LP-Gas Tank Explosion Kills Two Volunteer Firefighters (Carthage, Illinois - October 2, 1997) » Fire Department

The City of Carthage is located in west central Illinois, approximately 12 miles east of the Mississippi River. With a population of about 3,000, the city is the county seat for Hancock County. The city was laid out on a gridded street design where the downtown commercial buildings face a large town square. The Hancock County Courthouse occupies the center of the square.

Founded in 1877, the all-volunteer municipal fire department has twenty-eight (28) members who respond to approximately 50 fire alarms per year. Operating on an annual budget of approximately $40,000, the department is organized for structural fire suppression. The department provides no emergency medical services but assists the County’s ambulance service when requested. The department is one of two municipal fire departments in the county and is active in the county’s mutual-aid system that is composed of eleven fire protection districts and the two municipal fire departments.'

Housed in a single-story three-bay station one street off of the city square, the fire department operates six pieces of fire apparatus. The primary city fire response vehicle is a 1995 1,250 gallon per minute triple combination pumper. In support is a 1948 eighty-five (85) foot aerial ladder, a 1976, 1,600 gallon tanker without a pump, a 1979 high-pressure, 120 gpm attack pumper with 1,000 gallon tank (used primarily for rural fire attack operations), and a rescue/equipment vehicle. Additional equipment includes a 1970 triple combination pumper with high-pressure capability, a 1959 pumper also with high-pressure capability, and a 1935 antique pumper. The department members’ personal protective equipment consists of NFPA compliant structural firefighting protective clothing.

The department elects it’s Fire Chief and two Assistant Chiefs each May and holds monthly business and training meetings on Tuesday evenings. The training is given by the department’s training officer and consists of primarily Firefighter II level training with occasional pre-fire planning “walk through” of city buildings. Two (2) of the department’s members are certified Firefighter III and four (4) certified Firefighter II from the Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Division of Personnel Standards and Education. Additional training provided to its members was several University of Illinois’ Fire Service Institute’s training programs including an LP-Gas tank firefighting drill in 1995.

Although the department is a municipal fire department supported by municipal taxes, the department responds to rural fires in unincorporated property and other small towns immediately outside the city limits. The standard response to a reported structure fire would be either the 1,250 gpm pumper or high-pressure fog attack pumper with a minimum of three firefighters, the 1,600 gallon tanker, and the rescue squad (which carries the department’s personal protective clothing). For rural structure fires, the first response vehicle is the high-pressure attack pumper because of its pre-connected high-pressure attack lines and its five seats. The second unit would be the rescue/equipment squad and then the 1,600-gallon tanker. The department’s standard operating procedure requires a minimum of nine firefighters to respond to rural fire incidents. As rural property owners do not pay municipal taxes, the city bills the property owner $350 for the first hour and $250 an hour thereafter for any fire incident it responds to.

Emergency calls are received into and dispatched from the Hancock County Sheriffs 911 dispatch center. Paramedic level emergency medical service is provided by Hancock County operated ambulance service. Their vehicles are typically stationed at the local hospitals.

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