Village of Arlington Heights Illinois

Arlington Heights Fire responds to approximately 10,000 calls for emergency service each year with a staff of 108 personnel operating from four fire stations which are staffed 24 hours a day/365 days a year.  These stations house six fire engines, two ladder towers, six ambulances and four specialty/rescue squads.   The department’s training division is responsible for ongoing training of all personnel and provides state-certified basic, advanced and officer fire training.  The department is one of the very few that maintains its own state-of-the-art training site and advanced burn building, providing Firefighters with the opportunity to train in realistic fire and rescue simulations.

All Firefighters are certified as Emergency Medical Technicians and more than half are state-certified Paramedics.  Nearly a third also serve on one or more of the department’s four specialty teams – Hazardous Materials, Dive Rescue, Technical Rescue and Fire Investigation. The department provides a myriad of public education services, with fire safety classes, presentations and tours available year round.  In addition, through the ongoing Katie Project, smoke detector/battery replacement is provided for residents needing assistance with this live-saving device.  

1. Fire Station 1
   300 E. Sigwalt Street
   
   
2. Fire Station 2
   1150 N. Arlington Heights Road
   
   
3. Fire Station 3
   2000 S. Arlington Heights Road
   
   
4. Fire Station 4
   3030 N. Arlington Heights Road

The Village of Arlington Heights organized a volunteer Fire Department on October 8, 1894 which had 40 members by the end of that year. The last volunteer firefighters retired from service on April 16, 1973.  In the first twenty years of the volunteer system, the Department responded to forty alarms. In the year 2013, the Arlington Heights Fire Department responded to nearly 10,000 calls.  The Village of Arlington Heights hired its first four full-time firefighters on April 28, 1957. Currently the Department has 108 shift personnel and six staff positions. Shift personnel work 24 hours at a time in three different shifts.

Fire Investigation Team
Investigation to determine the origin and cause of fires is one of the tasks performed by the Arlington Heights Fire Department. The Fire Investigation Team responds to all working structure fires or whenever an investigator's presence at an incident is requested by a Battalion Commander or company officer. 

Hazardous Materials Response Team 
Responding to chemical emergencies is another responsibility of the Arlington Heights Fire Department. The number of hazardous materials emergencies throughout the country increases each year. The Hazardous Materials Response Team was formed to protect the community from these incidents. The Arlington Heights Fire Department Hazardous Materials Response Team is also a member of a larger group of area hazmat teams, the "Combined Chemical Emergency Response Team." This larger team is assembled when a community is faced with a large or extremely dangerous chemical emergency. The team is comprised of hazmat teams from the Arlington Heights, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village and Mount Prospect Fire Departments. The participating departments pool their resources and talent to help the stricken community manage a hazardous materials emergency. These teams train together as a single response group numerous times during the year. 

Technical Rescue Specialist | TRS Team
Responding to emergencies where people are trapped or injured under special circumstances is a job for the Technical Rescue Team of the Arlington Heights Fire Department. The team may respond to a trench collapse where sewers are being installed, a high-rise building for a vertical rescue of a window washer, or even to a confined space where utility work is being performed. TRS team members are trained to respond and quickly begin assisting the trapped or injured victim. The team has specialized equipment for each type of rescue. 

Water Rescue & Recovery | Dive Team
The Arlington Heights Fire Department Water Rescue and Recovery Team was created for the purpose of providing trained personnel to accomplish various tasks at water-related incidents. Our Dive Team members have attained various levels of certification, including open water diving, ice diving, deep-water diving, evidence recovery, swift water rescue, advanced open water diving, and dive-master operations. These divers are also responsible for the on-going water rescue training for shift personnel and Arlington Heights Park District lifeguards.