Custer Park Fire Station to be reinstated

    The Custer Fire Protection District (CFPD) announced the reinstatement of fire and emergency medical response services from the Custer Park fire station beginning May 1
    On March 20, 2018, the residents of Custer Township overwhelmingly voiced their opinion to reopen the fire station in their community by voting in favor of a fire tax referendum.
    CFPD was forced to close the fire station in 2013 when the former Custer Fire Department, Inc. (private entity) became defunct.
    This January, CFPD provided notice of termination to the Braidwood Fire Protection District
regarding the Intergovernmental Agreement where the Braidwood Fire Department provides all fire and ambulance services to Custer Township.
    CFPD is thankful to the members of the Braidwood Fire Department and Trustees for their service to the residents of Custer Township over the last 6 years.
    CFPD’s new ambulance partner, Riverside Emergency Medical Services, will
provide all emergency medical response to Custer Township beginning on May 1. Riverside
EMS currently services the neighboring communities of Essex, Herscher, Bonfield, Limestone as well as providing mutual aid ambulance assistance to communities in southern Will County.
    Riverside will respond with an advanced life support ambulance to all ambulance calls in Custer Township.
    Also, for the first time in the history of CFPD, there will be a paramedic staffed at the Custer Park Fire Station 12 hours per day, every day. The paramedic will initiate life-saving advanced life support care to residents within minutes of a 911 call. A Riverside ambulance will transport the patient to the hospital of their choice.
    The remaining 12 hours when the paramedic is not on duty will be covered by volunteer paramedics and emergency medical technicians from CFPD.
    CFPD also announces the partnership with its dispatch/911 center, Laraway Communications
Center (LCC).
    The Custer Fire Station remained closed for more than 6 years because no area dispatch center was able to provide reliable and affordable dispatch services. The LCC opened in December of 2017 to service the residents of eastern Will County with their new facility located in Joliet at the Will County Sheriff's Office complex.
    CFPD was voted into the LCC group of 31 departments. All dispatch services for Custer Township will be transferred from the WESCOM communications center to LCC on May 1.
    For the first time in recent history, all 911 services (police, fire and ambulance) for residents will be provided by the same dispatch center, eliminating the need for emergency calls to be transferred to the correct dispatch center, saving valuable time.
    CFPD is thankful to all its supporters who assisted with reopening the fire station including department volunteers, district trustees, Senator Sue Rezin, Representative David Welter, Mayor of New Lenox Tim Baldermann and the memory of Brad Veerman who tragically passed away during the application to the Laraway Communication Center.     
    Details for a grand reopening cermony, which will take place later this spring, will be announced at a later time.