CEDAR FALLS - Fire Chief Steve Mitchell has resigned his job to become fire chief at a department in Kentucky.

Mitchell, 44, came to Cedar Falls five years ago from Champaign-Urbana, Ill. His final day in Cedar Falls will be Wednesday and he will start his new job in Owensboro two days later.

"I wasn't really looking for anything. It was a peer recruitment," Mitchell said. "Other fire chiefs that I know thought this would be a good fit."

Mitchell is from central Illinois and has family scattered from there to Tennessee. The move will bring him closer to family.

The Owensboro department has five stations and 95 firefighters, all full-time, making it nearly three times the size of the Cedar Falls department.

Mitchell will take many memories with him from Cedar Falls, with two of the biggest events happening just this summer. Mitchell and other commanders from Cedar Falls helped establish the incident command center at Parkersburg following the May 25 tornado. Then the department helped in rescuing people trapped in flooded homes in New Hartford before shifting back to Cedar Falls for the record flood that struck June 10 and 11.

"We've done a lot of incident management training in the last few years," Mitchell said. "That's one of the reasons we were successful in both the tornado and the flood."

Another big event was the homecoming fires on the University of Northern Iowa campus of 2005. Hopping from one fire to the next on campus burned a lasting memory into his head.

"That will be something I'll never forget," Mitchell said.

In the past five years the department has bought two new trucks, renovated the North Cedar station and secured grants to buy new equipment.

Mitchell said his family has made good friends in Iowa.

"I was a really tough decision because we love the city," Mitchell said.

Mitchell praised the firefighters in the Cedar Falls department for their hard work and said the command staff was first rate.

"We've accomplished a lot here in five years, but we did it as a team. We have a very good command staff here. They saw a need for improvement and we've worked together on those," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he looks forward to be closing to Lake Cumberland in Kentucky, one of his favorite places.

"We say we have one more move in our life and it will be to retire on the lake," Mitchell said.

The city plans a national search for a new fire chief, with advertisements placed locally and in fire trade magazines.

Division Commander Desi Duggan will serve as acting fire chief.

Firefighters union leader Scott Dix said he wishes Mitchell well and hopes the city will include the firefighters union in the hiring process.

Contact Jon Ericson at (319) 291-1461 or jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com.