Excerpts from the ChciagoTribune.com:
Northbrook Fire Chief Jose Torres, just over halfway through his second year in command, has shaken up his staff, naming a new deputy chief and demoting the current deputy.
The moves come as Torres finishes a plan that will guide the village’s emergency services and preparation, in response to thousands of new residents expected to move to developments approved by Northbrook over the last two years.
“We’re taking a look at where the fire stations are, seeing whether they’re in the best place to continue to provide services in the most timely manner,” Torres said.
He said areas of stress on the department include more than 700 new apartments on the way to being occupied on Skokie Boulevard, as well as the northwest corner of the village, which is difficult to reach because of obstacles such as the expressway.
Previous growth has already left the Northbrook fire service challenged. In each of the last five years for which department records are available, its average arrival time to locations on surface streets has risen slightly, from 5 minutes and 13 seconds in the fiscal year ending in April 2011, to 5 minutes and 35 seconds in 2015.
Torres’ plan, which he said will be done by the end of 2016, or at the latest, the end of the village’s fiscal year April 30, 2017, will reflect on how the department might change in the next three, five and ten years.
He said he is also looking to raise the profile of the department, which has improved over the years to an Insurance Service Office rating of 2, the second-highest possible.
Torres’ new deputy chief is Dan Quinn, a 27-year department veteran who has for years led the drive to raise and protect the insurance rating, which reduces some Northbrook insurance bills. Quinn has also been a leader in emergency preparedness, Torres said.
Quinn, who led one of the department’s three shifts, has basically switched jobs with former Deputy Chief Tim Smeltzer, who takes those duties as a battalion chief. Quinn, served as a battalion chief, but had a mostly honorary title of district chief, Torres said.
Torres said that since the change was made in late July, Smeltzer has been doing a good job as a battalion chief, and is happy with that position, but the switch does not come without pain. Smeltzer’s annual pay will drop “commensurate with his position,” Torres said.
According to the village’s salary schedule, that means a reduction from over $137,000 to about $120,000 for Smeltzer, and a similar raise for Quinn.
“There are just differences in leadership and management styles,” between Quinn and Smeltzer, Torres said.
Torres, who was recently appointed as a representative to the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association, said he wants the department to raise its profile both regionally and nationally, since he considers it one of the finest in the country.
Torres said he has made other personnel changes, down to who handles fire hose, pump and air-mask testing.
He said he expects those moves to better prepare the department for personnel absences.
He said the normally large cadre of paid-on-call Northbrook firefighters has fallen to the point where only six are at his disposal, compared to the budgetary limit of 18. The reduction, he said, has come as the on-call firefighters have moved up to regular jobs around the area.
He said he’d like to triple the on-call ranks, and to do so will likely expand the distance from Northbrook where on-call firefighters can live, from the first ring of towns around the village, to places such as Buffalo Grove or Lake Forest.
#1 by Bill Post on August 21, 2016 - 8:49 PM
Michael M, I think your best bet is to wait for the chief’s evaluation report to be released which should be ready by the end of the year according to the article. If you are familiar with the way the town and the fire stations are laid out you’ll see that it is really the south and particularly the southwest end of town that is the farthest distance from a station. That isn’t completely true if you were to include Glenview Station 8 you would find it is actually closer to the southwest end of Northbrook then the Northbrook stations. There actually had been a much needed realignment of the Northbrook Fire Department not that long ago when Station 12 was put in service which serves the center of town. At the same time that station 12 was opened, Station 10 was relocated from behind the current police station on the west side of town to over a mile further north where they more adequately cover the northwest end of town from north of Dundee Rd. Before Station 12 was put in service Northbrook only had two stations, one on the west end of town and one on the north east end. Station 11, which is the oldest and the largest station, is in a pretty good location because it isn’t far from Skokie Boulevard where there are several office buildings, shopping centers, and other commercial developments. It is also a few blocks east of Shermer Rd which is a shortcut to the center of town.
When there were only two stations in Northbrook, the truck company, which was a Sutphen tower ladder in the 70s and 80s, was located at Station 11. Station 10 on the west end is where the squad was usually located. Since Station 12 is located near the center of town on Shermer Rd, that’s where the current truck and squad are located. Truck 12 is a rear mounted Tower Ladder Quint as there is no regular Engine company in service there. Northbrook runs with a minimum of 2 Engines , a Tower Ladder/Quint and 3 Ambulances in service with a minimum of 3 men per Engine and Truck . They never run with less then 16 people on duty if you include the watch commander (Battalion Chief) if they have more then 16 people on duty the extra people are at Station 12 so they can put the Squad in service. They try to run with 18 men so they then run with 3 men on the Tower Ladder Quint and 2 on the Squad. If they have 17 men on duty I heard that they may run with 2 on the Tower Ladder and 2 on the Squad however I don’t know if they are still doing it that way or not. About a year ago they were experimenting with using one of their smaller utility vehicles as a first EMS responder in place of the Truck on EMS calls if they had enough people on duty however I don’t know if they are still doing it or not.
The Northbrook Court shopping center is on the far north end of town on Lake/Cook Road, but the I94 extension to the Edens Expressway from the Tri/State Tollway requires Station 11 to use an indirect route to get there. Deerfield Station 20 is actually closer to Northbrook Court however I don’t know if there is an automatic aid agreement to cover the area. It would make more sense if Deerfield covered the far north end of Northbrook.
All three stations in Northbrook have reserve engines and if there is a major incident their paid-on-call members will staff Engine 12 in the center of town. The reserve truck is at Station 11.
#2 by Michael M on August 19, 2016 - 9:07 PM
Any guess if part of the plan may be to re-locate one of the stations or build another station?