PEORIA – Fire Chief Tony Ardis will retire next week, after about 18 months as the top official at the Peoria Fire Department, City Hall announced Thursday. His last day will be May 14, and he will replaced by Assistant Chief James Bachman, who also began with the department in 1994 and has risen through the ranks. He is a state-certified hazardous materials technician and a graduate of Northern Illinois University. Departmental succession plans typically elevate the assistant chief to the position after a chief departs. Bachman will be the city's fifth fire chief in a span of roughly six years. Kent Tomblin retired in 2015 after a roughly eight-year stint as chief. He was succeeded by his assistant chief, Chuck Lauss, who served for just over two years until leaving in January 2018 and later becoming fire chief in Urbana. Lauss was succeeded by his assistant chief, Ed Olehy, who served in the job from February 2018 to November 2019.