The Jefferson community is mourning the loss of their fire chief today.

Long time Chief Randy Love passed away in his home Sunday afternoon.

Assistant Fire Chief Dean Promes, a 17-year veteran with the Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department who served with Love throughout his firefighting career, tells Raccoon Valley Radio about how Love was always the first one to lend a hand in any situation with the fire department.

“Randy was the first one to respond to anything and you could totally rely on Randy to be there for you and know what has to be done. As him being the (fire) chief, just the way he handled the people, how he handled situations (and) you learn a lot from watching people and how they do stuff. If a guy could carry that on, that would be great.”

Fire Captain Jack Williams has been on the fire department for 13 years and the last seven as captain. He remembers the kind of person Love was.

“Just all the fires we had. It didn’t matter what kind of fire it was, we always tried to professionally have fun at it and Randy was always very good at that. If we had a bad situation, he was always there to try and help change the mood.”

Promes will be the interim chief until further notice.

Funeral services for Love are pending with Slininger-Schroeder Funeral Home in Jefferson.

Raccoon Valley Radio will bring you more information as it becomes official.