Nicor Gas announces $30,000 in grants supporting the Illinois Fire Service Institute and Illinois Fire Chiefs Association
Safety is the number one value at Nicor Gas and the company works closely with fire departments across the company's service territory in northern Illinois to ensure that their firefighters are ready to respond to emergencies in the field.
To support this partnership and provide continued support that enables training and development of firefighters across the state, Nicor Gas recently provided $20,000 to the Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) for their programs. The IFSI is the statutory State Fire Academy for Illinois, reaching approximately 60,000 firefighters, and serves as the oldest continuous fire training institution in the United States.
Additionally, Nicor Gas provided a $10,000 grant to Illinois Fire Chiefs Association (IFCA) Foundation to fund development opportunities and training programs for firefighters. The IFCA is dedicated to promoting excellence in the fire service by providing an information-sharing network and by offering educational, legislative and technical opportunities to its diverse membership and associated partners.
"Our partners in the fire service play a key role in supporting Nicor Gas' mission to provide safe and reliable energy to the communities we serve," said Margi Schiemann, director of Community Affairs at Nicor Gas and a 25-year member of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association Education and Research Foundation board of directors. "We see the benefits of the relationships we build with the fire service first-hand when we come together to respond to emergencies."
Nicor Gas focuses on building and maintaining relationships with the Illinois fire service in several ways:
• Each year, Community Affairs representatives go to dozens of fire departments to talk about how Nicor Gas maintains a safe system and how we can best coordinate our response to natural gas emergencies.
• Nicor Gas' Technical Training and Community Affairs departments host an annual hands-on training at the company's Troy Grove Storage Field where 100 firefighters practice how to properly extinguish natural gas fires.
• This year, after a year working with the IFSI, Nicor Gas launched a new online Natural Gas Safety training module housed on the IFSI training platform. Firefighters from across the state have access to this 45-minute online, self-paced training module.
• Nicor Gas engages with fire departments each year to conduct mock exercises where both Nicor Gas and fire departments test their emergency response processes and protocols.
• Each year in the fall, Nicor Gas employees attend about 50 fire department open houses across northern Illinois reaching an estimated 35,000 residents to educate them about natural gas safety.
"Nicor Gas and the Illinois fire service benefit from a multi-faceted partnership while working together to keep our communities safe," says Jim Grady, executive director of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association. "Nicor Gas' support of our first responders and promotion of safety information is one of several ways our organizations help to strengthen each other's impact."