Illinois and granted authority to levy taxes for the purposes of providing fire and emergency medical
services. The district encompasses nearly all of the Village of Plainfield, which has chosen not to
establish its own fire protection system. The remainder of the District includes mostly unincorporated
areas of Will and Kendall County and is situated between the cities of Joliet, Naperville, Romeoville,
Bollingbrook, and Oswego.
The District began providing fire protection services in 1935 through the Plainfield Volunteer Fire
Department. As the area grew, emergency medical services were initiated under a separate
governmental department and eventually absorbed into the operations and authority of the Fire District.
In addition, career fire officers and administrative staff were appointed and the Plainfield Volunteer Fire
Department eventually was united with the ambulance services to become the Plainfield Fire
Department, now a direct operation of the Plainfield Fire Protection District.
The emergency services system in the District is a balance of two different divisions working in
cooperation. The Fire Division operates primarily through the use of volunteer personnel, responding
on-call to pager notification of incidents. A small supplemental crew of personnel, being paid hourly
wages for station staffing, are available during the daytime. The EMS Division operates primarily
through the use of full-time, career Paramedics and staffs two response units 24 hours a day.
Plainfield Fire Protection District provides emergency services to a population of 34,292 in an area of
roughly 64 square miles. A portion of the District is served through a contract with the adjacent
Lockport Fire Protection District and includes roughly 8,297 residents. The remaining 25,995 citizens
are provided direct services by Plainfield Fire Protection District. These services are provided from two
facilities located within the District. The department maintains a fleet of vehicles including three fire
engines, one aerial truck, two tankers, two rescue trucks, three ambulances, two wildland firefighting
vehicles, and two specialty/utility vehicles.
There are 88 individuals involved in delivering these services to the District. The District has a full time
Chief, Deputy Chief, and Administrator, as well as two part-time support personnel. A Fire Inspector
and Vehicle Technician provide additional support services. The Ambulance Division uses twelve
Paramedics and six part-time/on-call personnel. The Fire Division is staffed by 62 on-call members.
Primary staffing coverage for fire response during all evening and overnight hours is provided on an
on-call basis by the volunteer responders, while primary staffing coverage for daytime hours is provided
through the use of part-time employees. EMS staffing is full-time during all hours of the day and
evening.
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