Prospect Hts. mayor: Fire victims wait too long

Prospect Heights Mayor Dolly Vole isn't suggesting that 3-year-old Alex Jedd could have been saved in the tragic June 12 house fire that took his life.

But, she said, she is concerned medical treatment for victims is being delayed because of a fire district policy implemented about two years ago as a result of budget cuts.

The Prospect Heights Fire Protection District doesn't send its own ambulances to structure fires. Through an automatic aid agreement, the Regional Emergency Dispatch Center notifies a neighboring fire department immediately to send an ambulance. Additional ambulances are sent as needed.

"If all the (Prospect Heights) firefighters are working on the fire and doing search and rescue, then who's treating the victim until the other town's ambulance arrives?" Vole asked. "I have multiple police officers telling me there are problems with the standard operating procedure."

Fire Chief Don Gould briefly defended the policy and said that when called to an area without fire hydrants, the fire district sends a tanker that requires more personnel than a regular engine.

"Because of our limited manpower ... we don't man our ambulances," Gould said.

Prospect Heights typically has 10 firefighters on duty each day, not including the chief and two deputies working Monday through Friday.

The district, an independent body not connected to the city of Prospect Heights, staffs 65 firefighters in total, only five of whom aren't cross-trained as paramedics.

The 911 call for the Jedd fire at 202 S. Maple Lane came in at 3:24 a.m. June 12. Gould said firefighters were on the scene with a tanker and ladder trucks - equipped with advanced lifesaving equipment - within 6 minutes.

Arlington Heights Fire Chief Glenn Ericksen said Northwest Central Dispatch requested an ambulance at 3:25 a.m.; it arrived within nine minutes.

Gould disputes Vole's claim that frantic father Mark Jedd and 11-month-old Rhianna, who together escaped to the front yard with serious injuries, were ignored while firefighters tried to rescue Alex.

"Our crews split in different directions. Some people took care of patients," Gould said. "We were faced with a lot of obstacles. A house on fire, a child trapped, a male and infant burned. Our guys did their jobs."

Vole points to a copy of a Prospect Heights Police Department computer-aided dispatch sheet in which the police sergeant told dispatch at 3:35 a.m. he was with a "child needing to be checked on" - 5 minutes after Gould said firefighters arrived.

A Prospect Heights police report stated that the responding officers called Northwest Central Dispatch, requesting medical attention for Mark and Rhianna Jedd, even after the fire department arrived.

Police Chief Bruce Morris couldn't be reached for comment on the dispatch sheet. Gould said the fire district would not comment further, on its attorney's advice.

Three of the five area fire departments that sent ambulances eventually took patients to area hospitals.

Arlington Heights was dispatched at 3:25 a.m., arrived at 3:34 a.m. and took Rhianna Jedd to Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

At 3:38 a.m., a Glenview ambulance was dispatched to take Alex to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights, where he was pronounced dead at 4:12 a.m.

The Wheeling Fire Department wouldn't disclose when it was dispatched or arrived, but a Prospect Heights police report states it took Mark Jedd to Lutheran General.

A Mount Prospect Fire Department ambulance was dispatched at 3:41 a.m., but paramedics stood by at the scene. Buffalo Grove also sent an ambulance but didn't transfer a patient. It's unclear when that ambulance was dispatched.

"I'm not a firefighter, but my concern is getting the victims treated immediately, and based on the (dispatch document) and statements officers have made to me, they're not getting treated," Vole said.

A veteran Prospect Heights emergency worker said a Dec. 30, 2009, fire, where a 74-year-old was trapped in his home on Garden Lane, shows what communication problems can occur when Prospect Heights does not send its own ambulances. The man was rescued by two police officers who went inside before firefighters arrived, and he was brought out badly burned and struggling to breathe, Chief Morris said at the time.

The worker, who requested anonymity due to fear of retribution for speaking publicly, said police officers alerted firefighters to the man's condition, but nobody provided medical care. After several minutes, one of the police officers ran to the Mount Prospect ambulance down the street, where paramedics were awaiting instruction.

Vole said she's heard the same account from several people. Officials with the fire protection district would not return calls to talk about the 2009 case.

James Cagney, president of the Prospect Heights Fire Protection District board of trustees, wasn't familiar with his district's ambulance policy and declined to comment.

Other small fire departments use similar procedures.

Depending on the location, the Elk Grove Township Fire Department also relies on other towns to send ambulances to structure fires so its personnel can man its own engine and tanker, Capt. Roger Oland said.

The Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District sends its own ambulance only when staffing on a given day allows for it.

"Everybody's running so short right now, so we have both automatic aid and send out our own ambulances when we can. We get a second if we're lucky," Barrington Countryside Assistant Fire Chief Donald Wenschhof said.

The Illinois State Fire Marshal's Office doesn't keep records of which fire agencies send their own ambulances to structure fires. Spokesman Louis Pukelis said it's up to the local discretion of each department and that his office doesn't have rules or recommendations that cover it.

The National Fire Protection Association also doesn't keep track of the number of departments with the policy. But Ken Willette, manager of the public fire protection division for the Quincy, Mass.-based organization, said he was fire chief of two departments in Massachusetts that routinely left their ambulances at the station while they took fire apparatus to the scene.

"It does happen and it's not unusual," Willette said.

The Prospect Heights Fire Protection District released a statement saying a preliminary investigation showed the fire appeared to be accidental, but that the cause will remain undetermined until the investigators are able to speak to Mark Jedd. No evidence of working smoke detectors was found.

The district also offered condolences and prayers to the entire family.

In the police report, Mark Jedd told police that somehow the living room couch caught on fire.

"He said he was not smoking and that possibly Alex may have been playing with a lighter or matches," the report stated.

Rhianna Jedd is expected to be released from the Loyola University Hospital Burn Center this week, her mother Brittany Meyer said.

Mark Jedd is still hospitalized in a coma, fighting for his life.

Wait: Other fire districts outsource ambulances to some areas