Chris Courtney has no regrets about stepping down as fire chief for the Palos Fire Protection District in Palos Park.

“I was ready to start the next chapter of my life,” he said, adding that “it felt good” to walk out of the fire station one last time on Jan. 15 when his retirement took effect. “There are people I’ll miss. Obviously I wish everyone the best, and I have a lot of great memories there. It was a great career.”

And what a career it was, with more than 25 years of service, including his last six as fire chief. Its beginning, however, was somewhat happenstance.

“I was unsure of the path I was going to take, and my father asked me what I wanted to be,” Courtney explained. “We were driving by the fire station, and I said ‘Maybe I’ll be a firefighter.’ I went in and talked to the fire captain, and he was running a fire academy. Before you knew it, I was in the fire department.”

The Palos Heights resident began working part-time for the Palos district after graduating in the fall of 1994 from the fire academy. He earned his paramedic license in June 1995. But soon, he decided to go back to school.

Courtney earned a degree in hospitality from the University of Northern Colorado and a degree in program management from Colorado State University.

“It was difficult to get a full-time job back then. It was almost like a lottery getting a full-time firefighting job,” he said. I kept on testing when I was in school in Colorado. When I graduated, I went to work with an airline carrier. Palos finally called me from an eligibility test. I wasn’t happy in my career and it was time to switch.”

In 2001, he joined the department full time, and he received an MBA from Lewis University in 2022.

The district serves Palos Park and portions of Palos Heights, operating fire stations at 8815 W. 123rd St. and at 13010 S. 104th Ave., both in Palos Park with five paramedic/firefighters on duty at each. The chief works at the 123rd Street station.

“It was a good work environment. You look forward to going to work in the morning. You became close with your colleagues so you knew you’d have fun that day,” he shared about the best thing about being a firefighter and paramedic, adding that his colleagues were “all very professional. They take their job seriously.

“I think the most rewarding part was when people in the ambulance would thank you for helping you. When you dropped (patients) off (at the hospital), you didn’t know how they would do. It was nice when they’d come back and express their gratitude.”

Courtney said his biggest accomplishment as chief was converting the department from a “combination department” to a “career department” during his time as chief. “We had a part-time program that was always very robust. Right before COVID, it became difficult to recruit onboard, part-time firemen. There was always a revolving door. It was difficult to become consistent. We converted the part-time program to a full-time career program (after) a lot of negotiating.”

The Palos Fire Protection District in Palos Park threw a party Feb. 6 at Rooftop Tap in Palos Heights for Chris Courtney, front right, who recently retired as chief last month. The Palos Heights resident, shown holding a chief’s hat with former and current colleagues, began working at the department full time in 2001. A party for friends and family took place the previous weekend. (Sharon Courtney)

Firefighters cook for their colleagues during shifts, and Courtney brought some experience to the firehouse kitchen.

“I cooked everything. I worked at a restaurant in college as a sous chef,” he explained. “That became my foundation to cook, so I always volunteer to cook because I enjoyed it at the firehouse. I think my go-to was always chicken parmesan.”

The kitchen he used was renovated in 2011 after the fire station won a kitchen makeover contest sponsored by IKEA, something mentioned by Sharon Courtney, who he married in 2003 after the couple met in college.

“You would call in and vote like on ‘American Idol,’ she said. “Ana Belaval with WGN News came down. I was there with (youngest daughter) Hattie. She was a baby, and they won the kitchen. It was between Palos Fire and Yonkers, New York.”

“He was the messiest cook ever. They like to work with him because he was an amazing cook, but they didn’t like the cleanup,” she said with a laugh.

Sharon Courtney said although her husband worked hard, he also valued his family. “He worked holidays, birthdays, weekends but always made our family feel special, and we will miss going up to see him at the firehouse. It’s a great group of guys. It’s kind of surreal.

“This is the only life we’ve known for 25 years, and now it’s like ‘OK, what do we do now?’ But it’s been good. It’s provided a very nice life, and he’s worked very hard, and we’re all very proud of him.”

Chris Courtney won a fire prevention poster contest when he attended Palos East Elementary School in Palos Heights. His mom saved the drawing. Decades later, his oldest daughter Ava got top honors in the same contest when she was at Palos East. (Sharon Courtney)

Although it will be a big change, she is a little relieved he retired. “At the end of the day, thankfully there are not a lot of fire calls, but it takes one fire to change someone’s life. I was always grateful when he came home from work safely,” she shared.

She said his retirement from the district is “a testament of how fast time” can pass. “We’re ready for this next chapter in our lives. We’ve been talking about this so long. … We don’t want to look back and regret it.”

The former chief has already started his next chapter – in the construction industry – which means they will be moving to Tampa, Florida.

“Back in the day, firemen always had side jobs. Mine happened to be in flooring,” he said. “I made a lot of connections over the years, and one of my vendors recruited me for the role. It’s something I enjoy, which is important.”

When Courtney retired as fire chief, Michael Gabriele stepped up to take over the role. He’s had plenty of experience working at the district because he’s been there for 23 years.

“I’m excited for the opportunity and looking forward to what the future will bring,” he said. “It’s big shoes to fill. Chris did a lot of great things here.”

Gabriele and Courtney worked the same shift for years. “He basically said on his way out, ‘You’ll do great.”

He described the former chief as an intelligent leader with a strong work ethic. “He cared a lot too. He cared about how things looked all the time as far as what the department was doing. He wanted it to be more modernized, and we did,” Gabriele said. “When we first started, everything was on paper. Now we’re a paperless department. A lot of things got changed that were updated. We finally moved with the times.”

Gabriele said policies more than 20 years old were updated, as well as training documentation, equipment, station alerting and computers. “It was a lot of culture shock for some of the guys. I think we did it a little too fast, but it needed to be done.”

Administrative assistant Dana Fischl, who’s worked at the district for eight years, helped with modernizing the fire district, such as moving payroll to an independent company instead of the township.

“It happened at warp speed, but it needed to happen. It’s proved itself to be where we need to be,” she said. “Just because something works doesn’t mean that it’s working. It was getting done but wasn’t conducive to this day and age, and Chris knew that. … It was a very safe place to be because you knew if he was in charge, things were going to get done.”

Fischl said she’ll miss him. “It was bittersweet to see him walk out the door. He was my seventh or eighth chief. I worked at North Palos. Change is always hard, but there’s a succession plan. It speaks volumes to him as chief.”

Melinda Moore is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown. 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/16/palos-fire-chief-courtney-retires/