History

1960 - The Romeoville Fire Department was founded by a group of volunteers who saw a need to provide Fire protection to our new community. The station was located in the current Village Hall.

1975 - The Village and Department built a new station, which is now our current Station 1. This station was designed for part-time personnel. With the opening of Station 1, the Village also began to pay personnel to staff the stations on a 24-hour basis. Five personnel were placed on shift.

1983 - The Department identified the need to provide around the clock Paramedic service, and through the hard work of the members of the Department, they educated citizens of the need to fund this proposition. A referendum to establish an ambulance tax was passed to provide equipment and personnel to protect the Village.

1984 - The Department fought a catastrophic explosion and fire at the Unoven Refinery that devastated the plant.

1986 - Fire Station 1 underwent an addition to the west side of the building. This was to house additional equipment and to provide living quarters for on duty personnel, so additional staff personnel could be placed in remodeled living quarters.

1990 - The Village Board appointed its first full-time Fire Chief to professionalize the Department, and to meet the needs of the rapidly growing community.

1991 - The Metropolitan Sanitary District closed the 135th Street Bridge due to safety concerns. In doing so, this cut off the East side of the Village from Fire protection. To address these concerns, the Department rented space in a building that housed an Ambulance, a Tanker truck, and 2 personnel to provide protection. The personnel were reassigned from Station 1. In June, the Department opened Fire Station 2, located in the Marquette Business Park. A Fire Engine and an Ambulance were placed in service to protect the rapidly growing northern area of the Village.

1992- In March, the Department hired 7 personnel full time to begin the transition of the Department from part-time staffing to full time. The Department hired four Captains and three Firefighter-Paramedics.

1994- The Village passed a referendum to purchase new fire engines, ambulances, turn out gear, SCBA, and related equipment to modernize the department.

1997 - The Village entered into an inter-governmental agreement with the Lockport Township Fire District to provide Fire and ambulance service to areas West of Weber Road in the Village. Our Department would be responsible to respond to these areas also.

1999 - The Department purchased its first Aerial Truck, a 100-foot Tower-Ladder and placed it in service in late 1999. The Truck provides service to the refinery, Lewis University, and the numerous motels and larger buildings in Romeoville.

2001 - The Department purchased a new Ambulance to replace the aging units obtained from the referendum in 1994. The unit was the first on the large, commercial chassis designed to better handle payload issues and extend service life from five to seven years.

2005 – The Village purchased a new Fire Engine to replace the 1986 unit still in reserve, and a new Heavy Rescue Squad to replace a 1978 unit. The Romeoville Fire Academy (RFA) was established. The academy trains firefighters from Northern Illinois in advanced skill areas such as Hazardous Materials, Technical Rescue, Water Rescue and other specialties. The department became one of only a handful of fire departments in Illinois to deploy the Auto Pulse device to increase the chance of surviving a cardiac arrest. The Auto Pulse is a battery operated non-invasive cardiac support pump that moves more blood then manual CPR and has shown to improve survival from cardiac arrest.

2006 - The department placed into service a 2006 Pierce Enforcer pumper and a 2006 Pierce Enforcer Heavy Rescue Squad. The rescue squad is a multi functional vehicle that was designed to provide emergency lighting at emergency scenes via a telescoping tight pole, fill self contained breathing apparatus through state of the art air cascade system at house fires and assists with a wide variety of specialized equipment at large and unique incidents. The squad also serves as the primary vehicle for the departments Dive and Technical Rescue (TRT) teams. Both vehicles are housed at Station 1.

2007 – A 2007 Pierce Enforcer Pumper was placed into service. This vehicle is housed at Station 3. A 2007 Ford Expedition command vehicle was also placed into service which is utilized by the departments Battalion Chiefs. The Village purchased land at Normantown and Weber Roads for the construction of Fire Station #3. Fire department staff along with Architect Engineers and Village Staff worked on plans for future Station 2 as well as a new station 1 that will be constructed at the Village campus on 135th Street. The department also put into service a second auto pulse device and replaced cardiac monitors with state of the art 12 lead cardiac monitors. These new monitors give emergency room doctors the information necessary to make better medical decisions for patients having heart attacks. This technology decreases the time it takes to get a patient to the cath lab and definitive care.