Donated Evanston Fire Truck Features Northwestern Purple Branding

EVANSTON, IL — The Evanston Fire Department on Tuesday unveiled its newest piece of equipment, a new fire engine funded by an $800,000 donation from Northwestern University.

In mid-2021, 1st Ward Ald. Clare Kelly, Mayor Daniel Biss and Dave Davis, the university's chief liaison to the city, began meeting to discuss the fire department's need for a new fire truck due to the city's aging fleet and increasingly use of reserve funds, according to city staff.

The donation was officially accepted by the Evanston City Council on Dec. 13, 2021. At the time, city officials said it was expected to be delivered in late 2022.

The city placed an order for a new Pierce Enforcer Pumper Truck, capable of holding 500 gallons of water and pumping 1,500 gallons per minute, in January 2022. According to a city spokesperson, Pierce Manufacturing has a two-year backup in production.

Fire Chief Paul Polep came up with the idea to include Northwestern branding as a way of thanking the university for the donation and in February 2022 met with members of its marketing department, who provided permissions regarding the use of the university's logo, mascot and patented color.

The next month, Polep met with fire captains at Station 3, located at 1105 Central St., to discuss the Northwestern branding, the designs were revised in April 2022 based on conversations with the fire crews.

The timeline offers no indication of what happened between April 2022 and May 2023, when the plans were finalized by Polep and a signed approval for production was presented to the manufacturer.

"This is our way of showing gratitude to Northwestern for the continuous collaboration between our fire department and the university over the years," Polep said in a statement after the purple engine's unveiling.

The university first donated a fire engine to the city in 1970. Its last donation came in 2009, with the donation of $550,000 for a new pumper engine.

"Painting the truck in Northwestern colors is a symbolic gesture of our shared values and partnership in ensuring the safety and security of our community," the chief said. "We’re proud of how it turned out.”

The unveiling of the new firetruck follows Polep's recommendation against 8th Ward Ald. Devon Reid's plan to impose a fire service fee on non-profits like Northwestern. Instead, the chief proposed that the city should negotiate an intergovernmental agreement with the university for fire services, citing examples from other communities in Illinois that have established similar agreements.

"My opinion would be on this is I feel we can engage in more conversation with Northwestern and I feel we can come up with something that's going to work for all of us, without putting any type of fear or feeling of any type of person calling 911 for assistance," Polep said.

City officials have been talking about collecting fire service fees from the university for years without success.

It costs the city about $860,000 a year to provide Northwestern with free fire services, according to 4th Ward Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma, citing numbers provided by the chief during discussions with Northwestern.

Last month, the Evanston City Council approved a long-term agreement with Northwestern University in exchange for rezoning its football stadium to allow for concerts.

At the next council meeting, Nieuwsma said there had been discussions about a fire services agreement as city officials negotiated the memorandum of understanding.

"That did not make the final cut," Nieuwsma said. "So I will interpret that as leaving the door open for additional discussions along these lines."

6th Ward Ald. Tom Suffredin who — unlike Nieuwsma — voted against the stadium proposal was skeptical that university officials would be inclined to voluntarily reimburse the city for the cost of providing it free fire services.

"I disagree with your read that them saying 'no' is them leaving the door open," Suffredin said. "Them saying 'no' is them saying 'no,' and then five people up here flushed our leverage. So that's what happened, and just remember that."

The mayor broke a 4-4 tie on the council to approve the Northwestern stadium concert plan. The tie came about because 9th Ward Ald. Juan Geracaris, a university employee who was first appointed to the council by the mayor after the stadium plan was announced, recused himself from the process.

"I think that the fact that they said 'no' when they had the stadium in the balance doesn't bode well for the fact that they'll say 'yes' voluntarily," Suffredin said. "But I challenge them to do it."