The South Elgin and Countryside Fire Protection District has arranged for other districts to help handle fires and ambulance calls over the next six months while two bridges are removed and replaced.
Fire Chief Bill Sohn said after a recent fire board meeting that about 700 homes in the district are west of the McDonald Road bridge over Otter Creek, which will be closed March 2 through mid-September. Because it will take South Elgin firefighters and paramedics longer to reach those homes, plans are in the works for Elgin, Fox Valley and Pingree Grove fire districts to help out, he said.
Elgin Fire Chief David Schmidt ran numbers for him to determine which departments would reach those homes first, Sohn said. In some cases, South Elgin still would probably reach the residences first, according to the data.