Archive for October 15th, 2010

Lakemoor apartment fire goes to 3 alarms

The Fox Lake Fire Department received calls for a fire in an apartment building in the 500 block of Autumn Boulevard in Lakemoor around 11PM last night. Arriving roughly four minutes later, companies found fire through the roof of the three-story, light-weight constructed building. A structural collapse occurred shortly thereafter.  This was a 3-11 for tankers and a Box Alarm for the structural collapse with at least 19 fire departments represented on the scene.

Four tower ladders went to work (Fox Lake, McHenry Township, Wauconda, and Round Lake) in addition to several handlines and ground level master streams.

Interesting apparatus notes from the incident include the following:

  • Countryside and Grayslake both had their new apparatus at the fire.
  • Several of the units on-scene were equipped with Nightscan or Command Light towers including engines from Antioch, Grayslake, and Round Lake plus squads from Fox Lake and Barrington.
  • At one point late into the fire, the Fox Lake Tower Ladder (Spartan/3D/Nova Quintech) which was in sector 1, deployed the articulating jib of the fly-section of the ladder over the building
  • McHenry Township had four units on the scene: engine, tower, tanker and squad
  • Round Lake had three units on the scene; engine, tower, and tanker
  • Lake Villa had three units on the scene; engine, tanker, and ambulance
  • Grayslake had an engine and tanker at the scene
  • Lake Bluff responded with an engine … probably the farthest distance travelled
Antioch Fire Department Alexis engine

Antioch's American LaFrance/Alexis engine with a Nightscan lighting up the scene. Larry Shapiro photo

Fox Lake Fire Department Spartan Alexis squad

This Fox Lake squad has two light towers capable of providing enough light for any scene. Larry Shapiro photo

Countryside FPD US Tank tanker

Countryside put this new tanker into service this summer. It is shown here working at it's second tanker box already. In the background, Round Lake's engine is lighting up the porta-tanks with a Command Light mounted on the cab roof. Larry Shapiro photo

Fox Lake Fire Department Nova Quintech Sky Arm

The Nova Quintech Sky Arm tower ladder from Fox Lake with the jib section articulating down from the main ladder. Larry Shapiro photo

Of the 19 departments represented at this fire, chicagoareafire.com has the following departments posted to the website:

  • Buffalo Grove
  • Cary
  • Countryside
  • Lake Bluff
  • Lake Forest
  • Lake Villa
  • Libertyville
  • Long Grove
  • McHenry Township
  • Mundelein
  • Newport Township
  • Wauconda

These are not yet represented on the site:

  • Antioch
  • Barrington
  • Fox Lake
  • Grayslake
  • Lake Villa
  • Nunda Rural
  • Round Lake

Larry Shapiro  has a gallery of images from this fire which can be viewed HERE.

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New deliveries

Here are a few recent area updates:

  • Bellwood (Division 20) has a new 2010 GMC/Osage Type III ambulance
  • Nunda Rural (Division 5) has their new 2010 Ferrara engine
  • Limestone FPD (Division 7, Kankakee County) has a new 2010 Ferrara Inferno rescue pumper
Limestone FPD Ferrara Inferno rescue pumper

Limestone Squad 3 is a 2010, Ferrara, inferno pumper/squad with a 2,000-GPM pump, and 500 gallons of water. Photo by Karl Klotz

Bellwood Fire Department Osage ambulance

Bellwood's new GMC/Osage ambulance before lettering. Osage photo

Bellwood Fire Department ambulance

Interior view of Bellwood's new Osage ambulance. Osage photo

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Lake Bluff is added to the site

Lake Bluff Fire Department patch

Another Division 4 department has been added to the site. The Lake Bluff Fire Department is another volunteer department covering the roughly 4 square miles of Lake Bluff along Lake Michigan between Lake Forest and North Chicago. This is mostly a Pierce department with four Pierce units plus a brush rig built by Danko.

There are several interesting points with regard to the apparatus here. First of all, each of the suppression rigs bears a unique name on the front of the cab. Lake Bluff has always gone to the local third grade class for help with a name when a new piece of equipment is ordered. The current names are ‘The Volunteer’, ‘The Defender’, ‘Guardian’, and ‘Centennial Pride’.

Lake Bluff Fire Department rescue 520

Built-in, color-coded, cross-lays are located amidship. Larry Shapiro photo

Lake Bluff Fire Department Pierce Saber pumper squad

Rescue 520 has a rear pump along with rescue squad type storage and a full complement of hydraulic tools. Larry Shapiro photo

Lake Bluff has an interesting rescue/pumper. Rescue 520 is a Pierce Saber with a squad body that features a rear 1500-GPM pump, built-in cross-lays, and has a roof-mounted, Will-Burt Night Scan, light tower. As a matter of fact, all three of Lake Bluff’s engines also have a Night Scan.

Lake Bluff Fire Department Ford C-8000 Pierce engine

At one time, all of the Lake Bluff engines were built by Pierce on Ford C-Series chassis. When they purchased their last Ford unit in 1990, they were informed by Pierce that this unit would be the last Ford-C-8000 that Pierce would build on.

Lake Bluff Fire Department

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