Oswego Fire Protection District’s new recruitment video features actor Gary Sinise

Like other police and fire departments across the country, Oswego Fire Protection District is having a hard time recruiting new personnel.

Officials hope that the district’s new recruitment video that is narrated by actor Gary Sinise will help them in their efforts. The district currently is down five firefighters. Firefighters also double as paramedics.

“We’re down five, Aurora’s down, Bristol Kendall’s down, Plainfield’s down,” Oswego Fire Chief Joshua Flanders said. “Everybody’s down now and that wasn’t the case 20 years ago. So we have to get better at getting out who we are and what we do.”

Fully staffed, the department would have 85 full time firefighters.

Shot over the summer, this is the department’s first recruitment video.

“Fire departments all across the country are hurting,” Oswego Fire Protection District Lt. Kris Kearns said. “So we find ourselves in a position that we’ve really never been in before. We thought that maybe we should try a recruitment video.”

Kearns thought that Sinise would be a good person to narrate the video. He remembered a Memorial Day special that Sinise did a few years ago where he narrated the story of a Medal of Honor winner.

In trying to reach him, he went through the Gary Sinise Foundation. As part of its mission, the Gary Sinise Foundation supports first responders.

To his surprise, Kearns received a call from Sinise.

“I literally talked to him probably for 30 minutes,” Kearns said. “He just asked me a few questions and wanted to know how did this come about. And I explained to him about the fire service and why this is a problem nationally. And then he asked me about my own military service. We just had a really nice conversation. And then at the end of the conversation, he said, ‘You know, if you think that in any way I can help, I will be happy to.’ Just the way he said that sums up what he is as an individual.”

Sinise, who was born in Blue Island and attended Glenbard West High School in Glen Ellyn his freshman year, portrayed the character Lt. Dan Taylor in the movie “Forrest Gump.” Kearns served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1989 to 1993 and was part of Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

He wasn’t physically part of the video as it was being shot. Two videos were made featuring Sinise.

“The production company did the video with his voice over,” Kearns said. “He also sent to the production company a video of him doing the voice over so they could include that. What they did was they took little clips putting him in the video. And that was all on Mr. Sinise. We had no idea he was going to do that.”

The video also features Oswego firefighters describing why they love what they do while showing them respond to incidents like a car accident.

“They responded like they normally would and the production company was just getting footage,” Kearns said. “We wanted it as realistic as possible. And we had a lot of people help us out.”

Another scene in the video depicts firefighters responding to a hazardous spill.

“That was actually in an auto shop on Stonehill Road,” Kearns said. “And we used the dam down in Yorkville so when we did the swift water part showing our specialty teams, that was an actual training scenario where we were really in the water. We wanted it to be authentic.”

Both Kearns and Flanders have had long careers with the Oswego Fire Protection District. And they both love what they do.

“One of my favorite things is truly helping people and being there on their worst day,” Flanders said. “I appreciate that and the difference we can make in people’s lives.”

More information about the Oswego Fire Protection District is at its website, oswegofire.com.