Lake County Gazette

Amy Pais-Richer, author of Murdering Van Gogh and former advertising copywriter, spent months investigating the Lake Forest Fire Department and says she uncovered chronic understaffing, excessive overtime, and rising response times that she says put both residents and firefighters at risk.

Her report, The Perfect Storm: Lake Forest’s Firefighters Are Sounding the Alarm, exposes an escalating public safety crisis in Lake Forest. 

“To me, as an ethical, moral person, I look at this as life or death,” Pais-Richer told the Lake County Gazette. “You've got either a firefighter that's going to die. They're gambling with people's lives, and that, as a human being, is unacceptable. That's your number one priority. It hasn't been prioritized, and it's been going on for years.”

Amy Pais-Richer, author and investigator, has spent months examining the Lake Forest Fire Department. | Facebook / Amy Pais-Richer

Pais-Richer launched her investigation after records obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests revealed a department reportedly struggling with exhaustion and high turnover.

The documents show the department often operates with as few as seven or eight firefighters on duty citywide, forcing crews to be understaffed during emergencies. 

According to Pais-Richer’s reporting, between September 2024 and September 2025, response times climbed to 6.04 minutes, more than a minute above the national benchmark. 

Pais-Richer warned that such conditions put both firefighters and residents at risk.

“You can reach out to the residents and ask if anything has already happened. I can probably guarantee there have been incidents,” she said. “There's no way they are properly staffed, and that takes a toll on the firefighters’ mental health, stress levels, and ability to do their jobs. It also puts them in jeopardy and impacts every resident in Lake Forest.”

According to Pais-Richer’s reporting, Lake Forest firefighters logged more than 12,000 hours of overtime in the past year and lost 13 members, including several due to job-related injuries or disabilities. She said her investigation revealed stories far more disturbing than she expected.

“There have been calls involving babies who are in distress,” she said. “There were two different examples given to me where the calls ran 14 to 15 minutes. During that time, the parents of the child in distress had to perform life-saving measures to save the child. Very near-catastrophic issues.”

The Lake Forest Professional Firefighters Union – Local 1898 echoed her findings in an Oct. 15 statement declaring a “public safety emergency.” 

“City officials are gambling with both citizens’ lives and firefighters’ safety. This isn’t just a staffing issue — it’s a public safety emergency,” the union said on Facebook. 

The union stated that only seven firefighter/paramedics are on duty each day, forcing the use of “jump companies,” where one apparatus must be abandoned to staff another, delaying emergency responses. 

During an appearance on the Lake Forest Podcast, Pais-Richer said independent consultants Baker Tilly, hired by the city, reached similar conclusions in a 2024 assessment that was never fully released to the public. 

She is now pursuing additional FOIA requests to verify the alleged suppression of response-time data.

“What happens is those call times would be disposed of or hidden and altered in some way,” she said. “Therefore, there is no record. To me, that is pretty alarming.” She added that attempts to engage city leadership have been met with hostility.

Pais-Richer said a meeting with Lake Forest City Manager Jason Wicha “all started out really positive” but quickly went off the rails.  

“I actually started asking deeper questions,” she said. “That's when everything fell apart, and he got very defensive. He said that I was threatening him because I was going on this podcast. They don't want people finding out about this or talking to the union, and to have these guys be that nervous.”

Pais-Richer said a culture of silence has emerged with many former firefighters unwilling or unable to speak about their experiences.

“Very many people who have left within the past year will not even speak to me,” she said. “The reason why is they have been forced to sign NDAs.”

Firefighters themselves, she said, are terrified to speak publicly.

“I'm getting texts at 3:30 in the morning asking, ‘Do you think anybody knows it's me?’ That speaks volumes about how scared people are,” she said. “That shows bullying and intimidation. I've spoken to them and said maybe they need a better lawyer. How is this not illegal? These guys should have every right to speak out, and the people in positions of power want everybody to shut up.”

Pais-Richer said the city’s leadership culture fosters silence and retaliation.

“They are blacklisted if they question anything or cause trouble,” she said. 

She emphasized the mental and emotional toll on firefighters.

“Imagine that you're trying to do the right thing every day on your job,” she said. “It's a life-or-death job, and you're feeling this incredible stress, like post-traumatic stress disorder. You're almost fighting a war without the proper equipment or manpower to do it.”

Since the investigation was published, Pais-Richer said it has drawn more than 35,000 views on Facebook and sparked a range of responses, including messages from firefighters across the Midwest reporting similar experiences of mismanagement and burnout.

"People want to believe that the systems work,” she said. “When you point out that something doesn't work, they lash out at you and get pissed off.”