Fire Chief bids farewell

MT. PLEASANT — The Mt. Pleasant Fire Department served over 900 people at its annual pancake breakfast Saturday, March 30 on former Chief Drew Schumacher’s final weekend as fire chief.

Excited children scurried around the Mt. Pleasant Fire Department as they explored fire trucks and visited with the fire dog mascot at the annual pancake breakfast right before the community egg hunt Saturday, as Chief Schumacher made his way from table to table laughing and visiting with the community.

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Schumacher joked that the annual breakfast held the Saturday before Easter was his retirement party, as it occurred on his final weekend as the Chief of Mt. Pleasant Fire Department. Anthony Blint took on the role April 1.

For Schumacher, ending his time as fire chief with the pancake breakfast was the perfect ending as he got to see many of the people he worked with and served over his 31 years of service with the fire department.

“That’s the best part, being able to talk to everybody,” he said. “Everybody is going to be fine without me.”

That sentiment proved true as he made his way from table to table with a giant grin on his face while chatting with people from Mt. Pleasant and the surrounding communities as they enjoyed pancakes and sausage.

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“You can’t not enjoy yourself being a fireman,” he said. “We do what we do because we’ve got a passion for it. And being volunteer, it’s just that much more.”

Schumacher is confident the fire department is in good hands upon his departure as chief.

“It makes it easy to move on when you know you have good guys behind you,” Schumacher said. “I’m not really walking away because I’ll still be on for a while, though.”

While Schumacher thinks Blint will be great as the new chief, he won’t leave him high and dry. He will stick around to teach Blint some more of the behind-the-scenes things that many don’t even realize a fire chief does.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com