JERSEYVILLE – Two firefighters were honored at this week’s Jerseyville City Council meeting, where Fire Chief Keith Norman also gave an overview of fire statistics from 2025.
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Firefighter Kyle Fessler received a Service Award for serving 15 years with the Jerseyville Fire Department, as did Firefighter Randy Roentz for his 10 years of service with the department. Neither were present at the meeting.
Norman spoke highly of both, describing them as “very good firefighters” and “very valuable to the Fire Department.” Both he and Mayor Kevin Stork expressed their appreciation for the service of Fessler, Roentz, and the entire department.
The chief also gave an overview of fire call statistics over the course of 2025. The department took on 125 total calls last year, including 25 “fire calls” which included everything from building to vehicle fires.
The department also received 14 “rescue calls,” which Norman said encompass a wide variety of scenarios, such as vehicle entrapment, which involve some form of rescue or extrication effort.
Several “service calls” were also made in 2025, which mostly consist of reports involving fire alarms, smoke alarms, strange smells, and other concerns that warrant investigation.
Norman emphasized the collaborative role regularly taken on between local fire agencies. 70% of the calls received in 2025 were from within the city of Jerseyville, while the other 30% were mutual aid calls originating from nearby communities such as Brighton, Carrollton, Fieldon, Godfrey, Medora, Rosedale, and more.
“We run mutual aid with a lot of our neighboring departments,” Norman said. “They come here and help us, we go there and help them.”
The department was also proud to report zero fire-related injuries in 2025, which Norman attributed to quality training and oversight.
“My captains do a really good job of keeping track of people and making sure that they’re not putting themselves into dangerous situations that they don’t have to,” he added. “We do a lot of training about how to evaluate those conditions.”
