Six days after watching the Twin Towers fall on Sept. 11, Brad Neuhart joined the Northville Township Fire Department. He was the first full-time firefighter hired for the department outside the paid on-call members. He’s continued to make history ever since.
Battalion Chief Neuhart, 45, is retiring from the fire service after 24 years helping Northville residents and one year – his rookie year – with Van Buren Township, marking a quarter century as a first responder. His final shift was March 23.
While Neuhart begam his career as a firefighter, he soon became a paramedic and was in the first group of staff to be promoted to a lieutenant in 2010. He continued the “firsts” path and was in the initial group promoted to the role of battalion chief in 2017.
“It’s time for me to go,” Neuhart said. “You have younger guys here that are real superstars who are ready to continue to advance and build this organization. I also want to spend more time with my family. We have a business outside of here that’s also gotten extremely busy, so I decided it was time to go. I’m looking for more balance.”
Neuhart owns Brad Neuhart Auctioneers, a full-service auction company he began in 1999, conducting live and online farm sales, business liquidations, toy sales and more.
The two careers have overlapped, Neuhart said, as he has performed CPR to multiple auction patrons. In 2018, a year after his company invested in an automated external defibrillator (AED), he first used it on a regular customer who lost consciousness. Neuhart performed CPR and shocked the man’s chest once, reviving him..
Neuhart said he first thought of becoming a firefighter at about age 5. He’d forgotten that dream until adulthood when a buddy he was roofing a building for said he’d make a good one. That friend, who was a fire lieutenant in Ann Arbor, had amassed a crew of firefighters to help with the job.
Soon after, he joined the Van Buren Township Fire Department.
Neuhart said he will miss the relationships he’s built in the past 24 years the most.
The Fire Department will miss him as well. “Brad has assisted in the development of our department over the past 25 years,” said Fire Chief Brent Siegel. “He has a lot of technical and operational experience, and his shoes will be hard to fill.”
“I appreciate everything that Northville Township has done for me,” he said. “It’s provided me a living to be able to raise my family, and the opportunity to go back and earn my bachelor’s degree (at Sienna Heights), successfully complete (Eastern Michigan University) Staff and Command and attend a host of other trainings. Working here has been a real, real pleasure.”
While Neuhart begam his career as a firefighter, he soon became a paramedic and was in the first group of staff to be promoted to a lieutenant in 2010. He continued the “firsts” path and was in the initial group promoted to the role of battalion chief in 2017.
“It’s time for me to go,” Neuhart said. “You have younger guys here that are real superstars who are ready to continue to advance and build this organization. I also want to spend more time with my family. We have a business outside of here that’s also gotten extremely busy, so I decided it was time to go. I’m looking for more balance.”
Neuhart owns Brad Neuhart Auctioneers, a full-service auction company he began in 1999, conducting live and online farm sales, business liquidations, toy sales and more.
The two careers have overlapped, Neuhart said, as he has performed CPR to multiple auction patrons. In 2018, a year after his company invested in an automated external defibrillator (AED), he first used it on a regular customer who lost consciousness. Neuhart performed CPR and shocked the man’s chest once, reviving him..
Neuhart said he first thought of becoming a firefighter at about age 5. He’d forgotten that dream until adulthood when a buddy he was roofing a building for said he’d make a good one. That friend, who was a fire lieutenant in Ann Arbor, had amassed a crew of firefighters to help with the job.
Soon after, he joined the Van Buren Township Fire Department.
Neuhart said he will miss the relationships he’s built in the past 24 years the most.
The Fire Department will miss him as well. “Brad has assisted in the development of our department over the past 25 years,” said Fire Chief Brent Siegel. “He has a lot of technical and operational experience, and his shoes will be hard to fill.”
“I appreciate everything that Northville Township has done for me,” he said. “It’s provided me a living to be able to raise my family, and the opportunity to go back and earn my bachelor’s degree (at Sienna Heights), successfully complete (Eastern Michigan University) Staff and Command and attend a host of other trainings. Working here has been a real, real pleasure.”
