On Monday, July 22nd Fire Chief Joseph Giver announced that he would be retiring as Fire Chief on January 1, 2020. His announcement gives the City plenty of time to recruit the next Fire Chief for the City. While his retirement date is January 1, he has 13 weeks of vacation time to use before the 1st of January so he will be on vacation for the months of October, November, and December. Fire Chief Joseph Giver has served Verona as Fire Chief for almost 9 years beginning in January 2011 as the first full-time Fire Chief of the Verona Fire District until December 2013 when the Fire District was dissolved and the City of Verona took over operation of the Fire Department.  Fire Chief Joseph Giver was hired by the City of Verona as the first Fire Chief for the new City of Verona Fire Department on a part-time basis in July 2013 in preparation for the transition to the City Fire Department and on January 1, 2014, when he became the full-time Fire Chief.   Fire Chief Joseph Giver stated, “On January 1, 2020, my time in the fire service will be 41 years total with 32 years as a career, and just short of 24 years as Fire Chief. It has been an honor to serve with the men and women of the following departments that I am proud to say I was able to part of; Hinsdale Fire Department, Hinsdale, IL, New Berlin Volunteer Fire Department, New Berlin, WI, 440th Combat Support Group Fire Department US Air Force Reserve, Milwaukee, WI, 128th Air National Guard Fire Department Milwaukee, WI, Milwaukee County Fire Department Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee, WI, Marinette Fire Department, Marinette, WI, Dousman Fire District, Dousman, WI, Verona Fire District, and City of Verona Fire Department, Verona, WI.”

During Fire Chief Joseph Giver’s tenure, the City and Fire Department have implemented many improvements, which include building a new state of the art fire station and gradually increasing our full-time staff from five to nine. We also improved response times by implementing 24 hour staffing with four personnel in the station, started the Fire Science Internship Program, and improved the ISO fire insurance ratings from a 4 to a 3 in the City and from a 7 to a 5 in the Town.  Prior to serving as Fire Chief of the City of Verona Fire Department, Chief Giver served as Fire Chief for the Dousman Fire District and the City of Marinette Fire Department.