Excerpts from the journal-topics.com:
The year 2024 will be all about development in Buffalo Grove.
Public works, which is currently operating on Raupp Boulevard, is expected to move into their new facility farther north on Leider Lane by the beginning of October. Once public works employees relocate, employees at Fire Station 25 will move to the current public works facility while that fire station is rebuilt, a project that is slated for 2025.
This year two department heads are expected to retire and once a contract is approved with patrol officers, every police officer will begin wearing body cameras. Additionally, the village board in March is expected to approve the implementation of automatic license plate readers so officers can detect if a car is stolen or if someone’s registration or license is expired or suspended.
thanks Rob
#1 by crabbymilton on February 14, 2024 - 6:36 AM
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Jim you make some great points. The taxpayer won’t likely care who’s name is on the apparatus when they show up in an emergency situation. Yes, there is the perception that there is duplication and overlap when it comes to the edges of borders. However, I can imagine that there is reluctance on behalf of some department to join such a shared service, partnership, or anything short of a full merger. Here in Milwaukee County, there are spaghetti borders where stations of the neighboring municipality are often closer to the border than their own station. The shared service idea works pretty well since Milwaukee joined several years ago. But often times there is a feeling that Milwaukee believes that the suburbs will just take care of Milwaukee’s shortcomings hence the reluctance.
#2 by Jim on February 13, 2024 - 12:20 PM
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Drew,
As a fire chief in the northern suburbs, why do you think there aren’t more cooperatives between different fire departments sharing resources such as stations? One would think that MABAS was a step toward a more collaborative effort which it was but further progress seems to have fizzled out. Do you see a time when jurisdictional borders will come down and a more collaborative effort will be made? There are pockets out there such as Palatine, Rolling Meadows, and Inverness or the alliance out west moving in that direction, but these are more of an exception than a rule. From a duplication/taxpayer perspective, combining Arlington Heights Station 4 and Buffalo Grove Station 25 into one house with an engine, truck and two ambulances would be a win/win. What is your opinion on any of this?
#3 by Bill Post on February 13, 2024 - 5:58 AM
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Thanks Drew. I thought that was the case as the West End of Buffalo Grove Village Hall looks like it might have been a firestation at one time.
#4 by Drew Smith on February 12, 2024 - 6:46 PM
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My recollection is that before the village took over and hired additional personnel the on duty BG and AH crew only staffed the squad and ambulance. POCs then staffed the engine and truck when paged.
The original Station 6 is part of the current village hall. Bill Friedrich has pictures of it on his site.
#5 by Jim on February 11, 2024 - 2:16 PM
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Bill,
I feel many of these stations are built/staffed in a vacuum, even though through automatic aid, they are responding to the same incidents. Having the closest equipment respond to the incident is what the taxpayers want but that isn’t always what they get. Unfortunately reports only mean as much as the paper they are written on. Consolidations or cooperative partnerships would make the most sense in many of these situations but instead, the fire service would rather duplicate its attempts. Drew’s description makes it sound like there were some forward thinkers back then. Maybe with the shortage of staffing, this will be looked into more closely but I wouldn’t hold your breath. We always look for ways to keep things the same rather than make improvements.
#6 by Bill Post on February 10, 2024 - 5:57 PM
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Drew thanks of the information. You had mentioned that Station 25 (Ex 5) also had an Engine and a Truck “beside the Squad and Ambulance” , so I was wondering did the Engine and Truck replace the Squad or were they just reserve rigs, or did they hire more people to man them as a the 4 man crew who manned the Squad and Ambulance weren’t enought people to also man the Engine and Truck unless they hired more people or they were jump companies?
Was the Orignal Station 6 on Raupp and Lake Cook Road torn down or was it repurposed as it looks like it might have been repurposed and could be on the west end of the current City Hall in Buffalo Grove?
Another question that I have is that of jurisdictional differences near Buffalo Grove Station 26. There is this area about 2 or 3 blocks south of Station 26 which is listed as “Lincolnshire and not as Buffalo Grove yet it is only a few blocks for Station 26 and is isolated from the rest of Lincolnshire. The area is east of Welland Road and goes as far the railroad tracks and goes from Newtown Dr on the North to Pauline Dr on the South for only about 2 or 3 blocks with Pope Drive in the Center. That area has no access across the railroad Tracks and so is difficult to access.
For the same token when Deerfield Parkway goes east of the Railroad Track and in about 3 blocks you go past the Combined Fire Departments Training Center (which is in Buffalo Grove) about 2 to 3 block south the area in no longer in Buffalo Groves Jurisdiction and is also considered to be under the Jurisdiction of Lincolnshire/Riverwoods however Buffalo Grove Station 26 is the nearest fire station as the “Crow Flies”. Station 52 from Lincolnshire/Riverwoods is assigned to that area however is further in distance from Station 26. That area also has very limited access as you must approach it from the east along Milwaukee avenue and enter at Invarry Ln which goes about 4 to 6 blocks west to the railroad tracks however there are no railroad crossings so the area is isolated.
