Like any other fire department, we operate under a formal organizational structure to maintain a clear hierarchy of authority and accountability. Our governing body is the Board of Directors. These are five residents of the levy district who are elected by other residents to staggered, four-year terms to affirm the district’s fire protection mission, to delegate the day-to-day execution of that mission to the Fire Chief of the department, and to be good stewards of the property tax funds that are collected to support operations. Nothing can be accomplished in the organization without the overt or tacit approval of the Board.

The Fire Chief is elected by the members of the department to a two-year term. He (currently) is the public face of the department, and the buck really does stop with him when it comes down to executive decisions relevant to our “boots on the ground.” Of course, practical limits on leadership span of control dictate that the Chief needs some help running the show now and again. To that end, we also have two Assistant Fire Chiefs who are elected on staggered two-year terms and four Fire Captains who stand for election annually. These other fire officers chosen from among and by the ranks are given defined and standing assignments by the Chief to ensure the massive job of keeping our department operating smoothly. These individuals are also expected to be seasoned and capable leaders who can manage certain key responsibilities on the fireground or even command the entire incident if needed. Our fire officers must be qualified beyond even our minimum standards, which usually means that they’ve been in the fire service long enough to have had the time to obtain those hard-earned qualifications that aren’t given out to just anyone.

There is a parallel political structure in the department that addresses the financial, social, informational, and other concerns of the membership. The Fairbury Rural Fire Department Volunteers maintain their own trust fund separate from the district’s tax-dependent general fund. The Volunteers’ fund includes money raised through various events, as well as money donated generally to the department that isn’t for services specifically rendered or earmarked for a stated fire protection need. The Volunteers use their funds to make purchases of miscellaneous equipment and gear that might not be deemed “necessary” for operations (and thus might not be the district’s duty to provide), to contribute to past members’ memorials, to support department social events, and the like. Managing this fund, and attending to other non-operational business, requires another set of officers. We have a President and Vice President of Membership who are elected to one-year terms to execute their self-evident duties, an annually-elected Secretary-Treasurer to record the Volunteers’ official proceedings and to maintain an accounting of the trust fund, and three Trustees—guardians of the traditions and standards of Membership—who are elected to staggered three-year terms. Together with the rest of the Department, who comprise both Active and Associate (auxiliary) Members, the Fairbury Rural Fire Department leadership have assumed the mantles of those came before, who saw and acted on the need to establish and support a fire protection district to serve the public good.