Sioux City fire chief announces retirement, remembers over 30 years with the department

SIOUX CITY (KTIV) - Sioux City Fire Rescue Chief Tom Everett has announced he is retiring after 31 years with the department and 16 years as chief.

Before becoming a firefighter Everett served in the Navy working on a fight deck, after his military career he began to take tests to become a firefighter eventually being hired by his hometown department

Everett previously served for close to 15 years with the department, climbing the ranks before becoming chief. After moving through the ranks quickly he was hired as an internal candidate where he saw the department grow and evolve, now after over 30 years he takes time to look back at those fond memories.

“I think... the underlying foundation is character and professionalism, if that’s not there, you’re not going to get very far, right, because if people are going to want to follow you, then they have to trust you,” Everett said.

Sioux City was home for Everett and it will continue to be home when he retires. Monday he took time to reflect on his career.

”Everybody that we work with, and all the different departments, but certainly the people on this department, I will miss and I know that I know, I take that for granted to some degree,” Everett said.

It’s been 16 years since Everett was named Chief and KTIV’s cameras were rolling when he was announced to take over the department. At that time he was excited about the growth possibilities and the city went with an internal candidate.

“I know just from talking to the members of the department that they have felt for a long time that we have the resources and the people the quality qualifications to lead this department,” Everett said after being named chief 16 years ago.

Now the department has expanded, increased training and evolved over the years, all with Everett at the helm. One thing he looks back on is in 2017 when the department became the permanent ambulance provider for the city.

“We brought on a bunch of people added a service that we weren’t providing at the time. So we took a department that was pretty used to functioning the way it was functioning, and really changed a lot,” Everett said.

For what is next he said he will visit his kids and family who live outside of Sioux City and spend more time with his wife.

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