Springfield Fire Chief-designee Brandon Blough and outgoing chief Allen Reyne have been on parallel lines in their time with the department.
They came in on the same day, Sept. 13, 1999. They both interviewed for the chief’s job two years ago — and swapped ideas about what they would be asked — when Reyne landed the job.
So asked what changes might be in the offing, Blough, Mayor Jim Langfelder’s choice to succeed Reyne who officially retired Monday, said he would build on a lot of the technological changes Reyne implemented.
“I don’t think there’s a lot of wholesale change coming,” said Blough, a 21-year veteran of the department in remarks following his introduction as the new fire chief, pending Springfield City Council approval Dec. 15. “We have a lot of changes in place Chief Reyne (implemented).”
That includes, Blough said, headsets that will help with communication on the fire ground and tablets that have been placeD on all fire apparatuses that will eliminate hand-written notes.