Posts Tagged Glenview FD Fire Station 13

Glenview Fire Department news (more)

Mar 10

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Glenview Fire Station 13 will remain in operation after village trustees directed the fire chief and village manager to change course and operate the fire department with a five-station footprint at a special village board meeting Monday.

The change came after a crowd of about 300 rallied in front of the fire station last Saturday, yard signs saying “Save Fire Station 13” began cropping up all over town, and more than 50 people called into Monday’s Zoom-based village board meeting.

Residents, mostly from the east side, and firefighters not only from Glenview but other communities, called into the meeting, many with heartfelt personal stories of calling 911 and having firefighters respond to medical emergencies and even house fires. Several residents living near Station 13 pleading for the station to remain open recounted how they called 911 and could hear the sirens blaring as crews left the station before they got off the phone.

After the public comment period, village trustees agreed to move forward with a five-station plan. Several trustees then supported the use of jump companies village-wide.

On the expanded use of jump companies, Glenview Professional Firefighters Association Local 4186 Union President Jesse Gallagher said he had concerns. Most Glenview firefighters are also certified paramedics, but he said how fire crews gear up to respond to a fire or medical call are different.

“The challenge is the next call,” Gallagher said. “What we leave with is what we have. We often go straight from one call to another.” He said when a first call is a medical call and the second is a structure fire, that can create difficulties. He said paramedics would bring fire turnout gear with them on an ambulance run, but would not return to the station to swap vehicles.

Many callers were critical of what they said was a lack of transparency in making such an important decision.

Village President Jim Patterson said the decision made on closing Station 13 at the Tuesday, Feb. 2 meeting could be made without village board approval as it was an operational decision, but said the issue was posted on that board meeting’s agenda. The issue was posted as a discussion of a consultant’s report on fire department operations. Trustees acknowledged shortcomings in the area of transparency and communication on the issue.

Tags: chicagoareafire.com, Chicagoareafire.com/blog, Glenview FD Fire Station 13, Glenview Fire Department, Glenview Professional Firefighters Association Local 4186, Glenview to close Fire Station 13, Rally scheduled to oppose closing of Glenview Fire Station 13

Glenview Fire Department news (more)

Mar 8

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 3 Comments

Excerpts from Chicago.cbslocal.com:

A large crowd rallied outside Glenview Fire Station 13 Saturday in a last-ditch effort to keep it open. Neighbors said closing the fire station at 831 E. Lake Ave. in Glenview will jeopardize community safety. Firefighters and residents think they will have to wait longer when they pick up the phone to call 911 for a fire truck or an ambulance.

Glenview Village President Jim Patterson said a study found Fire Station 13 and its single engine are active about 30 minutes during a 24-hour shift – one of the slower stations in town. Firefighters there will be moved to other stations. That study also found that closing Station 13 comes with a savings of $1.25 million for the village. Patterson said he does not believe it will be that high.

The president of the Glenview Firefighters Association said the village has called for a special Board of Trustees meeting on Monday night to discuss the fate of the firehouse. If the closure is approved, it could happen as early as next month.

Tags: chicagoareafire.com, Chicagoareafire.com/blog, Glenview FD Fire Station 13, Glenview Fire Department, Glenview to close Fire Station 13, Rally scheduled to oppose closing of Glenview Fire Station 13

Glenview Fire Department news (more)

Mar 2

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 11 Comments

Excerpts from nbcchicago.com:

Residents in Glenview will rally this Saturday in an attempt to save a Fire Station 13, saying that the move would put their safety at risk. Village officials plan to close the station on April 1, rerouting resources from the station to four other stations within the community.

The local firefighters’ union has reservations about the plan, citing a potential impact on public safety, and residents say that outside consultants have also come out in opposition to the plan, stoking worries that the closure could put their safety at risk.

Village officials, who voted unanimously to close the station, say they understand the concerns of the public, but say that the closure will help to better allocate resources around the village. There are plans to increase the number of ambulances available in the community, but it’s the closure of the station that is generating more attention.

From Glenview Prof. Firefighters Assoc. IAFF Local 4186:

Ain’t No POWER Like The POWER of the PEOPLE,
cause the POWER of the PEOPLE Don’t Stop!!!

We have learned that a resident-organized rally in support of saving Fire Station 13 is scheduled for Saturday. We are happy to share the details below for all who may be interested.

