CARROLLTON FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICT buys land for future site

By Editor | July 21, 2026 |

By Carmen Ensinger

It is a long way down the road, but the Carrollton Fire Protection District has purchased a piece of property on Rt. 108, near the Carrollton water tower in which they hope to build a new Carrollton fire station.
Carrollton Council Zoning Board agreed to change the property from residential use area to a special use area when the Fire Protection District is ready to construct a new fire house.
“Over the last few years, we have been looking for areas within the city that would meet all or most of the criteria we would like to see in a future site,” Carrollton Fire Protection District President/Trustee Jim Banghart said. “We also looked at areas outside the city limits, but in the long run, it would be more expensive and less secure.”
Some of the criteria Banghart is referring to includes: safe access to highways, avoidance of heavily congested or school zones, flat and stable terrain, two or three acres that allow for 50-foot turning radiuses for tankers, space for setbacks, room for expansion, water supply, drainage and a centralized location.
Carrollton Fire Protection District has three stations – one in Carrollton, Eldred and Kane and covers approximately 260 square miles. Thanks to grants, along with some donations, they have been able to rotate their apparatus, training gear tires and other equipment, but the buildings themselves have largely remained untouched.
“We knew that all three stations needed to be expanded or revamped as money allowed,” Banghart said. “The district needed to consider how to improve ISO ratings (which decreases commercial and residential insurance premiums for property owners in the district), lower long-term capital costs and community growth, etc.”
The stations were prioritized with the Kane station being the most urgent.
“Around 10 years ago we purchased adjacent lots and expanded the Kane station,” Banghart said. “Eldred station was next and there was some remodeling along with purchasing the lot to the north of the station which could be utilized at a future date.”
The Carrollton station was the last to be considered and the hardest as there were no viable options for expansion and the available new spaces were limited in Carrollton.
The board had been looking into the expansion/renovation of the existing fire station and/or building a new fire station.
“The existing station has little room for expansion and/or renovation,” Banghart said. “The station was built in the early seventies and it lacks bay depth and door width, as the apparatus today is longer and wider than it was back then.”
Therefore, it was essential the district find land to build a new facility that meets current safety standards and the many new requirements for the district.
Those include ventilation systems, document storage, gear/tool storage, training area, communication room and technology area. Currently, the bays leave little room for walking safely around the front, side or back of a parked apparatus.
They have been looking for quite some time for just the right place to construct a new facility and recently something became available.
“The district became aware recently that one of the sites we were looking at would possibly be available,” Banghart said. “So, we decided to talk to the owner to see if he would sell a portion of the site for a fire station and he agreed.”
This purchase was contingent on several criteria, however, such as approval of the zoning/special use permit, Illinois Department of Transportation approval for entrances, vacating of alleys and a survey.
Since Greene County is a PTELL (Property Tax Extension Limitation Law) county and because the Fire Protection District is funded through tax dollars, which are limited through PTELL, the district requires extensive budgetary long-term planning.
“The district uses a 10-year plus plan to try to foresee what the district’s needs will be in the future,” Banghart said. “The district’s comprehensive plan must focus on many things, including the fact that, in the future, Highway 67 will become a 4-lane interstate, which needs to be addressed in future planning. We must anticipate future annexations or commercial developments to ensure the fire department is proactive rather than reactive to local expansion.”
Banghart emphasized that, at this time, this is merely the acquisition of the land and there is no plans or timeframe in which they are planning to build a new fire station.