Easton Fire Chief Mike Krill is ready to call it a career, after just shy of 18 months in the post and in his 35th year with the department.
He and his wife, Donna, are headed for the Finger Lakes region of New York State, where they own 20 acres and plan to build their retirement home. Along with getting reacquainted with fishing, he plans on doing some woodworking and learning machining skills so he knows how to use a metal lathe and a mill.
Last week before city council, Krill presented the capstone on his to-do list that he made for himself on his second day as chief in February 2019. It's a comprehensive look at risks Easton faces, and is a first for the city.
“This is the first time we’ve actually gone out, and we’ve comprehensively looked at the city and said, ‘These are our eight risk categories and these are the things we need to do to make sure that we have the proper resources, the proper training to address these issues,’” Krill told lehighvalleylive.com on Friday.
The first category of risk is transportation corridor hazmat, and includes a look at two rail shipments of "almost exclusively" hazardous materials that come through the city daily, according to Krill. Then there are two categories of mass-casualty incidents possible -- either on the Interstate 78 and Route 22 highway corridors that bookend Easton, or in public gatherings/institutions.
Severe weather/flood comes next in the assessment and is the biggest threat that Mayor Sal Panto Jr. says Easton faces. Councilman Roger Ruggles has been spearheading an effort to turn preparedness into possible savings on flood insurance, after devastating flooding in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012 that cut power to the region for days or weeks.
"It would be very valuable," Panto said of the flood analysis that aims to predict how much water any given building might take on for each flood-stage inch the Delaware River rises.
Rounding out the assessment are fire/conflagration; failure of critical infrastructure; sinkhole/structural collapse and pandemic/weapons of mass destruction threat on a regional or local basis.
This last category, Krill never thought he’d experience during his time as chief, he said. But in getting preparedness plans into place, the city was able to get ahead of the curve this past January in training and stockpiling personal protective equipment -- before the coronavirus struck Pennsylvania in March.
The pandemic also factored into Krill’s decision to hang up his turnout gear, he said in saying it’s based more on city finances than personal finances. The chief three years ago opted into the city’s deferred retirement option plan, or DROP, that froze his pension and retirement benefits prior to his promotion.
"It's already set in stone when I technically entered the DROP program," Krill said. "It's a program that allows you to retire but allows the city to retain experienced personnel for up to three additional years."
The coronavirus has already left the city with a $5.5 million shortfall in its 2020 budget, according to the city. Krill says that tight budget could put the city into a holding pattern instead of being able to pursue the level of preparedness he would like to see in the foreseeable future.
"It wasn't like the paycheck or the benefits," he said of what drew him to apply to become fire chief. "It was actually to see if I can get things done and move the department forward and enhance the delivery of service to the public.
"Now I feel like the budgetary situation is going to kind of hinder that process for a longer period of time than I planned to stay, so I decided to leave a few months earlier."
One point of pride for Krill as Easton endures the pandemic is that no firefighters have contracted COVID-19.
"That is one of the most difficult things to do, is keep intact your personnel to make sure that they're not bringing COVID into the fire station, which could cause other firefighters to become exposed," Krill said. "And obviously there would be a chain reaction which could impair our ability to deliver services, and that was always a worry."
As head of the Easton Fire Department comprising 45 firefighters and line officers, plus the deputy chief and chief positions, Krill thanked several partners in helping to prepare the risk assessment. That includes the Easton Police Department, Easton Emergency Squad, Lafayette College and UGI Utilities Inc.
In departing, Krill said he wanted in particular to thank all the firefighters and officers for their support.
"I'm really thankful to the mayor and city council for having faith in me to appoint me to this position," Krill also said. "It was really a great opportunity. I loved being able to steer the department and get some things done."
City Administrator Luis Campos said internal candidates to succeed Krill will be interviewed first, and that the deadline for them to apply passed on July 17. The next steps will be to schedule interviews for qualified candidates and, if necessary, open the position to external applicants.
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