Illinois Fire Department to Sell Ads on Fire Trucks

A northern Illinois fire district plans to sell advertising on its firetrucks and ambulances in order to raise much-needed money after voters rejected a tax increase.

The Palatine Rural Fire Protection District hopes to bring in as much as $25,000 in revenue from the advertising, The (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald reported.

“We’re kind of in a desperate situation here,” Chief Hank Clemmensen said. “The money we get from these ads will be critical to our operation, unfortunately.”

The ads will be near the back of the trucks.

“We’re not going to put an ad on for Hooters or something like that,” said Chad Drogos, an Arizona firefighter whose company Public Safety Advertising will handle the advertisements. “That doesn’t fit with the family values of fire services.”

The company will get a 15 percent commission on sales.

Clemmensen said the fire protection district lost $300,000 from 2012 to 2013 – a 9 percent decline. Earlier this month, voters opposed a tax increase that could have brought in about $200,000 in revenue.

Clemmensen said he’ll have the final OK on which ads are placed on the vehicles.

“It’s not going to look like a race car,” he said.