Oak Park trustees weigh hiring 6—9 firefighters after competing staffing studies

Oak Park —At a late session Oct. 14, 2025, the Village Board heard two independent assessments of the fire department that reached different conclusions about how many additional firefighters the village should hire and how quickly.

IAFF Local 95—s presentation, introduced by Local 95 President Robert Toth and delivered by data analyst Adam Smith, concluded that Oak Park—s current deployment (three firefighters on most apparatus; 16-person minimum staffing per 24-hour shift) falls short of nationally accepted benchmarks and creates safety and workload risks. The union study relied on National Fire Protection Association standard 1710 and OSHA 1910 rules and recommended short-term staffing increases to four firefighters per apparatus and hiring nine new firefighter/paramedic positions (three per shift). "Four firefighter companies were able to complete tasks 25%…