From Phil Stenholm:
Another chapter in the History of the Evanston Fire Department.
After World War II, Advance Ambulance was the go-to private ambulance service on the North Shore, primarily shuttling patients between hospitals, nursing homes, and residences. Their Evanston base was housed in a former railway express garage at 1019 Davis Street, with another station in Skokie at 5361 Main Street, and yet another in Chicago at Diversey and Cicero.
By the 1970s, Advance relocated their three suburban stations to a new facility on Dempster Street in Evanston, near the Skokie border. In 1980, Advance proposed something groundbreaking to Evanston and Skokie: they wanted to handle all medical transport services from their Dempster Street location. Their idea was to replace the existing MICU ambulances with ones staffed by EMTs from Advance. They'd manage insurance paperwork, billing, and collections. If two of the three assigned ambulances were busy, they promised to send one from Chicago to Dempster Street, and even bring in a fifth ambulance if needed.
The Evanston and Skokie fire departments would keep their paramedic services but assign paramedics and advanced life support gear to engines instead of ambulances. This meant all engine and truck companies could operate with four-man crews. A firefighter could ride with Advance if necessary, but the paramedic company could stay operational with a three-man team until the paramedic returned.
In Evanston, this would mean three four-man paramedic engine companies, one non-paramedic engine company, a four-man truck company, and a four-man quint at Station #3. In Skokie, it would involve three paramedic companies and the rest of the fire companies remaining non-paramedic.
Both cities turned down Advance's offer, though had they agreed, it might have led to an automatic aid pact keeping both departments intact while merging dispatch and training. It could have allowed Evanston to close Station #4, with Engine 22 covering the eastern part of its old district and Skokie's Engine 17 handling the western half. In exchange, Evanston Engine 25 could cover parts of Skokie, and a fully-staffed Squad 21 could replace Engine 24 as the paramedic company at Station #1.
Evanston Fire Chief Sam Hicks retired in 1987 after 37 years. His replacement, Raymond Brooks, came from Michigan City and became the second African American chief. Seeing the need for more ambulances, Brooks introduced the "Jump Company Plan" in 1988. Three engine companies—21, 22, and 25—became four-man paramedic "jump companies," moving between engines and ambulances as needed.
But response times worsened in some areas, and jump companies could be out of service for an hour during transports. Confusion arose too; like at a 1991 gas explosion where a firefighter broke protocol to transport a burn victim alone.
That same year, a scandal hit when falsified or missing paramedic records implicated most of the department’s paramedics. While no one faced criminal charges, 40 paramedics had to retake exams. Some left, including Chief Brooks, who moved to California and later became fire chief in San Jose and Birmingham. Deputy Chief Phil Burns took over as acting chief and ended the Jump Company Plan, reverting to two frontline ambulances and one reserve.
Chief Burns retired in 1991, and Dave Franzen served briefly as acting chief until James Hunt from Florida was hired in 1992. After Hunt left for Des Moines in 1996, John Wilkinson led the department until becoming permanent chief in 1998.
Starting in 1999, each station got an engine company with paramedics and ALS gear, paid for jointly by the union and the city. By then, the EFD operated two frontline MICU ambulances, one at each of two stations, with a third "jump" ambulance at Station #3. Engine 23 later replaced Truck 23 as the "jump company."
This evolution shows how the Evanston Fire Department adapted over decades to better serve its community.
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