Idaho Falls Fire Chief retires after 36 years in emergency services

Idaho Falls Fire Chief Dave Hanneman is hanging up his helmet after 36 years. People came out Tuesday evening to say goodbye and wish him luck. Hanneman joined the Idaho Falls Fire Department in 2014 and is thankful for his time here.

“These five years have been the best five years of my career by far,” Hanneman said. “And seeing how we made a very good department here even better. And so, building that new Fire Station 1 was probably one of the highlights of my career. I hadn’t built something like that before.”

Area first responders took turns speaking about Hanneman — all with a similar message of how much he has done for the department and area and how much he will be missed. He was also presented with several commemorative gifts. Idaho Falls Mayor Rebecca Casper spoke at the ceremony, even choking up when saying thank you to Hanneman. She said he came into the department when morale was low and completely turned things around.

“Chief has done so many things,” Casper said. “But he has restructured the department for success. And when he got here, morale was pretty low. And he’s leaving a department that feels good about itself, a department that performs, a department that is much better off because of him.”

Hanneman and his wife have plans to travel for the next few weeks. Then he will continue an active role in fire service. He teaches at both Idaho State University and the University of Idaho. He will also remain a part of the area incident management team. He says he never expected his career to take this path.

“We never think about being a chief, we always think about just being a firefighter,” he said. “And when I started, I knew when I was 8 years old I was going to be a firefighter. So I always thought about that. And then it just kind of progressed throughout my career.”

He says this is all he has ever wanted to do, and it will be hard to say goodbye.

“I just wanna say really thanks to all the people of Idaho Falls and Eastern Idaho,” he said. “You’ve been great to me and I’m going to miss everybody a lot.”

Hanneman’s official last day is May 3. Casper has recommended the Idaho Falls City Council appoint Idaho Falls Deputy Fire Chief Duane Nelson to replace Hanneman. City Council will vote at Thursday night’s meeting.