One year later, Mount Prospect says new fourth fire station working according to plan

One year after Mount Prospect opened its new fourth fire station, fire Chief John Dolan said it has delivered on its promise.

The station, which the village took over from the Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District in July 2024, has resulted in reduced response times and led to a more balanced call volume, he said.

“It shaped up exactly how we anticipated it and how we had hoped it would,” Dolan said. “The distribution of calls and the volume of calls per district worked out exactly the way we had projected the numbers to be.”

The $1.75 million station at 1415 E. Algonquin Road addressed a long-standing imbalance in coverage. Prior to Station 11's opening, more than 50% of calls originated south of the tracks, forcing the engine at Station 13 to cross from the north side more than 1,300 times annually.

“We now have two fire suppression vehicles south of the tracks, where well over 50% of our calls had always originated,” Dolan said.

The department's reliance on mutual aid has also been significantly reduced.

Before the new station, Stations 12, 13 and 14 handled 44%, 34% and 22% of call volumes, respectively. After Station 11 was added, it handled 26%, while Stations 12, 13 and 14's volumes became 29%, 26% and 19%, respectively. The department's reliance on mutual aid has also been significantly reduced.

The timing has proven fortunate given continued development in southern Mount Prospect. The area has seen significant growth in data centers, warehousing and commercial development.

“We are now ahead of the curve,” the chief said. “We're in a good position to absorb that growth.”

Last year, the firefighters union raised concerns about gaps in coverage from opening a fourth station, expressing particular concern about relocating the engine from Station 13 at 111 E. Rand Road, the former downtown fire station.

“The removal of Engine 13 from the center of the Village has created significant gaps in fire suppression and EMS coverage,” said Nic Schlenbecker, vice president of Mount Prospect Firefighters IAFF Local 4119.

However, Dolan said the ladder truck at Station 13 is more than equipped to handle the workload. The vehicle has a 1,500-gallon-per-minute pump and full complement of hose. Staffed with three firefighters, it can safely operate as a fire suppression vehicle.

“There are over a dozen municipalities in the immediate area that run their ladder truck as a first due fire suppression vehicle,” Dolan said. “Less than 1% of our calls are structure fires, over 75% are EMS. We didn't create a gap, we filled a gap.”