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Joliet council advances firefighter gear purchases and an intergovernmental radio agreement after Amazon warehouse fire

City of Joliet City Council · January 7, 2026

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Summary

Council recommended and approved purchases of turnout gear and cardiac monitors, and approved an intergovernmental agreement to allow Joliet agencies access to Will County's StarCom radio system; the fire chief described a multi‑hour Amazon warehouse response and one firefighter injury.

The Joliet City Council at its Jan. 6 meeting approved several public-safety procurement items and a resolution to authorize an intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Will County for radio interoperability.

The public safety committee recommended purchasing 110 additional sets of firefighter turnout gear from Air 1 Equipment Inc., approximately $398,310, citing replacement needs for aging equipment and noting three bids were reviewed. The council also approved the purchase of one LP 35 cardiac monitor and three LP 1,000 AEDs from Stryker Medical for about $59,847 to replace older, incompatible units.

Fire Chief Carey described the proposed IGA with Will County that would allow Joliet fire, police and CERT teams to use Will County’s StarCom 800 radio system during mutual aid responses. He said the agreement would solve interoperability problems experienced during a recent large response: an Amazon warehouse fire on Brandon Road that began about 3:30 a.m.; Chief Carey said crews encountered near‑zero visibility inside the building, had to re‑route through another entrance to find the fire, and remained on scene about six and a half hours to pull materials from racking and ensure no recurrence. Chief Carey reported one firefighter was injured and expected to recover.

Chief Carey said the StarCom access is free to the city and would permit direct radio communications with neighboring departments on mutual aid responses.

The council moved and approved the procurement items and the resolution authorizing the IGA; committee chairs had recommended sending the items to the full council with unanimous support.

Next steps: purchasing departments will execute procurement procedures and the mayor is authorized to finalize the IGA with Will County according to the resolution adopted by the council.