**IMPORTANT NEWS**               The Alsip 911 Surcharge has not been increased since its inception 15 years ago.  Due to ever changing technologies, in conjunction with computer based equipment needing constant updates, the Alsip 911 Emergency Dispatch Center requires an increase from $.50 cents to one dollar.  This equates to an increase from approximately six to twelve dollars a year per telephone line.

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The Mission of the Alsip Fire Department is to provide timely, professional, safe and cost effective emergency service for the preservation of life and property.  The patient's best interest and minimizing fire loss is always the first priority with the Alsip Fire Department.

We are committed to continuous improvement in providing "State of the Art" patient care and fire suppression/prevention for all we serve.  To that same end, we are committed to the advancement of our members while continuing our history of quality service to the community.

History

The Alsip Fire Department founded in 1945 by a group of dedicated men who had a burning desire to serve the community.  They did not have a fire truck or a house to put it in.

Community was rural, there was no toll road and the canal was new.  Cicero Avenue was a "highway" and Pulaski was not quite a road.  Hazelgreen was the real "community" with a dozen or so homes and a one room school.  Orchard Estates, David Estates and other subdivisions were either farmland, swampland or cemetery.

The first fire chief was John Bultema.  He was actually a policeman, and his wife was the first dispatcher when they first got radios.

The first fire engine was a 1946 Chevrolet and was recently purchased by one of our current firefighters.  It was purchased from donations from the community and housed in an addition to the original village hall that was built by the first firefighters, John Bultema, Emmerson Thoms, Elmer Reich, Norb Obesny and Russ Jeans.

    

Other men involved in the early years Doc Watts, Dale Lange and many others.  Russ Jeans was a Captain, Doc Watts and Dale Lange were Assistant Chiefs.  Doc Watts was instrumental in the implementation of the EMS program in this department, and Dale Lange was instrumental in firefighter training, securing state training funds and the first fire inspector.  He was instrumental in the first stages of the Fire Prevention Bureau, before fire prevention was popular and looked down upon by suppression firefighters.

During Chief Bultema's tenure as chief, the department rapidly changed.  Alsip grew from a small rural community to a suburb, and the fire department grew to meet those needs.  The first aerial ladder was purchased to meet the needs of the tallest building (now the Doubletree Hotel) and the department soon outgrew its quarters.  An addition was built just for the new aerial, but not long after the fire department moved out of its "halfway house" and into two new fire stations.

American LaFrance was the "Cadillac" of fire trucks and we had two of them, along with two Ford F-700 "Bumper Pumpers".  The department went full time in with 12 men from the volunteer/part-time ranks in 1975.  Among the original full time men were the next two chiefs, Wayne Rice and Ron Fraider.

Since 1975 the department has transitioned from a full time/part time to a department of 39 dedicated, motivated and highly trained men and wom en.