Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Mundelein officials took another step with restructuring the fire department after trustees recently decided to continue a plan that first was acted on last year to reorganize the department. The 4-3 vote June 24, approving the restructuring, eliminates a vacant lieutenant position and adds a new firefighter to the department which now includes four lieutenants and 20 firefighter/paramedics. Last year, the department employed six lieutenants and 15 firefighters. Mundelein also uses six firefighters from a private firm.
The board’s vote formalizes the staffing situation. It proved to be much closer than in February 2018, when a larger majority approved the first staffing change and the sale of a 100-foot ladder truck following a long debate involving members of the Mundelein firefighter’s union and its supporters.
With the latest vote, the mayor, who supported the restructuring plan in 2018, was required to break a split among village board members, giving the latest proposed staffing changes village approval.
A portion of another ordinance that trustees recently addressed also seemed to indicate a desire to employ three lieutenants, describing how the fire department functioned responsively and safely with three lieutenants up to 2007. Between 2007 and 2018, the department used two lieutenants per shift, with one at each of the two fire stations. The ordinance seems to depart from the original staffing decision in 2018, when the stated goal was to have four lieutenants — one for each 24-hour shift and a training lieutenant who could fill in on a shift when others are on leave.
But following the vote on June 24, the fire chief said the goal of employing four lieutenants still remains the same. He said officials have not decided, yet, if the fourth lieutenant will be a training officer or would stay on one of the three shifts. He also pointed to a June 2018 decision to hire three additional firefighters, which were paid for with money previously being spent on overtime, and money saved when the first lieutenant position was eliminated.The staffing change has resulted in fewer firefighter/paramedics working 72 consecutive hours, which involve an extra 24-hour shift at overtime wages in between regularly scheduled 24-hour shifts.
#1 by Max O on July 10, 2019 - 5:12 PM
Bill as an Evanston resident I remember the threatened closure of station 4 which would have taken engine 24 out of service. I was also in the citizen fire academy at the same time and the alumnini association and the union came out strongly against that proposal. Are Libertervillie and Mundeline unionized? If so they should do a public education campaign to get the residents and elected officials to realize that their fire departments are understaffed and that relaying heavily on auto/mutual aid is about as effective as basketball cleats. I think the IAFF locals in Highland Park and Lake Forest should do the same thing.
#2 by Bill Post on July 10, 2019 - 5:26 AM
I would like to clarify something as a comparison between Mundelein and the Libertville.
Mundelein has two stations and each is supposed to have four assigned. That would put two on the ambulance and another two riding the engine or the quint at Station 1 if they were going to an EMS call. This doesn’t include the battalion chief.
Libertyville has three stations however Stations 2 and 3 only have three normally assigned. On EMS runs all three ride the ambulance unless they allow one man to go with the engine or quint. Station 1 has as many as six assigned however I don’t know how often they actually have them all. A few could be to fill in for days off. They may only have four or five on duty not including the battalion chief. If that’s the case Station 1 appears to be the only house that has an ambulance with dedicated manpower. However it would give the engine two or three depending on how many are on duty. I would assume that the engine would be a jump company with the tower ladder. Mike it sounds like you know more about the operations in Libertyville. Either way, considering that at least two of their ambulances are jump companies, that isn’t good especially if they are responding to a serious MVA.
#3 by Bill Post on July 10, 2019 - 4:04 AM
Max O. of course Libertyville and Highland Park should be able to afford better fire protection. In some places a strong firefighters association should be able to wage a good public education campaign. Within the last several years the Evanston firefighters association and members of the Evanston city council kept the town from permanently closing and selling fire station number 4 on the southwest side. Several years before that their notoriously anti fire department Wally Bobkiewicz tried to eliminate one of Evanston’s two truck companies. The firefighters association helped to keep truck though a judge ruled in the firefighter’s favor from my understanding.
#4 by Max O on July 9, 2019 - 11:27 PM
Yes Bill another example of what you mentioned is Highland Park and Lake Forest. Why can’t residents along with Chiefs demand to the FD’s be properly staffed? You can’t expect me to believe that towns such as LF and HP don’t have the money to spend on the FD. As I’ve mentioned Great Lakes Naval station FD runs four man companies but they have to relay heavily on OT to make that happen. According to a buddy who is a FF there when Knollwood disbanded,Libertyville singed an automatic aid agreement with Great Lakes rather then building a new fire station or hiring more people.
