Arkema manufacturing donation elevates drone technology at Alsip Fire Department

A global manufacturing company’s longtime relationship with Alsip Fire Department is helping to revolutionize emergency response services in the Southland.

In March, Arkema manufacturing, which has an Alsip location, donated $7,000 to the Alsip Fire Department to help purchase a new drone after the department retired its previous one following a decade of use. The newer model includes thermal imaging for fires and chemical releases and improves the department’s ability to respond to calls with hazardous materials. 

It also includes live-feed capabilities, supporting first responders as they coordinate with other departments in the field. The technology is a boost to a busy department covering a unique geography.

The village is largely commercial, and the fire department’s service area includes nine miles of tollway, wild life, five miles of the Cal-Sag Channel, with 70 to 80 freight trains moving through the village daily, said Chief Tom Styczynski, who has worked with the Alsip Fire Department full-time for 29 years, becoming fire chief in 2012. 

“We have always had a great partnership between the plant managers [and] the safety folks,” Styczynski. The fire department handled over 71 fires in Alsip and 2,500 emergency medical service calls in the past year, according to village data. It also responded to 250 requests for service to assist other municipalities.

“A fixture of the Arkema safety program is to always do an annual coordinated drill with your local emergency response,” said Arkema-Alsip plant manager Kevin McNamara. The relationship is mutually beneficial: firefighters are familiar with hazards at the site and can help Arkema “fine-tune” their own emergency response, McNamara said.

Relationship building is key to getting first responders, businesses, and the larger public on one accord. The dynamic between the manufacturer and fire personnel has also bolstered the department’s community engagement initiatives. 

The company previously equipped Alsip firefighters with magnetic plates to seal railcar leaks and virtual reality fire extinguishers, used in training offered to local business owners. Alsip Fire Department conducts 250 to 300 cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) classes to business annually, along with stop-the-bleed programming.

It’s part of broader efforts to maintain an open, communicative relationship with the village’s business sector. “New businesses that come into town, if they’re being built from the ground up, we will typically do a walk-through of the building and business before they start operating,” particularly if it’s an industrial establishment, said Styczynski.

Arkema, which runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, hosts an annual coordinated drill — even at night — with Alsip first responders, and other departments are also welcome to participate, McNamara said. “Emergencies don’t happen at 9:00 on a Tuesday — they’re gonna happen whenever they’re gonna happen. Even if the fire department has to respond [at] 2:00 A.M. on a Saturday, there’s gonna be a known relationship,” McNamara said.

Alsip fire officials maintain relationships with over 100 businesses, Styczynski said, including the tollway. When they respond to incidents on the nine miles of the Illinois Tollway, maintenance workers ensure roads are blocked.

“We want everybody to be familiar with who the players are before the incident happens — not after that incident happens. You already have a familiar face, you already have a sense of what’s going on,” Styczynski said. “It’s much more difficult when you go to a business for a fire, and you’re meeting the people for the first time.”

Arkema provides technological-driven solutions to water access, recycling, urbanization, and mobility. It operates across 55 countries with over 20,700 employees worldwide.