Tonica Volunteer Fire Department and Ambulance

06/14/2026

The Tonica Fire Department would like to extend a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who attended and supported our Drawdown last night!

We believe the event was a tremendous success, and as the dust settles, we'll have a better understanding of just how successful it was. None of it would have been possible without the help of so many dedicated volunteers.

We would like to give special thanks to the volunteers from the Tonica, IL Grade School Board Members & Principal, Tonica Community Festivities, Village of Tonica, IL Village President, and our department's very own significant others. Your willingness to step up and lend a hand played a major role in making this event run smoothly. Without your extra help, we would have faced an uphill battle to make the night the success it was.

Most importantly, we want to thank every single member of the public who attended, participated, and supported us. Fundraisers like our Drawdown are critical to helping offset the costs of our day-to-day operations, paying our bills, maintaining and purchasing equipment, and ensuring we can continue providing the highest level of service to our community.

Just as importantly, your support helps keep those costs off the taxpayers' shoulders.

From all of us at the Tonica Fire Department, thank you for your continued support, generosity, and belief in what we do. We are proud to serve such an amazing community!

06/13/2026

🚒 Planning to be Prepared! 🚒

Each year, the Tonica Volunteer Fire Department conducts pre-planning and walk-throughs of various businesses throughout our district. These visits are a critical part of ensuring we are prepared to respond quickly, safely, and effectively when emergencies occur.

By touring local businesses, firefighters become familiar with building layouts, access points, utility shutoffs, fire protection systems, hazardous materials, occupancy types, and other important factors that could impact emergency operations. This information helps us make informed decisions during fires, medical emergencies, severe weather events, and other incidents.

Annual updates are important because businesses change over time. Renovations, new equipment, changes in occupancy, and updated safety systems can all affect how we respond during an emergency. Staying current allows us to better protect business owners, employees, customers, and our firefighters.

As you might have noticed, we invited Peru, Illinois Fire Department to come down and join us. They are an integral part when it comes to an incident involving a commercial or industrial building. They brought their aerial truck so we could be reminded on how big of an area is needed to successfully deploy their truck to be able to use it to its full potential along with a quick tutorial on how to operate their truck so we can assist them in setting up if need be.

We appreciate you guys taking time out of your schedule to show us the ropes and provide us a sweet view to end the night!

Also a shout out to Tonica, IL Grade School for allowing us to tour the school as well!

06/06/2026

The Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal (OSFM) announced recently the recipients of the 2026 Small Equipment Grant Program. Tonica Volunteer Fire Department was awarded $18,000 in grant money.

With this grant money, we will be purchasing a gear extractor washing machine and PPE gear dryer. The gear extractor an industrial-strength washing machine specifically designed to decontaminate firefighter personal protective equipment (PPE). It utilizes calibrated wash cycles, high G-force centrifugal spinning, and precise chemical injection to extract dangerous carcinogens, debris, and hazardous residues without damaging specialized protective fabrics of the PPE and eliminates the spread of potentially life-threatening contaminants.

Then the dryer will allow the PPE to dry in just several hours instead of a day or two, allowing the PPE to be ready for use ensuring a quick turnaround, it helps destroy bacteria, fungi, and dangerous pathogens, prevents foul odors, which protects users from skin conditions or infections, and safeguarding the integrity and effectiveness of their gear.

With this purchase, it will enhance the protection we provide to our own personnel, and help take care of our PPE so that we can continue to keep our gear in service for years to come.

We would like to thank the Illinois State Fire Marshal for selecting us as recipient to their grant. Grants like this is what helps us off set costs of purchasing new equipment.

We are excited to announce the recipients of the FY-26 Small Equipment Grant. A total of $6 million was awarded to 260 fire departments/districts and EMS providers across the state.

Visit this link for a complete list of recipients: https://sfm.illinois.gov/currentfocus/smallequipmentgrantrecipientsannouncement-fy26.html

06/05/2026

*** WE HAVE LESS THAN 20 TICKETS LEFT ***

If you have not obtained your ticket to the Tonica Fire Drawdown, tomorrow is your chance. They will be readily available tomorrow during the day. All you have to do is comment on this post and we will reach out to you to make the arrangements!

Its June 13th and the cost is $70
In return you get a STEAK dinner for two, and a chance to win $1000 dollars among other cash and prizes!

06/04/2026

06/01/2026

103.9 WLPO
1430 WCMY
La Salle NewsTribune
99.3 WAJK
WALLS 102
96.5 The Wolf
The Times Newspaper

05/26/2026

🚨 The Drawdown is coming up fast! 🚨

Don’t miss out on a great night supporting your local firefighters and EMS. Reach out to any Tonica Volunteer Fire Department member to get your ticket before they’re gone! 🔥🎟️

05/22/2026

During EMS Week, the Tonica Volunteer Fire Department would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to our community for your unwavering support of the Tonica Ambulance over the last 50 years. Since the 1960s Tonica Fire has been providing medical aid to its citizens. In 1975, Tonica Ambulance was established without the use of tax money and has proudly continued providing emergency medical services to our community, and none of it would have been possible without the support of the people we serve. Even to this day, we are still NOT TAX SUPPORTED.

Over the last five decades, countless dedicated individuals have answered the call to serve as EMTs for our department. Their commitment, compassion, and sacrifice have made a lasting impact on our community, and we are forever grateful for each and every one of them. During EMS Week, we especially recognize and thank all past EMTs who helped build and sustain this service throughout the years.

We also want to recognize and thank our current EMTs and First Responders. Your dedication, professionalism, and willingness to respond at all hours of the day and night do not go unnoticed. We are privileged to have such devoted members serving our community, and we cannot thank you enough for the time and commitment you give to this service.

A special thank you also goes out to the families of our EMTs and First Responders. Thank you for supporting your loved ones and allowing them to answer the call when members of our community are in need. Your sacrifice and understanding play a vital role in making this service possible.

As we celebrate EMS Week and reflect on the past 50 years of service, we remain proud to continue serving the Tonica community and look forward to many more years ahead.

If anyone is interested in becoming an EMT, First Responder, and/or firefighter with the Tonica Volunteer Fire Department, please reach out to us!

(Sorry if this post seems like déjà vu if you liked our post once already. We reposted because we wanted to add one more picture and some more information. 😂)

05/20/2026

🚒🛠️ So if you happen to drive by the station and notice a completely tore up car sitting in the parking lot… don’t worry 😂 We promise it’s there on purpose!

This month TVFD completed auto extrication training. Training like this helps our firefighters sharpen their skills and newer firefighters learn new skills, so we’re ready when seconds matter most.

05/13/2026

🚨 Attention Tonica Community! 🚨

No, LaSalle Street won’t be under attack at 5:00 PM… those sirens you hear will be for our Tonica/Lostant Track & Field athletes getting the ultimate small-town celebrity es**rt on their way to the State Tournament in East Peoria! 🚒🏃‍♂️🏃‍♀️

Come pack LaSalle Street around 5:00 PM to help us send these athletes off in style and wish them GOOD LUCK at state! Bring your cheers, school spirit, and maybe prepare for a little temporary traffic jam caused by greatness. 😉

Let’s show our athletes how proud we are of all their hard work and accomplishments. Good luck at State — we’ll be cheering loud enough for you to hear us all the way there! 💚💙💛