EAST CARONDELET, IL – September 28, 2026 (STL.News) A small volunteer fire protection district serving part of the Metro East has put a voter-authorized $1.65 million capital improvement plan into action, unveiling two new fire trucks and an assortment of modern emergency-response equipment after years of operating with aging apparatus.
The Prairie Du Pont Fire Protection District celebrated the arrival of the new trucks Saturday in East Carondelet, roughly six months after voters authorized the district to issue up to $1.65 million in general-obligation bonds for fire and rescue vehicles and equipment.
The distinction is important: the $1.65 million was not a state or federal grant and was not a direct appropriation from St. Clair County. Voters within the fire protection district authorized Prairie Du Pont to borrow the money by issuing general-obligation bonds specifically for fire and rescue vehicles and equipment.
Official St. Clair County election records show the March 17 proposition passed with 124 Yes votes and 53 No votes. That means approximately 70% of the 177 votes cast on the proposition supported the borrowing.
The result has now translated into visible equipment for a volunteer department that says it responds to nearly 300 calls annually and frequently provides mutual aid to neighboring fire departments.
Two new fire trucks replace aging apparatus
Prairie Du Pont Fire Chief Jerame Simmons said the department’s apparatus had grown increasingly old.
Before the latest acquisition, Simmons said the department’s newest truck dated to approximately 2013. Its oldest truck was a 1988 model, making it roughly 38 years old in 2026.
The two newly acquired trucks represent a significant modernization for the district.
“We run, roughly, almost 300 calls a year, a lot of mutual aid calls to other surrounding departments,” Simmons told First Alert 4 during the weekend unveiling.
The chief said the benefits therefore extend beyond residents within Prairie Du Pont’s boundaries because its firefighters regularly assist other departments when larger emergencies require additional personnel, trucks or equipment.
“So not only is this going to help our citizens, this is going to help surrounding communities in our area,” Simmons said.
Prairie Du Pont operates as an all-volunteer fire department, Simmons said.
Voters authorized $1.65 million in bonds
The financial story behind the trucks began months before their public unveiling.
The official St. Clair County specimen ballot for the March 17, 2026, general primary election asked voters whether the Prairie Du Pont Fire Protection District should be authorized to issue $1.65 million in general-obligation bonds.
The ballot specified that the money would be used “for the purpose of purchasing fire and rescue vehicles and equipment.”
Official election results show all five precincts associated with the proposition reported results. The final tally was 124 votes in favor and 53 against.
General-obligation bonds allow a public body to finance large capital expenditures over time rather than absorbing the entire purchase through a single year’s operating budget.
That is particularly significant in Prairie Du Pont’s case because publicly available state financial records show the proposed equipment investment was many times larger than the district’s annual reported revenue.
State records show district’s financial scale
The Illinois Comptroller’s Fiscal Year 2024 data summary lists Prairie Du Pont Fire Protection District with $145,704 in revenue and $190,706 in expenditures for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2024.
The district therefore reported expenditures exceeding revenue by $45,002 during that fiscal year.
The district reported an ending fund balance of $110,371.
The same Comptroller record lists the district’s equalized assessed valuation at approximately $21.03 million.
Those figures put the 2026 bond authorization into perspective.
The $1.65 million authorized by voters is more than 11 times the district’s reported FY2024 annual revenue. That does not mean the district spent the entire bond authorization in a single year, nor does it establish the ultimate cost of borrowing after interest. It does show why replacing multiple fire trucks and buying substantial amounts of emergency equipment would represent an unusually large capital expenditure compared with the district’s ordinary annual finances.
New equipment goes beyond the fire trucks
The modernization is not limited to the two vehicles.
Prairie Du Pont also unveiled new personal protective equipment, vehicle-extrication equipment and thermal-imaging cameras, according to the department’s statements reported during Saturday’s event.
Thermal-imaging cameras are an important tool in structural firefighting because they allow firefighters to detect heat signatures in conditions where smoke or darkness severely limits normal visibility.
Modern extrication equipment can be used during vehicle crashes and other emergencies in which responders need to cut, spread, or otherwise remove material to reach trapped occupants.
For a department that participates in mutual-aid responses, those capabilities can also become regional assets when Prairie Du Pont firefighters are dispatched beyond their own district.
East Carondelet Mayor Herb Simmons praised the investment and the volunteers who operate the department.
“They’re volunteers; they go out there and risk their lives on a daily basis,” the mayor told First Alert 4.
Chief Simmons said community support made the equipment purchases possible.
“The money is going to good use for our community and our surrounding communities,” he said.
Illinois separately awarded the department $26,000
Prairie Du Pont has also received another source of equipment funding that is separate from the $1.65 million bond authorization.
Official records from the Illinois Office of the State Fire Marshal show Prairie Du Pont Fire Department was awarded $26,000 through Illinois’ FY2026 Small Equipment Grant Program.
Illinois’ Grant Accountability and Transparency Act database independently lists the Prairie Du Pont award at $26,000, with an award period running from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027.
The $26,000 state award should not be confused with the voter-approved $1.65 million bond issue.
Public records confirm both funding sources, but they do not show that the specific trucks and every piece of equipment unveiled Saturday were financed with the state grant. The $26,000 award is therefore best viewed as separate state support for the department rather than part of the $1.65 million bond authorization.
Equipment concerns stretch back years
The need to update Prairie Du Pont’s equipment did not suddenly emerge in 2026.
When Simmons was relatively new to the chief’s position several years ago, he publicly discussed efforts to improve department buildings and equipment.
Republic-Times reporting from that period documented the district working on construction projects at its facilities while purchasing equipment, including new lights for fire engines, extrication equipment, and radio chargers.
Simmons also discussed rebuilding and strengthening relationships with surrounding mutual-aid departments.
The arrival of two new trucks in 2026 therefore represents a much larger step in a modernization effort already underway.
The difference is scale.
Instead of replacing smaller pieces of equipment individually as resources became available, voters gave the district authority to undertake a capital program of up to $1.65 million focused specifically on fire and rescue vehicles and equipment.
Upgrade affects communities beyond East Carondelet
The Prairie Du Pont investment also illustrates how equipment purchases by a relatively small fire protection district can have consequences outside its jurisdiction.
Fire departments across the Metro East routinely depend on mutual aid during structure fires, major crashes, hazardous incidents, and emergencies requiring more personnel or specialized equipment than one agency can immediately provide.
Prairie Du Pont’s reported call volume of nearly 300 incidents annually includes many mutual-aid calls, Simmons said.
That means newer trucks, thermal-imaging equipment, protective gear and extrication tools can potentially be deployed not only for emergencies involving Prairie Du Pont residents but also when neighboring departments request assistance.
For Prairie Du Pont’s volunteers, the weekend unveiling marks a significant change from operating a fleet that still included apparatus dating to 1988.
For district taxpayers, it marks the tangible result of a March decision authorizing substantial long-term borrowing for emergency-response equipment.
And for surrounding Metro East departments that depend on mutual aid, the new apparatus adds another modernized response capability to the regional fire-service network.
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