SYCAMORE | Where there now sits an unused plot of undeveloped land, a new facility will soon better serve and protect not only Sycamore’s expanding north side, but the entire city.

Sycamore’s city council approved the building of an additional fire station off Peace Road just west of the intersection of Peace and Ill. Route 23, said Sycamore City Manager Bill Nicklas.

The geography of Sycamore, particularly in the northeast area, has begun expansion outside the distance which would allow the current firehouse to respond with equal speed to all parts of the city.

The new fire station will provide ambulance service and include three full-time firefighters, said Sycamore Fire Chief Bill Riddle.

“In our business, the travel distance is how we cut time,” Riddle said. “We have to put stations closer to the people we serve.”

The location off Peace Road is a three-acre plot of land dedicated by a residential developer in 1999, Nicklas said.

This location allows for quick and convenient access to a main route through the community, said Pete Paulsen, Sycamore 2nd Ward Alderman.

“It’s not only to serve the north side of town,” Paulsen said. “It will serve the entire town, and they’ll be able to respond to any type of emergency throughout the whole community.”

The city of Sycamore will appropriate an estimated $3 million toward the construction of the fire station, which will also include site work in order to prepare the land for the new building, Nicklas said. The city will also bid on contractors starting Jan. 1, and the construction should begin in April 2007, with the new station opening the following November, Nicklas said.

Kenneth Lowe is the Police and Fire Reporter for the Northern Star.