Excerpts from the dailyherald.com:
Mount Prospect Fire Station 11 is open as staffing began at 8:45 a.m. Thursday at the former Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District headquarters at 1415 E. Algonquin Road. The first call came at 10:17 a.m. It was a non-emergency response for an activated carbon monoxide detector.
Thursday’s opening was the culmination of a long process of wrangling and litigation between the village and the rural fire district board. Annexations and dwindling tax revenues forced the rural fire district to cease fire and emergency services in October. Mount Prospect took over and legislation recently dissolved the district.
In January, Mount Prospect began renovating the facility for what is now the village’s fourth fire station at a cost of around $1.7 million. The village achieved savings by using public works staff. The village has applied for a federal grant to cover virtually all construction costs.
The result is essentially a new facility, with fresh paint, an open space interior, and a dining table countertop from a local woodworker.
The former rural board’s meeting room is now used for training and filing reports. Lockers are no longer in the hallway, but are in a separate room formerly used for training. Sleeping quarters will include two private bunks.
The apparatus bay has an engine and an ambulance plus the fire protection district’s tender, useful for areas like the manufactured homes to the south that do not have hydrants.
Daily staffing will consist of one lieutenant paramedic and four firefighter paramedics, similar to the other three stations.
Mount Prospect now has two stations in the southern part of the village.
