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ELBURN – The Elburn and Countryside Fire Protection District on Friday celebrated the retirement of Fire Marshal Al Isberg, whose career was entwined with the evolution of emergency medical and fire services.
“I was a fire and EMS geek back then,” Isberg said of his younger self.
The 64-year-old started his career with Elburn in December 1979 after stints elsewhere, including the St. Charles Fire Department, he said.
A retirement party is planned in his honor from 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 29 at Elburn Lions Community Park. The public is welcome.
Chief Kelly Callaghan, who – as a cadet – met Isberg in 1983, said his colleague is a wealth of knowledge and will leave "big shoes" for his replacement, Lisa Schopp, to fill.
Although Isberg retired as fire marshal, he said that role was just one of many he assumed in the career that he began at age 22 with Tri-City Ambulance Service, one of the first true EMS services to operate in the region.
Between greetings of congratulations at a luncheon Friday, Isberg recounted how the launch of his career coincided with the rise of emergency medical technicians. Emergency medicine as it is known today began taking shape some 40 years ago with a federal law, and he was part of a federal pilot program to provide ambulances with trained personnel, he said.
Isberg later got his first taste of fire prevention in St. Charles, where he worked to establish a program that put smoke detectors in homes, he said.
He acquired 50 devices, he said, but less than half were installed because residents didn’t understand how they worked and were afraid they would cause illness.
“Smoke detectors were not anywhere,” Isberg said. “They were huge and they weighed a ton.”
Although the luncheon was at an Elburn fire station, members of other departments were in attendance, including Maple Park Fire Capt. Dave Campbell.
“I made a point of it,” he said.
Campbell said he has known Isberg since he began his career with the district, because Maple Park once contracted ambulance services from Elburn.
Be it a social or emergency setting, Campbell said, Isberg is “just great to be around.”
Isberg, who is a married father of three, said he is considering becoming a chaplain in retirement.
If you go
What: Retirement party for Fire Marshal Al Isberg
When: 6 to 8 p.m. Aug. 29
Where: Elburn Lions Community Park, 500 S. Filmore St., Elburn