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@cjsummers : I've thought of that myself, but Peoria doesn't like volunteers for some reason. I'm sure it's all because everyone is afraid of being sued.

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@cjsummers :
Sad to read how many of them show up at a fire. The last one I read in journal star said 21 responded

Marquette Heights and North Pekin are all volunteer fire departments. When that siren goes off, jump in their vehicle with a flashing dashboard light, speed to the fire house. Since they are small towns, response time is usually under 5 minutes. But NP almost constantly advertises a need for more volunteers.
It might be unnerving to think if an area of Peoria had to rely on volunteers to get to the station, head out, or not having enough volunteers to send out with a truck or rescue squad.

Morton uses a combination of full time/volunteer. East Peoria used to, I don't know if they still do. I would think the union would say no to that idea in Peoria.

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@cjsummers : Hope your the first to volunteer ! My guess is you wouldn't survive one day ! Think you can go in a burning structure feel your way around in zero visibility, and carry victims to safety !

Surrounding communities are all much, much smaller than Peoria both in terms of residents and square miles. To compare our fire budget you would need to look at cities of a similar size. I looked up three with populations very close to ours. I didn't compare square footage of coverage but I feel like our department is pretty darn competitive, especially compared to Springfield!! Peoria, IL: 112,883
Springfield, IL: 114, 868
Evansville, IN: 118, 930
Independence, MO: 110, 208Total Fire Budgets all 2017
Peoria, IL: $21,477,741
Springfield, IL: $37,464,593
Evansville, IN: $29,695,177
Independence, MO: $20,371,210www.peoriagov.org/co ntent/uploads/2017/0 5/2017-Fire-Departme nt-Annual-Repor
www.springfield.il.u s/Government/FY2019/ Budgets/ExpenseSumma ryAgencyFundMaj
www.evansvillegov.or g/egov/documents/151 9833798_67161.pdf
www.ci.independence. mo.us/UserDocs/Finan ce/budgetDownloads/2 019/18-19-Submi

For the record, the largest all volunteer FD in the US is Pasadena, TX. They are about 10 square miles and about 30,000 people more than Peoria.pasadenavfd.com/abou t.html

@kraziebill : I looked through their site and in one year they had 2,387 calls while Peoria had 19,675. Maybe Pasadena FD only takes true fire calls because that is a huge difference and probably why volunteers can easily do it vs volunteers trying to take almost twenty thousand calls.

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Why does the fire dept need to respond to calls for medical calls, was at Kroger and lady felt light headed had ambulance, Police, and fire dept respond. Fire truck was in parking lot when we got there. But was last on to respond.

@lanestar7 : Good info.

Having lived in the past in Hanna City and Farmington, and family living in the Glasford and Trivoli areas as well, I have nothing but praise for those volunteer fire departments. Those departments often work together to fight fires in each others' locations. I've had family/friends who volunteered for all of those locations. They all have fundraisers every year for their operations. I just went to one a month ago in Farmington. I am not certain that model would work in Peoria. Does anyone know if East Peoria has the same monetary issues with their fire departments as Peoria does?