The Mequon Fire Department on Monday swore in its three new battalion chiefs.
The command-staff positions are a result of the city’s Future of our Fire Department Committee, which was created in July 2019 to give the Common Council a road map to address both staffing and facilities concerns.
The committee was specifically charged with examining ways to optimize the future viability of Mequon’s paid-on-call fire and ambulance services. Ackley was a captain with the Beaver Dam Fire Department before coming to Mequon. He also served as a paramedic in the Sun Prairie, Blooming Grove and Lake Country fire departments.
He was in Civil Affairs Operations and served as a combat medic in the U.S. Army.
Ackley, who spent nearly 15 years in the military and was deployed overseas twice, also runs Own it Fire and EMS Leadership and Consulting to help firefighters and first responders focus on their emotional well-being.