‘A game changer’: Mount Prospect receives $850,000 federal grant for fire station rehab

Village officials and firefighters gathered Wednesday at Mount Prospect Fire Station 11 to mark the delivery of an $850,000 federal grant secured by U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi to help offset the cost of renovating the village's newest fire station.

The money, approved as Community Project Funding through Krishnamoorthi's office, covers approximately half the $1.7 million the village spent renovating the station at 1415 E. Algonquin Road. The station was formerly the headquarters of the Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District.

Mayor Paul Hoefert credited the station with transforming public safety on the village's south side. The newly renovated station serves the area formerly covered by the rural fire district.

“This station has been a game changer for the people of Mount Prospect,” Hoefert said.

He recalled in September 2023, after five years of trying to work out an agreement with the fire district, the village received just 48 hours’ notice that the Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District would be shutting down and ending service.

Hoefert said the village faced the challenge head on, acquiring the station and completing its rehabilitation on time and under budget, shaving more than $1 million off the original projected cost by utilizing public works and fire department staff.

The station met its deadline to open on July 12, 2024. Since then, Hoefert said, response times improved by 45 seconds in the village's busiest response areas.

“Those are life-saving time stats,” Hoefert said.

Krishnamoorthi, praised firefighters and noted the station's proximity to O'Hare International Airport's jet fuel tank farm, “God forbid, if something were to happen with regard to those petroleum tanks, these firefighters and literally this station would be on the front lines.”