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Posts Tagged St Charles Fire Department

St. Charles 2nd Alarm 6/1/11

Jun 5

Posted by bgshap in Apparatus on-scene, Fire, Fire Service News, Reader submission | 2 Comments

The St. Charles Fire Department worked a 2nd Alarm fire on Wednesday at Salerno’s on the Fox restaurant. The Sun-Times has an article HERE and the Tribune has an article HERE.

No injuries were reported in the fire at Salerno’s on the Fox, 320 N. 2nd Street.

Fire Chief Patrick Mullen said the fire was reported at 5:24 p.m. and that smoke could be seen coming from the back of the one-story restaurant.

“It looks like the area of origin was around the gas meters,” Mullen said. “It’s a blow-torch.”

Firefighters from 10 area departments continuously poured water on stubborn flames fed by a ruptured natural gas line.

John Tulipano went to the scene and submitted several images of the apparatus that responded.

Salernos restaurant fire St Charles IL

St Charles Engine 103 was on a hydrant down the street. John Tulipano photo

Salernos restaurant fire St Charles IL

Geneva was one of the departments that responded to the fire. Truck 206, a Pierce Snorkel is staged down the block. John Tulipano photo

Salernos restaurant fire St Charles IL

Geneva also sent Engine 208, a Pierce Enforcer. John Tulipano photo

Salernos restaurant fire St Charles IL

Elburn & Countryside Engine 302, a Spartan/Alexis top-mount was also parked in staging. John Tulipano photo

Salernos restaurant fire St Charles IL

Batavia Truck 1, a Pierce Dash tower ladder was not put to work. John Tulipano photo

Salernos restaurant fire St Charles IL

Batavia also sent Engine 2, a 2009 Pierce Arrow XT. John Tulipano photo

Salernos restaurant fire St Charles IL

The new Fox River & Countryside Fire/Rescue Department responded with Engine 1823, a 1992 Spartan/Alexis 1,250-GPM engine (X-North Park,IL). John Tulipano photo

John has additional images HERE.

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Fox River & Countryside Fire Rescue District update

Mar 29

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 1 Comment

Dennis McGuire, Jr. sent a link to an article in yesterday’s Daily Herald about the Fox River & Countryside Fire Rescue District hiring personnel.  Some excerpts:

Though the final staffing contract has yet to receive a vote, Fox River & Countryside Fire/Rescue trustees now have an employee roster they believe rivals or surpasses any other local fire department.

American Emergency Services completed the hiring of the district’s fire and ambulance personnel. Of the 21 full-time employees, 18 are certified to work as both firefighters and paramedics. The remaining three will have the same credentials upon completion of paramedic school. The department will employ 10 paid-on-call firefighters with lesser training as basic EMTs and two firefighters with paramedic certification. Including additional part-time staff, the district will have nearly 40 employees in the fire department.

Trustees announced Monday night the department is now a member of MABAS (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System) Division II, which includes communities such as South Elgin, Elgin and East and West Dundee among others.

Trustees also said discussions are under way for auto aid agreements with South Elgin and Pingree Grove.

(Fire district President Jim) Gaffney also said he plans on having further discussions with St. Charles to see what assistance the two fire departments may be able to provide each other in the future.

Gaffney refused to answer any questions about the district’s impasses with Campton Hills and South Elgin on the progression of construction on the district’s new fire houses in those communities. Both communities have issued stop work orders to the fire district in recent weeks. Gaffney said those notices won’t slow down the fire district.

“We’ll be ready to go at midnight on May 1,” Gaffney said.

The entire article can be found HERE.

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Fox River & Countryside Fire Rescue District update

Feb 16

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 2 Comments

The Daily Herald ran an article last week about the new Fox River & Countryside Fire Rescue District. Some excerpts from the article which was an interview with fire district president Jim Gaffney.

The creation of a new fire department by the Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District will create a ripple of consequences that could impact infrastructure and property taxes. But district President Jim Gaffney believes vindication will come when he said 911 services improve.

The district voted last month to end its long-term relationship with the city of St. Charles. That blew a $2.2 million hole in the city’s budget, though city officials already announced a plan to cut costs. Those cuts include eliminating one fire company and participation in the tactical emergency medical services unit that supports the Kane County Sheriff’s SWAT team.

