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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, The Mt. Olive Volunteer Fire Department is
3 celebrating its 125th anniversary; and
 
4     WHEREAS, The Mt. Olive Volunteer Fire Department was
5 established by the Mt. Olive Village Board on September 30,
6 1880; the Village Board of Trustees had a fire engine, hose,
7 cart, and other supplies, and turned the same over to the
8 organization to use and take care of; and
 
9     WHEREAS, On August 1, 1867, Rescue No. 2, consisting of 25
10 members, was admitted into this organization with their engine,
11 "Little Giant", and other supplies; the organization was then
12 divided into two bodies and one was designated as Division A
13 and the other as Division B; and
 
14     WHEREAS, In 1917, the Village of Mt. Olive constructed a
15 village hall and the Fire Department occupied the ground floor
16 level; a bell tower was included in the construction to house a
17 bell that would toll and alert the volunteers to a fire call
18 within the city; and
 
19     WHEREAS, In 1966, the City of Mt. Olive purchased a
20 building to convert into a new city hall, police station, and
21 fire station; through the hard work of the volunteer
22 department, the south portion of the building was converted
23 into a fire station; the department had two offices, a meeting
24 room, kitchen facilities, rest room, and six apparatus bays; a
25 civil defense siren was placed on the roof to alert the public
26 and was also used to alert the volunteer firemen in the event
27 of fire call, replacing the ringing of the fire bell for fire
28 calls; and
 
29     WHEREAS, In 1979, the Mt. Olive Township Trustees called a
30 meeting to organize the Mt. Olive Area Ambulance Service, Inc.;

 

 

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1 an ambulance was purchased and housed in the fire station, and
2 the crew utilized one of the offices in the station; and
 
3     WHEREAS, In April of 1986, the Mt. Olive Volunteer Fire
4 Department asked the voters to establish a fire protection
5 district; the vote passed in the Macoupin County Townships but
6 failed in the Montgomery County Townships, so the new district
7 was only formed in Macoupin County; with the transfer of
8 equipment to the newly formed Fire Protection District, the
9 volunteer fire department became the fire fighting force; and
 
10     WHEREAS, In 1989, the volunteer fire department began
11 recruiting high school students into a Junior Fire Fighting
12 program; ten years later, the fire district became a member of
13 the St. John's Hospital Emergency Medical Services System; in
14 2000, the Mt. Olive Fire Protection District and the Mt. Olive
15 Area Ambulance Service, Inc., were awarded a joint Illinois
16 First Grant in the amount of $350,000 to construct a new
17 station; the new station was completed in January of 2001 at a
18 cost of about $350,000 in grant funds and about $20,000 in
19 volunteers funds; and
 
20     WHEREAS, In March of 2002, the citizens of Montgomery
21 County voted to annex into the Mt. Olive Fire Protection
22 District, adding about 32 square miles to the coverage area for
23 a total of 64 square miles of coverage; the same year, the City
24 of Mt. Olive donated the old fire bell, that had been removed
25 from the old city hall; this bell was placed outside the new
26 station in a monument dedicated to all past and present fire
27 fighters; therefore, be it
 
28     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
29 NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
30 we congratulate the Mt. Olive Volunteer Fire Department on the
31 occasion of its 125th anniversary, and we honor all the members
32 of the Department, past and present, for their heroic efforts

 

 

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1 to save lives; and be it further
 
2     RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
3 presented to the Mt. Olive Volunteer Fire Department as an
4 expression of our respect and esteem.