Our Mission
The Mission of the Des Plaines Fire Department: Trained, prepared, and dedicated to serve the community.
DPFD Accreditation
In 2020, the Des Plaines Fire Department was awarded the Insurance Services Office (ISO) Class 1 Public Protection Classification (PPC) rating. This rating demonstrates a commitment to excellence as verified by a third-party.
ISO’s rating system evaluates departments on their communications systems, response times, the type and extent of training that personnel received and the maintenance and testing processes for equipment, as well as the department’s fire prevention efforts and public fire safety education.
ISO rates more than 46,000 fire departments throughout the United States on their overall ability to respond to fires. The PPC rating is sometimes used by insurance companies to calculate premium rates and higher classification ratings typically lead to better rates for residents.
What We Do
DPFD has 107 employees. 85 personnel are assigned to 24/48 shifts. We receive 10,000 calls annually, 75% of which are medical. Between Stations 61, 62, and 63, DPFD has two fire engines, one squad car, one tower ladder, and four ambulances.
Emergency Services
DPFD provides firefighting, rescue, and emergency medical services, hazardous materials response, water/ice rescue and recovery, vehicle accident extrication, hazard mitigation and technical rescue services. Also participates in regional readiness and responses involving mutual-aid and automatic-aid agreements and cooperative special team activities. The Department’s training function falls within this Division.
Ambulance Fees
All residents and non-residents are charged ambulance fees, which are determined by the average cost of a patient's assessment and treatment.
Ambulance Fees
Administration and Support Services
Includes the leadership team who plans, coordinates and supports the department’s many functions, including: personnel and human resources functions; practices and procedures for emergency and non-emergency operations; budgets and procurement of all equipment, supplies and services and manages the maintenance and repair of fire stations, vehicles and equipment.
Fire Prevention
Reviews building plans for life-safety hazards and code compliance in remodeling and new construction projects, completes inspections of public and business occupancies to ensure/enforce code and safety compliance, presents fire prevention programs to community organizations and conducts voluntary home fire safety surveys. The Division investigates causes and origins of fires, investigates and prosecutes arsons in conjunction with the Police Department, and coordinates fire-safety activities and fire prevention practices with Federal, State, County and other local fire officials.
Emergency Management
Responsible for the planning and preparedness necessary to coordinate the elements of an effective Homeland Security and Emergency Management Program which integrates all available first responders, city departments, resources, key elected and appointed officials, citizens corps and the private sector into a cohesive disaster management effort.
Other
DPFD provides mutual aid services to neighboring fire departments.
Ambulance Bills
For questions regarding ambulance billing please contact EMS/MC at 847-577-8811.
Requests for medical records can be made through the website chartswap.com or call 800-244-2345 or fax 800-329-5274.
Hearing more sirens than usual?
In August 2024, the Des Plaines Emergency Management Agency transitioned to a new emergency warning siren system. Alarms now activate automatically based on National Weather Service (NWS) data. There is new criteria for alarm activation, so residents may notice more sirens than before.
Sirens are automatically activated when wind speeds are forecasted or observed to exceed 80 miles per hour, when hail with a diameter of 2.75 inches or greater is forecasted or observed, and when a tornado warning is issued for the area.
These updates will improve the efficiency and reliability of our emergency warnings as part of our ongoing efforts to enhance public safety and emergency response capabilities.