Solidarity shown to former Cedar Lake fire chief at council meeting

Former Cedar Lake fire chief Todd Wilkening sat in the audience with his family among the general public at the town council meeting on April 1. Wilkening was terminated by the town during the last week of March.

However, several citizens and one council member voiced their support for the former chief.

Carol Kerr recalled a time last year when she ran into Wilkening at a restaurant last year, looking “pale and worn out.” Kerr said he told her about an incident to which he responded involving a tree crashing onto a house, killing a young woman. Wilkening told Kerr they had to remove the tree and the roof in order to extract the young woman from the wreckage, she said, and that her husband and two children survived the incident.

“He was very emotional,” Kerr said. “He held back. I could tell this affected his core.”