A New Era Begins

By PEGGY SENZARINO, Le Mars Sentinel

A new era has begun for the Le Mars Fire-Rescue Department.

There has been a Schipper on the Le Mars Fire-Rescue Department for more than 130 years including one serving as Le Mars Fire Chief for the past 43 years. The streak as chief ended Friday when David Schipper retired as Le Mars Fire-Rescue Department Chief. His father Wayne served as chief for 27 years.

The Le Mars City Council has approved Assistant Fire Chief Steve Schwartz to serve as the next Fire Chief. He has been with the fire department for more than 25 years. Schwartz officially assumed the position at 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14.

Schipper was the special guest on Cheryl Wells’ Friend Friday program on Friday, Aug. 14, on Facebook Live. During the hourlong conversation, Schipper shared his thoughts on his career, cancer diagnosis and life in general. Schipper’s retirement was effective at 3 p.m. Friday, Aug. 14. “Calm is contagious and I try to keep that in my mind. When I pull up on a scene, I have to be the person that is looking at the whole big picture, what’s burning, who is trapped in a car and not just the incident in front of me. I’ve got to look at everything going on before we can form a plan. That takes a lot of training,” Schipper explained.

He was asked about his first week as Le Mars Fire Chief in 2010.

“My first week here I had a meth lab in a U-Haul truck from Colorado that broke down out here on Highway 3. I was meth lab certified so that worked out so I could get it cleaned up and rendered You Keep Us Safe. We’ll Keep You Connected. safe. I had a lady drive into the river having a diabetic incident and I waded out into water this deep and tied her to a backboard and they lifted her 18 feet up to the bridge to get her in an ambulance. I had a little roof collapse across the street that trapped a guy when they were building the ice cream parlor. And then I had OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) show up right after that and wanted to look at all our certifications. I had to call my dad and ask him where it was,” he said.

“I had two houses on fire at the same time. All within the first couple weeks of being here. That last couple weeks have kind of been that way going out. It’s been a ride. I’ve prayed about it. I think it was one of those days where God showed me and my department that we could handle things.”

David Schipper started with the Le Mars Fire Department in April 1988 while still a high school student. He remained with the department until August 1993, when he began a 17-and a-half-year stretch as a fire investigator for the Iowa State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Schipper then returned to Le Mars to assume command of the Fire Department, replacing his father Wayne Schipper, who led the department from 1983 to 2010. Wayne was named the first fulltime fire chief in 1990 and also was the city’s emergency operations manager for 20 years.

When he took over from his father, Schipper said he evaluated the personnel to see each person’s strengths.

“Without my people I am just Dave Schipper not Fire Chief Dave Schipper and I have to thank everybody that has worked for me. They are the ones that actually make me look good. And if they follow directions, it all works a lot better and they do. And they did. I can’t thank them enough.”

He said the job required sacrifices over the years for him and his family.

“Night and day you are always a fireman until 3 o’clock. And then I will still be a fireman at heart,” he joked Friday.

“We see things that people shouldn’t have to see. Only 10 percent of the people can do this job.” He is grateful to be able to combine the administrative parts of the job and still go out on fire calls.

“I still got to go to a call if I wanted. It was the best of both worlds for me.”

He said he has been offered some new jobs. But he is planning on doing “absolutely nothing” for the first month.

“Figure out what it’s like to sleep one night all night long,” Schipper said.

He thanked his wife Alissa for her support as the family moved to follow his career. He plans to focus on family in retirement.

“I am going to have six grandkids under five years old. The sixth one is due in a month,” Schipper said. “You’ve got to have things to live for and I have a lot to live for. When I was told a year and a half ago that I had three months (to live), I said no you don’t know me. It’s been a struggle. But I was going to make retirement and I made it.

“It’s been a good run I am going to miss it. Thirty-eight years is a long time.”

“I’ve had so many people reach out and it’s just awesome. People that I haven’t talked to in 20 years,” he said. “It is a miracle I am still here by the grace of God. I don’t know how long I am going to be here but every time I go to a checkup, and he says you’re doing ok or you’re stable and I cartwheel out of there.

“It has not been easy, but we don’t get challenges we are not supposed to be able to handle right.”

Schipper’s son Devan is on the staff as a sixth-generation firefighter and serves as a volunteer and is also a paid staff member as the rank of lieutenant for Sioux City Fire Rescue.”

David Schipper is a Le Mars native and a 1990 Gehlen Catholic High School graduate who earned an associate’s degree in general studies at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, S.D., while also working as a security officer on campus.

He also has a law-enforcement degree from the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy, and bomb technician diploma from the United States Army and FBI Hazardous Devices School. He also holds national certifications in firefighting, fire administration, hazardous materials, fire inspection and fire investigations, and Schipper is an emergency medical technician.

Family members joined the Le Mars Fire Department in the 1890s. Except for a brief time during World War II when they were in the military, a Schipper has responded to calls across those decades.

David and his wife Alissa, who works at Gehlen Catholic School, also have two daughters.