Overview

     The Bourbonnais Fire Protection district is a combination fire department, serving the village and unincorporated portions of the township of Bourbonnais, Illinois. The department protects a 36 square mile area which includes over 36,000 patrons. The district covers rural areas, providing for such calls as high-speed country road accidents, farm and machinery equipment rescue, and water and cliff rescues from the nearby Kankakee River State Park. The district also includes over three miles of railroad for passenger and freight trains, as well as approximately seven miles of interstate traffic, with one interchange. About half of the residents live within the village limits of Bourbonnais.

About the Village...

     The Village is a medium-sized town including eight elementary schools, one high school vocational school and one college university campus. The District also protects many employees who are employed by Fortune 500 corporate offices, industrial and pharmaceutical facilities, one natural gas and four petroleum pipelines, an electrical substation and municipal water supply facilities. The residents include many nursing and group home patrons and working families who either work in our immediate area or commute to the suburbs and the city of Chicago. A significant number of our citizens have been deemed part of the 'at risk' population in previous FEMA and USFA documents. The fire district and the village will feel the impact of over 4,000 projected homes to be built over the next five years. While the new homes have brought retail businesses, such a strip malls and stand-alone business buildings, it has increased the need for a vast amount of churches and medical facilities. These facilities are considered not-for-profit, thus shrinking the property tax base. Very few industrial patrons have moved into our area over recent years.

About the department...

     The Bourbonnais Rural fire department was formed in 1948 to respond to fire emergencies in the local farming community. The department grew in size to 3 departments over the years, providing for the safety of the area for nearly 40 years. In 1986, the rural department and the village combined to form what is today, the Bourbonnais Fire Protection District

     The district answered 2820 emergency calls in 2008 - the most in the history of the department. The department consists of 9 full-time district career members, 3 full-time contractual firefighter/paramedics, 25 paid-on-call members, and 15 part-time members. The department is staffed 24 hours a day by an Advanced Life Support ambulance crew and an on-call fire crew. In general, there are 6 firefighters on duty during the day and 5 on duty overnight to staff the fire station. Three full-time members are also on staff at the station Monday through Friday during regular office hours, along with a Department administrative assistant. Each firefighter is put through a semester long fire academy, at the conclusion of which a test for firefighter II certification is given. Each member must complete a semester long course for EMT-B certification, following which a 3 semester Paramedic course may be taken.  Full-time members must be certified paramedics. To learn more about becoming a member, visit our application page.

     The district consists of one fire station which houses 14 vehicles including 3 ambulances, 3 engines, 1 ladder truck, 1 brush truck, 3 command vehicles, a boat, and a tactical rescue semi-trailer (For more information, visit the apparatus page). Each vehicle is equipped with the industry standard in firefighting tools, all of which are regularly tested and maintained. The district is managed to respond to nearly any type of incident in the area, and also provide an adequate and efficient response to similar emergencies in neighboring districts. To better fulfill this role, Bourbonnais Fire Protection District is a member of the MABAS 7 area wide response unit. In the event of a mass-response incident, MABAS effectively manages when, where, and which units to send.

     For more information regarding the department, you may contact us with any questions you have.