Fire Operations

Northbrook Fire Department staffs 2 engines, 1 ladder truck, 3 ambulances, and a Shift Commander 24/7. The front line fire apparatus is equipped with Paramedic Advance Life Support (ALS) equipment and paramedics.  A reserve fleet of ambulances, engines and a ladder truck are maintained to provide additional apparatus to be staffed by Paid-On-Call (POC) personnel or to replace front line apparatus in the case of needed maintenance. 

The Operations Division is staffed by 69 career Officers and Firefighters, and 18 Paid-on-Call Firefighters. Career or full time firefighter/ paramedics are assigned to a shift, which consists of 22 personnel assigned to each shift with a minimum of 16 on duty daily. Each of the three shifts work a 24 hour "on", 48 hour "off" cycle and are supervised by a District Chief, Captain and 3 Lieutenants.

The 60 career firefighters and Lieutenants represented by the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 1894 are covered by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).  Command Officer Supervisors, Captains and District Chiefs are not in the bargaining unit, but work the same 24/48 hour shift.

The department operates from three fire stations. The stations’ and associated fire apparatus numbering is designed for Mutual Aid with neighboring communities.  Northbrook Fire Department is assigned 10, 11, and 12 for our three stations.  In addition to the headquarters station (Station #11) located at 740 Dundee Road, Operations personnel are also located at two other fire stations, Station #12 at 1840 Shermer Road and Station #10 at 650 Huehl Road. The average delivery or frequency of service in 6 minutes or less was achieved 85% of the time in FY 08/09 from equipment dispatch to the first unit on the scene. This time does not include the dispatch handling time of about one minute.

During FY 08/09, the total emergency call load was 5,650. The department responded to 1,243 Fire Calls, 2,923 EMS Calls, 59 Rescues, and 1,425 Non-Emergency Service Calls while accomplishing a variety of other non-emergency tasks such as pre-fire planning for approximately 3,600 commercial and industrial building sites, and testing, drying and rebedding 20,000 feet of hose. The average firefighter also participates in 30 hours of monthly skill maintenance training.

MUTUAL AID BOX ALARM SYSTEM (MABAS)

Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) in partnership with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) have established a statewide, non-discriminatory mutual aid response system for fire, Emergency Medical Service (EMS) and specialized incident operational teams (Special Teams). Sharing the effort are representatives from the Office of the State Fire Marshal, Department of Public Health – EMS Division and Illinois Fire Chiefs Association. The system defines a resource response plan to any location within the state when the Governor orders a Declaration of Disaster.  Today, the MABAS organization includes nearly every fire department in Illinois, as well as many areas of Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin.

MUTUAL AID BOX ALARM SYSTEM (MABAS) - MABAS Division 3

MABAS Division 3 includes the seventeen north shore communities bounded by Highland Park on the north, Evanston and Skokie on the south, Des Plaines and Prospect Heights on the west, and Lake Michigan on the East. Currently, seventeen north shore departments belong to MABAS Division 3, providing service from 40 fire stations and over 950 firefighters.  The Fire Department pays a nominal annual membership fee ($5,000) to share in hundreds of thousands of dollars of specialty vehicles and equipment.

MABAS also offers specialized operations teams for hazardous materials (HAZMAT), underwater rescue/recovery (DIVE) and above grade/below grade, trench and building collapse rescues a.k.a. Technical Rescue Teams (TRT). An additional element of resource are the certified fire investigators which can be "packaged" as teams for larger incidents requiring complicated and time-consuming efforts for any single agency.  Northbrook has six members assigned to each of the three “Special Teams.” Each of the 18 Special Teams members participates in a minimum of 48 hours of additional training in the areas of Hazardous Materials, Underwater Diver Specialties or Technical Rescue.  Our participation in the special teams allows the Department to quickly assemble dozens of specially trained firefighters and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of apparatus and equipment to any incident in the Village.

REGIONAL EMERGENCY DISPATCH (RED) CENTER

The Village of Northbrook hosts the Regional Emergency Dispatch (RED) Center.   RED Center is a standalone intergovernmental agency developed to provide the highest quality and cost efficient Fire Department/EMS Dispatch Services.  RED Center provides Fire and Emergency Medical Service (EMS) dispatch for the Northbrook Fire Department as well as the Highwood, Lincolnwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Wheeling, Winnetka/Kenilworth, and Wilmette Fire Departments. It also provides dispatch for the Deerfield-Bannockburn, Long Grove, Lincolnshire-Riverwoods, North Maine, and Prospect Heights Fire Protection Districts. It is the only one of its kind to dispatch fire and EMS resources only in the Chicago metropolitan area.  

Links:

Mutual Aid Box Alarm System

Mutual Aid Box Alarm System Division 3