{"id":32728,"date":"2026-01-27T18:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/?p=32728"},"modified":"2026-01-27T18:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T23:37:12","slug":"decatur-fd-adding-two-full-timers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/2026\/01\/27\/decatur-fd-adding-two-full-timers\/","title":{"rendered":"Decatur FD adding two full-timers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>By BOB SHRALLUKA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>WZBD.com<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Decatur Fire Department is once again nearing full capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas Juengel and Christopher Jones have passed their PERF (Public Employees Retirement Fund) testing and are joining the department on February 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The duo had previously passed physical agility testing and background checks, and also gone through interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They were chosen from a field of 11 applicants at the start of the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"355\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lucas-Juengel.jpg?resize=355%2C600&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32729\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lucas-Juengel.jpg?w=355&amp;ssl=1 355w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lucas-Juengel.jpg?resize=178%2C300&amp;ssl=1 178w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 355px) 100vw, 355px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Lucas Juengel<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Jones and Juengel bring the department to eight full-time (or career) firefighters, one short of a full complement, along with Chief Jeff Sheets and Assistant Chief Chad Baumann.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jones, a Bellmont High School graduate, had been working for the city&#8217;s street department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"293\" height=\"310\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=293%2C310&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-32730\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/unnamed-3.jpg?w=293&amp;ssl=1 293w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/unnamed-3.jpg?resize=284%2C300&amp;ssl=1 284w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 293px) 100vw, 293px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Christopher Jones<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>He is a five-year veteran of the Preble Volunteer Firefighting Association and a current member of the Decatur department&#8217;s paid-on call staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The new addition to the local department is certified as a Firefighter 2, Instructor 1, and an EMR who holds an operational certificate in Hazmat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The son of Jeremy and Jessica Jones has a younger sister, Madison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Juengel is a graduate of Bellmont and Purdue University who is currently serving in the Airborne Infantry with the Army National Guard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The son of Mark and Darlene Juengel is a third-generation firefighter, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lucas, who is married to Emma Juengel, said he looks forward to serving the Decatur community and continuing his family&#8217;s tradition of dedication to public safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, firefighter Dominick Brown has been removed from his one-year probationary status.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By BOB SHRALLUKA WZBD.com The Decatur Fire Department is once again nearing full capacity. Lucas Juengel and Christopher<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":32729,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[14,15,21],"class_list":["post-32728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-decatur","tag-featured","tag-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wzbd.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Lucas-Juengel.jpg?fit=355%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32728"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32731,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32728\/revisions\/32731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wzbd.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}