Palos firehouse a finalist in kitchen makeover contest

BY DONNA VICKROY dvickroy@southtownstar.com February 2, 2012 6:52PM

Firefighter Paramedic Aaron Rutter points out where repair work to the wall had to be made after replacing their old stove with a donated one at Palos Fire Protection District Station 1 in Palos Park, Illinois, Thursday, February, 2, 2012. The station is one of five finalists in the IKEA Firehouse Kitchen Remodeling Contest. The cabinet drawer on the countertop in the foreground broke Thursday morning. | Joseph P. Meier~Sun-Times Media

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You can vote daily at http://www.rescueremodel.com.

Updated: February 3, 2012 2:08AM

Marianne DeHaan made a distress call to Ikea last month to rescue the kitchen at the Palos Park firehouse where she’s worked for 10 years.

“The kitchen is currently on advanced life support and the firefighters/paramedics are performing CPR (Cabinet Partial Removal) when necessary,” DeHaan wrote in her entry essay for the Ikea Firehouse Kitchen Remodeling contest.

It worked. The Palos Fire Protection District station at 8815 W. 123rd St. is one of three finalists in the online voting competition that continues through Feb. 28.

“We’re asking everyone we know to vote, daily, for our station,” said DeHaan, the fire district’s administrative assistant. “As you can see, we need a new kitchen. But it’s not going to be in the budget, that’s for sure.”

If they get the most votes — beating out stations in Yonkers, N.Y., and Oregon — they will receive a $25,000 kitchen makeover, complete with new cabinets, countertops, appliances and tile work.

A win for the financially strapped fire district not only would improve cooking efficiency and time, it would be a morale boost for a staff that recently saw six fellow firefighters laid off due to budget constraints, Capt. Jim Graben said.

There is no money to replace the chipped tile, a faulty faucet and cabinets that are duct-taped together.

“This is a way to get these guys a nice, decent kitchen without costing taxpayers a cent,” DeHaan said.

Asked what bugged them most about the current kitchen, firefighter Aaron Rutter said the sink, while colleague Joe Lenzen pointed to the fridge.

For the past week, Palos has led the online voting.

“But that could change at any moment,” Graben said. On Thursday, Yonkers was gaining on them.

DeHaan said a win for Palos would bring regional bragging rights, as well.

“It would be great for the Midwest for a Chicago-area fire department to win,” DeHaan said. “All firefighters are wonderful, but this is local.”

The district has 29 full-time and six part-time employees. The kitchen at Station No. 1 is used daily by six to nine firefighters.

The district — which is seeking a property tax rate increase via a referendum in the March 20 primary to address its financial woes — has two stations, but one is sometimes closed because of the reduced staffing.

DeHaan said the firefighters have done considerable repair work in the kitchen on their own time with their own money. They’ve patched holes in a wall to accommodate a vent after a used stove was donated to the department. They’ve even built shelving units out of 2-by-4s.

“The station is their second home,” DeHaan said. “They deserve a nice place where they can gather and enjoy a meal together.”

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Palos firehouse a finalist in kitchen makeover contest