The Fire Department has a force of 66 fire fighters. The fire chief is Theodore Brown.
The Department has 25 pieces of equipment, including five fire engines, a snorkel unit, four ambulances and a hazardous materials unit.
Chicago Heights has five fire stations, located at 83 East Joe Orr Road, the headquarters station; 16th and State Streets; 22nd Street and Butler Avenue; 16th and Division Streets and 53 East 19th Place.
The City also has a (POC) force of 30 members. Paid-on-call fire fighters are utilized for medical standby and response and for fire standby and response when the regular fire department is committed to a major incident.
The Insurance Service Office, an independent accrediting agency, ranks the Fire Department in the upper three percent of all Illinois departments.
The Department's excellent ranking translates into lower insurance premiums for property owners.
The Fire Department responded to a total of 4,995 calls in the past year, an average of 96 calls a week. Approximately 3,639 of the calls were for ambulance or paramedic assistance. The remainder of the calls were responses to fires at homes, business places and vehicles.
History of the Fire Department
The city's first fire department, a volunteer force, was organized by residents in April of 1892.
In 1895 there was one fire station to serve the town. In those days the equipment consisted of two tank wagons drawn by horses and hose carts that were pulled by hand. When the horses were not at a fire, they were put to use by the city for street work and hauling garbage.
In 1901 a second fire house was built. Firemen still had to move some of the equipment by hand. By 1912 progress had dictated the purchase of a steam fire engine. The department also had a combination hose wagon and chemical tank. The city acquired its first motor-powered fire fighting equipment in 1915.
By 1919 the department had two fire stations manned by approximately 18 salaried firemen using one steam engine, one powered pumper, one combination wagon, one hose wagon, one hook and ladder truck, an automobile for the chief and 12 horses.
Today's department is equipped with state-of-the-art vehicles.
Would you like to be a paid-on-call volunteer for the Chicago Heights Fire Department?