In July of 1993 Chief Thompson started his career with the City of North Platte Fire Department. This hire came after a 5 year stent as a volunteer with the City of North Platte Volunteer Fire Department. During his time as a firefighter, he worked his way through the ranks of the job and became a paramedic, obtained his hazmat technician certification, along with many hours of continued education and training. Chief Thompson was promoted to lieutenant on August 25th, 1995; then as a captain on November 26th, 2000. After 9 years as a captain on A-shift, he then was promoted to Assistant Chief on November 30th, 2009; where he spent 3 years under the tutelage of then Chief Paul Pedersen. On March 19th, 2013 he was promoted to interim Fire Chief and then on May 4th, 2013 Mayor Dwight Livingston appointed Dennis Thompson as the next Chief of the department. During Chief Thompson’s tenure as head of the department he has worked tirelessly to bring our aging fleet of ambulances and trucks up to the newest of NFPA standards. 

In July of 1999 Assistant Chief Kleinow started his career with the City of North Platte Fire Department as a firefighter/emt. During his time as a firefighter, Kleinow worked his way through the ranks of the job and obtained his State of Nebraska EMT-I license, Hazmat Technician certification, State of Nebraska Emergency Response Team member, State of Nebraska Fire Officer I, NFA-Incident Safety Officer, Emergency Reporting Advanced Training, Homeland Security Chemistry for 1st responders, NIMS: 100, 200, 300, 400, 700, 701, 702, 800, Exercise Planning and Evaluation Instructor, Unmanned Aircraft FAA 107 Certified, Selected as the sole Nebraska State Representative for FEMA “Incident Command Capabilities Program Development” at the Centers for Domestic Preparedness. On July 20th, 2010 Kleinow was promoted as a captain on B-Shift and spent just shy of 2 years in that position until his promotion as the Assistant Chief in June of 2013. As an Assistant Chief, Trent has spent numerous amount of hours helping bring the department up into the 21st century with new reporting systems, data management systems, reorganization of the departments policies and procedures; just to name a few.