Loves Park to buy former body shop for new fire station. Here’s why the city says now’s the time

By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
Get our newsletter

LOVES PARK — The city plans to replace its oldest fire station with a new location that’s closer to the majority of the calls it receives today.

City Council members will be asked Monday to approve the $1.5 million purchase of a former body shop at 5180 Rock Valley Parkway, which is just off Riverside Boulevard near Tom Harmer. The measure is expected to pass, Mayor Greg Jury said.

The body shop already has the 14-foot doors needed to accommodate fire trucks, a large open space for other vehicles and equipment, a shower and even fire engine red trim.

“It will be a really quick transformation from one station to the other,” Jury said.

Loves Park news: City may incentivize development around Rockford Speedway

City officials expect an additional $50,000 will be spent moving the alarm system from its original fire station, setting up computer systems, installing a kitchen, painting and making other cosmetic improvements.

Funding will come from part of the city’s $3.17 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds.

The city will continue to operate two fire stations, with the other located at 1527 Windsor Road. The new station will replace the city’s original station at 400 Grand Ave., which was built in 1947 an initially home to City Hall.

“The older station is not high enough to get new trucks in,” Fire Chief Jerry Wiltfang said. “It was meant for older equipment that wasn’t near as big as today’s fire equipment.”

It also doesn’t make geographic sense anymore, Jury said.

“In 1947, that was basically Loves Park right there,” Jury said. “As far east as we are now, it doesn’t even make sense.”

Loves Park news: City plans ‘heavy duty’ resurfacing of Paulson Road

(story continues below map)

Cutting response times

The Grand Avenue station is located inside a geographical Census tract where 725 calls for service were made last year, compared to 1,211 in the area where the new station is located. That’s the most calls for service in the city, but response times there averaged seven minutes and 33 seconds last year, according to the fire department’s 2021 annual report. Wiltfang expects those times can be cut by a third.

“Public safety is the most important thing that any community can have,” Jury said. “If we don’t have it, you’re not going to have businesses that want to come here, you’re not going to have residents who want to come here and there’s a good possibility your schools are going to struggle.”

“We have made an effort to basically make our police and fire the No. 1 and No. 2 departments.”

The new location could also have a financial benefit for homeowners and businesses, Wiltfang said. It should improve the area’s Insurance Services Offices score, which is meant to reflect how well a community is prepared to respond to fires. That score can affect the insurance premiums you pay.

“It’s a few hundred dollars on a house,” Wiltfang said. “But when you’re Costco, with millions of dollars of inventory, now we’re starting to talk some real money.”

Loves Park news: How Costco helped the city whether coronavirus lockdowns

The city, which has 23 full-time firefighters including Chief Wiltfang, previously considered building a new station on land it owns along Riverside Boulevard west of Mulford Road. But that buildout would have cost roughly $7 million, Jury said.

“This is not as big as the building we had (previously planned), but it will serve every need we have,” Jury said. “Putting this out here is just another thing we’re doing to step up for our community.”

This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on Twitter @KevinMHaas.