By: Diane Benjamin
Adding to this story: https://blnnews.com/2025/12/02/normal-fire-department-start-here/
The two calendars below have additional information. The RED Bloomington are mutual aid calls showing Bloomington responding to calls in Normal. When Bloomington is listed more than once it is because they ran calls more than once.
.
This chart shows the number of employees in each department going back to 2016 as of 3/31/2025.
The Town of Normal wasn’t covering calls in Lexington, Hudson and Towanda in 2016. Normal had 64 firefighters and officers in 2016. That increased by two in 2017 and hasn’t increased since. It has been at 66 for 9 years while expanding service.
Is mutual aid by Bloomington enabling Normal to not hire additional staff?
PDF page 188: https://www.bloomingtonil.gov/home/showdocument?id=31997&t=638974162368220066
Meanwhile, as of 4/30/2025 Bloomington had 127 fire employees. In 2016 they had 117.
.
Of course Pam Reece got her raise. I hear Scott Preston and Karyn Smith weren’t there. I can’t imagine why. https://blnnews.com/2025/12/01/normal-is-a-small-town-paying-the-city-manager-big-city-salary/
Keep in mind, the new Bloomington 24/72 schedule means they are hiring at least 4 more firefighters.
This whole college avenue station thing stinks. When the city council approved the new sheppard rd station years ago, it was well known and public knowledge that college street would be closing. No peeps then from the public or the fighter fighters government union. So we went ahead and spent millions to build a new station in a landlocked part of town that is half corn fields and is barely growing over the past 10 years. Some new builds, but maybe a few dozen max? And NIMBYs zoning regulations will fight to keep it that way.
So the question I have is WHY NOW? Why is everyone making a stink now about college Ave station closing all of a sudden? Where was the fire fighters government union statements and stirring up public outcry over the past few years about this, before the city voted to approve the new station and implied closing of college ave? Why did they wait until AFTER the new station was finished? Ignorance is certainly an option. So is stupidity.
More likely, is this was intentional. The union reps aren’t stupid. The government employee union saw this as an opportunity to increasing their power and union dues by stirring up controversy and strong arming the city council to keep the college station open. To keep it open, the city must hire 15-25% more firefighters, buy new equipment, new 300k trucks, etc. 4 stations cost a lot more than 3. A government unions wet dream.
So now that the city can’t unbuild and unspend the money for Shepard station, they are stuck between a rock and a hard place of angry citizens and a lightening rod of union agitation.
It’s brilliant. It’s what I would have done. Keep silent for years about the “safety concerns” and then when there is no turning back, release the hounds in a coordinated public marketing campaign, fiercely pressuring the council to acquiesce.
Personally, I hope the city holds fast and keeps it at 3 stations, to stand firm against the scheming of the government unions.
Most likely they fold because they are spineless and bought and paid for by the government unions. And taxpayers will cover the higher taxes for it, good and hard. Same as it ever was.
This could very well be the case, but maybe the firefighters were talking with there administrators about this long before they decided to go public.
Unions have there issues don’t get me wrong, but going public and basically starting a war with the town who they have to bargain with for everything they get is hardly a decision they would make lightly.
Normal has a financial arrangement for out-of-town coverage, a revenue source Bloomington doesn’t benefit from. Normal is supposed to help Bloomington when there are multiple calls in Bloomington.
I have to FOIA that arrangement since I couldn’t find it on their website
By closing college ave station it helps support the city managers pay and pay raise, after all as city manager it is her responsibility to rein in expenses. And by making this decision she is certainly exhibiting her expertise in how to run a city. Not!!!!
She lowered expenses by building a new expensive fire station in a part of town that is lightly populated, especially compared to the population density sound a college station?
By that logic, I will lower my housing costs by building a brand new house in a part of town I rarely visit, and then selling my existing house for pennies in the dollar.
Doge Illinois – you nailed it! Where was the outcry from the unions during the planning process. They clearly timed this after the new station was completed. Will the Town of Normal call them out on this, of course not!
You can take it to the bank that the College Ave. station will be staffed in some manor. It will begin on a small scale but of course to grow into a fully equipped and staffed station over the next few years.
It is clear to see why the unions pump so many dollars into the campaigns of the libs running for Normal public office. The Town of Normal keeps these unions in business.
Union did pass a no confidence vote against the chief in 2024. WGLT story didn’t mention the College location
The union spent two years on a study so they would have factual data to present. They have tried over the years to meet with the mayor and Reece and been told NO. The staffing has remained stagnant since 2016 with many of the firefighters cross-working as EMTs while the number of calls have doubled. They don’t have the minimum staffing levels recommended for our community. I encourage everyone to look at the very complex study that was completed and that they are asking the town to look at with them while the town is outright turning their nose up at them. WE don’t have money for four fire stations, but we have money for a city manager to make a quarter of a million dollars per year? we have no money for fire fighters recommended staffing levels for our community, but we have millions for an underpass? We’ve created taxes specifically to redevelopment uptown including new revenue sources such as sales tax, hotel/motel tax, and food and beverage tax, as well as an establishment of a Tax increment Financing (TIF) district all to benefit uptown, but we can’t figure out how to adequately staff the NFD?
https://www.normalfirecoverage.com/
Their own website states the study was done THIS year, which once again proves they either dropped the ball on this issue when it actually mattered, years ago when the city approved the station, or they intentionally waited to run the study after the other station work started and thus they could exert maximum pressure to get what they wanted once it was finished.
“Our study, commissioned earlier this year by the IAFF & Normal Firefighters Local 2442,”
Also the union hired a … Union to do their study. Seems very above board and totally independent, right?
I’m guessing it took time for the union to collect the data in order for them to use it in a study. Also once again how do you know the union wasn’t trying to talk with the town administration about this issue? A public safety union making this type of information public is a very big deal. It creates discourse and division within the community. I’m guessing the firefighters tried to resolve this issue prior to commissioning the study and then proceeding to go public with said information. Basically starting a war with the town that supplies you with your equipment, staffing, and paychecks isn’t something the union would take lightly
There appears to be a lot of holes and bias in the union study(obviously).
If you ever drive in Normal, you can tell right away their drive times are very short. You can travel a lot farther in 4 minutes than their maps show.
I would also like to see the call locations. Are there really that many calls in the area they say is losing coverage? How does it compare to other areas gaining coverage? NCHS and the nursing home on Towand Barnes probably have a lot of calls.
All three original stations had large nursing homes built right across the street. Was there complaints when the ISU station closed?
Normal redacted everything but street names on my FOIA. Funny Bloomington didn’t