The Lincolnshire /Riverwoods fire department hired the Illinois Association of Fire Chief’s to do a study of the ideal locations of their fire stations and it was recommended that Lincolnshire Riverwoods fire station 52 be relocated to Deerfield Road east of Milwaukee avenue which is about 2 miles west of their current location on Saunder road. The study also recommended that Stations 51 and 53 also be relocated to better cover Lincolnshire and Riverwoods.
That study was published on the Lincolnshire/Riverwoods website so that residents and businesses within the District be informed.
Within a few months that study and its recommendations were taken off of the site and now it is as if the study was never done.
The Lincolnshire Riverwoods fire department seems to also be playing musical chairs with its Truck or Ladder company coverage as while the Truck/Quint had been located at Station 51 has been relocated to Station 53 which is on the far north end of the District and not as centrally located as Station 51 is. It seems that it would make some sense if the Buffalo Grove fire department would merge or consoldate with the Lincolnshire/Riverwoods fire protection district due to those two areas that I mentioned which are only blocks from Buffalo Grove yet are considered to be part of Lincolnshire Riverwoods. They really need to reallign the locations of the Lincolnshire Riverwoods fire stations according the “Illinois Association of Fire Chiefs” and now it seems that their recommendations are being ignored.
#7 by Drew Smith on February 9, 2024 - 11:48 PM
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Here is some additional history, as I recall it.
It was mentioned that the current BG Station 25 was built in 1975 and that the AHFD Station 4 followed. Not knowing when AH Station 4 was built I can say it was present in 1977 when I was a junior in high school.
Until 1981 (I believe the exact date was July 1, 1981) all areas of BG north of Lake Cook Road were in the Long Grove FPD. The area to the south was in the Wheeling Township Rural FPD. The WTRFPD contracted with the BGFD Inc. who employed the firefighters until 1981 when the village started its own FD and took over. At one time (and it may still be present) there was a plaque inside Station 25 that stated the relationship between the WTRFPD and the BGFD Inc.
Station 25 was originally called Station 5. AHFD, prior to NW Central Dispatch taking on fire dispatch in the 1980s, and was dispatched from AH’s old Station 2. BGFD had a Station 6 located in what is now the village hall at the northwest corner of Raupp Blvd and Lake Cook Road. I believe it housed a single engine company staffed by POCs.
In the 1970s and early 1980s Station 5 was staffed by two AH FF/paramedics and 2 BG members, one a captain paramedic and one a FF/paramedic. At that time the three captains were Weiser, Hansen, and Krause. There were four BG FF/PMs – one for each shift and a floater. Gary Belfield was one of the FFs and Dan Pearson was the float. The names of the other two FFs escape me. The captain and one AH FF would staff Squad 246 and one BG FF and one AH FF would staff Ambulance 225. The two AH FFs typically rotated from squad to ambulance. Wayne Winter was the fire chief. At this same time, AH Station 4 had a single engine company. The squad and ambulance at Station 5 covered BG south of Lake Cook Road and the north end of AH (much of Station 4’s district).
Besides the ambulance and squad, Station 5 had an engine company and a truck company, the aerial being a Grove ladder. Bill Friedrich’s site DGFD147 has pictures of all the old rigs. He also has photos of the firehouses including Station 6 which he describes as the original firehouse.
#8 by Andy on February 8, 2024 - 7:47 AM
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Prior to Station 4 being built, AHFD and BGFD actually co-staffed Station 25 with 2 BG guys and 2 AH guys and a BG officer. That ended some time in the mid 80’s as each town continued to grow and eventually Station 4 was built. I’ve been there 21 years now and there has been no discussion at any level about combining or co-staffing 4/25 again.
#9 by Bill Post on February 8, 2024 - 4:53 AM
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Jim while building a new station that would combine Buffalo Grove Station 25 and Arlington Heights Station 4 would make a lot of sense as their jurisdictions not only overlap each other but are litterally right next door to each other. I just don’t see it happening even though it is perfectly logical.
As both of those fire stations are just slightly over a mile apart it really could be useful. If a new fire house were built off of Old Arlington Heights Road and Dundee road or slightly to the south of that intersection that would be very close to the halfway point between those 2 stations. Arlington Heights is only 2 blocks behind or south of Buffalo Grove Station 25 at it’s current location. If you were to go west of Arlington Heights road on Dundee road it would be in Arlington Heights and Arlingtons Heights covers most of the Area west of Arlington Heights Road as far north as Lake Cook Road which is Arlington Heights jurisdiction.
Even though Arlington Heights has only one Tower Ladder company, Buffalo Groves Tower Ladder 25 Covers the Northern 3rd of Arlington Heights and is in effect Arlington Heights 2nd Truck company. For the same token Arlington Heights Engine 4 covers the Southern quarter of Buffalo Grove so they actually operate as if they were one fire department due to location of their fire Stations and their towns jurisdictions.
