Refurbished Mount Prospect fire station completes transition
Mount Prospect’s new Fire Station 11 is open for business.
Firefighters flipped the switch at 8:45 a.m. Thursday at the former Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District headquarters at 1415 E. Algonquin Road. The first call came at 10:17 a.m. It was a non-emergency response for an activated carbon monoxide detector in the 600 block of Pickwick Court.
Thursday’s opening was the culmination of a long process of wrangling and litigation between the village and the rural fire district board.
“It has been a long journey,” Fire Chief John Dolan said. “We never tried to get ahead of ourselves. We always tried to prepare for not only the known, but the unknown. Our transition committee did a great job, coming up with all the possible scenarios.”
Annexations and dwindling tax revenues forced the rural fire district to cease fire and emergency services in October. Mount Prospect took over the reins, and legislation recently dissolved the district.
Mount Prospect began renovating the facility for what is now the village’s fourth fire station in January, at a cost of around $1.7 million. The village achieved savings by using public works staff.
Dolan said the village has applied for a federal grant through U.S. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi’s office to cover virtually all construction costs.
The result is an essentially new facility, with a new paint job, an interior with an “open concept” of space and a dining area table countertop from longtime Mount Prospect woodworker Parenti & Raffaelli Ltd.
The old rural board’s meeting room is now used for training and filing reports. Lockers are no longer in the hallway, but are in a separate room formerly used for training. Sleeping quarters will include two private bunks.
The apparatus bay has an engine and an ambulance. It also has the old fire protection district’s tender truck, useful for areas like the manufactured homes to the south that do not have hydrants.
Daily staffing will consist of one lieutenant paramedic and four firefighter paramedics, similar to the other three stations.
“We’ll be evenly distributed for the first time in the history of the department,” Dolan said.
Also notable, Dolan said, is that Mount Prospect now has two stations in the southern part of the village.
“South Mount Prospect has always generated the most fire calls, the most EMS calls,” he said. “The densest population is south of the tracks, and we have the most high hazard occupancies south of the tracks.”