Archive for January 25th, 2017

Box Alarm fire in Morris, 1-24-17

Jan 25

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from the MorrisHerald-news.com:

The Morris Fire Protection and Ambulance District was assisted by neighboring departments in battling a fire on Tuesday evening at Crown Concepts Corporation at 7080 Lisbon Road north of Morris.

Morris Fire chief Tracey Steffes said when units arrived on the scene fire was already showing through the 60 foot by 60 foot paint booth.

As of 5:25 p.m. firefighters were still battling the fire with the new tower ladder the district purchased recently.

“This truck has been called to two fires in five days, if we can hold the fire to the building it’s in, which I believe we will, it will have paid for itself already just in the savings to this business,” Steffes said.

Steffes estimates the fire caused $260,000 worth of damage. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

thanks Dennis

Tags: building fire in Morris IL, Morris Fire chief Tracey Steffes, Morris Fire Department, Morris Fire Protection District

New Lenox Fire Protection District news

Jan 25

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from the Herald-News.com:

New Lenox board trustees approved an intergovernmental agreement Monday to establish a new consolidated 911 center at Will County’s new sheriff’s department complex, which currently is under construction. The Laraway Communications Center, to be included in the new $30 million complex at Laraway Road and Route 52 in Joliet, is expected to serve 31 government agencies. These include New Lenox and the New Lenox Fire Protection District, as well as Romeoville, Frankfort, the county’s sheriff’s department and the agencies served by the EASCOM center.

Heading the new center will be Brad Veerman, who currently is director of the Lincolnway Public Safety Communications Center, which at present services New Lenox. Lincolnway will close once the new center is operational.

The plans for the new center follow an unfunded state mandate effective at the beginning of last year requiring counties with populations between 250,000 and 1 million to consolidate and reduce dispatch centers by half. Will County will now have three centers, including the city of Joliet’s and WESCOM’s new Plainfield center.

Once approval is received from all interested parties, representatives from each of the agencies will meet Feb. 22 and elect an executive board, New Lenox Trustee Dave Smith said. Smith is chairman of the governance committee for the new entity and wrote its bylaws and the intergovernmental agreement.

The executive board will consist of seven members, including three representing police agencies, three representing fire agencies and a seventh member from the sheriff’s office, according to the agreement.

Smith said the village’s share of the annual $5.3 million budget will be $440,000, slightly more than its contribution to the Lincolnway center.

Each member agency’s share will be determined annually according to its volume of calls to the dispatch center. The center will house about 40 to 50 dispatchers and all 31 agencies are expected to be on board before the February meeting.

thanks Dennis

Tags: Brad Veerman, consolidation of emergency dispatching, EASCOM, Laraway Communications Center, Lincolnway Public Safety Communications Center, New Lenox Fire Protection District