Facilities
Station 20 was built in 1996 and is proudly located in the heart of Deerfield at 500 Waukegan Road. The station, which took fourteen months to construct, contains the only built-in safety-training house on the North Shore. Which is used to teach basic fire safety to children. Previously, we would borrow trailers from the county that simulated rooms of a home to achieve the same goal. However, now a four room home is built right into the station’s basement. A built-in smoke machine simulates the circumstances of an actual fire. The doors are even equipped with a device to make them warm to touch, to help teach children visualize and experience an actual fire situation instilling critical knowledge in an actual fire situation. The house is frequently used to provide many teachers and their classes from the community with life saving fire safety education.
Firefighters are also able to use the house or the vast open area in the basement for their own training exercises. Also, the area can be used by local groups and organizations for meetings.
The current station does have a touch of the old. In the foyer it displays a fire pole transferred from our old house, where the Yard House now presides, and is no longer in service but is meticulously kept by the our firefighters who cherish the past.
Station 19 was built shortly after station 20 in 1998 and is located in Bannockburn at 1935 Half Day Road just east of I-94. Architects carefully designed the office spaces to incorporate much needed storage space which was hard to come by in the old stations. There are offices established for the chiefs, the fire prevention bureau, lieutenants, training officers and fire district board members.
Having two dedicated stations strategically placed in town allows us to optimally protect Deerfield, Bannockburn and Riverwoods with quicker response times when there is an emergency.
The stations comes equipped with a library, where firefighters taking college or training courses can study, a physical fitness room, an interactive classroom for training, a large kitchen with eating areas and a TV room for when all duties of the day are accomplished.
Apparatus Bay
Possibly one of the greatest improvements to the fire stations is the extra room in our apparatus bays. Previously the trucks were parked approximately 40 inches from the wall, providing firefighters minimal space to dress for a call or maintain the trucks. The current bays are more than twice the size, housing 3 fire engines, a fire truck, 2 squad vehicles, 3 ambulances and several utility vehicles. Another advantage is a separate bay dedicated strictly for maintenance which employees a knowledgeable fleet manager who tends to the constant needs of our apparatus on site. Fully equipped with lifts to raise the trucks, yes even the ladder truck, high into the air for easy access to critical parts. Another advantage of our modernized home is the bays are equipped with flexible exhaust hoses that stretch to the ceiling and eject the exhaust out of the building, which minimizes the firefighters exposure to the fumes.
