By Olivia Stevens
Daily Southtown
HOMER TOWNSHIP, Ill. — Months after one of the Orland Fire Protection District’s ambulances went offline, the Homer Township Fire Protection District communicated it would no longer allow its own ambulances to be held on standby within Orland’s stations.
Homer Township Fire Protection District Chief Dave Bricker sent a letter to Orland’s then-Chief Kevin Doyle in December, notifying him Homer Township’s ambulances would not change quarters to Orland when ambulances were available at other stations or vehicles with life-saving equipment were available.
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“This takes our fire and EMS response away from our area to cover your area,” Bricker stated in the letter recently obtained by the Daily Southtown. Bricker added that the Orland district “has what appears to be sufficient coverage, other than a transport unit that can be called in from outside.”
Orland Professional Firefighters Local 2754 union Vice President Dave Popp said he understands the Homer Township chief’s position, but removing the backup service from the neighboring fire district could result in delayed care for those who need to be taken to a hospital within the Orland district’s jurisdiction.
“Oftentimes, strokes, heart attacks, different situations — those patients need to be transported immediately,” Popp said. “There is a built-in delay if they ( Homer Township ) are not going to come and sit in our station.”
But Bricker said he’s worried about Orland taking resources from his own fire district, an issue he discussed with Doyle multiple times before sending the letter.
Doyle was Homer Township’s fire chief before he joined Orland in October, and subsequently resigned after four months with the Orland district.
“Him and I had talked about it, when he was chief here, about stopping going over there for what we would consider no reason,” Bricker said. “My business is making sure my citizens are taken care of, and emptying one of my stations completely for my guys to go sit in a station where there’s five people sitting — that’s not what we’re here for.”
The Orland Fire Protection District’s board promoted John Purtill, the district’s former deputy chief, to the new chief during its meeting Tuesday. He will be sworn in at 6 p.m. June 9 at the Orland Park Civic Center, 14750 S Ravinia Ave.
Purtill said he was unavailable to talk on Friday, and Orland Fire Protection District board President Beth Damas Kasper did not respond to requests for comment.
The union has raised alarms about increases in calls coupled with a decrease in service since the fire district’s board voted last summer to remove from service an ambulance that operated on 12-hours shifts from circulation. The number of incidents requiring the Orland Fire Protection District’s response jumped from 9,959 in 2016 to 12,811 in 2025, a nearly 30% increase.
The board attempted to bring back the ambulance a month later, but the Illinois Department of Public Health denied its waiver request. Union President Dan Fagan said at the time the board could have brought back the ambulance for 24-hour daily service, but several members refused.
Popp said the only option to continue the same level of care for the 33 miles under the fire district’s jurisdiction, including Orland Park, Orland Hills and unincorporated Orland Township, is to increase staffing.
“Our calls keep going up every year, our transports go up — they don’t go down,” Popp said. “We are running the same model as we have been for the last 15 years.”
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