Excerpts from the Journal-Topics.com:
A rendering of the proposed new Station 23 in Wheeling. Courtesy of the Village of Wheeling.
Plans to knock down and reconstruct Fire Station 23 in Wheeling kicked off Monday (Feb. 3) when village trustees approved site plans and a special use permit.
The current fire station at 780 Wheeling Rd. is 42 years old and in need of extensive repairs and upgrades in order to continue meeting the community’s needs. Wheeling’s fire department serves up to 75,000 local residents in a 10 sq. mi. area.
Deputy Fire Chief Michael McGreal said the station was built for only one rig. Due to high estimates for renovation work, village staff decided a total reconstruction project would be the best way to update the station.
When complete, the new station is expected to be a 11,203 sq. ft. building rendered in cement and situated on the north end of the village-owned property near Echo Lake just north of Hintz Roadz Road. The design features stone veneer, siding, and accent panels made of fiber cement in shades of gray, white, brown, and red. The site plan also includes a seam roof, front canopy entry, parking lot on the south side of the property, and street-facing landscaping.
To construct the new station, trustees approved a special use permit to allow for a new fire station in the I-1 zoning district. Most fire stations are in business districts. When it was built in the 1970s, it did not require a special use permit.
In addition to site plan and special use approval, the village board approved requests to allow a variation from the required setback for the property along Wheeling Road from 35 feet to 30 feet and a variation of the permitted height from 30 feet to 33 feet.
After the new station is completed, the department plans to use the same design to update Station 42 on Dundee Road.
#1 by Bill Post on May 4, 2020 - 3:18 PM
Sebastian, Wheeling Ambulance 42 is not with Engine 42 for two reasons. First, Ambulance 42 is a jump company with Tower 24 and second, while Station 42 is the the former headquarters Station 24, it was repurposed for the police department and only one of the three apparatus bays is used for Engine 42. Originally Wheeling was planning to build a new Station 42 on the northwest end of town about a mile and half to two miles west of the current station but due to the recession at the time, plans for a new station were cancelled. In February 2011 they put Engine 42 into the former station.
Even if they did locate Ambulance 42 with Engine 42, they would have to take the engine out of service for the ambulance as there aren’t enough personnel. Had they built a new Station 42 on the northwest side of town, they would have had to hire more people to staff Ambulance 42. According to the article, they plan on building a new Station 42 after they build Station 23, however it seems they want both new stations at their current locations. I don’t see why they don’t build the new Station 42 where they originally wanted it about 10 years ago. The Station 42 is less then a mile and a half from Station 24.
#2 by Sebastian on May 3, 2020 - 11:20 PM
How come ambulance 42 is not stationed with engine 42??
#3 by Bill Post on May 3, 2020 - 9:57 PM
Thanks for the interesting information Drew. According to the News Paper Article they are also planning to rebuild Wheeling Station 42 as well.
Wheeling has a very unual set up as their head quarters Station 24 at 499 s Milwaukee doesn’t have an Engine company assigned to it even though they have the space. They instead have their Tower Ladder 24 and two Ambulances 24 and 42 and a Squad which if really an Engine/Ahead of cab pumper which to my understanding is a jump company which reponds to the Chicago Executive Airport as the Airport is in both the Jurisdictions of Prospect Heights and Wheeling however the fire station that is actually on the airport property is Prospect Heights Station 39 so when they have an aircraft related incident Engine 39s crew “jumps” to Crash 39 , and Wheeling dispatch’s Crash 23 from Station 23 and Squad 24 from Station 24. I know that Station 24 is supposed to have 7 men assigned per shift however the 7th man is supposed to be the shift commander so it looks like the Squad 24 would probably either have the crew from the Tower Ladder or from one of the ambulances to man it when called for.
Drew how do they normally assign the manpower at Station 24 I have 6 men listed not including the shift commander so do they only run 2 men on the Tower Ladder and 2 men for each ambulance or do they run 3 men on the Tower Ladder and when they need the second ambulance or the Squad they use the crew from the Tower Ladder as a “Jump Crew”?
#4 by Drew Smith on May 3, 2020 - 6:46 PM
Wheeling is a member of MABAS Division 1. While they are presently dispatched by RED Center it has not always been that way. Back in the early 1980s Wheeling police dispatched the FD. Then Wheeling joined RED Center, then left RED and went to Glenview FD dispatch then came back to RED.
The use of “23” and “24” goes back to the time when Northwest Central Dispatch began to dispatch fire departments and Buffalo Grove adopted 25, 26, and 27. BG’s move was the result of their opening a third firehouse yet Elk Grove Village FD had the “7” while BG was using 5 and 6. BG originally used 5 & 6 because in the pre-NWCD era, Arlington Heights FD dispatched BG. Trivia: In the pre-NWCD era on the old VHF 154.205 there were five six FD being dispatched by five bases (AH, EGV, EGT, MP & RM).
Hoffman Estates had been using 21, 22, and 23 about this same time but they were on their original, non-STARCOM 800 system and dispatched by their own police. Other than box alarms, there was little to no auto aid between most FDs.
Since the standard numbering scheme in Division 3, the fact that Evanston’s numbers and Wheeling’s numbers duplicate has not been an issue as the two FDs are at opposite geographical ends of the RED/D3 service area.
Curiously, there has never been a Division 1 numbering scheme that I am aware of. Defacto, the numbering scheme is the result of nearly all D1 members (except Des Plaines and Wheeling) being part of NWCD.
Of note, the way to avoid FDs having identical station numbers in the close geographic area is to use one of a few different strategies. In the metro DC area, each county has a number similar to a MABAS Division number and that number is a prefix to the company number. Montgomery County, MD and Prince George’s County, MD do this with a “700” and an “800.” Another scheme is to not randomly assign company numbers but do so like standard township numbering starting in the extreme northeast corner moving west then down one row, back east, and repeating until you end at the last grid http://www.jsu.edu/dept/geography/mhill/phygeogone/trprac.html
#5 by Ron Wolkoff on May 3, 2020 - 1:24 PM
If I remember correctly they are in 1 but they are dispatched by RED
#6 by Mike on May 3, 2020 - 12:54 PM
Wheeling is actually in division 4 I think because part of them is in lake county
#7 by Ron Wolkoff on May 3, 2020 - 11:40 AM
Can someone please explain how they use stations 23 & 24 when div 3 that’s Evanston and div 1 that is Hoffman Estates?
#8 by Michael m on May 3, 2020 - 8:32 AM
Nice looking station!
#9 by Mike C on May 2, 2020 - 7:28 AM
Glad to see them invest in the community!