Politics & Government

Chief Kenny, MABAS Division 10 Thank Durkin For Support

The members of the "incredibly effective" Illinois emergency-coordination network honored the 82nd District State Representative and Western Springs resident.

New Western Springs Director of Fire and EMS Services Pat Kenny joined other fire-department members of the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) District 10 in thanking and honoring state Rep. Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs, 82nd District) last week for his continuing support of the emergency-coordination network.

The Village Fire Department is among the nearly 1,110 agencies throughout Illinois and the Midwest who are members of the cooperative, which is designed to allow multiple departments to respond to an emergency. Western Springs lies in MABAS District 10, which stretches east to Lyons and Riverside and southwest to Romeoville.

“It’s important to have state funding and support, and the only way that occurs is to get the senators and representatives to believe in the concept and support it,” said Kenny.

Find out what's happening in Western Springswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Representative Durkin has been one of those supporters, not only on the MABAS level but also when station two [the Western Springs South station] was being constructed, he was an advocate for state funding so it didn’t come out of any local taxpayer money.”

Durkin received an appreciative plaque from the District, whose president, Romeoville fire chief Kent Adams, also spoke warmly of Durkin’s support.

Find out what's happening in Western Springswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“If it wasn’t for the cooperative nature of Illinois’ Fire Service and the active and passive support of state officials including Representative Durkin, MABAS would not be the premier statewide mutual aid and disaster response system that it is,” Adams said in a press release. “Representative Durkin has effectively opened the door for real partnerships in disaster response with our colleagues from the State of Illinois.”

MABAS was founded in the northern-Illinois area in the 1960s and remained largely regional until the 9/11 terror attacks, after which it gained significant momentum and spread throughout the state and region. It currently encompasses 68 divisions with a cumulative 38,000 firefighters and EMTs.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Western Springs