I don’t know if you realize this or not that Arlington Heights Tower Ladder One which is more or less located in the Center of Town also runs without an Engine company assigned to it like Buffalo Grove Tower 25’s house (in a way). Arlington Heights Station 2 ( is their “Center of Town” Engine station is only about a mile north of Tower Ladder Ones house and both Station 1 and 2 are large modern stations with 3 to 4 apparatus bays. I believe the reason for 2 large fire stations in the Center ot Town is probably because of the 3 Track Metra line which is also runs in the center of Town and so Tower Ladder 1’s is located just south of the Tracks while Engine 2 is located about a mile north of the Tracks.
Another unusual thing is that many of these Northwest suburban fire departments which are mainly on the border of MABAS Division 3 and Division 1 are pratically next door to each other mainly run with Single Truck Stations all without a regular Engine company assigned to them. Palatine, Lincolnshire, Wheeling, Northbrook, Glenview, Highland Park and WIlmette in addition to Buffalo Grove and Arlington Heights all run their Truck houses without a regularly staffed Engine company assigned to them.
In the case of Northbrook Station 12 (which is their Center of Town Station) and is where their Tower Ladder is located has a Reserve Engine located there and is generally speaking manned by call back personal during major Emergencies but is not normally in service. Glenview Station 14 which is the next fire station only 2 miles south of Northbrook Station 12 is also an Engineless Truck house as well. I believe that was done to save money as when Station 14 was opened in “the Glen” they relocated the Truck company from Old Station 6 or possibly Station 8 there.
Highland Parks Headquarters Station 33 until recently ran their Squad/Pumper 33 there but put a new Mid Mounted Tower Ladder in service there and it now runs full time.
Most of the fire departments mentioned have their “Stations in the Center of Town so the Truck has pretty easy access around the town. An example is Palatine whose downtown Station runs with a Tower Ladder and a Squad while the town is divided into Quadrants for the remaining 4 Station with Engines assigned. Lincolnshire Riverwoods seems to be playing musical chairs with its Truck/Quint assignments as instead of being located at the Headquarters Station they are now located on the far north end of the District which is not good for Truck coverage on the South End of the District into Riverwoods.
The irony is that running an Engine and a Truck together allows for simultaneous operations at a Structure fire allowsand the 2 in/ 2out rule to take effect immediately as very few suburban departments run with 4 man companies which are required for the 2 in/ 2out safety rule which is needed to being interior operations safely according to the National Fire Protection Association rule 1710 best practices.
#10 by Mike on February 7, 2024 - 7:30 PM
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Jim station 25 tower and ambulance 25 staffed with 4ff’s and an officer. 26 if engine and ambo staffed with 4ff’s plus the officer and a BC and I station 27 is the quint and ambo staffed with 3-5. They have a squad they staff also when manpower permits.
#11 by Jim on February 7, 2024 - 6:51 PM
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Mike,
I thought Station 25 was a jump company for a 3rd ambulance? In this case, the combined house would at least allow for companies to respond together.
#12 by Mike on February 7, 2024 - 4:33 PM
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Jim I was talked about years ago. Not sure what stopped it. But it would give you 2 ambulances 1 engine and the tower. Maybe Andy has the answer.
#13 by Jim on February 7, 2024 - 3:29 PM
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Bill,
Almost makes you wonder why those two stations don’t combine under a shared station that would be an engine, truck and ambulance. What a win/win for both communities.
#14 by Andy on February 7, 2024 - 11:35 AM
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The current Station 25 was built in 1975 and is no longer meeting the needs of the department and wasn’t really designed to house firefighters 24/7. Some upgrades have been done over the years, but it’s time to replace it and build something that meets current and potential future needs.
The station will be rebuilt on the current site which is why it’s necessary to move the guys out of there temporarily. Part of the reason for the new station is the potential future needs of additional EMS and/or fire companies to the station.
#15 by Mike on February 6, 2024 - 4:40 PM
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That firehouse was built in the 70’s and probably needs a lot of work. BG seems to be very open to taking care of the fire department, maybe not their employees, but the department itself. Any drawings of the new station available yet or what the cost is?
#16 by Harry on February 6, 2024 - 2:31 PM
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Bill maybe bg wants room for a future engine at 25 I don’t know
#17 by Bill Post on February 6, 2024 - 2:15 AM
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So they are planning to build a new Fire Station 25 in 2025 according to this article. The temporary fire station will apparently be located in the soon to be vacated public works garage which is about a mile north of the fire station.
The new station wlll be on the site of the current station.
I wonder what is wrong with the current Station 25, it has 3 bays and it seems to have enough space for their apparatus. An unusual thing about Station 25 is that is located just off of the border of Arlington Heights and Station 25 is a Truck company station with the Tower Ladder as the primary fire company beside the Ambulance. Even though there is no Engine assigned to Station 25, Arlington Heights Station 4 which does have an Engine assigned is not more than a mile south of there so that both Stations respond together to both towns as automatic aide. In effect Buffalo Grove Tower Ladder 25 covers that North end of Arlington Heights while Arlington Heights Engine 4 covers the south side of Buffalo Grove. I wonder how long they expect the construction time to be for them to build the new Station 25.