In the western suburbs June 2022, there was a microburst, a column of air with high wind speeds that occurs during intense thunderstorms. The microburst, which Sal Stella, Forest Park’s director of public works, calls a “mini tornado,” hit surrounding villages, but missed Forest Park.
“Every town around us got destroyed. There were trees down everywhere. People lost power for days. It was overwhelming for a lot of communities that didn’t have the manpower and the equipment to take care of the trees,” Stella said.
So Stella lent the village’s chipper truck to North Riverside for more than a month after the village asked for help in clearing fallen trees.
“If I had the manpower, I would have also lent them that, too,” he added. “And in turn, if God forbid anything were to ever happen in our area, the same thing would happen, especially now that we’re part of IPWMAN.”
The Illinois Public Works Mutual Aid Network – IPWMAN – founded in 2009, exists for situations like this. Although Forest Park wasn’t a part of IPWMAN during the microburst, it acted like it was. Officially joining the network facilitates the process of getting help during these emergencies, and gives Forest Park a wider network of aid when they need it.
Monday, the village council voted to become a part of IPWMAN. The $100 annual membership fee allows Forest Park to receive help from other members during emergencies or disasters, and assist others the same way.
When a village experiences an emergency, they call an IPWMAN number for their region, one of the eight in Illinois. The IPWMAN board of directors for that region contact area public works departments to evaluate their capabilities, prioritize help, then dispatch resources.
The board of directors regularly updates procedures for requesting assistance, adds Rachell Entler, Forest Park’s village administrator.
Earlier this year, Stella, Entler, and Mark Maylath, Forest Park’s deputy fire chief, were in Melrose Park for Cook County’s emergency management planning training. They were revising Forest Park’s plan for catastrophe, which outlines actions during various states of emergency, and learning how to upload the plan online to Cook County’s new portal, when the IPWMAN came up.
“I’m like, ‘let me see if we’re part of this. I swear we’re part of this thing,’” said Stella, who became the public works director in 2021. When he discovered that Forest Park wasn’t involved, he got the ball rolling.
“It’s a really good thing for us to be part of and something that the Cook County emergency operations plan highly recommends that we do,” Entler said.
Stella estimates that about 90% of surrounding towns and villages are a part of IPWMAN, including Maywood, Oak Park, River Forest, Riverside and Brookfield.
Under IPWMAN, there is no obligation to respond, considering that in the event of a storm or natural disaster, neighboring communities are likely to be similarly affected. Villages or towns that do request help are guaranteed aid in a minimum of 12 hours. If they’re helping give assistance, they can recall their resources at any time after 12 hours.
“It can only benefit because, when you need something, you are part of this and they can help you out,” Stella said.
“The communities around here have been known to lean on each other and call each other when they might need equipment to use,” Entler said. “It was kind of a no brainer.”