Excerpts from abc7chicago.com:
A small North Shore fire department is dealing with the possibility of disbanding to cut costs.
“We can’t just keep giving, giving, giving as taxpayers. I live in Knollwood and I pay more in taxes than my brother in incorporated Lake Forest,” said David Fontana, resident.
The Rockland Fire Protection District (RFPD) covers less than one square mile, servicing about 2,000 residents in Knollwood and a subdivision in Lake Bluff. Every year, $650,000 of taxpayer money is used to run the Knollwood Fire Department, the only firehouse in the Rockland Fire Protection District. John Harlow is its chief.
“Probably around 600 calls a year,” he said. Half of those calls are backup calls for surrounding communities, each call costing more than $1,000.
“We don’t receive compensation for that,” said Robert Grum, RFPD trustee. “We have reached out to all of our neighboring communities, Lake Forest, Libertyville, someone that might be interested in a proposal to see if we are truly getting the best bang for the buck,” he said.
“We all rely on each other. If you remove this department from the response continuum it’s kind of a domino effect,” Harlow said.
Knollwood is a volunteer department but they do pay three people per shift to be at the firehouse in case there is a call.
“They did come to us with a proposal to take over all services. That would mean that the fire department would be shut down, we would vacate the building, we would sell the equipment and all of the members would go away,” said Karl Snoblin, RFPD President and Trustee.
That plan could save Knollwood taxpayers about $300,000 a year. Despite possible savings, “Don’t Close Knollwood Fire” signs are scattered around town.
“The whole fire department issue is very emotionally charged around here, and it shouldn’t be,” Dan Rogers, RFPD trustee, said.
If a neighboring town takes over fire service, some said they would welcome a more professional department.
“I certainly think a full-time department could possibly be a better situation than a volunteer department,” said Grum.
“Minutes count when someone’s not breathing. It’s a necessity to keep this department in place to get those paramedics there quickly,” argued Harlow.
Libertyville already provides ambulance service for Knollwood but no decision has been made about whether fire services will also be consolidated.
thanks Dan
#1 by Max O on May 19, 2017 - 2:58 PM
It sounds like Fire Protection is spread too thin in that area, and what about the Railroad Tracks by Roundout, if Libertyville were to take over could a train slow them down? How come politicians never take these things into consideration when making proposals such as this?
#2 by Mike on May 17, 2017 - 6:42 PM
It is my understanding that libertyville would close the station and just use the staffing model they currently use. I had heard lake forest was also talking with knollwood about providing service. Lake forest used to provide ambulance service for knollwood and there has always been talk about lake forest, knollwood and lake bluff becoming one department. So let’s see what happens. While consolidation is a good thing to do that area is getting thinned out by possible consolidation. When highland park took over highwood they closed the highwood firehouse and HP is running with the the same manpower.
#3 by Bill Post on May 17, 2017 - 11:07 AM
“Operator 57” So are you saying that Libertyville should keep the Knollwood station open and manned with the Libertyville crews?
I was wondering which station is closer to the area to be served the Knollwood station or Libertyville Station 3. It seems that the town of Knollwood is located somewhere between both fire stations.
#4 by cmk420 on May 17, 2017 - 9:59 AM
I don’t like that the Trustee thinks that a full-time department would be more “professional” than volunteers. Volunteers get the same training as POP, Part-time and Full-time departments. Honestly, I don’t think it should make a difference!!
#5 by Operator 57 on May 17, 2017 - 3:42 AM
In EMS time is the fire you literally burn, twice daily and in bad weather response times suffer the morning rush hours and the evening rush hours, then there is major weather events snow ice etc. So if you need ambulance or fire service from another town they must staff the existing station and equipment.