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Fire, rescue districts face challenge in
rural parts of county
| Publication |
Kane County Chronicle |
| Date |
July 6, 2008 |
| Section(s) |
Front page |
| Page |
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MAPLE
PARK – After a spring storm, Richard Heinrich, 64, was clearing a
damaged tree in his back yard in unincorporated Kane County when he felt
a terrible pain in his chest.
It hurt so bad, he could not walk. So he rode a lawn tractor to his back
porch, staggered into the kitchen, hollered his wife’s name, and
collapsed.
“It was a very serious heart attack,” said his wife, Kathleen Heinrich.
“I’m fortunate enough to work out of my home. I reached for my phone and
called 911.”
And she waited. And waited. She questioned the dispatcher.
“I knew it was taking a long time,” she said. “I said, ‘Where are the
paramedics coming from? Elburn is only five miles away.’ And that’s when
he corrected me and told me it was Big Rock.”
The quiet and beauty of rural living has its tradeoffs for residents. It
presents its challenges for emergency and fire services, too.
Country driving is different from city traffic, local fire officials
say. And while their rigs are burning rubber up two-lane roads, they
have to be careful not to get into an accident while striving to save a
life, because more motorists don’t pull over for lights and sirens.
Residents in rural, less-populated areas get emergency services through
a network of agencies and mutual-aid agreements. If one cannot get to a
location, the dispatch agencies notifies others to step in. Each one
backs the other up, fire and rescue officials say.
These longstanding agreements can come as a surprise to unwitting
residents, who might not know who answers a 911 call until an emergency
happens.
‘They saved his life’
Heinrich said she did not know the volunteer Kaneville Fire Protection
District had contracted with Big Rock in February 2004 to provide
ambulance service to its residents.
For years, Elburn and Countryside Fire Protection District,
geographically closer, had provided the service to people inside the
Kaneville fire district. But after Elburn said it was raising its costs,
Kaneville sought the service from Big Rock.
Elburn will respond to any of Kaneville fire’s 911 calls, but only if
mutual aid is requested, officials said.
Big Rock, which is 11 miles away, now provides ambulance service to
Heinrich’s home, and also serves Kaneland High and Middle schools, which
are about a mile away from her house.
According to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act,
Kane County Dispatch received Heinrich’s 911 call at 1:53 p.m. March
24. Kaneville Fire and Big Rock EMS were dispatched at the same time.
Big Rock advised Kane County they were en route at 1:57 p.m. and arrived
at Heinrich’s house at 2:09 p.m., 11 minutes from the time they left the
station, 16 minutes from the time the call was made. Kaneville’s records
show they also arrived at 2:09 p.m.
“Once they got here ... I was very impressed. They saved his life,”
Heinrich said. “But I was concerned about the time. If you look at this
from a geographical point, Big Rock is too far. Do the math.”
Heinrich said she is more concerned about Big Rock’s ability to respond
to the schools, when it is 10 miles away and Elburn is about 6 miles
away.
“I’m focusing on the children,” Heinrich said. “Are the parents aware
that if they have a child who has a severe allergy, a child who gets
injured in physical education, a child who falls off the bus and breaks
an arm or a leg, that child is going to stay there and wait for Big Rock
paramedics? It’s a time evaluation. It’s not a care and money
evaluation. It is a time evaluation.”
She brought her concerns to the Kane School officials, who said they are
going to look into the response time data.
‘How many people are willing to triple their taxes?’
Heinrich suggested that Elburn provide ambulance service to areas north
of I-88 and Big Rock to areas south of I-88. She plans to bring her
concerns to the next Kaneville Fire District Board meeting at 7:30 p.m.
July 21, 6W536 Lovell St., Kaneville.
Kaneville Fire Chief David Sigmund said that, with firefighters as first
responders to all emergencies and with mutual aid agreements all around,
dividing up the emergency service area around the tollway is
unnecessary.
Debra Raymond, who coordinates Big Rock’s EMS service, said Heinrich’s
suggestion would split the district and cost too much.
“How many people are willing to triple their taxes to pay for this?”
Raymond asked. “Elburn [fire] will not do it for what we’re doing it
for. My crew saved her husband’s life and got a commendation for it. I
show they got there in 11 minutes ... that is a fair response time.”
Big Rock Fire Chief John Ruh said that, in five years, they’ve never
been longer than 11 minutes in responding to the Kaneville area.
“I told her flat to her face, ‘If you don’t like it, move,’ ” Ruh said
of Heinrich. “We saved [her husband]. Elburn would not have been there
any sooner.”
