From Village of Oak Brook Fire Department:
The new Medic 93 is off the production line and getting its final inspection prior to making the trip home to Illinois for outfitting to be made service ready.
Oak Brook Fire Department photo
thanks Tim
New ambulance for Oak Brook Fire Department
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#1 by Ralph M on August 19, 2021 - 5:48 PM
Not sure exactly but I do believe the residents of Oak Brook do not pay any sort of property tax to the village. The retail tax rate is also one of the lowest in the surrounding area.
#2 by Tim on August 18, 2021 - 6:46 PM
Joe you missed the point in my message…… “Of course the dept. needs to be busy enough to keep the EMS division self sustaining.” I’m well aware of how the billing and payments of these services go in regards to only a small percentage being paid. Not knowing anything about the Oak Brook Fire Dept., I bet the people in that town pay their bills. And I bet a lot of them have real good insurance too.
You are incorrect as fire departments are in the money making business, like it or not. EMS fees, inspection fees, knox box fees, alarm monitoring fees etc. is just the start. Fire departments ultimately make money off of the community, above and beyond what’s paid by taxes.
Many of the bigger suburban depts. do make enough to cover the cost of EMS not only because of call volume but they’re charging over $1,000. Naperville, Joliet were at $1800 for BLS. Not sure about Orlands fees but they make about $3.8 million/year on EMS billing.
Someone correct me on these numbers as I’m going off of bills sent to family and friends.
That’s all I got for ya Joe.
Thank you for service.
#3 by Andy on August 18, 2021 - 2:58 PM
The Village of Oak Brook isn’t crying poor. They just don’t want to be in the fire department business any more. They are systematically taking apart the department. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got down to staffing just 2 ambulances and trying to use mutual aid to cover fire calls.
#4 by Joe on August 18, 2021 - 10:26 AM
Tim, most departments in the area bill for ambulance services, but none that I’m aware of come anywhere close to covering their costs via that billing. Many departments don’t bill or bill less when the service is provided to residents (which is the right thing to do in my opinion, but it does reduce the total collected.)
The bigger issue is the total percent of bills that are actually collected. For most departments this is a relatively low percentage. Medicare only pays out a portion of the total bill that a department issues, and generally the remainder is written off as opposed to billing the resident directly or sending them to collections. The department I work for hovers around a 30% collection rate on ambulance bills which, as I understand it, isn’t all that abnormal. Also remember, most departments don’t bill for releases, and most departments won’t send a resident of their community to collections for an unpaid bill, they’ll just write it off.
If a department is billing, for example, $500 for a BLS transport, and they collect only 30% of that between Medicare’s rates, patients not paying bills, etc, you’re left with ~$150 for a BLS transport which barely covers the cost of the fuel anymore and certainly doesn’t cover the cost of the 2 paramedics on the ambulance. To say that departments can fund capital purchases like apparatus simply by billing for ambulance runs is largely incorrect. The EMS division of a fire department is not self-sustaining. Fire departments aren’t a money making operation and shouldn’t be seen as a source of revenue for a community. The department is there to serve the community, not to make money off of it.
#5 by Tim on August 18, 2021 - 7:56 AM
One thing you guys need to keep in mind; If the dept. charges for ambulance service, the ambulance billing pays for rigs/equipment. Of course the dept. needs to be busy enough to keep the EMS division self sustaining. I don’t know what Oak Brook does and or how busy they are.
#6 by harry on August 17, 2021 - 9:38 PM
it is very interesting when a city says they are broke but buys new vehicles or builds a new station or gets new rigs but something to think are they buying or leasing
#7 by Rob on August 17, 2021 - 9:36 PM
I agree with all of the comments. I know the Chief on personal level. The board does not care about the fire dept. The chief told the village board this new equipment is not needed except the ambulance. He told them they should not order it and they did it anyways. In manpower they are down even more. One career FF/PM retired and one of 3 BC retired and they are not filling the BC spot. Since this has transpired the chief resigned and last Friday was his last day. This Village is about defunding the dept.
#8 by E. C. Darroll on August 17, 2021 - 6:17 PM
Not at all defending shedding jobs unnecessarily…but just keep in mind, the cost of a new apparatus (especially a medic unit) is virtually nothing compared to the cost of personnel. One average paid suburban FF/Medic ends up costing their employer around 150,000 dollars per year between salary, benefits, PTO time, other incurred HR costs, EAP, etc. Completely eliminating the purchase of even a million dollar truck company might only save the equivalent of 6 or 7 “employee years.”
#9 by Rich s. on August 17, 2021 - 6:09 PM
It is very well known and documented that the residents of this community, for the most part, do not at all value public service employees. As a matter of fact the leadership of the village sees public service employees as a hindrance as a lower class of people. They have been trying for years to eradicate all fire department employees from the village. They do not see any value in the service. It is a very sad state of being for the department and really for the community. There is no need for vehicle replacement if there are no employees to operate said vehicles.
#10 by Big Moe on August 17, 2021 - 4:49 PM
Just thinking the same exact thing! Wow.
#11 by Mike hellmuth on August 17, 2021 - 3:51 PM
I agree with you 100% mabas 21………..
#12 by MABAS 21 on August 17, 2021 - 9:14 AM
I have to respond twofold to this. Although I am happy that the brothers are receiving new vehicles to keep their fleet in good shape, BUT how the hell is the village affording all of these when crying broke? They eliminated multiple positions due to financial difficulties, yet have 3 major purchases? I personally would rather have an older fleet with the proper amount of competent personnel to staff them!