Central Illinois Chapter
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Welcome to
the home of the Central
Illinois Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Leatherheads Society. We are
an organization dedicated to preserving the tradition and heritage of
the fire service while remembering to taking care of our brother and
sister firefighters. FOOLS believe in real fire training for real
firefighters regardless of paid, paid-on-call, volunteer, military,
etc... We take Pride in our departments, stations, apparatus and most
importantly ourselves. Finally and most importantly we remember those
who came before us and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. With out
them, the fire service would not be what it is today.
The Central Illinois FOOLS chapter was started in 2007. After seeing the
FOOLS at FDIC and reading about them online, Jeremy Merrit came up with
the idea of starting a local chapter. While working together on shift at
the Morton Fire Dept, he talked with Jason Greer about the idea and the two
decided it was time to form the Central Illinois FOOLS. After contacting
Steve Amstutz & two others, the Central Illinois FOOLS charter was sent
to the International for approval. After approval the first Cental Illinois
FOOLS meeting took place in May 2007. While some of the members have changed,
the mission remains the same: to preserve the traditions of the fire service
and to provide realistic training to the fire service in the Central Illinois
area.
