What happens if a fire is too big for Grayslake to handle?
Grayslake is a member of MABAS Division 4. MABAS stands for Mutual Aid Box Alarm System. This system was designed and set up throughout Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin and is now quickly being adopted throughout the mid-west because of it’s success. This system consists of different areas which are broken up into different divisions. Each department must submit cards to their division and each fire department. These cards contain different levels of alarms starting with a still alarm then a box alarm increasing to 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and finally 5th. Each level has pre assigned types of vehicles from other fire departments which would respond if any of the levels of box alarms are activated. There are different types of box cards for structure fires, Hazardous Materials, Ambulances, Water and ice rescue, Brush Fires, and Technical Rescue (Structural Collapse, Trench Rescue, Confined Space Rescue & High Angle Rescue). If an incident exceeds a fifth alarm, command has the option to t
