Oswego Fire Protection District Board names new chief

The Oswego Fire Protection District Board of Trustees has appointed Assistant Fire Chief John Cornish to the position of fire chief.

Cornish will be sworn in as fire chief at 6:45 p.m. June 14 at the fire district’s Station No. 1 at 3511 Woolley Road in Oswego.

Cornish succeeds Michael Veseling, who had served as fire chief from 2015 to April, when the board chose not to renew his contract.

In a statement issued Friday, Fire Protection District Board President Dick Kuhn said he and other board members knew the new fire chief would come from within the department.

The trustees worked with internal candidates Deputy Chief Josh Flanders and Cornish during the search process and ultimately voted June 1 to appoint Cornish fire chief. Flanders has been serving as interim fire chief since Veseling’s departure.

“I cannot express enough how challenging this decision was for the board to make,” Kuhn said of the selection process.

Cornish has been a member of the department since 2002, has worked his way through the ranks and was promoted to assistant chief in 2016.

“When John started here, the department was primarily volunteer with Volunteer Chief Brad Smith at the helm. During his time here, he has seen the department grow into the large full-time professional organization it is today,” Kuhn said, adding, “John started as a full-time firefighter/paramedic and worked in many areas of the department over the years. He has continually sought out educational and training opportunities during his career as he advanced through the ranks.”

Before being promoted to assistant chief, Cornish held positions in operations, the fire prevention bureau and support services.

Cornish has a bachelor’s degree in human resources from Lindenwood University and a master’s degree in emergency management from Columbia Southern University. He is a licensed paramedic and has attained many state certifications in firefighting-related fields. He is a Marine Corps veteran of the Persian Gulf War and also a veteran of the United States Coast Guard, where he served at a search and rescue station on Lake Michigan.

Kuhn concluded, “We are excited for the future of the district. We are confident that the newly appointed chief will work well with his team to lead the department forward.”

The fire district was formed by voter referendum in March 1936 and covers more than 60 square miles of territory in the northeast portion of Kendall County and about 1.5 square miles in northwest unincorporated Will County.