News media investigates CFD ambulance maintanence

CBS TV does an expose on Chicago Fire Department ambulance fleet

thanks Chris

Tags: Chicago Fire Department, condition of CFD ambulance fleet, maintanence of Chicago ambulance fleet questioned by media

This entry was posted on June 4, 2013, 6:54 PM and is filed under Fire Service News. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

13 Comments

#1 by Bill Post on June 7, 2013 - 6:00 PM

NJ, San Antonio Texas uses SUV’s as well as some small pick up trucks which they call “Squads” as EMS first responders.
They don’t have dedicated manning however. The first responder Squads are located in all but three of their 20 fire stations that have Truck companies that are assigned to them. The 18th Squad is located at the Airport. As all fire stations in San Antonio that have a Truck assigned also have an Engine company assigned to the station .the Squad is manned by one person from the Engine and one from the Truck, making the Squad in effect a “jump” company”. Both the Engine and the Truck need to be in the station for the Squad to be sent on the run instead of the Engine or Truck going on the run. The Engine and the Truck remain in service but as a 3 man companies until the Squad gets back to the station. Both the Engine and the Truck need to be in the station at the time of the EMS run however as the first responder Squad is in reality a “jump company”. The Squads are generally speaking BLS as the San Antonio Fire Department has a fleet of ALS ambulances that are manned by Paramedics. The last that I had heard they had 33 full time ALS ambulances and 8 part time “peak period” ALS ambulances that would run during the busier hours which generally speaking is from the mid afternoon until the late evening. I’m sure that their first responder Squads do take some wear and tear off of the Engines and Trucks but being that they rely on the Engine and Truck that they are located with( for their manpower) they do have limitations as to when and if they can be used.
Dallas Texas also uses “peak period” period ambulances that are in service during the busier hours and so does Philadelphia and several other cities as well.
Memphis recently had added about 8 “Flying EMS Squads” which are really 2 man enclosed pick up trucks that are supposed to run as first responders on EMS runs in some areas as well as to respond to some fires to help make up for the shortfall in manpower as Memphis is undergoing a 3 year 111 person manpower reduction plan for it’s fire department which included the elimination of 4 Truck companies and the creation of several 75 foot Quint companies replacing a few Engines as well. Memphis also has eliminated a few Battalions and make one Heavy Rescue company into a standby (jump company) that is cross/manned by a Truck company when needed.
In the mid 2000’s Houston created between 15 and 20 two man paramedic Squads which was done done as efficiency move by taking paramedics off of some their ALS ambulances so they could run with more BLS ambulances.
The paramedic Squads would respond with the BLS ambulances on the real medical emergencies or if requested by the BLS unit. That way if paramedics were not needed on the emergency the ALS squad would go back in service and be available to back up other BLS ambulances.
Houston still does run with ALS Medic ambulances in some areas however you need to know that geographically the city of Houston Texas Fire department covers 627 square miles within the city limits of Houston (which makes Houston larger in area then the City of Los Angeles which is only 470 square miles) and it is covered from only 92 fire stations at present. So what works for Houston might not necessarily work for Chicago.
Another way to go would be to have the Chicago Fire Department Ambulances only remove the real ALS patients and let the private Ambulances remove the BLS patients ,which is what both Seattle and Milwaukee does and both cities have amongst the Highest (Witnessed) Cardiac Arrest save rates in the country. Of course training the civilian population in CPR also has a lot to do with it.
It really isn’t a bad idea to have SUVS respond as first responders as it would cut the wear and tear on the Engines and the Trucks however the bottom line is that the city isn’t about to ad positions to the CFD payroll and if they were to put first responder SUVS in service then the manpower would come from taking men off of the Trucks and Engines either by running the SUVS as jump companies as in San Antonio or by running with less then 5 men on some of rigs on a regular basis or be taking fire companies out of service altogether.
I personally am not for the idea of running with less then 5 men on the Engines and Trucks but ultimately it is the membership and leadership of Local 2 and City of Chicago who must decide on it.
#2 by NJ on June 7, 2013 - 8:31 AM

