A new Rock Falls fire chief and deputy chief were sworn into their positions at a packed city council meeting Tuesday night.

Rock Falls Deputy Fire Chief Kyle Sommers was promoted to chief and Fire Capt. Nathan Hartman to deputy chief. The internal promotions follow the retirement of the former chief, Ken Wolf III, which went into effect Jan. 16, about two months after a $31.5 million judgement found the city, Wolf and his predecessor, former Rock Falls Fire Chief Cris Bouwens, liable for the 2021 line-of-duty death of a Sterling fire lieutenant. The city filed an appeal Jan. 12.

[ Sterling firefighter’s widow awarded $31.5M; jury says Rock Falls fire officials’ actions contributed to death ]

In separate interviews, Sommers and Rock Falls City Administrator Robbin D. Blackert told Shaw Local that Wolf’s retirement is not related to the recent verdict. Sommers said it had been planned for over a year.

Wolf declined Shaw Local’s request for comment.

“We’re going to be focused on the future with our department. We’re going to continue to work to constantly improve our skills,” Sommers said at the meeting, adding that he believes Hartman will do an “extraordinary” job as deputy chief.

Sommers also thanked Wolf, saying “there’s no way that I’d be in this position today” without him and that he “worked tirelessly to improve our department right up until the last day, week, month of his service.”

Sommers has served at the Rock Falls department for a little over 17 years. He became deputy chief in March 2024 following Wolf’s promotion to chief on Feb. 1, 2024.

Wolf joined the department in 1998. He was promoted to captain in 2013, then to deputy chief in 2021 and then chief, succeeding Bouwens.

The lawsuit against the city, Wolf and Bouwens - filed in December 2022 by Sterling Lt. Garrett Ramos’ widow, Brittney Ramos - claimed that Bouwens and Wolf, who was deputy chief at the time of the fire, showed a willful and wanton disregard that caused her husband’s death.

At the end of the two-week trial, the jury found Bouwens and Wolf each were 50% to blame for Ramos’ death. The Jan. 12 post-trial motion asks the court to order a new trial. The next court hearing on the case is set for 9 a.m. March 16 at the Whiteside County Courthouse in Morrison.

Ramos, 38, died Dec. 4, 2021, while fighting a house fire on Ridge Road in Rock Falls that had been reported by the home’s basement resident at 11:04 p.m. Dec. 3, 2021. Ramos arrived at the burning home at 11:21 p.m. as part of a Sterling fire crew assisting the Rock Falls Fire Department under a mutual-aid agreement.

While fighting the fire inside the home, Ramos fell through a hole in the floor into the basement, which fire officials did not know existed at the time. Fire investigators believe Ramos survived for about 17 minutes after he fell into the basement and died from asphyxia after running out of air. Firefighters recovered his body about an hour later.