Mike Crews, who served as the Taylorville fire chief and Christian County Emergency Management Agency director, is resigning to take a position in Hanover Township.
Crews submitted his resignation to Mayor Bruce Barry on Monday.
Crews was lauded for his role when an EF-3 tornado hit Taylorville on Dec. 1, damaging nearly 700 homes and businesses and injuring more than 20 people.
Crews directed firefighters to activate the tornado sirens twice that afternoon, when the city had scheduled its annual Twilight Christmas Parade. Crews sent firefighters on equipment from the fire station to Lake Taylorville as a precautionary measure while he stayed behind at the station.
“He was a rock star that day,” Barry said of Crews. “He made the right decision at the right time.
“If you’re ever ready for a tornado, I guess we were.”