Firefighters carry on after fire chief's death

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Firefighters in Saratoga Springs are trying to pick up the pieces of their department after the death of Fire Chief Mike Penovich — but with a raging fire season afoot, they don't have long to mourn.

"We're still going to run the station," Deputy Fire Chief Rick Scott told city officials earlier this week. "As of 9 p.m. on Friday night, it's business as usual."

City Manager Ken Leetham will serve as the city's fire chief until a new chief is hired, but Penovich, who died July 5 after his truck inexplicably veered off the road and tumbled into Deer Creek Reservoir, didn't leave Leetham without direction.

Scott said Penovich had a number of goals he wanted to put into action before he died — and he left a record of all that he wanted done.

Firefighters who were approved for promotion by Penovich before he had a chance to grant the awards were promoted Wednesday in advance of Penovich's funeral on Friday.

The fire department has five openings, but before he died, Penovich recommended that three people be interviewed; the individuals have subsequently been hired.

"There are a lot of ideas we had that we didn't put into place, but this is the perfect time to do it," Scott said.

Scott said he wants to add a rule to the department's operations that limits how many hours each firefighter can work over a specific amount of time.

Scott said he wants firefighters to have two signatures of approval if they need to change their shifts.

"Mike took the position of two firefighters," Scott said. "(When he died), he had just come off of two days on a fire, spending days away from his family. ... Mike would cover shifts and be in at 4 a.m. and stay until 11 p.m. I cannot do that. I'm going to do things a lot different."

The city is considering naming the city's new fire station after Penovich, but final decisions on how to honor the chief have not been made.

City employees who attended Penovich's funeral said the jovial Penovich would be missed greatly.

"He had a big impact on our whole community," said city employee Amanda Troxel. "I don't know if we will ever (move on). There's always going to be this empty spot with us, but I think we all feel better for knowing Mike, and I think that will make us all stronger."

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E-mail: achoate@desnews.com