MARSEILLES, Ill. — The purchase and installation of several hundred metal emergency 911 address signs within the Marseilles Fire Protection District (MFPD) is being paid for by the nonprofit volunteer district at an estimated $14,000-$15,000. The red signs with white lettering are a La Salle County Board mandate.

The board could possibly extend the Sept. 11 installation deadline because of the number of signs involved. The signs are universal for all buildings in unincorporated La Salle County, except for residents on private roads who are exempt from the mandate.

The MFPD is going above and beyond itself in trying to meet the deadline, Fire Chief Mick Garrison said last week. “We’d be lucky if 50 to 60 percent of the (rural homes) are signed up already,” he noted.

The free signs program applies only to residents in the district. Others in the county’s unincorporated areas outside the Protection District cannot participate in the MFPD program, which is being funded by district taxpayers and Exelon’s La Salle Generating Station, a nuclear plant located within the fire district boundaries.

“We’re one of the more fortunate districts in that we get a lot of funding from the nuclear plant,” Garrison said. “The program will cost the district $14,000 to $15,000, and that’s not including rural residents who already bought signs on their own.

“Each sign and post is about $55. It’s rather expensive, but we’re very fortunate that we’re able to do this, and it’s primarily because the nuclear plant pays 58 percent of our tax bill.”

Many MFPD residents pay less than $55 annually in property taxes to the fire district. Garrison estimated a home within the district valued at $100,000 pays the MFPD around $30 yearly in taxes.

“Many of our residents don’t understand that, because they see their tax bill and freak out. But we’re very fortunate in that we have a private ambulance service that covers the MFPD also, and the fire department supports that, too,” he said.

The 911 emergency signs program started in Marseilles about 12 years ago, with approximately 200 residents who bought signs at $25 each, then brought them to the MFPD to install.

“We started our 911 program after the county went to a different numbering system a decade or more ago, and people were confused. They were used to rural route numbers. The current (county numbering) signs are an address system and you can figure it out if you know what you’re looking for,” Garrison said.

“We got the 911 idea from the Sandwich (Ill.) Fire Protection District, which used the same kind of red metal sign we’re using. We thought it was an excellent idea. They were doing it as a voluntary kind of thing, but it wasn’t getting done. Then, when La Salle County began the countywide E911 emergency system, they mandated the new emergency signs, using the format that Sandwich originated.”

Just before the county board approved the mandate this spring, the MFPD agreed to pay for and install the signs within its unincorporated areas. About 700 signs will be purchased and posted at homes.

Multiple 911 signs will be installed at the entrance to private roads where more than one residence is located. A small blue sign with white lettering will be placed at each of the multiple homes fronted on the private road. Many private roads are in the MFPD.

The fire department tries to cooperate with the residents on sign placement. Some rural residents want their sign posted 15-20 feet from their driveway rather than beside it.

“Ideally, we put the sign at the entrance to your property so there’s no confusion. But, most farmers don’t have a house that’s right across the road from them, so we can move the sign around and work with these people. It’s more important that they’re happy with where the signs are placed,” Garrison said.

“We go out of our way to talk to people and see where they’d like their signs. It’s better to have that sign out front so you can see it all times of the day and night.”

The MFPD has fielded complaints from people about the signs – not because the Protection District is paying for them, but that the county is mandating they be posted. The minimum fine for the first violation is $50, and for each subsequent violation, $1,000.

Conversely, residents in other fire districts in La Salle County are interested in the MFPD program.

“We are getting comments from other rural fire districts where the people have said to them, ‘Why aren’t you paying for our signs like the Marseilles District is doing for their people?’ But, it’s a totally different situation, financially, between districts. I explain this to all our residents when we talk to them. I probably get five to six calls a day, and have for a long time,” Garrison said.

La Salle County spent four years getting a countywide 911 system installed and up and running. By then, larger communities such as Ottawa, Peru, Oglesby, Streator, Seneca, Marseilles and Mendota already had their own 911 systems. If these communities had been part of the countywide 911 system, the money would have been there to pay for the signs, he noted.

“That’s what people don’t understand,” Garrison said. “Livingston and other neighboring counties have a single 911 system because they were put in years ago when the system was first started. Marseilles was the first 911 system in La Salle County.

“Keith Hunter of Marseilles owned the local telephone company and he installed the 911 system entirely at his own expense. Seneca was the first in the county with the enhanced E911 system.”

The Marseilles Fire District extends about eight miles north, five miles west, 2.5 miles east and six miles south of the community. When a person within the Marseilles emergency system dials 911, the location pops up on the district’s map. Although not a requirement, this feature was added to the system by the MFPD.