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The Fire Department recommends that you replace smoke alarms every 10 years and carbon monoxide detectors every five years.  They also recommend that you change the batteries in all devices every six months.

Homeowners should install smoke alarms on every level of their home and outside of all bedrooms or sleeping areas. Smoke alarms should also be installed inside every bedroom or area where people sleep.

Our firefighters/paramedics work a 24-hour shift, which means they cook and eat their meals together when on duty. Since the Village does not provide for meals, each morning firefighters pay into a “kitty,” which they then use to buy groceries for the day. It is important to note that when firefighters/ paramedics go grocery shopping they remain in service and will leave the store immediately to respond to an emergency call.

Homeowners should buy an extinguisher that can handle class A-B-C fires. This type of extinguisher is designed to put out fires that usually occur in homes and involve wood, paper, flammable liquids, and/or electrical equipment. We recommend a minimum size of 3A:40BC.

Our ambulances transport patients to four different hospitals: (1) Alexian Brothers Medical Center, (2)Glenbrook Hospital, (3) Lutheran General Hospital, and (4) Northwest Community Hospital. Where a patient is transported depends mainly on the type and severity of the illness/injury as well as the location of the incident. Sometimes we are able to transport patients to their hospital of choice, but ultimately it is up to the paramedics and the hospital to decide what is best for each patient.

9-1-1 calls in Mount Prospect are answered by a multi-jurisdictional agency called Northwest Central Dispatch (NWCD). NWCD answers 9-1-1 calls for, and is overseen by, eleven communities in the northwest suburbs including Mount Prospect. The NWCD communications center receives the 9-1-1  calls and then dispatches the appropriate fire and police units for these municipalities. By having this joint center, communication between surrounding communities, which occurs frequently, is streamlined and much more efficient. NWCD also eliminates significant costs for each of its member communities as they are not required to have their own communications center.

Mount Prospect has agreements in place with neighboring fire departments to assist on another, when necessary, in responding to emergency calls. These agreements are called automatic and mutual aid. Mount Prospect may utilize automatic or mutual aid agreements when our local resources are exhausted or we are unable to handle an emergency situation alone. Examples of incidents where automatic and mutual aid are used include large structure fires, local disasters and even emergency medical calls when another department has a closer available ambulance. At the end of  the day, our goal is to provide the quickest response to an emergency regardless of where it comes from.

The answer is quality of care! Mount Prospect has three frontline ambulances, each staffed with two firefighter/paramedics, and three frontline engines/trucks, staffed with three firefighters (at least one being a firefighter/paramedic). Many of the emergency calls the Department responds to require the assistance of more than two firefighter/paramedics, which means the additional hands from those working on the engine/truck are needed. Having both the ambulance and engine/truck respond ensures the best possible care for patients on every call.

Mount Prospect, like many communities across the country, uses a system at all its traffic signals called Emergency Vehicle Pre-emption or EVP. These devices are controlled by a white strobe light on each Fire Department vehicle, which emits a signal to a receiver on the traffic light as the vehicle approaches the intersection. The traffic signal will change to green in the direction the Fire Department vehicle is traveling and turn red in the opposite direction.            

A flashing white confirmation light appears above the traffic signal when the system is activated to acknowledge the signal will be changing. A solid white conformation light means and emergency vehicle is approaching from the opposite direction. If you see emergency lights or hear emergency sirens, slow down and pull to the right to allow the emergency vehicle to pass in either direction. Once the vehicle has passed, carefully resume your normal speed. Remember “pull right for sirens for 

lights.”

In 2009, the State of Illinois passed the Illinois Premise Alert Program Act (96-0788), which aims to ensure that consistently high levels of public safety services are available to all members of the state, including people who may require special consideration in order to access these services. The Premise Alert Program consists of a database of individuals with special needs or disabilities stored in a computer aided dispatch (CAD) database maintained by the Village’s 9-1-1 dispatch agency, Northwest Central Dispatch (NWCD). Entries to the database are made at the request of families, caregivers or individuals with disabilities or special needs and assist both fire and police personnel in accessing information they may need when responding to calls for service. Residents with disabilities or special needs, or their families or caregivers, may register with the Village’s Premise Alert Program by completing the Premise Alert Program Notification forms and forwarding them to the Mount Prospect Police Department's Records Section. Access the Premise Alert Program Notification Forms.

The Fire Department does not have technicians certified to check car seat installations.  Residents that need to have their car seat installations checked should contact the Mount Prospect Police Department at 847/870-5656 to schedule an appointment.