Elgin, East Dundee near mutual aid deal for fire services

A plan that would allow Elgin and East Dundee fire personnel to provide mutual aid to each other, moved closer to approval Wednesday night.

Elgin’s committee of the whole unanimously approved the proposal and the city council will consider it at its next meeting on Feb. 21.

East Dundee’s village board would need to take a vote and if all goes well, the mutual aid would start in March.

The agreement would allow Elgin to call on the East Dundee Fire Protection District for another fire engine when it comes to fires at the three buildings within Elgin’s jurisdiction on Route 25, just north of I-90, said Elgin Fire Chief John Fahy. Those buildings are the Days Inn, the Brandt Drive Office Park and the now-shuttered Fox River Country Day School.

Likewise, East Dundee would ask the Elgin Fire Department to help them with fires at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, the Milk Pail banquet hall and properties across the street from it.

The point of the agreement is to improve response times by calling on the other to reach areas that are closer to them than to other mutual aid partners.

“If we have a fire alarm at McGraw Wildlife, we get something from West Dundee and Carpentersville,” East Dundee Fire Chief Steve Schmitendorf said. “We’d eliminate one of those and we’d bring Elgin in because they’re actually close to that.”

Fahy initiated the discussions with East Dundee soon after becoming fire chief last year.

It came out of a desire to work with East Dundee. Elgin already has mutual aid agreements with South Elgin, Pingree Grove and with the Rutland-Dundee Fire Protection District. East Dundee, meanwhile, has similar agreements with West Dundee, Carpentersville, Sleepy Hollow, South Barrington and with the Rutland-Dundee Township Fire Protection District.

East Dundee and Elgin were in talks for three months and the proposal comes at no cost to either town.

Moreover, the proposal isn’t expected to drain either town’s resources.

Last year, each town posted between 10 and 15 calls for service in the small corridor

For now, the proposal would only involve mutual aid for fires, but that could expand to include ambulance calls, said Dave Schmitt, Elgin’s assistant fire chief of operations.