For nearly four decades, the McHenry Township Fire Protection District has been a big part of James L. Althoff’s life. But after Tuesday, life will change for Althoff and the state’s largest volunteer fire department.
Last month, Althoff submitted a letter of resignation to Donna Schaefer, chairwoman of the McHenry County Board’s Law and Justice Committee, asking not to be reappointed as fire protection district trustee. The board will officially accept that resignation Tuesday.
“There is a time to get in and a time to get out, and it’s important to know when to do those things,” Althoff said.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t going to miss my association with them,” added the 69-year-old Althoff, who joined the department as a firefighter in 1955. “It’s a lot like being a parent and letting go of a child.”
From his second-story office on the corner of Main Street and Crystal Lake Road in McHenry, Althoff watches the comings and goings of many emergency vehicles. A noisy scanner squawks in the corner of his office. Over the years, he has learned to tell who’s going out, where they are going and how many trucks will respond to a given call.
When Althoff joined the department it had 15 or 16 men and very little equipment.
“It was hard getting five guys together to respond to a call during the day,” he said.
When there was a fire, an operator would call Althoff at the hardware store where he worked, “and I’d have to authorize her to blow the fire whistle, which drew the men to the station.
“In those days, we probably didn’t have more than 25 calls a year,” Althoff said, “but we weren’t able to get the fires out as fast because we didn’t have the equipment.”
Sometimes there was a question of whether firefighters could even get to a call. When the department lacked a battery charger, four men would have to push the fire truck down a ramp while the driver popped the clutch to get the engine started.
“In those days, the men would respond in their own clothes and make just $3 a call no matter how long they had to work,” Althoff said. “Back then, the firefighters had no choice over what type of equipment they got. In fact, our first tanker was just a chassis, and the firefighters used their own money and labor to put a tank and a pumper on.”
Frustrated by the lack of equipment and the exclusion of the firefighters in the decision-making processes, Althoff resigned as a firefighter to seek a position as a trustee. It took two years before he was appointed to the board in 1964. In 1965 he was named its president.
“Before I got on the board, the trustees were very secretive, holding meetings in their homes and never speaking directly to the firefighters,” Althoff said. “I changed that. I am especially proud of the fact that I’ve allowed the firefighters to be involved in the decision-making process.”
He also is proud that the fire protection district never had to take out a loan to upgrade its buildings or to purchase equipment.
Since Althoff took the helm, the fire protection district has built three new buildings, replaced all of the old fire equipment and purchased 5 acres for a future station on Bull Valley Road. The district has had to hold only one referendum since Althoff’s second term as president, which began in 1983. That year voters voted to increase the tax rate from nearly 17 cents to 30 cents per $100 assessed value for fire coverage and added 30 cents for ambulance service.
The referendum initiative facilitated the merger of the McHenry Area Rescue Squad with the fire protection district, which had been separate entities. By 1991, the Johnsburg Rescue Squad had merged with the fire protection district without needing additional funding.
The fire protection district has more than a million dollars in reserve and no outstanding debt.
During his years with the fire protection district, Althoff began and remains chief executive officer of Althoff Industries, installers of heating and air-conditioning equipment. He and his wife, Joan, have raised seven children.
“Althoff leaves behind a long legacy of a well-managed fire department that has dealt with a vast amount of growth in a very responsible manner and without conflict,” Schaefer said. “He will be missed.”
The Law and Justice Committee is expected to recommend that the fire protection district’s fire chief, Chris Bennett, be appointed as Althoff’s replacement on the board of trustees. The appointment would take effect May 1. Deputy chief Wayne Amore is expected to be named and sworn in as Bennett’s replacement.
