The Fox River & Countryside Fire/Rescue District’s brand new fire station started answering calls Nov. 4, averaging four minutes for arrival time.

“People were shocked at how quickly we got there,” Fire Chief Michael Hill said. “We are already getting an overwhelmingly positive response from our residents.”

The public is invited to explore the new Fire Station No. 3, at 37W444 Bolcum Road, St. Charles Township, from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 5 p.m.

The new building cost $6.3 million, made possible by a successful 2022 referendum.

The point for a centrally situated fire station was to have shorter response times, Hill said.

Fire Station No. 1 is at 34W500 Carl Lee Road, St. Charles Township is east near Wayne, while Fire Station No. 2 is at 40W361 Illinois Route 64, Campton Hills, is west.

Building a centrally-located third station was for the public’s safety.

The district serves more than 30,000 residents over 38 square miles in the unincorporated areas of St. Charles and Campton townships and the villages of Campton Hills and Wayne, with a portion in DuPage County. The fire district began operations in 2011.

The new station’s color theme is gray, black and red, housing a fire engine, an ambulance and a vehicle for the battalion chief.

Hill took a reporter on a recent tour. He shared where all the equipment is kept – from fire hoses to oxygen and air tanks, bunk rooms to offices, the day room-kitchen combo, a gym – and a giant overhead tank holding 17,000 gallons of water.

Its purpose is to supply the legally-required sprinkler system because the station is on well and septic, Hill said.

“If you’re going to make other people do it, you better darn well follow the rules yourself,” Hill said. “The code says you have to store a certain amount of water.”

A fire at the firehouse would be bad enough.

“And to have no water would be worse,” Hill said.

Because the majority of the district is on well and septic, fire trucks bring their own water to fires.

The fire engine at Station No. 3 carries 1,800 gallons while the fire engines at the other stations each carry 1,000 gallons, Deputy Chief Jim Niesel said.

As to whether that’s enough for a house fire, Hill said it depends on how big the fire is when they arrive.

“If we get the call early, and we can get there fast enough, and put water on the fire quickly enough, it goes out, we have enough water, we’re all set,” Hill said.

But they always bring more water, sometimes as much as 3,000 gallons, just in case.

“The problem is, especially with building materials these days, they say a fire will double in size every minute,” Hill said. “They’re now saying with new building materials, the fire will triple in size every minute, maybe more.”

Instead of building houses out of wood, Hill said now houses are built out of compressed wood, which is glued together with extremely flammable material. Houses also have particle board that is cheaper, very strong, but does not hold up well in a fire.

Firefighters also have to contend with toxic fumes from the treated woods and synthetic materials in furnishings, he said.

“Look around. Things are all plastics these days,” Hill said. “They burn very fast and hot and they put out very toxic fumes.”

At the moment the station is staffed by two firefighter/paramedics, but there’s eight bunks.

“At some point in the future, the station is going to have more people. I can see us having six or seven people here at some point,” Hill said.

The two on staff that day, John Wilson and Shealynn Robinson, were just hanging out in the kitchen area.

Cooking for two often results in just getting takeout, but Robinson said the other night, she made honey garlic chicken.

“I make a mean honey garlic chicken,” Robinson said.

And she was kind enough to share the recipe in an email:

Shea’s Honey Garlic Chicken:

1/2 cup of soy sauce

1/3 cup of honey

4 cloves of garlic

3 lbs of chicken breast

A splash of vinegar

1/4 cup corn starch

Cut the 3 lbs of chicken breasts into cubes and cover in a light dusting of corn starch.

Pan fry until golden brown. Mince the 4 cloves of garlic.

Sweat the garlic. Once sweated, remove from pan and place in a bowl.

Add 1/2 cup of soy sauce, 1/3 cup of honey, and a splash of vinegar to bowl. Mix until solution is cohesive.

Add solution to pan. Cook low and stir occasionally. Heat solution to desired thickness.

Remove from heat, mix with chicken until all chicken is coated in the sauce.

Set the table and you’re ready to enjoy!