Deputy Fire Chief Tom Vacca retires Wednesday

After almost three decades, Pittsburg Fire Department Deputy Fire Chief Tom Vacca is set to retire on Nov. 26, 2025.

“Tom has been an integral part of the Fire Department,” Pittsburg City Manager Daron Hall said. “He has helped countless people during fire emergencies and played a key role in preventing others by supporting fire prevention programs. We congratulate him on his well-deserved retirement.”

Vacca began his career in the City of Pittsburg in the Pittsburg Police Department, working there for six years before making the change to the Fire Department, where he stayed for 22 years.

Before landing at the Police Department, Vacca went into the U.S. Army following high school, serving as Military Police, which ultimately inspired him to work in a civilian police department. At the Pittsburg Police Department, he served on patrol, was on the Special Response Team, and on bicycle patrol.

In May 2003, Vacca was ready for a career change and decided to give firefighting a try. It was Retired Fire Chief Don Elmer who gave him the opportunity to serve at the Pittsburg Fire Department.

“I was the first person he hired—I remember that conversation so clearly,” Vacca remembered. “He said, ‘You’re the first person I hired,’ and I joked, ‘Well, I hope I’m not the first person you fire.’ I just want to thank him and truly appreciate the opportunity he gave me and the career I’ve been able to build because he saw something in me. All these years later, I want that credit to go to him.”

It was Retired Fire Chief Mike Simons who, in December 2016, promoted Vacca to Deputy Fire Chief.

“Chief Simons and I worked together on A -shift when I was hired,” Vacca said. “We trained, responded to emergencies and worked on the Honor Guard together. Fast forward to my promotion to Fire Marshal, I worked daily with Chief Simons until his retirement.”

In that role, he did code enforcement, fire prevention inspections and public education.

In 2019, he completed a bachelor’s degree in Fire Administration from Columbia Southern University. He also attended the National Fire Academy in February 2020.

Duties and Service

Over the past decade, during the annual Fire Prevention Safety talks, he and other firefighters have visited with thousands of elementary school students, giving children an opportunity to visit firefighters in a non-emergency situation.

“They can see us as a friend in the community and somebody that they can trust if they have an emergency,” he said. “It also provides baseline education for fire safety.”

And it certainly worked, Vacca said as he reminisced about a time when a father called him and asked why his son was so obsessed with checking their smoke detectors.

“Well, I gave them homework,” Vacca said. “I told them to go home and talk to their parents and have them check their smoke detectors to make sure that they worked, and I said, ‘he did his job’.”

In partnership with the National Fire Safety Council, Vacca coordinated donations from the community that helps fund the fire prevention literature for Pittsburg school children.

“Some of my favorite memories are from Fire Prevention Week,” Vacca said. “I enjoyed going to the schools and talking to the kids, seeing their energy and their excitement and willingness to learn. And, how that after the first time that we talked to them, they would remember year after year. They would still remember the fire safety messages that we gave them.

Vacca has been involved in several other capacities such as being on the Task Force Team, which provides support during larger or more complex incidents.

He has been on the SEK Firefighters Honor Guard for 20 years, providing Honor Guard for funerals and going to public service events such as parades. He’s also a member of the Kansas Funeral Assistance Team as the Southeast Kansas representative. And most recently, he was selected to be an instructor with the Milwaukee Honor Guard Clinics and Schools.

Vacca also served as the city safety coordinator, where he assisted departmental agencies with their safety training audits and safety checks. He was the chair of the Safety Committee, served on the Local Emergency Planning Committee, and on the Salvation Army Advisory Board, most recently as Property Chair. He was also part of the SEK Homeland Security Council.

Vacca served as a point of contact for a smoke detector program, which is a partnership between the American Red Cross and the State Fire Marshals Office to provide smoke detectors to the community.

Vacca shared that he’s proud of the work that has been done to support those facing the aftermath of fires. He’s especially proud of the creation of the Fire Recovery Committee for Crawford County residents, which started from a question asked at a meeting to something that supports people after a fire incident.

“We were pretty proud of all the folks who took that and just ran with it,” Vacca said.

Firefighting can be hard sometimes, with many unfortunate incidents that can leave just about anyone heartbroken. Vacca credited Pittsburg Fire Department Chaplin Reverend Mark Chambers, who has provided stress debriefing and stress mitigation and awareness for the department for many years.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with our Fire Department Chaplain, Reverend Mark Chambers,” Vacca said. “For years, he’s provided a listening ear and support for our members.”

The community support the Fire Department has received all of these years has not gone unnoticed during his tenure.

“I know other communities support their departments, but I’ve never really experienced the kind of support that Pittsburg has given us,” Vacca said. “They support us day in and day out. The thank yous and the small tokens of appreciation throughout the year and people coming by to say thank you, is amazing. It’s what makes it worthwhile, knowing we can make a difference.”