Coal City, Illinois, is located approximately 60 miles southwest of Chicago. Coal City was a mining community incorporated in 1881 as the Village of Coal City. In 1966, the Coal City Fire Protection District was formed. Today, the District comprises a full-time Fire Chief, a full-time Deputy Fire Chief, six full-time Lieutenants, 9 Career Firefighter/Paramedics, 35 paid-on-call and part-time firefighters, and Emergency Medical Technicians providing ALS emergency medical services—one full-time administrative assistant. The District protects 55 square miles with various occupancies from residential to nuclear electric generation.
The District protects approximately 10,500 Grundy County, Coal City, Diamond, and Carbon Hill residents.
When the District was formed, the board of trustees and membership determined that “Omaha Orange” would be the most visible color for the District. Since then, Coal City Fire tradition has called for all equipment to be painted this color with reflective black stripes, which was added in 1993.
The Coal City Fire Protection District is a member of MABAS Division 15 and Chief Shabbona Firefighter’s Training Association. Additionally, the District is a participating member of MABAS 15 HazMat, Dive Teams, and a member of the MABAS 15 Technical Rescue Team.