Appointments are not possible in emergency services. The Hinsdale Fire Department maintains mutual aid agreements with over 100 communities through the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) of Northern Illinois. Realistically, we receive and provide mutual aid assistance with emergency services in Cook and DuPage Counties on a regular basis. We are one of the founding departments of the Central Cook and DuPage Counties Mutual Aid Association, which is now MABAS Division 10.

There are two types of mutual aid assistance that we utilize: one is automatic mutual response and the other one is MABAS mutual aid. While they sound familiar, they each have a benefit to enhance our services.

Automatic mutual response is a pre-arranged response agreement to provide immediate response to pre-determined incidents and locations in neighboring towns. Whenever a fire related emergency is dispatched, assistance is automatically sent to assist the affected community. This provides the affected community with additional resources to mitigate a fire in the early stages. By doing this, the damage is generally lower and the injuries to civilians and emergency workers are reduced. Currently, Hinsdale has automatic response agreements with the Pleasantview, Western Springs, Clarendon Hills, Oak Brook and LaGrange Fire Departments.

The other form of mutual aid assistance is the MABAS mutual aid program. This program consists of communities and fire service agencies in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. It provides the framework for assistance to each other in the event of an emergency that is beyond the normal capabilities of a community and its surrounding neighbors through a contractual agreement.