MGaffney’s vision for creating an “economical” solution to improve fire and ambulance service in the district’s coverage area speeds forward. He said adding two more ambulances and water tanker trucks as well as a total staff of about 57 firefighters and paramedics to the area can only improve service. Gaffney said private company manpower, including paid-on-call employees, may even be an upgrade to what citizens have experienced in the past.

“Paid-on-call and volunteer firefighters are much more dedicated than full-time firefighters,” Gaffney said. “It’s not a job to them; it’s a commitment.”

…the district will keep its eyes on the new plan Campton Hills is considering to start its own fire department. In theory, that would undercut much of the service area Fox River and Countryside relies on for tax dollars. Gaffney said he isn’t worried.

“They can’t afford to set up a fire department,” Gaffney said. “It’s a pipe dream as far as we’re concerned.”

The district’s trustees expect to name the department’s first chief within the next 10 days.

The complete article can be found HERE.

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St. Charles mayor predicts failure for new fire district

Feb 16

Posted by bgshap in Fire Service News | Comments off

The following is from an article in the Daily Herald earlier this week.

St. Charles Mayor Don DeWitte on Monday predicted failure for the new Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District because neither the finances nor the promises for better response times make sense to him.

“We think these are some drastic, definitive decisions the fire protection district is making,” DeWitte said. “We believe them to be ill-conceived. The ultimate result will be a reduction in service to the people we have served in the outlying areas for going on four or five decades.

“We just don’t believe much forethought has been put into this process. This is going to be a bad situation, and we’re going to have to watch it slowly implode.”

DeWitte and St. Charles Fire Chief Pat Mullen believe the district’s main problem is a tax rate that is simply too low to provide the level of fire service everyone wants in the district. At 19 cents per $100 of equalized assessed value, the rate is about one-third as much as any other nearby fire district.

“They have a revenue problem,” DeWitte said. “They don’t have an expense problem.”

Fire district officials are expected to soon finalize a contract with Wheaton-based American Emergency Services to provide both firefighters and paramedics at about $1.7 million a year. But the additional infrastructure cost to establish two firehouses in the district and an uncertain cost for personnel in the second year of the contract is what makes DeWitte and Mullen skeptical of the finances.

DeWitte and Mullen also demonstrated on a map of the service area how they believe the new firehouses in the district represent a false promise of better response times. Mullen said the location of the new houses, at the far southwest and northeast portions of the district, mean homeowners with the best response times under St. Charles will now wait longer when they experience fires and medical emergencies.

Mullen said the district, having only two firehouses and a large geographical coverage area, will be spread thin whenever more than one emergency call occurs. A chart the city created using GIS maps predicts a response time of up to 16 minutes for the district’s station near South Elgin to arrive at the Kane County Judicial Center if needed.

Aside from those predictions, DeWitte said the new fire district creates a financial problem for each of the Tri-Cities. The district’s separation from St. Charles and the Tri-City Ambulance Service means each community must now pay a larger share for the cost of having paramedics show up when residents need them. St. Charles, for instance, will shoulder an additional $200,000 of that price tag.

The complete article can be found HERE.

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Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District – update

Jan 16

Posted by bgshap in Fire Service News | 1 Comment

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 & Countryside Fire/Rescue District – update

Jan 1

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | Comments off

The Kane County Chronicle posted an article HERE about several options that are being considered for the direction of the new Fox River & Countryside Fire/Rescue District. The St. Charles Fire Department, Metro Paramedic Services, and American Emergency Services have all submitted proposals which will be considered by the board in February.

District officials announced last month they wanted to change its operations to open other fire and ambulance stations, which would lower response time for emergency services for residents of Wayne, Campton and St. Charles townships.

… the fire protection district held its last meeting, as its name change to Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District goes into effect Saturday.

Its new website is www.frcfr.org/ which also links from the old district’s name, www.sccfpd.org/

Thanks for Dennis McGuire, Jr. for submitting this information.

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Fox River and Countryside Fire Rescue District update

Dec 10

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | Comments off

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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A new start for the St. Charles Countryside FPD

Nov 23

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | Comments off

Dennis McGuire, Jr. found this article in the Daily Herald about the St. Charles Countryside FPD changing their name to the Fox River and Countryside Fire and Rescue Department. There has been speculation that the department would split from their contract with the St. Charles Fire Department and form a new department. One thought is that American Emergency Services which is losing a contract to run the Lakewood Fire Department in McHenry County, might run this department in Kane County.

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