WINNEBAGO COUNTY (NBC 26) — Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue has a new chief.
The department announced in a news release Tuesday that Travis Teesch will be succeeding current chief Kevin Kloehn on Jan. 6, 2024. The department said Kloehn is retiring.
“My family and I are excited to be returning to the Fox Valley area,” Teesch said in the release.
Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue said Teesch has 30 years of experience. He started in 1993 as a volunteer firefighter at Valders Fire Department in Manitowoc County.
Teesch later worked up the ranks all the way to assistant chief at the Kaukauna Fire Department.
He was also fire chief for the Watertown Fire Department in Dodge and Jefferson counties.
“The City of Neenah is very happy to welcome Chief Teesch to the team,” Neenah Mayor Jane Lang said in the release. “We look forward to working with him.”
“I’m pleased that our partnership with Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue has allowed us to recruit such a highly qualified candidate," Menasha Mayor Don Merkes said in the release. "Chief Teesch’s combination of experience and education is an excellent fit to maintain the high standards and core values of the department."
Just last week, Neenah and Menasha's mayors announced the fire department achieved the nation's highest fire protection rating, also known as the ISO — Insurance Services Office Public Protection — Classification 1. City leaders said Neenah-Menasha Fire Rescue joins nine other Wisconsin fire departments who have an ISO Class 1 rating.
