South Elgin Fire Protection Station 23

Station 23 which first opened in 1925, is the first station built on South Elgin’s east side. Station 23 is a 10,600 SF station which includes a two-bay apparatus area, living quarters, and a dining table made by one of the captains from trees from Station 21. The station is equipped with a fire engine, an ambulance and has three firefighters, paramedics, and EMT-B’S on duty per shift. Response time will improve because emergency vehicles will not have to deal with waiting for trains using the railroad tracks that divide South Elgin. On top of doing their everyday duties, Station 23 offers Advanced Life Support (ALS) ambulance services, public education, fire prevention, hazardous material responses, dive rescue, technical rescue, and other services.

Eriksson Engineering Associates, Ltd. (EEA) served as a civil engineering consultant when building the second of two new fire stations for the South Elgin and Countryside Fire Protection District. This station has two fire truck bays and expansive concrete areas to help run drills on the trucks. The concrete design incorporated synthetic fiber instead of the traditional weld wire fabric for reinforcement. The driveway into the station is in a shared easement with the village owner’s property to the north. This village property includes a water tower and a community garden. Part of the design EEA performed included parking and sidewalk access to the community garden and vehicular access to the water tower for maintenance and public works vehicles. Station 23 has a small exterior patio for the fire district employees to use. To minimize costs on utilities, the entire site slopes towards the detention basin to the west and large curb cuts with rip rap stabilization allow for stormwater to run directly into the basin. These curb cuts also allow for easy snow removal in the winter. The basin is designed similar to Station 21 with a stone bed to facilitate infiltration and reduce future maintenance requirements.