Mike Romsos was doing some soul searching in May 2022, after a residential fire in Barron that cost the lives of a man and his two children (see the “Year in Review published in the Dec. 28 edition of the News-Shield).
“It was a heartbreaker,” said Romsos, the Barron-Maple Grove fire chief, during a Dec. 29 interview at the city fire hall. “I beat myself up about it. What could we have done that would have made a difference?”
It was that event, combined with the accumulated stress of handling fire calls 24/7 more than 30 years, that got him thinking about retirement. Romsos, who also heads up the wastewater treatment facility serving the city of Barron and the village of Cameron, started talking over retirement with his wife, Denise, who works for the Barron Area School District, and his financial adviser.