Support Services

Harlem-Roscoe Fire has several support services. . .

 

Administrative

Dona Zop, Colleen Bloyer & Kelly Green

The Chief's Administrative Assistant is Colleen Bloyer. She is also the bookkeeper to the Board of Trustees.

Kelly Green enters the medical and fire alarm reports into the Firehouse Software and fills in for Colleen when the need arises.

Dona Zop enters all the fire prevention inspections into the computer and keeps the inspection files up-to-date.

 

 

Chaplains

The department has several chaplains that administer to those who are in need of support, comfort, and protection on our emergency scenes. They respond day or night.

They may help the victims at the emergency scenes by comforting their family, helping them with transportation, finding shelter or food, and helping make phone calls.

They not only help on our emergency scenes but are available to the department’s personnel in their times of need.

Sue
Bernardi
K.D.
Bodwell
Bob
Clark
Judy
Currier
Chuck
Hansel
John
Heins
Ken
Kelly
Bill
Null
Jim
Wright

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dispatch

In the early days, there were no radios, no pagers, and no 9-1-1.

Emergency phone calls were answered at a firefighters home (usually a Chiefs) or at the old Fire Station One.The fire siren would then be set off to notify the firefighters to respond for the call.

Eventually, radios and pagers were introduced and the 9-1-1 Center came online in 1991. The center would take the initial call and forward it to the department’s emergency phone line. The call would be answered by one of several remote radios placed in volunteer firefighter’s homes and dispatched by radio.

When the new Station One was built in 1994, a dispatch center was included. Currently, paid dispatchers are on-duty 24/7.
Guy "Snoopy"
Stirts
Jerry
Lund
Ami
Sommerfield
Bill
Lund
Harry
Wagner
   
Randy
Garner
Carmella
Young
Jennie
Anderson
   

 

 

Fire Investigation

The Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office mandates that all fires are investigated for cause and origin. Harlem-Roscoe Fire has a team of trained and experienced fire investigators – two are State Certified. If more help is needed, a MABAS Box may be called for mutual aid and trained investigators from nearby departments would then respond. The IL State Fire Marshal’s Fire Investigator is also requested on any suspicious fires, on any high dollar fires, where anyone is injured, or in the event of a fatality.

 

 

Fire Prevention

The fire prevention personnel go throughout the district to make sure our local businesses are safe for their employees and the public -- whether it’s manufacturing, retail, medical, church, school, or daycare.


They perform safety checks, and are present for gas tank installations, pressure tests, sprinkler system flush and tests, and alarm system tests. They collect preplan information such as a key holder, contact numbers, hydrant location, electric and gas shutoffs, hazardous material locations, etc. A floor plan is computer drawn and marked with all the preplan information. It is then installed on the computer mapping program and can be brought up by dispatch or any one of the laptops in the responding emergency vehicles.


It is highly recommended that all businesses in our fire district install a Knox Box Key Entry System. This is a box which officers can access a key to the business after hours. Firefighters having immediate access in an emergency can lessen the damage done by fire or may even save a business from total destruction.


We at Harlem-Roscoe Fire strongly believe that all businesses should have sprinkler systems. All three fire stations are in coherence with this belief and have systems installed. We have worked closely with local governments to pass ordinances such as the Village of Roscoe did in 2007 requiring buildings with three or more apartments to have a sprinkler system and smoke detectors.

 

 

Media

The department photographers, Sheryl Drost and Marcia Soppe, document and archive everything the department does. The photos are used on the department’s web site, newsletter, yearly calendar, brochures, and other public education projects.

Sheryl is also responsible for the department web site, the monthly newsletter, and the HRFD page on Facebook. The web site is www.harlemroscoefire.com and is updated often. It has everything from pictures to videos, to a virtual tour of the training burn tower. The monthly department newsletter, ‘The Firehouse Scene’ is posted on the web site as well. A black and white copy may be picked up at the administrative office at Station One the second Sunday of each month.

The department works closely with local news organizations. You can also sign up with www.nixle.com to receive trusted up-to-the-minute neighborhood information.

Archiving the history of Harlem-Roscoe is an on-going project and if anyone has old pictures or stories to tell, we'd love to see and hear them. Please call 815-623-7867 or stop in at the administrative offices at Station One.

 

 

Vehicle Maintenance

A crew of volunteer mechanics keep the department’s apparatus fleet up and running and ready to respond to emergencies. In 2005, a 2-bay addition was added to Station One to give the mechanics the room and the tools to better work on the trucks. Thursday nights have become the official “Maintenance night”, but it could be day or night, 24/7, that a truck could go down and a mechanic is needed.

L-r Mark Soppe, Dave Doyle, and Deputy Chief Richard Schoonover.