The Elgin Fire Department needs a sixth ambulance and nine new firefighter/paramedics to handle the 40% increase in emergency calls they’ve seen in the last 12 years, Fire Chief Robb Cagann says.
Speaking at an Elgin City Council budget review session Wednesday, Cagann said the new staffing request is not just because of the big jump in calls but because the department is requesting mutual aid from other towns far too frequently when they get multiple simultaneous emergency calls.
If approved, the fire department’s 2025 budget would increase to $38,188,670 million — $2.2 million or 6.1% more than this year, according to city documents.
Elgin added a sixth ambulance in 2005 but it was put out of service in 2012 because it wasn’t “truly necessary at that moment,” Cagann said.
The number of emergency calls in 2012 was 10,700, or about 29 per day, Cagann said. Eleven years later, the department’s call volume was 15,000 — an average of 41 per day, he said.
“We are very confident in projecting we will break 16,000 calls for 2024,” Cagann said. It’s a 1,000-call increase over last year and an average of 44 calls per day, he said.
Of that number, 77% are for emergency medical services, he said.
“Those are significant increases since the last time we had a sixth ambulance,” Cagann said.
A department analysis was done to determine why calls had gone up so significantly but it didn’t find “anything glaring,” the chief said.
If the new hires are approved, the sixth ambulance would be place at Fire Station 3, 2455 Royal Blvd.
Six firefighters/paramedics are needed to cover three daily ambulance shifts, but Cagann is requesting nine to ensure the department has enough relief staff to reduce what they pay in overtime.
Overtime costs have been the topic of conversation for 20 years, Cagann said. Initially, the thinking was it was less expensive to pay overtime than to pay salaries with benefits, he said, but the only way to rein in overtime is to have enough employees to cover for days off, sick time or periods when someone needs extended time off.
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The fire department’s growing reliance on mutual aid is also fueling the need to more manpower, Cagann said. They had to request assistance from neighboring communities 628 times in 2023 but were only asked to provide aid 48 times in that same time period, he said.
“You can see the disparity of what we are providing versus what we are receiving,” Cagann said.
There have been times when Elgin has anywhere from seven to nine simultaneous calls and had no choice but to seek help from other departments, Cagann said. “We are pulling those units in on a regular basis,” he said.
Councilman Steve Thoren asked whether the city could create partnerships and contract with private ambulance companies, but Cagann said there are potential issues with that idea. Among them, he said, is that city paramedics provide a higher level of care and that private ambulances may not be available during an emergency.
“I don’t think it’s a very practical model to work with,” Cagann said. “I know other departments have done it, but I think it was more out of a necessity because they couldn’t put a unit in service.”
No decision was made on the request. The council is scheduled to vote on the budget in mid-December.
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.