MILWAUKEE — A long-standing city employee has dedicated his life to the city of Milwaukee
“The Shop” is where fire trucks and other vehicles for the Milwaukee fire department are repaired. It’s been around for over 90 years in the Milwaukee community.
And it’s constantly full of fire trucks, ambulances and other first responder vehicles. A lot happens in the shop and it’s something Dean Schumacher has been around for over 30 years.
In total, he’s been with the city of Milwaukee for 35 years, but the past 26 have been spent with the Milwaukee Fire Department as a mechanic.
“It feels like I started about a month ago. I don’t know where the time went,” Schumacher said.
Schumacher is a fire equipment mechanic who goes out to take care of issues that pop up at fire departments across the city.
“Each day, there are six to eight fire houses I will go to and repair various things,” Schumacher said.
Having been on the job for quite some time, he’s talented at finding a fix for many problems that arise.
“I enjoy fixing things. It gives me pleasure or satisfaction. And working with the fire department is good too. I’m always dealing with the firemen while I’m out here. They are always good to me and treat me well,” Schumacher said.
For Schuyler Belott, the deputy chief of the division of construction and maintenance, having someone like Schumacher on his team is extremely important and very valuable.
“Having a guy like that is awesome because you know you can trust he knows what he’s doing,” said Belott. “We have him out on the road, so he chases those smaller problems to see if he can figure that out before we have to bring that rig out of service.”
But Schumacher’s time with the department is soon coming to a close. He’s retiring at the end of February and said he’s going to miss the people and, of course, the job.
“Just fixing things. I enjoy it. I do some stuff at home too, working on my car at home too. Just problem-solving and repairing the problem,” Schumacher said.
For him, it’s a bittersweet last couple months on the job while preparing to leave behind a career that’s become a big part of his life after all these years.
He said his plan for retirement is to spend more time with his grandkids.