South Beloit fire services in limbo as Town of Beloit plans to end agreement

BELOIT, Wis. (WTVO) — The Town of Beloit City Administrator, Tim Wellnitz, and Fire Chief, Daniel Pease, are recommending that its intergovernmental agreement for firefighting and emergency services with the City of South Beloit be terminated by October 1 or sooner.

The memorandum filed by the town explained that it has attempted to better staff the fire department and emergency services unit to accommodate the agreement, but to no avail.

The town applied for a grant that would have allowed it to hire 9 more firefighters, but it was not awarded the funding.

If the agreement is terminated, some of the town’s firefighters would be relocated to the Town of Beloit Fire District 2.

The deal was made in May of 2024, with the Town of Beloit starting to staff the South Beloit Station in October of 2024. The agreement was set to provide firefighting and emergency medical service to South Beloit, but now the township wants to terminate the deal.

“We kind of felt that the Town of Beloit would probably terminate the contract,” South Beloit Mayor Tom Fitzgerald explained. “They were having trouble with their staffing because they were sending two down to protect our ambulance service. They were there all the time, but [then] we did not have enough people running the fire engine.”

Now, Mayor Fitzgerald said further information will be available during the Town of Beloit Supervisor meeting on Tuesday evening. If Town of Beloit leaders decide to end the deal, the city has some time to figure out what comes next.

“Nothing changes between now and a year from now,” Fitzgerald said. “They have to staff the ambulances, and they will use their fire engines…. So, we have this time, we have the luxury of you know looking around and trying to fix this problem.”

In a statement, the City of South Beloit said it will continue to work with the town and the Illinois Fire Chiefs’ Association to address its staffing issue.

“The City intends to continue to work with the Town of Beloit during this period of transition while following the recommendations of the Illinois Fire Chiefs’ Association regarding staffing of the South Beloit Fire Department,” a release from South Beloit Mayor Tom Fitzgerald explained.

South Beloit’s City Council feels regionalization is paramount.

“The City of South Beloit City Council believed then, as it does now, that regionalization of area fire departments is necessary to ensure proper staffing throughout Northern Illinois. To that end, the City of South Beloit will be discussing next steps at upcoming City Council meetings regarding how staffing will be addressed in the future,” the mayor concluded.