Photos of Gurnee Fire Station 3
Posts Tagged Warren-Waukegan FIre Protection District
Excerpts from Gurneeil.us:
The Village of Gurnee and Warren Waukegan Fire Protection District Celebrate the Grand Opening of Fire Station 3
GURNEE, IL – The Village of Gurnee and the Warren Waukegan Fire Protection District (WWFPD) celebrated the grand opening of Fire Station 3, located at 5330 Manchester Drive Gurnee, IL 60031 with a ribbon cutting and celebration on Wednesday, October 13th at 1:00pm. Fire Station 3 compliments the two current fire station facilities serving the Village of Gurnee and the WWFPD. At 14,452 sq ft, the new fire station will be staffed with five firefighter/paramedics, and house two ambulances and one ladder truck.
The Village of Gurnee conducted multiple analyses and planned for the addition over several years. The strategic location of the facility will improve call response times, especially as multiple calls for service come in simultaneously, and provides for easy access on to Interstate 94 and Route-120.
In 2019, the original bid for the project came in at approximately $6.3M. Fire Station 3 was included in the 20/21 capital budget, however it was one of the expenditures delayed in April 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to construction and supply trends around June 2020, the contractor suggested the village seek bids for construction. Following the advisement, bids came in at $5.8M. Despite the unprecedented impact of COVID-19 on all aspects of the economy and daily life, the construction of Station 3 was not affected.
thanks Keith
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Residents of the Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District can expect lower tax bills after the district approved a whopping $1.2 million tax abatement, by far the district’s largest ever and one of the largest local abatements in recent history.
The abatement was approved by the district board last week and reflects its dedication to addressing resident concerns over property taxes. Though it is too early to calculate what the abatement will represent in terms of tax savings to district residents, a $300,000 abatement by the district last year resulted in a tax decrease of about $75 for the average household.
The district covers the unincorporated areas between Waukegan and Gurnee west to Grayslake, and includes about 3,300 households and structures. Park City is also part of the district’s coverage area, although it is incorporated.
Careful business planning and help from Gurnee made the contract as reasonable as possible and has helped change the district from an an entity that was, on average, $800,000 in the hole annually as recently as 15 years ago to one that now carries cash reserves large enough to allow such an abatement.
By enlarging the Gurnee Fire Department’s coverage area, the district also allows that department to apply for grants and funding it would not otherwise be eligible to receive.
The district has purchased numerous ambulances, engines, and even paid for half of Gurnee’s newest ladder truck. The district also passed a resolution more than 10 years ago that no district residents would need to pay out-of-pocket expenses for ambulance calls.
Gurnee Fire Department news
Jul 22
Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Former Gurnee Fire Chief Fred Friedl’s long tenure was celebrated at a ceremony Wednesday night. The popular chief was relieved of duty last month when Gurnee Mayor Kristina Kovarik decided not to reappoint him. It is for that reason perhaps that the ceremony did not happen during a Gurnee board meeting.
Instead, Friedl’s friends and former colleagues told him how much they appreciated him during the Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District board meeting in the training room at Fire Station No. 2.
The Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District pays the Gurnee Fire Department to provide its residents, who mostly live in unincorporated Lake County, with fire service.
Phillip DeRuntz, president of the three-member board of trustees, said that during his 13 years on the board, Friedl had been a constant he could rely on for help and counsel when times were tough.
Battalion Chief Jim Pellitteri, who worked under Friedl for several years at the Gurnee Fire Department, said Friedl treated everyone with kindness, even those weren’t kind to him.
The ceremony was paused briefly so the approximately 60 people who had gathered to honor Friedl could listen to a radio dispatcher read a message announcing Friedl’s final tone, a gesture done at most retirement ceremonies for high-ranking firefighters.
Gurnee’s acting fire chief, John Kavanagh, also gave a speech thanking Friedl, saying Friedl had allowed firefighters to grow as individuals over the last 20 years and make the department what it is today.
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
The supply of Narcan kits police carry to help revive people who have overdosed on an opioid was dangerously low, according to the Lake County Health Department, but then a foundation and a fire protection district came to the rescue.
