Excerpts from centralillinoisproud.com:
As Peoria city council budget discussions continue, council members are looking at details regarding the $321 million budget.
The topics of discussion for council members at Tuesday’s meeting included rescue squads for the Peoria Fire Department. Budget reductions in recent years have impacted the city’s fire department with the decommissioning of Rescue 1 and Rescue 2 in 2018. Those responsibilities have been repurposed. The rescue squad is currently a jump company.
In 2023, that squad has been called upon around 600 times. It will cost $1.2 million to reinstate the rescue squad.
One council member pushed back a bit on the proposal to reinstate the squads. He believes the city is in a good financial position, and funding rescue squads and other projects could cause problems further down the road. He was the only council member who voted no. His reasoning stemmed from wanting to fully staff the rescue squad rather than making firefighters work overtime. He cited mental health issues like PTSD as a potential ramification.
#1 by Big Moe on November 13, 2023 - 5:04 PM
I think 75′ quints are a sham cast the fire service by the manufacturers. They literally suck at most everything they are “supposed” to do. Portable ladders? yep, they have 3. Proper hose loads? Not if the stretch is over 20 feet. Aerial to the ridge or parapet? Not likely unless the unit is operating in the downtown area with little set backs. Plenty of fire and rescue hand tools? Nope, just the NPFA minimums in each category. Sure there are the unicorns out there that spec a good rig, that’s a needle in a haystack. I’m not counting FDNY and Philly rigs due to complete lack of setbacks and high staffing levels there.
#2 by Michael m on November 11, 2023 - 8:52 AM
Glad to hear the City of Peoria is having these conversations! The department will be getting 3 new Pierce vehicles soon. Two engines, one will go to Engine 4 the other will go to Engine 11. The truck is a 75 foot stick for Truck 4.
Rescue 1 is stationed at Station 11. I don’t know where Rescue 2 is stationed. Hard to imagine that Peoria went without these companies for almost 6 years! I would be curious to know where they put the extrication equipment.