Illinois Valley fire departments are responding to more calls than ever, most of them are EMS calls

By any measure, Jeff King had a busy year. Peru’s fire chief said his pager blew up more times in 2024 than in memory. Calls were up a whopping 81%.

Were there more structure fires in Peru city limits? A few more, King said, but not enough to explain why dispatches came close to doubling.

“There is more mutual aid. Everyone is short-handed so we’re helping each other out a lot more.”

—  Ben Brown, Utica fire chief

King said his 2024 call volume, up to 932 from 516 the previous year, had more to do with the upheaval set off by the Peru and Spring Valley hospital closures.

“At this point the hospitals were down,” King recalled. “We were assisting EMTs because of their extended transport times, which were longer going to Ottawa and Mendota.”

Most local fire companies reported year-over-year increases in activity, though not necessarily because of an increase in structure fires inside city limits. King said many of his calls were for mutual aid.

“We’re going back and forth to other towns,” he said. “If there’s a big fire, we’re backing each other up.”

Most fire chiefs interviewed said it was an increase in EMS calls, rather than structure fires, that is most straining their budgets and taxing their personnel.

One exception is Oglesby. Fire Chief Ron Popurella said his calls were flat. Oglesby Fire and EMS are separate companies – many firefighters double as paramedics – with the result that fire calls were unaffected by any change in EMS volume.

La Salle’s chief, on the other hand, said it was EMS dispatches that kept his people busy.

Fire Chief Jerry Janick said his crews responded to 15 fires last year, down 44% from the 27 reported in 2023. Janick did not, however, enjoy a 44% drop in calls, which slid a mere 3% thanks to the offsetting surge in medical calls.

“Due to our staffing issues on the ambulance side that started around July, the city switched to Stark County Ambulance for paramedic staffing only,” Janick said. “We have not had two paramedics per shift. We’re still working on this.”

Spring Valley Fire Chief Todd Bogatitus reported a 76% jump in calls, citing more activity – period.

“We started to run EMS calls for major medical only with the ambulance or if no ambulance is available,” Bogatitus said. “Plus with auto aid and mutual aid for structure fires, fires have increased for Spring Valley.

“With fewer firefighters around, or available during the daytime, no fire department has enough help to handle structure fires by themselves so we all help each other out.”

Ottawa Fire Chief Brian Bressner said his fire calls were “pretty even” year over year while mutual aid calls rose by more than half.

EMS calls also were up about 3% year over year; but Bressner said the big story in Ottawa is the 26% increase in EMS calls over the past decade.

Bressner attributed that incremental growth to an aging population. True, Ottawa has behavioral health services that also spur EMS calls, he said, but it is primarily the nursing homes and senior citizens that are driving his numbers.

Utica Fire Chief Ben Brown reported a 9% increase in calls, year over year, and he attributes the bump to an increase in both fire and EMS dispatches.

“There is more mutual aid,” Brown said. “Everyone is short-handed so we’re helping each other out a lot more.”

Brown also had an uptick in EMS calls but he’s less able to pinpoint a cause. One possibility is more tourism. Starved Rock and Matthiessen state parks drew nearly 3 million visitors combined.

Streator Fire Chief Gary Bird said structure fires slid by a third (from 28 to 19 last year), but the call volume is up for both fire and EMS.

“Our fire calls were up due to more calls for service,” Bird explained. “Included in this number are fire alarms, gas leaks, carbon monoxide calls, etc. These are just normal calls and there just happened to be more of them last year.”

EMS calls were another story. Bird said EMS calls jumped 11% year over year, thanks in part to a service area that extends well past city limits into all Reading Township and Long Point Fire Protection Districts.