The new kits that are being bought are described by advocates as an easier-delivery nasal spray type that was fast-tracked by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“We could have been in dire straits if it wasn’t for the Filler Foundation of Highland Park and the Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District,” said Susan McKnight, coordinator for the county’s substance-abuse program.
Phillip DeRuntz, a trustee with the fire district, said that at the last monthly meeting of the Lake County Opioid Initiative, he learned the health department was down to its last 50 kits. Then Susan Guggenheim of the Filler Foundation spoke and said officials were starting a matching grant program for kits up to $25,000.
McKnight said the new kits, which have two does per kit, is from a company called Adapt Pharmaceutical and do not have to be assembled like some pharmaceutical devices. It can also be used in just one nostril where others need half a dose in one nostril and half in another.
For the last two years, the health department has secured 3,000 kits a year for distribution among the 2,000 law-enforcement officers in Lake County from the Virginia-based Kaleo company. Because of a shortage this year, the department was only able to provide 1,000 kits, which were the injectable type.
Guggenheim said the Filler Foundation was created by Mark and Julie Filler of Highland Park, who lost their 23-year-old son when he got hooked on opioids after a sports injury. He was revived once at home by paramedics during his fight with the addiction and was sent to rehabilitation, but then a few weeks after he got home, he died of an overdose.
“This was an area we could make an immediate impact and save a life,” she said of the foundation’s gift of $40,000 and the matching grant challenge of up to $25,000. They matched the fire district’s $3,750 and have received more donations for the program, including a recent $1,000 contribution from Compass Health of Northbrook and $1,800 from the Vernon Hills Police Department.
She said they also now have a text-line donation source where individuals can contribute any amount by texting Hero23 to 41444.
The Lake County News-Sun has an article which states that:
The Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District donated a new fire engine and ambulance Thursday to the Gurnee Fire Department.
Board President Phillip DeRuntz presented Gurnee Fire Chief Fred Friedl with two new sets of keys for the vehicles at Gurnee Fire Station No. 2, 6581 Dada Drive.
The new fire engine, a heavy duty rescue pumper, is equipped with a 780-gallon water tank and a foam system that automatically applies foam to a fire for quicker extinguishment and with the use of less water. The unit is also equipped with an EMS/paramedic compartment and provides a full complement of advanced life support equipment, medications and oxygen. The unit also has extrication equipment on board. The unit will replace a 1995 pumper that was designed for firefighting only and was not equipped with a foam system for quick
The new ambulance, a 2012 Road Rescue Type 1, replaces a 2001 Road Rescue ambulance with 144,000 miles.
“Gurnee Fire Department staff prepared specifications for the design and construction of both new units based on today’s technology, current national safety standards and the needs of the Fire Protection District and village that we serve,” stated Friedl.
The Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District is responsible for providing fire and ambulance coverage for the unincorporated areas within the 32 square miles stretching from Waukegan to Route 45, which includes Gurnee Mills and Six Flags Great America. The district contracts with Gurnee for 24-hour fire and rescue services from the Gurnee Fire Department.
The entire article can be found HERE.
New ambulance for Gurnee
Feb 21
An article in the Trib Local for Gurnee describes the new 2011 IHC 4300/Wheeled Coach Type I ambulance for Gurnee. Funds for the new ambulance were donated by one of the Fire Protection Districts that contracts with the Gurnee Fire Department for service.
Thanks to the Warren-Waukegan Fire Protection District, which works closely with the Gurnee department to cover 32 square miles of incorporated and unincorporated land from Waukegan to Route 45, the Gurnee department will replace an old ambulance with a brand new, high-tech one, said Chief Fred Friedl.
Warren-Waukegan FPD President Phillip DeRuntz will present keys to the new vehicle to the department at 10 a.m. on Friday as part of a ceremony at Gurnee Fire Station No. 2, 6581 Dada Drive.
The entire article along with a photo of the new unit can be seen HERE.
Thanks to Bill Friedrich for finding the article.
