Public reception set for retiring Chief

Idaho Falls Fire Chief Dave Hanneman will formally retire from the post on May 3, but a public reception is scheduled Tuesday from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Waterfront in Snake River Landing.

Hanneman joined the Idaho Falls Fire Department in October 2014. He started his career 36 years ago with the Cole-Collister Fire District in Boise. He joined the Boise Fire Department in 1988 and attained the rank of Deputy Chief. He served as Chief for the City of Chula Vista in southern California before his move to Idaho Falls.

According to a Fire Department news release, Chief Hanneman successfully upgraded the City of Idaho Falls’ ISO rating to a Class 2. IFFD is one of only two departments in the state of Idaho to have achieved this. The Class 2 rating has a direct impact on lowering insurance premiums for property owners in Idaho Falls.

In addition to responding to more than 13,000 fire and EMS calls in Bonneville County in 2018, IFFD deployed 81 firefighters to 41 different wildfires in eight different states, serving 714 days on the frontlines during wildfires across the western United States. Chief Hanneman also helped establish Idaho’s Region 3 All-Hazards Incident Management and Support Team. This team was deployed to assist with Hurricane Michael stabilization and recovery efforts in Bay County, Florida in October 2018 where Chief Hanneman served as one of the Deputy Incident Commanders in the Emergency Operations Center.

Hanneman’s successor has not been named.