Many Barrington Hills residents deserve “Tender” fire protection

In recent weeks The Observer has published sad news about two devastating structure fires in our Village.   A residence on Otis Road was burned to the foundation on September 24, and not long after, a barn was destroyed by fire on Ridge Road.

We’ve also published articles concerning to the ongoing dispute between the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District (BCFPD), which protects a major portion of our Village, and the Village of Barrington.  Part of their disagreement centers around BCFPD’s desire to purchase more equipment, specifically a new “tender” truck that can transport thousands of gallons of water to the scene of a fire.  This dispute is their business, but we have our own concerns for our Village.

Many know that BCFPD operates three manned fire station locations in Barrington on Route 14, in Barrington Hills on Algonquin Road next to Village Hall and in Lake Barrington on Pepper Road.  What many do not know is that BCFPD currently has only one aging tender truck to supply water to firefighters, and it is garaged in the Barrington location which ironically is surrounded by hundreds of accessible fire hydrants.

The reason for the location of this tender truck is not clear, but the fact remains that in order for this equipment to get to a Barrington Hills fire, downtown Barrington traffic and two possibly blocked rail lines must be dealt with in certain situations.  Further adding to our concern is the fact that a fire hydrant is required in order to replenish the water in the tank – a procedure that must take place many times during in a major fire.  In the case of the Otis Road blaze, the closest hydrant was located at Barrington High School.

The Observer is fully cognizant of the fact that government entities such as BCFPD and our Village government operate as separate taxing bodies making their own decisions.  We also know that fires the scale we’ve had recently will always require multiple fire district responses from many surrounding towns.  Nonetheless, the situation we’ve described is unacceptable in our opinion and our elected officials should have addressed this years ago and should have lobbied on the behalf of their residents.

Perhaps now that more readers are aware, the Village will finally take some proactive measures to get the BCFPD firefighters what they need to do their jobs more effectively starting with tender trucks at the Barrington Hills and Lake Barrington fire stations.

–         The Observer