The Frankfort Fire Protection District is asking voters to approve a rate increase for the first time in more than two decades in order to increase staffing and respond to rising call volume.
“The last three house fires we had, only two people showed up on the first vehicle,” said Chief Paul Kinsella. “Which is, in the fire service, they really can’t do much until other people get there. So it’s really a safety concern.”
The fire protection district provides emergency services to a 42-square mile area that covers portions of Frankfort and Mokena, along with Frankfort and Green Garden townships.
Kinsella said the district has done everything it can to cut costs, including purchasing and refurbishing used vehicles rather than buying them new.
“We’ve just been trying to do all the cost savings that we can, but we just don’t have any capital budget to replace vehicles,” Kinsella said. “Some fire engines will need to be replaced the next few years here to try to stay somewhat current and not always breaking down.”
The volume of calls the district receives has almost doubled since 2005, Kinsella said, while staffing levels have stayed nearly the same.
“Our time that it takes to maybe get an ambulance to somebody is going to increase as the call volume goes up,” Kinsella said.
None of the district’s five stations is fully staffed, and it does not meet the National Fire Protection Association’s standards for staffing levels, according to the district’s website.
“We’re looking with this money to put more people on duty, but we’re not even going to the national standard,” Kinsella said. “Nobody really in our area can afford to do that.”
The district has 18 people a day working at its five firehouses, Kinsella said. With the rate increase, it would increase to 26, which is still well below the 33 to 34 called for under National Fire Protection Association standards.
“We do have retirements coming up. Unfortunately, it’s a tough job, people get hurt,” said fire district Trustee Robert Boll. “We would love to increase our staff a little bit to levels that are more in line with what national bodies recommend.”
If the rate increase is improved, Kinsella said, for a $500,000 house, the tax bill would increase by $500 to $600 a year.
The fire protection district is doing outreach to educate the community about the proposed rate increase, Kinsella said.
“It’s not a good situation, with the state of some of our other groups of taxing bodies,” Kinsella said. “Our tax rate is one of the lower ones in the area.”
Kinsella said that although increasing taxes is a sore subject, residents have been receptive to the possibility once the situation is explained. Because the district is separate from the village, he said, it gets no income other than property taxes.
“People really just didn’t understand that we’re a fire district, which is much different than the village,” Kinsella said. “You know, I can’t go argue with the mayor and not buy a snowplow this year and buy a fire truck, right?”
If the rate increase is not approved, Kinsella said, there will not be any dramatic changes such as fire stations closing, but staffing will remain low and the time it takes to respond to emergency calls will continue to increase.
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“We’d be kind of status quo. I’d keep looking for used fire trucks, I’d keep trying to do the cost savings that we’ve already done,” Kinsella said. “But we’re kind of just getting to that point break.”
Boll said the district will be in a difficult position if the rate increase isn’t approved.
“I like to think that we’re operating efficiently and within budget,” Boll said. “But some of the expenses that are facing us are going to be pretty difficult to swallow when income is fixed.”
Kinsella and Fire Marshal Zach Pavesich said the increased call volume is partially due to a high number of medical emergencies among the area’s aging population.
“Bam, it just shot up,” Pavesich said. “We got several nursing homes in town, we got two actually down the street from here, so these ambulances, they’re barely here.”
The district receives aid from neighboring fire departments through the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, Pavesich said, but sometimes those other agencies are busy with their own emergencies, stretching resources thin.
“When we do have a working fire, it’s pretty much all hands on deck,” Pavesich said. “The past couple we’ve had, all the ambulances have been at the hospital, so these guys show up with two people.”