I’m the COML for the Starved Rock DNR Fire office. Our mission is comprised of multiple parts. First, we manage the allocation of federal Excess Property to fire departments throughout the state who have registered with the program (for example, last winter we allocated well over a million dollars worth of excess Toughbooks to departments across the state). Second, we support Starved Rock State Park, local fire departments, and area conservation law enforcement officers with our own cache of excess property - including a boat, a trailer equipped for search and rescue missions, light plants / generators, two pickup trucks capable of towing our various trailers, an SUV, radio caches, and other assets. We also respond BLS non-transport with Oglesby and Utica fire to incidents within Starved Rock and Matthiessen State Parks.
Radio wise, we communicate with local departments (mainly Oglesby and Utica) on their channels as needed. We have StarCom capable radios, but do not have access to the system at this time. We also have our own VHF DNR frequencies that can be used statewide - for example, when we assist in wildland firefighter training.
The letters Nick mentioned were sent to area departments as an initiative we started to help departments with large incidents or events meet their demand for communications with our radio cache, which we currently have in VHF and UHF.
All of our assets were obtained at no cost through the Federal Excess Property program, as are all items we allocate and distribute to and for fire departments across the state.
