The injuries sustained by the firefighters are not believed to be life-threatening. Flames were still coming from the roof of the building hours after the initial call around 3 p.m. Nov 22.

A woman and her grandchild inside the third-floor apartment where the fire began were not injured, Barton said. Several residents watched on from their balconies as firefighters attempted to douse hot spots.

The station, at 13974 Willowbrook Road, Roscoe, will remain in full use during the renovation.

Personnel are still working out of the station during the day and volunteers are responding to the station 24 hours a day.

The funds to complete the renovations for the station have come from planning and having a capital improvement/replacement program in the budget.

City officials received a letter from representatives of the Quaker Oats plant concerned about putting its hundreds of employees at risk.

Eisenhauer clarified one statement in the letter saying a fire truck from Fire Station 4 can take the Oregon Street overpass to bypass railroad tracks. He also repeated what’s he’s said about the city still being able to provide the same average response times with three stations instead of four.

Under Eisenhauer’s proposal, Station 3 at 1111 N. Griffin St. would remain open for administrative purposes Monday through Friday and also for training; but fire suppression activities from that station would cease prior to May 1, 2017. That’s the start of the city’s new fiscal year. The city has three other fire stations for fire suppression activities.

Eisenhauer said the city is looking at an alternative location for training and to house equipment.

Ward 3 Alderwoman Sherry Pickering said the city will see a drop in service with response times, and she also asked what the city will save.

Eisenhauer said the city will save about $600,000 in not having to replace equipment for that fire station and the closure puts the city in a better position to fight minimum manning from 13 to 10 in arbitration. A minimum manning ruling in the city’s favor would result in around $700,000 to $900,000 annually in savings, he added.

The CCFD provides emergency response services for all traffic collisions within the city’s 23-square-miles and, due to a mutual aid agreement, sometimes responds to crashes in Palm Springs and unincorporated parts of Riverside County as well.

CCFD applied for the grant in early 2016. The grant was tailored to traffic safety and emergency medical response through the “Regional Collision Response and Extrication Improvement Program.”

If successful, the grant will provide funding for new communication equipment between the West Suburban Dispatch Center and each of the village's fire stations, the manager said in his report. Each of the communities would pay a 15 percent matching grant, with rest footed by the agency.

In Elmwood Park's case, the village will be paying $18,314, with the agency doling out $103,779, according to the memorandum of understanding arrived at by the communities and West Suburban Consolidated Dispatch Center.

The proposal represents "a good opportunity to get a system we would never be able to afford," Volpe said Tuesday.

The federal and village matching grants for the other participating agencies are $187,427 and $33,075 for Oak Park; $49,850 and $8,797 for the village of Forest Park; $41,465 and $7,317 for the village of River Forest; and $37,012 and $6,531 for the West Suburban Consolidated Dispatch Center.

The West Suburban Consolidated Dispatch Center acts as the 911 center for the villages involved, dispatching fire and emergency crews. In addition, WSCDC is the primary dispatch call for MABAS (Mutual Box Alarm System) Division II, the agency says on its website.