By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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LOVES PARK — The Loves Park Fire Department has moved into its newest facility, which fire officials say will reduce response times to its busiest areas and eventually lower insurance costs for homeowners and businesses.
The city showed off its new Station 1 during an open house on Tuesday at the remodeled former body shop at 5180 Rock Valley Parkway, which is just off Riverside Boulevard near Tom Harmer. It started using the facility about three weeks ago.
Background: Loves Park buys former body shop for new fire station. Here’s why the city says the time is now
The new station replaces the city’s original station at 400 Grand Ave., which was built in 1947 and originally home to City Hall. It will now be used as storage for the city’s Public Works Department.
The former station no longer made sense for today’s fire equipment, Fire Chief Jerry Wiltfang said. For example, its doors were 10-foot tall, which doesn’t accommodate the 12-foot tall ladder trucks the department now uses.
“You can’t begin to get modern equipment in that building,” Wiltfang said.
The new station has 14-foot tall doors and a large interior space to house multiple trucks and ambulances. More importantly, it’s located closer to the majority of the calls for service.
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The former Grand Avenue station is inside a geographical Census tract where 725 calls for service were made last year. The new station is in an area where 1,211 calls for service were made. That is the highest total in the city. However, last year response times averaged seven minutes and 33 seconds in that area, according to the fire department’s 2021 annual report. Wiltfang expects those times to be reduced by about a third.
“If you’re having a heart attack, the sooner we get there and start treating you, the greater your chances for survival,” Wiltfang said. The same is true for fires: “The sooner we get there, the smaller the fire, the less damage to your home, your property and the less chance there is for a fatality.”
Wiltfang said the new station should improve the area’s Insurance Service Office score, which is intended to show how well an area is prepared to respond to a fire. After about a year, he said that should lead to lower insurance rates.
“It amounts to a fair amount of money for a home, but for Costco and big places, it’s huge money,” he said.
Loves Park paid $1.5 million to purchase the former body shop. Approximately $50,000 more was needed for renovations. Funding came from part of the city’s $3.17 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds.
The city will continue to operate two fire stations. The other is at 1527 Windsor Road.
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter at @KevinMHaas.