We feel that this type and level of community based action to save Fire Station 13 is what the Village Board, Village leadership and Trustee candidates need to pay attention to.

The residents want their voices to be heard and their fire station to be kept open. We support our residents in their mission to keep Fire Station 13 open!

Glenview Fire Department news (more)

Feb 10

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 5 Comments

Excerpts from the journal-topics.com:

After a comprehensive study by outside consultants with input from fire personnel, village trustees instructed the village manager and fire chief to implement changes to fire department operations at the meeting on Feb. 2. One of the more significant changes would lead to the reallocation of resources from Station 13 at 831 E. Lake Ave. ultimately leading to the permanent closure of the firehouse.

Other recommendations including instituting medical call prioritization protocol for public safety dispatchers to ask targeted questions allowing them to dispatch a single ambulance to a minor call or more resources to a major call. Currently, an ambulance and engine respond to every medically-related EMS call in Glenview. Several equipment upgrades are needed to bring the department to the point where EMS medical prioritization could be fully implemented.

Station 13 opened in February 2004. It was closed from April to July 2020 because of state COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and was closed again in December, reopening just last week. While Station 13 was closed, calls were rerouted to Station 6 at 1215 Waukegan Rd. Village officials said during the closure, calls were handled without a loss in service levels and said closing Station 13 would result in saving $1.25 million annually.

The study looked at all Glenview fire station call volumes along with their call volume capacity and found that, while Station 6 was one of the most heavily utilized, 55% of current available workload capacity is unused.

The report said, “fire suppression apparatus are on calls an average of 2.47 hours per 24-hour shift,” but found “the underutilization of Station 13’s unit (43 minutes in a 24-hour period) creates opportunities for further evaluation of additional efficiency measures.”

Stations 13 and 14 were built and opened at the same time in July 2004, at a combined cost of $4 million. Station 14 is in The Glen on Patriot Boulevard. Senior village staff felt the two stations were needed at the time. Since then, Station 6 was relocated from Glenview Road to the former village hall site on Waukegan Road, decreasing response times to areas east.

Trustees looked at several cost-saving options besides reallocating resources from Station 13, including leaving an ambulance there, which would save $200,000 over 20 years. Another option would have been to expand Station 13’s service area, which would have evened the workload between Stations 13 and 6.

Other options included having a jump company respond to both fire and ambulance calls out of Station 13 or out of Station 8 between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., or on a 24-hour basis. Using a jump company out of Station 13 would have cost $100,000 in one-time equipment costs. Using a Station 8 jump company for the 12-hour shift would have no financial impact. Using a Station 8 jump company 24-hours a day would save an estimated $350,000 per year.

Another option discussed involved mutual aid where fire departments can be dispatched from neighboring communities to most incidents, and fire units from other communities can be used to backfill stations so no one community’s resources are too thinly stretched to respond to multiple incidents at once.

Automatic aid agreements are currently in place for pre-planned responses to specific types of calls and locations with the villages of Northbrook and Northfield.

The study showed mutual aid calls from 2018 and how much Glenview either gave or received resources on calls from other departments. The outliers were Northbrook, to which Glenview gave resources on 145 calls but only received resources from Northbrook on 10 calls, and Northfield, to which Glenview gave aid on 113 calls and received 11. In contrast, Glenview gave resources to the North Maine Fire District 38 times and received them 38 times. Glenview gave Mount Prospect aid 17 times, receiving it five times in return. It was noted Mount Prospect has a station 1.4 miles from Glenview and said both communities could benefit from an automatic aid agreement.

The report recommended implementing a GPS system, allowing dispatchers to know the precise location of each fire unit, which could allow them to dispatch the closest unit rather than from the closest fire station

thanks Dennis

Tags: chicagoareafire.com, Chicagoareafire.com/blog, Glenview FD Fire Station 13, Glenview Fire Department, Glenview to close Fire Station 13

Glenview Fire Department news (more)

Feb 4

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, FIre Stations | 9 Comments

From Glenview Prof. Firefighters Assoc. IAFF Local 4186 on Facebook:

Station 13 has been slated for closure! Due to a recent village board decision, your fire department is scheduled to reduce service through the elimination of an engine company.

This will primarily affect the East Side, but all of Glenview, the Glenbrook Fire Protection District, and the Village of Golf will be impacted in many ways.