Ladder truck makes journey from Medina to Illinois

Photo courtesy of Scott Bieliski, Medina village trustee

MEDINA – A nearly new ladder truck left Medina last week, taking a 600-mile journey to Wilmette near Chicago, Illinois.

The truck was loaded on a trailer and hauled away last Wednesday. The truck was being kept in Medina’s former compost facility on North Gravel Road, next to the dog park and just south of Boxwood Cemetery.

The Village Board on Sept. 8 accepted a $2.1 million offer from Wilmette for the ladder truck. Medina received the truck last December but never put it into service. It was declared surplus by the Village Board in February, with the majority of the board saying the truck, with a $1.8 million bond, was too costly.

It also needed a new bay at the fire station to accommodate it. The current fire hall is too small for the truck. The truck is about 13 feet high where the fire station bays only have a clearance of 10 feet, 6 inches. A one-bay addition would have been about $1.3 million more.

The Village of Wilmette has more resources than Medina. The Illinois community has about 28,000 people with a median household income of $190,662.

Medina has a population of 5,855, according to the 2025 population estimates from the Census Bureau. Medina’s median household income is $59,231, just a fraction’s of Wilmette’s.

Wilmette officials were in Medina on Oct. 5 and hand-delivered a check for $2.1 million. They also gave the truck a final inspection.

Wilmette wanted a new ladder truck, but ordering one now would cost about $2.5 million with a wait time of more than three years.