PEORIA HEIGHTS (25News Now) -Voters in the Village of Peoria Heights will decide on an advisory question asking whether the village should continue its paid automatic aid agreement with the City of Peoria for additional fire and emergency response services.
The Village of Peoria Heights already has automatic aid in place with Peoria Fire department. The advisory question asks residents whether the village should continue paying for additional services when they are needed.
The agreement would allow the Peoria Fire Department to automatically respond to emergencies in Peoria Heights: Under the agreement, costs range from $1,500 to $5,500 per incident, with the village paying only when the services are used. The Village of Peoria Heights Mayor Matt Wigginton added this could cost the village around $60,000 a year.
Structure Fires / Fully Involved
$ 5,500.00
Fire Calls / Limited Involvement (one engine / one battalion chiet) $ 1,500.00
Vehicle Accidents Involving Extrication
$ 3,500.00
Cardiac Arrest Calls with Advanced Life Support Response
$ 1,500.00
Discussions about the agreement began in 2023 following concerns about staffing and other needs within the Peoria Heights Fire Department.
Peoria Fire Chief Shawn Sollberger said the agreement is intended to provide additional resources during critical emergencies, not to take over the village’s fire department.
We did not come into the Village of Peoria Heights looking to provide fire department-related services. There’s words like takeover, things of that, couldn’t be any further from the truth,” he said.
Sollberger added the agreement comes a relatively low cost
These are mimimal costs in our industry so this isn’t about money,” he said.
Wiggington added the focus is on keeping residents safe and making sure emergency assistance arrives as quickly as possible.
”Regardless of weather it does or doesn’t, the residence, the community members, we are all reminded how fragile life can be. In those three types of situations, help is on the way as fast as we can possibly get it there,” Wiggington said.
If voters reject the advisory question, the village board would have to reconsider how it handles emergency responses with their fire department.
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