Looking back at Jeff Yerkey’s 32 years as a Rock Island firefighter

“I looked over across the kitchen, and I could see that it was starting to burn through the floor, and so I was worried for their safety, because I didn’t want the floor to collapse on them,” Yerkey, Rock Island’s newly retired fire chief, recalled.

He tried to contact the other firefighters on the radio. Nothing. He tried yelling his warning. That didn’t work either.

So he tried something else.

“I went down and told them what was going on, and they backed out,” Yerkey said.

That particular call, Yerkey said, caused him great concern.

He joined the Rock Island Fire Department in 1990, and his retirement in early January brought to close a 32-plus-year career.

During that time, the 58-year-old delivered babies, performed rescues, fought fires, honed leadership skills and earned the department’s top seat.

Yerkey, a Quad-Cities native, said he was introduced to firefighting as a teen. Friends had joined an explorer program in Hampton and he followed.

In that program, he learned the basics and performed support roles, such as filling air bottles while the adult firefighters battled blazes.

As a youth, he considered other careers, including medicine and engineering, but he was firm on firefighting after high school. Rising to chief wasn’t an early goal, he said, but it became an ambition over the years.

“I don’t think anybody, when they become a firefighter, plans on becoming the chief,” Yerkey said.

In the firehouse

Fire Marshal Greg Marty worked with Yerkey as a Rock Island firefighter for 21 of Yerkey’s 32-year career.

Marty said it would be impossible to catalog all of Yerkey’s contributions during that time, but first and foremost, he was a rock-solid employee.

He was always the first one to the fire station, the first one to get to work and the last one to sit down, Marty said.

“He definitely set an example for all of us through his actions,” he said.

Early in their time working together, Yerkey was quiet, Marty said. He might not say 10 words on a shift.

“But he was the kind of guy, when he said something, people listened,” he said.

When Yerkey was the assistant chief, he was responsible for training. There were many times he went through the exercises with the firefighters he was training.

Yerkey’s focus on firefighting fundamentals. Teaching firefighters the right way to do things — and being with them when it was time to do the work — made the department’s training program so much more effective, Marty said.

“In this business, guys are much more likely to follow someone who is willing to get dirty right alongside of them and do the work right alongside of them,” he said. “And that’s the kind of training officer he was.”

Yerkey replaced Jim Fobert upon his retirement in 2016.

His successes as chief include supporting the adoption of a full fire code, according to a fire department social media post about his retirement. His efforts also earned a Life Safety award for the department and a Five-Star Fire Safe Community Designation.

Marty and Rock Island Mayor Mike Thoms added the successful campaigning to embrace residential sprinkler systems as another accomplishment.

Since the requirement was adopted a few years ago, 70 residential properties have been equipped with sprinklers in Rock Island, Marty said.

“Sprinkler systems almost completely eliminate the chance that someone could die in a fire,” he said.

Thoms said he has worked with Yerkey since 2017, when he became mayor.

“He’s not only just friendly, he’s very honest, easy to work with, open minded about topics and (has) a good sense of humor,” the mayor said.

Looking back

Yerkey said he is proud of his work as a firefighter.

“There are days that don’t go very well, but those days that you help somebody or save somebody, that definitely outweighs the bad days,” he said.

The thing he is most proud of is a rescue, Yerkey said, which he called a team effort.

Fleeing a fire, a mother and three children retreated to the attic of a burning structure, he recalled.

When he and the other firefighters arrived, Yerkey checked for staircases while others grabbed ladders. By the time he’d determined stairs weren’t an option, the other firefighters were already placing the ladders.

The firefighters used one ladder to get on top of the porch, then another on the porch to reach the family, Yerkey said. Then the crew slowly brought the family down.

“Those types of things I’m most proud of, being part of a team that saved some people,” he said.

Looking Forward

Now that he’s retired, Yerkey hopes to catch up on hobbies that his career kept him from pursuing.

He has a Harley Davidson and bicycle that need riding. He shoots and he golfs.

There also will be more time for family, he said. Maybe there will be a trip later this year.

Otherwise, Yerkey said he’s going to enjoy his new free time: “And if I get bored and want to do something else, then, well, we’ll see about doing that.”