John Knapp was sworn in Wednesday morning as the interim chief of the East Peoria Fire Department.
Again.
“Deputy Chief Knapp is the perfect candidate to fill the chief position and has served in this interim position before,” Commissioner John Kahl said Wednesday. Kahl oversees the operation of the Fire Department. ”(Knapp) held this position back in 2015 when we were going internally to hire a new chief when Chief (William) Darin retired.”
Knapp will fill in for Chief Al Servis, who announced his retirement in December. Servis served on the Fire Department for more than 25 years and was named chief in 2015. Servis’ last day on the job was May 15.
Servis served on the Fire Department for 25 1/2 years and was promoted from deputy chief to chief in the summer of 2015. His first day as chief was Sept. 1, 2015. After serving as interim chief, Knapp returned to his position of one of three deputy chiefs in the department.