in dispatch ... and over the course of time, the fire department was going to go full time because of the need to staff day time paramedics, and I had a huge decision to make as to whether I wanted to stay in the police line of work or go to fireman full time. After some long discussions with my wife, we decided together that probably the fire service would be more palatable for both of us.
It's kind of a cliche answer, but you want to help people, and that's really kind of what steered me in that direction was to continue in that work, to do something good for people. No hiding the fact that it was exciting, too. I mean, that was fun – a young kid getting into either of those professions. Those are exciting professions; there's always something going on.

Lehman: Did you always want to be a deputy chief?
Glade: When you first come on the job, you're just excited to have a job. So, initially, no, I don't think my original goals were to ever be a deputy chief or a fire chief. The idea was to get the job, and once I got the job, I just kind of drank in every aspect of the job. I loved all of it. I got involved as a paramedic right away – I was one of the first five paramedics in the department ... and fortunately, I was able to advance through the ranks.

Lehman: What made you stay on the force for 35 years?
Glade: The fire department has a very long history of being a very successful department. In 1889, the newspaper was the Wauconda Torpedo, and it said "a few good men gathered," and ... through all that time, the department kind of created a culture where, if you were a good, able-bodied person who wanted to come and work hard and be involved in that type of service, they pretty much would take you in ...
They have the ability to communicate with one another, to accept ideas or at least listen to ideas. They don't just cast you away – you're the new guy, take a hike – they at least listen... The culture is the reason people would want to come here ... There was never a question of going anywhere else.

Lehman: What was the hardest part about your job?
Glade: The hardest part was dealing with people that you know who are in trouble, because of the closeness, the [emotions], the relationship you have with the individual. I think that's the hardest part of any firefighter's job, having to work with people that are close to them when those people are in their worst times, whether it be a death or a severe injury or a fire or whatever.

Lehman: What's the best part?
Glade: The best part? Same thing, probably. It's the hardest part because of the emotions, but at the same time, if you have the ability to help make a difference ... you're fulfilling that goal you started out with. You came on the job to help people out, and if you can help someone you know – helping anybody, but specifically the people you're close to – that's the best part.

Lehman: How have things changed at the fire department?
Glade: The fact that I came into the fire service at a time when there was so much change going on, it was exciting. Almost every two, three years something new was happening. So, when I first got on the job, it was a job, and then shortly after somebody said, 'You should be a diver because it's an elite team, it's a specialty.' So, I did that for a while, and then somebody said, 'Oh, haz mat is coming around the corner.' So, hazardous materials technician was the next thing. Then after hazardous materials, it was specialized rescue operations. It's covered four major disciplines: high angle rescue – you know, above grade type of things; trench rescue; confined space; structure and collapse. So, the fire service in general changed in that regard. I was right in there with all of that.
And then, because of some of those changes, the department moved to providing paramedic service in Wauconda.
Probably the two biggest changes [the department had] were thinking about their force, that it have a basic first aid response, and moving that group of people to a level of providing paramedic service. It was a tough time. That would have been the early 70s; 1976 was when the paramedic program actually started. So, prior to that, people had to accept it, the department had to accept it, realize there was nobody else who could offer that service to the level we could offer it. That was the hurdle. Once that was accepted, off we went to school – there were five of us – we all become paramedics in 1976 and provided paramedic service.
That required two of us to be available all the time, 24 hours a day, as a volunteer. So, that worked out OK for a while, but as a volunteer of course, of those five people, we all had other jobs ... It was realized pretty quickly we needed to do something to cover the day time shift. So, the day time shift is what we hired people for in 1978, with the first full time fire chief, Lyle Matthews ...
Of course, now that's history and we've got three stations, we have about 70, 80 employees, both paid and part time, and pretty much on a daily basis we can run four mobile intensive units, staffed.

Lehman: What does a deputy chief do?
Glade: My role was to oversee the people doing the daily operation, so I dealt with all manners of response: the way we went to calls, how we went to calls, what apparatus we use, how much apparatus we sent, things like that. Do you go with red lights on, or don't you go with red lights on? Those types of issues, in terms of procedure – not so much as I would stand out there and say turn the lights off on this one.
And then, because of the times, they opted not to replace my position. I like to say they couldn't replace me, but I know better. They chose, because of the economy, to leave the position open for a while, which I think was a good move. So, the deputy chief of support services will be THE deputy chief. He'll do it all now. Which, good for him, it's a lot of work. We also took some of the jobs I did and we farmed them out to key individuals that worked just below me. They'll have a little more on their plate.

Lehman: What are you going to do now that you're retired?
Glade: The Bill Glade family – my wife and I – we plan on doing some more traveling, because we like to travel. We always have. We'll do more sailing on our sail boat ... The thing that's important is we have never had an intention to leave town. A lot of people say, 'Oh, where are you going, Florida?' No. I have a place in Florida; I like to visit there. But Wauconda is our home, we'll stay here. I don't foresee us leaving. Everybody we know in the world, except for a handful of family, lives in Wauconda or lives in the immediate area. So, it would be highly unlikely that we would up and leave. We most likely will be here for the long haul, which brings me to the Farmers Market which I've been running for a few years ...
I have been teaching as an adjunct instructor for the fire science technology program at the College of Lake County. That program is up and running very well, and I hope to continue teaching there. The fire chief likes to say I'm on retainer, so if he ever wanted something, he could call me, and that's certainly a possibility.

Glade lowdown

Who he is: Former Deputy Chief of Operations at the Wauconda Fire District, and a firefighter of 35 years
Family: Wife, Patti; daughter Meghan Reimers, 29; daughter Ashley Glade, 26; two grandchildren, on on the way
Favorite food: Ribeye steak
Favorite TV channel: CBS
Favorite drink: Vodka martini