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Letter to the Editor: Fire Department Consolidation
Dear Editor:
I am writing this letter in support for a YES vote for the referendum question about the consolidation of the Peotone Fire Protection District with the Manhattan Fire Protection District in the upcoming election. With due respect to all the candidates on this ballot, I feel this is the most important issue for the long–term safety of our community.
The residents of the Peotone Fire Protection District will only benefit from this consolidation. Contrary to rumors, the Peotone Fire Station will REMAIN OPEN with Advanced Life Support Ambulances and fire suppression apparatus, in addition to being staffed with a combination of FULL-TIME personnel and part-time personnel.
The Peotone Fire Protection District currently is staffed with six part-time positions per day. Due to current budget constraints, the Peotone Fire Protection District is unable to staff using full-time personnel. The growing problem with a completely part-time fire department is finding people to fill those positions. These part-time personnel work full-time somewhere else. Full-time positions always will be their priority over their part-time job. Many new firefighter/paramedics are forbidden by their full-time employer, by contact, to work a part-time fire department job, only making a completely part-time department even more difficult to staff.
If we vote YES and approve consolidation, the Peotone Fire Station will be staffed initially with six positions as it currently is now. The MAJOR difference is that two-or-three of these positions will be FULL-TIME Firefighter/Paramedics, which means they are solely OURS. This will stabilize the staffing at the Peotone Fire Station and guarantee minimum staffing levels to ALWAYS provide ambulance and fire suppression protection. This improved staffing will be provided through consolidation, without any increase in the fire district taxes.
I have lived and worked in Peotone my entire life. I have watched our fire department transform from a completely volunteer department to the fire protection district it is today – staffed by part-time personnel. I served as a volunteer firefighter for 14 years, with eight of those years as a volunteer paramedic. I also had the honor of serving in the past for 14 years as a trustee of the Peotone Fire Protection District. I love this community and this fire department and can say with all my heart and soul that a YES VOTE for the consolidation of the Peotone Fire Protection District and the Manhattan Fire Protection District is the immediate and necessary next step for the future safety and welfare of the Village of Peotone and the entire area that makes up the current Peotone Fire Protection District.
Steve Cross
Illinois News
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