Greenfield Fire Chief Opens Up About Retirement

It was 1967 and Russ Spahn and his bandmates were having a jam session in the backyard of his parents house on Cold Spring Road. It was the middle of the day, but a neighbor, who worked third shift, called in a noise complaint.

The mustache-sporting patrol officer that responded to the call told Spahn and his buddies that while they had the right to practice, the neighbor had a right to his sleep.

That patrol officer was Frank Springob, and it was the first encounter of the two longtime city employees. Both are retiring next month, and Spahn after .

“Those were the good old days,” Spahn said from his office at Fire Station 2 on Monday afternoon.

Spahn, , has been a city employee for 39 years. The Greenfield High School graduate was hired full-time by the in December 1972, and made the switch to the city’s fire department in 1981.

“I never quit the city,” Spahn said. “I just crossed over departments. One Sunday I was with DPW, the next Monday I put on a firefighter uniform.”

Spahn spent five years as a firefighter/emergency medical technician and then a number of years as a firefighter/paramedic. He was then a heavy equipment operator and later deputy chief before serving as assistant chief for 14 years.

A little more than five years ago, he became just the fourth chief in the department’s history, but after nearly four decades as a public employee, the 57-year-old Spahn is ready to move on.

He admitted the recent happenings in Madison had a major impact on his decision to retire now instead of say, two or three years from now.

“I have concerns where the economy has gone, where our system is right now, especially in the public sector,” he said. “For the first time in my career, I feel offended by a lot of the media hype or people in general feeling that public employees are responsible for the debts that the state has. That’s certainly not true, but we’ve had some of our people booed at City Hall, some negative things.

“That, and because of the law changes that will probably occur in the near future – there’s just some stalling going on at this point – I figure to lose a lot of the benefits that I’ve earned, and like a lot of other people in the city and school districts, they’re leaving as a result of that, too.”

Spahn plans to continue teaching part-time at Milwaukee Area Technical College, where he has taught fire science and other courses for 20 years, and working part-time with Alverno College. He also has a degree in education and writing curriculum and plans to write some classes.

He’ll also spend plenty of time fishing, his favorite pastime, and being with Donna, his wife of 36 years come August, and sons Adam and Aaron.

And as he prepares to permanently trade in his fire chief helmet for a fishing hat in just a few short weeks, he’s proud of what he’s accomplished as chief and the state he’s leaving the department in.

“I’ve reorganized the department, tried to make it run better, tried to make it more efficient, tried to increase revenue, increase staffing,” he said. “I’m leaving at a good time where I’ve got my predecessor in place (), some very good staff people, some phenomenal young firefighters. The organization is going in the direction I wanted it to in the first place.

“You can do a lot of things but to change the culture is very difficult. The culture is inherited; changing it is tough, but I think I was able to accomplish it. More importantly, the people that I have put in the positions they have, they’ll keep that culture going.”

Editor's note: On Tuesday, Greenfield Patch will take a look at what Greenfield Fire Chief Russ Spahn feels about the consolidation of area fire departments, and on Wednesday, we'll reveal whom he hopes replaces him permanently.