Martin Steidinger has seen Fairbury from a unique perspective during the past several years.
Not only did he serve as street superintendent since the late 1990s, but he also volunteered as a firefighter, assistant fire chief and later as fire chief. Steidinger is passing the hat to the next generation as he retires from his different roles in Fairbury.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” Steidinger told Fairbury News, reflecting on his career. “There have been ups and downs but I always said a good job is when one day you’d give it away and the next day you wouldn’t sell it for anything.”
His job leading the street department goes back to the fall of 1998 when Donnie Faw retired and Steidinger came across the job.
“I always said that I really wasn’t looking for a job when I found this one,” Steidinger recalled.
Steidinger formerly worked in construction, so many things were similar between the two jobs, although he remembers learning plenty by working for the city. There was no shortage of changes during Steidinger’s tenure as they converted garbage trucks into dump trucks, purchased an end loader and saw garbage collection methods change.
“Up until the last couple of years, we had done all of our own garbage – residential and commercial.”
It may come as no surprise to those who read this, but Steidinger likes to keep busy so winter isn’t his favorite season. His first snowstorm working for the city came on New Year’s Eve 1998 when it snowed the entire weekend.
“On New Year’s Eve, it started snowing about 9 at night and we got 18 inches of snow so I got broke in pretty quickly,” observed Steidinger.
Steidinger recalls working for former City Superintendent Leroy McPherson, saying they worked together well.
“Once I kind of got the picture of what was going on and what needed to be done, he didn’t micro-manage anything.”
The firefighting part of the story began when Steidinger turned 21. His buddy encouraged him to join the Fairbury Fire Department when a spot was created by the retirement of Charles Bingham. He has served ever since. Steidinger’s first firefighter number was one.
“At home I was number one, my kids thought I was pretty cool and I could be number one at the fire station so I thought that was pretty good,” said Steidinger.
The old days were quite different for the Fairbury Fire Department as they were inside a 48x75 station which was pretty crowded. As time marched on, trucks got bigger and Fairbury bought its first custom engine in 1989. When they got a new tanker, it wouldn’t even fit in the shed so they remodeled the fire station to make it work.
Steidinger married his wife, Trish, a few years after he joined the department.
“The night before our first anniversary, Mr. Timber burnt,” noted Steidinger.
Former Fairbury Fire Chief Keith Klitzing passed away in 2007 which is when Leroy McPherson was appointed chief and Steidinger assistant chief.
Steidinger has fond memories of former firefighter Brian Munz who died while battling a fire in 2008.
“He always wanted to be on the department since he was little and the council changed the age to be on the department to 18.”
Munz probably had more training in the few years he was on the department than most of the guys who were on longer, according to Steidinger.
Losing someone is never easy, especially when it is one of your own, like firefighter Munz.
“That was a struggle for our department,” admits Steidinger. “Not every department has to go through that.”
Though Munz is still greatly missed, his legacy continues since the city’s public safety complex is named after him. Steidinger recalls the building fund established after Munz’s death and the many donations that were made.
“We have six trucks in there that wouldn’t even begin to fit in the other station if we still had it.”
McPherson retired as chief in 2018 which is when Steidinger took over the role.
Currently, Fairbury’s department boasts 26 members which is considered good for an all-volunteer group.
“In our area for a volunteer department, we’ve probably got the best department around,” added Steidinger. “We’ve good a good group of guys.”
Firefighting runs in the Steidinger family has all of Steidinger’s nine boys have been on the department at one time or another. Three are serving currently and one is going through the academy to work full-time for the Urbana Fire Department. Steidinger also has three daughters.
Retirement is well deserved for Steidinger but he won’t get bored as he was offered a part-time position with his church’s mission, Harvest Call.
“God’s got something else for me so we are going to go for it.”
Harvest Call helps rebuild property and spiritual life after natural disasters. Steidinger will also help his son with construction work this summer.
Josh Hoselton has been named the new chief of the Fairbury Fire Department to replace Steidinger while Jeremiah Rinkenberger has filled the role of assistant chief. Lonnie Rhoads has been named the new Fairbury street superintendent.
A public retirement open house for Steidinger is planned for this Friday, April 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Indian Creek Country Club in Fairbury.
