"Don't discount it. You hear all the warning signs and things like that," said Stumpf, who recently returned to work after suffering a mild heart attack Aug. 29. "A lot of people talk about pressure. It can mask itself in many ways."

Stumpf, who experienced little pain from what initially felt like "mild indigestion," said symptoms started after he came home from a late-night fire run.

"I made some kind of frozen mini-tacos, and that's what I blamed it on," Stumpf said. "It wouldn't go away, and there was no relief with antacids."

He called his own department. Firefighter Bill DeVore, who responded to the call around 5 a.m., said at first squad members didn't know they were on their way to Stumpf's home.

"After seeing the chief standing in his driveway, "We went: 'This is not good,'" DeVore said. Stumpf, 51, was taken to Middletown Regional Hospital and later transferred to Bethesda North, where three stents were put in his chest.

"It's different working on your boss. He's one of us. He eats lunch with us every day," DeVore said. "We didn't want anything to happen to him, that was for sure."

Trustee Dave Kern welcomed the 18-year chief back to full-time work during a recent meeting of the trustees in this Butler County township.

Warning signs

Some possible signs of a heart attack:

• Chest discomfort.

• Discomfort in other areas of the upper body.

• Shortness of breath.

• Breaking out in a cold sweat.

• Nausea.

• Lightheadedness.

Source: American Heart Association