Schott named La Crosse’s firefighter of the year

Jeff Schott, with the La Crosse Fire Dept., now outranks his wife … at work anyway.

Schott was honored as firefighter of the year and promoted to Battalion Chief on Wednesday.

He says the new title might not mean as much at home with his wife, who works with the police department.

“Jokes about who’s on the good side of the force,” Schott said. “With the promotion, I do officially outrank her now. I’ll have to thank the chief for that.

“But I don’t know if that will truly restore balance.”

Schott was humbled and grateful to receive the award and said he hasn’t done anything deserving of extra attention.

“Everything that we do is based off of crews and teams and assignments,” he said. “Everything is dependent upon someone knowing and doing their job at a very high level.”

Asked about what it means to have the respect of the rest of his team, Schott said, “I live here three days a week. This is my family. I love them all dearly. It’s a comradery that’s unique to this profession. That’s what I love most about it.”

Schott, who spent several years as captain in La Crosse, said he would advise a young firefighter to take their job seriously every day and prepare for each situation as intently as possible.