Wisconsin firefighters booed at Illinois homecoming parade, they say

BELOIT, Wis. - A group of Wisconsin firefighters said they were booed at a homecoming parade in Illinois this week while actively serving the city across the state line.

Starting on Friday, town of Beloit firefighters began staffing a station in the city of South Beloit, Illinois. City leaders said it's the first-of-its-kind shared services agreement to extend across a state border.

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The town of Beloit said, on their first day on the job, the town's firefighters were booed while taking part in the South Beloit homecoming parade and, in a Facebook post, criticized the public for doing so.

South Beloit City Administrator Sonya Hoppes told FOX6 News she feels the allegations are overblown. After talking with the firefighters, she said they received more praise than problems. 

"When major change happens, people have to be upset with somebody, and I don't think that it's ever been at the people wearing that uniform and operating our machines," she said. "Those people are the heroes. They're local heroes in both communities."

The solution came after South Beloit couldn't hire enough part-time employees. The Illinois city is paying the Wisconsin town a little more than $6 million through 2029 for its employees to staff a fire station, engine and ambulance.

Hoppes said the contract was voted on and approved in April, and the plan was to have the program up and running by July. It kept being delayed because the firefighter-paramedics needed to apply for Illinois state licenses, too.