DUBUQUE, Iowa — A former fire chief died of an apparent heart attack Sunday morning.
THOnline.com reported that Tom Hancock, 67, formerly with the Epworth Fire Department, spent eight years in the Iowa Senate and was a former president of the Iowa Firefighters Association.
“Everything he did, he did 100 percent, and he was still doing everything up to the end,” Epworth Fire Chief Tom Berger said. “He had been on the Epworth Fire Department 45 years, since 1968, and was chief for 16 years. He was close friends with my parents, so I’ve known him all my life.”
Hancock led a group of fire department volunteers to complete paramedic training the 1980s and the department became one of the first rural volunteer departments in the state to become certified in ALS.
“Everything he did was for the betterment of public safety,” Chief Berger said.
Funeral arrangements are pending.