Kane County Reporter

The city of Batavia celebrated four firefighter promotions.

"Again council I’d like to thank you for all your support. I believe this is, I know this is an excellent leadership team" Fire Chief Craig Hanson said. "We have decades of experience here and we look forward to the future and serving our community and our citizens with pride."

Fire chiefHanson appointed four individuals to positions within the fire department. John Lucas has been with the Batavia fire department for 16 years, serving in other municipal fire services beforehand. He has held the ranks of Lieutenant and Battalion Chief in the Batavia department, and was promoted to the rank of Deputy Chief. John had his mom and three children in attendance to watch him take his oath of office. 

John Kessler has been the fire marshal for the Batavia fire department since 2018. He has worked in fire services for almost 40 years between three departments. He was also promoted to the rank of deputy chief. His son came to watch him take his oath and pin his badge. Cale Loebbaka was hired by the department back in 2002. He is a registered fire instructor, paramedic, and has certifications in hazardous materials. He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant and his entire family came to the meeting to support him. 

Robert Hogan has been a firefighter for the city of Batavia fire department for 30 years. He started as an on-call firefighter in 1992, rising up the ranks until he reached the level of Lieutenant in 2006. He leads the fire investigation team for the Batavia department. He was promoted to the rank of Battalion Chief and his wife, son, and two grandchildren watched him take his oath of office.