Passion for firefighting still burns for 90-year-old Milledgeville trustee and volunteer

MILLEDGEVILLE — Three more years of serving the Milledgeville Fire Protection District, and then Keith Oncken will call it quits.

Well, maybe.

“They just installed me for three years, so I think probably at the end of this term I will,” said Oncken, who turned 90 in April. “I hope my health holds. I’ve been very lucky.”

The Milledgeville resident and president of the Fire Protection District’s Board of Trustees, has spent 80% of his life involved in the district.

Oncken joined the district as a volunteer firefighter in 1950, when he was 18 years old and newly married. He continued in that capacity until 1968, at which point work on the farm kept him from responding to many of the calls for service.

It was in 1968 that they first installed him as a trustee, Oncken said. He has held a position on the board ever since, and served as its president for more than 50 years.

“The one guy, he’s kind of a smart pup and he says, ‘Well that guy’s going to live to 100. We might as well put him on,’” Oncken said. With a chuckle, he added, “He gives me a rough time.”

On June 24, Oncken was honored by the Illinois Association of Fire Protection Districts at its 78th annual conference in Campaign.

“I think they called up about six other trustees and the closest one to me was 52 years,” Oncken said.

The IAFPD was established in 1943 to protect the interests, rights and privileges of fire protection districts in relation to legislative, administrative or judicial actions. The organization works on behalf of 635 fire protection district members throughout Illinois.

When asked what has kept him with the Fire Protection District for so long, Oncken said he always has been interested in firefighting and all that comes with it

Even the changes interest him — although not all of the changes are ones of which he approves.

“One thing that I wish the state would back off a little is the training for these firemen, because you know, there are more volunteer fire departments in the state of Illinois than there are paid,” Oncken said. “And they require so much training, and we’re short of help. That’s part of it, because it takes them away from their families.”

Milledgeville is a volunteer fire protection district, he said. Firefighters get paid some, but Oncken didn’t have figures available.

Something he does like are the changes to protective equipment, Oncken said.

Updates to oxygen masks and other protective equipment have been “a big improvement,” he said. “Back when I came on, they didn’t have them [oxygen masks]. They’ve improved the coats and the pants and that stuff, too.”

The fire trucks have gotten larger and are able to haul more water, Oncken noted. When he signed up, the district had one pumper without a cab and one tanker that held 1,000 gallons of water.

Sadly, things also are much more expensive, he said.

“Three months ago we just purchased a new pumper,” Oncken said. “This pumper is going to cost us $779,000 and it’ll be two years before it’s delivered. Luckily, we’ve got three-fourth’s of the money saved, so we’re in good shape financially.”

Oncken said the support from his family always has been a huge factor in his service to the Milledgeville Fire Protection District.

“I had very good support from my wife and children, because my girls were just growing up at that time [I was a firefighter],” he said.

Oncken’s wife, Lynn, died in 2017; the pair were married for 67 years. They had three daughters: Vicki, of Aurora; Deborah, of Dixon; and Kristy. Kristy died in 2014 after battling breast cancer.

It’s the kind of backing he got that is one of the No. 1 critical things it takes to be a good firefighter, Oncken said.