#5 by Bill Post on July 9, 2019 - 9:37 PM
Mike you are right on target and the residents in these towns have a false sense of security. Manning per company makes a big difference and having to rely on an ambulance to get a charged line into operation is out and out dangerous. Having to rely on an ambulance strips the community of much relied upon EMS service as well. I previously cited an example of a reported fire which should be getting a minimum of 14 to 15 people on the scene. Using Mundelein as an example, they have eight on duty not including the battalion chief assuming that the ambulances are available. If the ambulances aren’t available then they have as few as four to six who can respond to the fire. Either way the entire town becomes empty of fire and EMS protection. In order to have a 15 man compliment at this dwelling fire, they still need seven additional firefighters from surrounding fire departments. Libertyville, also running two-man fire companies would have to send at least three companies just to help get 15 on the scene. Now of course you can say that Libertyville can send their ambulances to the scene for more manpower. If they did that then both Libertyville and Mundelein would have no fire or EMS service. That is under ideal circumstances because if the ambulances are already out on other calls there would be less personnel available.
While automatic aid is a sound concept and should be used much more than it currently is around the country, it doesn’t make up for under staffed companies. Towns like Mundelein, Libertyville, Lake Zurich, and several others in Lake County can easily be stripped of both fire and EMS protection with just one structure fire.
While fires aren’t as common as EMS runs, what happens when you get a structure fire without a positive water source, which is common in some of the more rural areas of Lake County. One or more tankers need to be requested and who is going to staff the tanker when there is only a two-man engine company? Bad pin-in accidents need at least eight people for an extrication which includes having a charged line. The personnel needed for a serious MVA doesn’t include the paramedics. There are just too many fire and EMS scenarios waiting to happen. All it takes is one stucture fire and both Libertyville and Mundelein can be stripped of fire and EMS protection pretty quickly. That also goes for a number of other places in Lake County.
#6 by Mike on July 9, 2019 - 7:23 AM
Max to be honest it shouldn’t be the residents obligation to make sure they have proper apparatus staffing. That’s what the elected officials and fire chiefs are for. Problem is they don’t want to spend money on people causing budgets to go up or have the mentality that we just run ems calls so why bother with proper staffing. Also the whole “we will just use mutual aid to help.” Mundelein is a perfect example. The night the council voted to get rid of a tower ladder they bought only a couple years prior was because they only flowed water from the tower 3 times the previous year. Mind you directly across the street from city hall is an 8 story apartment building. The officials response was we will just use Libertyville for our tower. Libertyville is busier then Mundelein and staffed as jump companies so the chance of getting their truck is slim to none. Other then Waukegan, gurnee, countryside, Lincolnshire and Deerfield. Nobody is staffed properly. Although Deerfield has an ambulance jump to their truck. These departments buy equipment and then don’t staff it, what’s the point? If ISO actually took into account staffing from NFPA 1710 or 1720 whichever you qualify for maybe staffing would be different. If you ask the firemen they’ll tell you “yeah we need more staffing.” But the managers keep saying “we’re fine, everything is good.” Personally if someone house burned in lake county the first thing they should do is file a lawsuit against the department citing negligence because they were understaffed and didn’t follow 1710. Every department follows NFPA when they want to and this one is never followed.
The idea that all we do is sit around and play checkers is from the past when all we did was sit around and play checkers while waiting for the next fire. We also worked 6 days a week with 1 day off then and did nothing but respond to fires. Today we are running ems calls, accidents, automatic alarms, fires, training, inspections, pub ed, SRT, dive, haz Mat, and everything else.
If you want to see how staffing affects us just look at Brian carey’s Line of duty death and see what 1 more person on the fireground would have meant. We always adapt to things but the outcome isn’t always good.
The people who should be advocating are the firemen who live in your towns on other jobs. They know and if you’re fighting at your job for safe staffing shouldn’t you do the same where your family lives.
#7 by Max O on July 8, 2019 - 10:32 PM
Wow, just wow. How come people are oblivious at just how understaffed Fire Departments are? And why do people think that all firefighters do all day is sit in recliners? Thanks.
#8 by MABAS 21 on July 8, 2019 - 7:43 AM
In the southern suburbs and entire Chicago metropolitan area alike, many of the fire departments are smoke and mirrors to the residents with staffing levels. When residents call 9-1-1 for EMS or a fire, they don’t care how many people show up as long as they get the help that they need and fast! Most residents are oblivious to the fact that the majority of fire departments in the Chicago metro area are extremely short staffed and heavily rely on overtime just to maintain minimum manning for daily operations. Whether it be budgetary issues or governments that rather play Russian Roulette and take the chance to provide the bare minimum services, this is the reality now and has been for a quite while.
