In a sudden 6-4 vote, the Peoria City Council took a big step toward the restoration of public safety services Tuesday night.
The council voted to restore one of the city’s fire engines, which was cut in 2020. This would go into effect on Nov. 1.
During the council’s discussion of the 2022-2023 biennial budget, Chuck Grayeb, Second District Councilman, said the city has seen the possibility of civilian casualties due to the reductions in the fire department. Grayeb invited Jim Bachman, Peoria Fire Chief, to talk about how the fire department’s ability to control fires to its room of origin has decreased since 2017. “Our data shows that from the beginning of January 1, 2021, and I believe the report ended either the end of August or end of September, but to that point eight months into the year, we were keeping fires to the room of origin 54.5% of the time,” Bachman said.