 Chief Saunders has been a member of the O’Fallon Fire Department for 26 years. He served as avolunteer for the first 25 years, beginning as a firefighter and working his way up through the ranks to Chief.
In May of 2008, he retired from a 21 year career as an electrical lineman and was hired as the first full time Fire Chief for the City of O'Fallon.
Chief Saunders has been a resident of O'Fallon for 32 years.
Chief Saunders has received the majority of his education through the University of Illinois and Southwestern Illinois College. He is certified through the Office of the State Fire Marshal as a Fire Officer II and Incident Commander, along with a variety of technical certifications. He has attended the National Fire Academy for fire service planning and fire protection systems.
Chief Saunders serves as the president for the St. Clair County Fire Chiefs and MABAS Division 32 (Statewide Mutual Aid Box Alarm System). He is on the Board of Directors for St. St. Clair Emergency Services, along with functioning as incident coordinator / duty officer for hazardous materials and technical rescue response statewide. He serves on the area wide Incident Support Team assisting stricken departments with Incident Management Command and Control. Chief Saunders serves on the Fire Science Advisory Committee for Southwestern Illinois College and is a member of many national and state organizations.
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