When people see a fire apparatus on the street with some bodies in it, they don’t question the manpower on it, and they assume that their fire department is fully and safely staffed with adequate resources and equipment.
On the opposite spectrum, some residents are very much aware of their fire department staffing levels and feel that we’re a bunch of overpaid people sitting around doing nothing all day. These residents assume that nothing ever happens in their quiet upscale village filled with mega mansions and liberal institutions. They read about the pension crisis and our lovely State being broke. Just like the politicans, they too rather play Russian Roulette and figure that if their house burns down, homeowners insurance will replace it. These highly educated people know that if the shit hits the fan, the good ole MABAS will bail them out, thus saving them tax dollars to pay salaries for proper staffing levels.
#9 by Max O on July 7, 2019 - 8:47 PM
Wow that’s about as effective as basketball cleats.
#10 by FFPM571 on July 7, 2019 - 7:16 PM
Mundelein has been so short staffed that when one station is on an ambulance run and the second station gets a cardiac arrest and has to take all 4 personnel with on the ambulance to Condell. They have left an Engine company unattended at the scene with the BC or Police officer until a unit cleared or a callback member was able to get to the scene to pick the engine up..
#11 by Max O on July 7, 2019 - 2:44 PM
I know that Great Lakes runs 4 man companies but they are always understaffed and are always having to hire back. I think NCFD runs three man engines and 2 person ambulances not sure if the tower ladder is a jump company? Why don’t residents demand that there fire departments be properly staffed? Or do they only care about Police and fire departments when they need them? Thanks.
#12 by Mike on July 6, 2019 - 11:39 PM
Mundelein is a trainwreck. There are really only a few departments in lake county somewhat staffed efficiently. Waukegan just finally got all 5 stations staffed with dedicated companies. Gurnee and countryside are the only other departments with somewhat normal staffing. Either the departments are running jump companies or they’re running 2 man companies on everything, which is just as useless. Poor staffing is the norm for lake county. Pay the highest taxes and get understaffed companies. It’s ok there is always mabas…you can rob other towns to make
Up your understaffing with their understaffing. Some day someone is gonna pat with their life due to this improper understaffing and since the departments know this is understaffing a lawsuit claiming negligence on their part for not having proper staffing will probably happen. It’s hard to hire people when the bosses need shiny new SUV’s every couple of years.
#13 by Max O on July 5, 2019 - 7:56 PM
Is any Lake County FD other then Waukegan not understaffed? And how come allot of these towns under staff the FD? Thanks.
#14 by Sebastian on July 5, 2019 - 6:28 PM
It’s a shame that these towns in lake county which by the way has the
Highest property taxes in the state of Illinois cannot afford to provide adequate fire protection to their villages.
#15 by Bill Post on July 5, 2019 - 4:15 PM
From reading this article, last year they had 6 lieutenants and 15 firefighters for a total of 21. This year they have 4 lieutenants and 20 firefighters for 24.
Besides having fewer lieutenants, do they still only have four on duty at each station (not including the battalion chief) or have they been able to increase the manpower for each shift? So what is the current staffing at each station?
I understood that for the past few years there were five on duty at Station 1 with two on the engine or quint, two on the ambulance, plus the battalion chief. Staffing at Station 2 was three, which meant they would jump between the ambulance and engine.
As of a couple of years ago, Mundelein didn’t have enough manpower to meet the minimum standards of NFPA Rule 1710; to adequately be able to handle fire in a single-family dwelling without a basement, without any exposures, of not more then two stories tall, and approximately 2000 square feet. The amount of people recommended for a fire in that type of structure is 15 if an aerial device is being used. Mundelein only had about eight on duty and they would need automatic aid to get 15 people on the scene.
Assuming that the departments responding into Mundelein on automatic aid (which are basically the Countryside FPD, Libertyville, and Grayslake) also run with two-man companies, then in order to get 15 people on the scene, they would need at least three companies just to meet the minimum requirement.
Besides Waukegan and Gurnee, I was wondering if any other departments in Lake County normally run with more then two per fire company. Most of the stations also run with an ambulance so there are four assigned to the house. That doesn’t help though if the ambulance is on a run and the engine gets a fire. They arrive with only two people.
Highland Park isn’t the only department in Lake County that normally runs with two-man engines.