New firehouse to heat things up in Sycamore

By EMILY GOINS

Sycamore will soon be welcoming a new firehouse into the city.

The new firehouse, located at 2100 Frantum Road, will officially open June 2.

Assistant Fire Chief Mark Kessler said they will not be hiring any more employees for the new firehouse.

“We ramped up our staffing the last few years in anticipation of the new house,” Kessler said.

Construction on the firehouse has been ongoing for the past 11 months, Kessler said, and the planning process has been going on for over a year.

Kessler said the station is being built at a good time. The only fire station, located at 535 DeKalb Ave., being used now in Sycamore was built in 1957, so the firemen have all been cramped for space.

“This firehouse will help to decrease our response times to the northern part of the city, especially where we experience growth,” Kessler said.

Sycamore Mayor Ken Mundy thinks the new firehouse is of great significance to the city,

“Firehouse #2 being in operation means emergency response times are improved, and the backup capabilities of emergency responders is deeper in the cases of multiple calls for service at the same time,” he said. “Public safety is a major barometer of community service by which all municipalities are measured, and firehouse #2 raises the City of Sycamore public safety bar higher.”

Brian Gregory, assistant city manager and treasurer of Sycamore said, “The projected budget for this project is just over $2 million, paid for by the general fund revenue.”

The general fund revenue, he said, is the extra revenue collected each year that goes to the side from the balanced budget.

Mundy also said due to improved response times, homeowner insurance factors rise while their insurance policy costs may decline.