Heinrich said that’s not the point.
“This isn’t about, ‘If you want better service, live in a big city,’ ”
Heinrich said. “Someone’s life should not be based on, ‘Where am I going
to save money?’ It should be who is closest to that area.”
But Ruh said re-arranging the emergency service area would also put his
district in a financial bind.
When it contracted with Kaneville for emergency service, Big Rock bought
a second ambulance for $125,000 and has about 30 part-time paramedics.
“We’d have to lay people off and sell the second ambulance,” Ruh said.
“We did an excellent job of saving that man’s life. Elburn would not
have been there any sooner.”
The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they
represent the view of KCChronicle.com or Shaw Newspapers.
dh wrote on
Jul 6, 2008 9:28 AM:
" I agree with Heinrich. There are some portions of Maple
Park that are better served to Big Rock. But the area north
of 88 should be serviced by Elburn. My children attended
Kaneland for years, and I was not aware of this policy.
As for the response time, they took 16 minutes! Why aren't
they counting the first five minutes? Thats a LONG time.
The comments about getting rid of the second ambulance, and
laying people off. They are putting a price on human life.
Too bad Big Rock, thats the way business goes sometimes. "
mem wrote on
Jul 7, 2008 9:22 AM:
" Again, leave it to the press to get it wrong. Big Rock is
the transport ambulance, not the first response unit. The
reporter never reported that Kane ville has increased their
level of service to the emt-b level, thay are fully equipped
to handle the first 5 minutes of any emergency. for example
CPR of defibrillation if it were necessary. they work very
hard and train to maintain thier compencies. Big Rock knew
that there was a distance to the furthest North end of the
district. All fire districts have areas of long response due
to boundries that were established many years ago. though
every ambulance works diligently to get there as soon as
possible thereal;ity is that we all have so many resources.
We plan for large incidents. If there were a large incident,
there would be ambulances from many districts there, most
would not be able to be there in 5 minutes. The first
reponse unit would begin the initial steps until more help
comes. Tha t is the reality. Most departments have 1 or 2
ambulances and rely on mutual aid for additional responses.
Though we all understand Mrs Heinrichs feelings we say where
are you when its time to volunteer? Do you in any manner
support your Fire Dept.? Or do you only have a comment when
things affect you? Your fireman and emts give up many hours
of their time, so do ntheir families. Such as staying home
all weekend because mom or dad are on call, and did I add
for no pay. There were meeting and announcements prior to
this switch, there were articles in the paper. The truth is
that when you live in the country, you know that resources
are further, you drive for shopping, DRs appointments and so
forth. As for the School, they are prepared for thye first
few minutes. Thay have Nurses on staff, they have personnel
trained in the first aid, and they also have AEDS , thanks
to the efforts of Kaneville Fire. they have Kaneville
responding in 5 minutes and Big Rock to transport. Once
again , I am deeply disappointed in the press, they print
enough words to evoke a response, not the entire verbage. "
ck wrote on Jul 8, 2008 10:19 AM:
"I have children in the Kaneland schools and have been VERY
impressed in the short time takes our 100% Volunteer Fire
Dept. to arrive to the school whether during or after school
hours or for soccer games on the weekends. The EMT's
are very skilled and have been able to handle any type of
injury. I question Mrs Heinrichs true reasons for
bringing up the school, I think she felt it a better
sounding post for her wanting different service.
Hopefully that is not the case. Again I am VERY proud
of our VOLUNTEERS!!"
fd wrote on Jul 9, 2008 9:27 PM:
" After reading this article and myself being a
firefighter/paramedic in the Chicagoland area. I have a
couple questions.
Why did both depts/fire chief's respond publicly?
Why didn't they leave it as "No Comment at this time" or
replying with a date and time for resolution?
What you say and what you do as a public official(s) opens
you and your organization up to "hear say" comments by the
media and the public.
Another question...
Not a shot at volunteers, but when is it time to think about
volunteers not protecting your area? After all... you pay
the taxes.
Thank You for your time "
interestedfirefighter wrote on Jul 11, 2008 1:13 PM:
" Why is Elburn Fire Department getting a bad rap? This
situation has nothing to do with them. Both Kaneville and
Big Rock are making it out to be Elburns fault because they
asked for more money. Yes Elburn could respond quicker than
Kaneville or Big Rock to the parts mentioned but that is
Kanevilles choice not Elburn. Voice your concerns at a
Trustee meeting at Kaneville. "
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