Plainfield To Swear In New Fire Chief Jon Stratton Tuesday

PLAINFIELD, IL — Fire Chief Jon Stratton has seen a lot of changes over his 24 years with the Plainfield Fire Protection District, but being appointed its ninth chief has to be one of the biggest. He will be officially sworn in on Tuesday following the retirement of former Chief David Riddle.

"Back in the day, we started as a volunteer organization and went from a volunteer organization to a career department," Stratton said. "When I started, we had one station at the time that was actually running. Then we got station two up and running with volunteers and went from having two stations to having four, a training facility, headquarters, a big shop to work on all of our vehicles. We've come a long way over the years. It's been unbelievable."

Stratton himself started with the district as a volunteer firefighter in 1994 before being promoted up through the ranks, becoming deputy chief in 2005. He told Patch he's looking forward to serving the community as chief, calling it an honor.

"It's very humbling and I can tell you it's a dream come true," Stratton said. "We've got a great bunch of men and women who work for the fire district, and our community is the best that you can have. It's an honor. It's a total honor."

Stratton said he's currently meeting with department staff, everyone from maintenance and janitorial personnel to the assistant chief, to discuss the district's needs and what to prioritize going forward. He said the department is above compliance with training requirements, praising Training Chief Vito Bonomo and the district's specialty teams, and he hopes to continue forging ahead in that area.

"It's very humbling," Stratton said. "From 1888, when we started as a fire department, to 2019, there have only been [nine] chiefs. I've served under two of them, [John Eichelberger and David Riddle], and I've learned a little bit from each one of those guys."

Stratton will be sworn in during a ceremony at Plainfield FPD Headquarters Jan. 8 at 6:30 p.m. The event is open to the public.

Image via Plainfield Fire Protection District