Posts Tagged Kane County Chronicle

Campton Hills asks residents about starting their own fire dept

An article HERE in the Kane County Chronicle outlines a vote on Tuesday’s ballot asking residents of Campton Hills if they wanted to create their own fire department.

CAMPTON HILLS – Residents do not want village leaders to research the possibility of establishing Campton Hills’ own fire and emergency services department.

According to unofficial results, nearly 55 percent of voters said no to an advisory referendum question asking residents whether the village should investigate the establishment of such a department. About 42 percent said yes.

A total of 1,691 residents responded to the question. Village President Patsy Smith said she would have preferred a larger turnout.

But, she said, “Basically the village board got the information we needed.”

The village is served by five fire districts: Elburn, South Elgin, Pingree Grove, Burlington and Fox River and Countryside.

Smith has said the referendum question was influenced by the Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District’s recent actions to terminate its service contract with St. Charles and establish fire stations of its own.

Under certain circumstances, Campton Hills could revisit the idea of developing its own fire department, Smith said.

“Something would have to happen to trigger the people to request to investigate this issue,” she said.

Shall the Village  of Campton Hills investigate the establishment of its own fire and emergency services department covering the entire village?

Yes – 735
x-No – 956

Source: Kane County Clerk’s Office

Thanks to Dennis McGuire, Jr for finding the article

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Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District – update

The Kane County Chronicle has an article which outlines a new deadline for the Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District board to choose a service provider for the new fire department.

Some excerpts from the article:

The Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District board did not choose an emergency service provider as expected on Thursday but said they would negotiate a contract with two potential providers and choose one by Feb. 1.

The two are the City of St. Charles Fire Department and AES, American Emergency Services. The board met at a special meeting in a basement training room at St. Charles Fire Station 1.

“We brought them in, gave each one three minutes to answer questions and the citizens advisory wrote down their comments,” Baldwin said of the potential service providers. “AES met pretty much down the line in regards to the [request for proposal] we had and St. Charles suggested pretty much staying status quo.”

A third potential service provider, Metro Paramedic Services, was dropped from consideration because its proposal response was not complete.

The entire article can be found HERE.

The Daily Herald had an article last week (January 10) which stated that American Emergency Services (AES) will almost certainly get the contract. That article can be found HERE.

American Emergency Services will almost certainly be the new 911 service provider for the former St. Charles Countryside Fire Protection District.

On January 14th, The Daily Herald had a followup article.

Residents grill Fox River Countryside fire district over dumping St. Charles firefighters

Feedback during Thursday’s meeting at the St. Charles downtown fire station made it clear that some residents remain wary of what it will all mean to the emergency services in the St. Charles, Campton and Wayne township areas served by the district.

“Perhaps some of us missed some of the details in the past as to what was going on, but we are confident in the St. Charles Fire Department, and your plan slipped by us,” (resident Dennis) Marquis told fire district trustees. “There is no excuse for not watching more closely in the past, but we will be watching more closely now. We wish you success with your plan and hope you come through on your goals of better response time and cost controls.”

“We have a centrally located fire station in St. Charles, so why would we build and staff two separate offices, supposedly for better protection? It seems very unusual to me,” (resident Becky) Lenard said.

The complete article can be found HERE.

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Fox River and Countryside Fire Rescue District update

The Kane County Chronicle ran an article yesterday about the new Fox River and Countryside Fire Rescue Department which can be found HERE. It discusses much of the preliminary planning about the staffing levels and apparatus as well as come of the concerns which prompted the creation of a new department.

Thanks to Dennis McGuire, Jr. for spotting the article.

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