If the city doesn’t want to pay for the number of needed ambo’s they’d probably be better off putting in a whole bunch of ambulance assist companies using SUV’s staffed with a Paramedic and and EMT, sending them instead of Engine/Truck/Tower Co’s on calls except where extrication/lots of manpower was needed. The savings in less wear and tear on the fire rigs would probably more than pay for the program.
#3 by tom sullivan on June 7, 2013 - 7:51 AM

there were many ems runs that went “out of the box” back then. in one case an engine co. transported a paitent with his hand partialy amputated, because the ambulance response time, as given over the radio would be very long. the paitient was at the ER in just a couple of minutes by being transported by the fire company. of course this was completely against policy, but sometimes decisions have to made in the paitents best interest. remember there were no ff emt / paramedics then, just boy scout first aid !
#4 by Bill Post on June 7, 2013 - 2:30 AM

Even though Chicago was slow in getting most of the engines and trucks to respond on “Ambulance Assist Runs” (compared to the suburbs and several other cities) our original squad companies were responding on EMS type runs since approximately 1916 (only three years after the first three squads were put in service). The squads were equipped with resuscitators with oxygen tanks so they would respond to what the CFD would call inhalator calls which included heart attacks, strokes, difficulty breathing, and drowning calls in addition to smoke inhalation duties at fires.
The exception was for about 3 years when from December of 1929 to June of 1933 three rescue companies were created whose main duty was to respond to inhalator calls. After the rescue companies were taken out of service, the squad companies resumed responding to inhalator and other special duty in addition to fire alarms.
The squad companies were first-due on EMS runs that required the inhalators until April of 1955, despite the fact that the CFD ambulances were responding to calls from the public since 1946. However from 1946 until 1955 the ambulances were given first priority on accidents with injuries and the squads were given first priority on inhalator runs.
After 1955 when the ambulances were first due on the inhalator runs, the squads would still be dispatched on the inhalator runs when the nearest ambulance wasn’t available (which was quite often).
In 1958, Chicago’s battalion chiefs were given station wagons which were equipped with metal framed canvas cot type stretchers and first-aid kits and would be dispatched on accidents if the nearest ambulance wasn’t available. However the squads were still second due on inhalator runs (heart attacks etc) as the battalion chiefs weren’t equipped with inhalators. It wasn’t until 1967 that battalion chief station wagons were equipped with inhalators so they could respond second due on those type of EMS runs as Chicago’s remaining (conventional) squad companies were taken out of service in 1967 and 1968.
Chicago had a high of 13 squad companies. The squads weren’t put in service as an EMS type unit, but originally intended to assist in manning hose lines when the first three were put in service in 1913. However by 1916 the squads were also being used for what would now be called EMS duties as well rescue type runs as they were being equipped with gas masks, lifting jacks, acetylene torches, and other squad type equipment. In 1919, seven additional squad companies were put in service and would be dispatched on still alarms in addition to special duty runs which would include pin ins, gas leaks, stuck elevators, heart attacks, and other rescue and EMS type runs. At fires the squad companies would usually be involved with truck-type work such as forcible entry, search, rescue, and ventilation. However they were also involved in applying large master streams as in 1926 fixed turrets were installed on all of the squad company apparatus. The fixed turret or the deck gun was standard equipment on Chicago’s squad companies until the last squads were taken out of service in 1967 and 1968.
Squad 11 was put in service on March 6 of 1946, Squad 12 went in service on February 16 1947, and Squad 13 was put in service on April 1 1949.
Unlike the squad companies of today, the squads would be dispatched automatically on the still alarms in their districts without waiting for a confirmation of a working fire. They would usually respond with six men like today’s squads.
The first squad to be taken out service was Squad 12 on July 9th 1964, which was done so they could use the manpower to put Truck 62 in service.
Squad 7 was the second squad taken out of service on May 16th 1965, which was done in order to put Snorkel Squad 3 in service. Engine 66 which was also located with Squad 7 at 2858 W Fillmore, was relocated to Engine 44’s old house but was taken out of service in February of 1966.
Even though Squad 2 was taken out of service on December 5 th 1966 and Squad 1 was taken out of service on February 2nd 1967 to become salvage squads, they technically were the same units with the additional responsibility of salvage duty as they kept the same or similar apparatus and remained at their former quarters until the fall of 1968.
Squads 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, and 13 were out of service by February of 1968. While Squad 3 was totaled in an accident in April of 1967, the other six squads were taken out of service because the city had reduced the firefighter’s hours by giving them an extra day off. However the city didn’t want to hire more men, so not only were the squads taken out of service, but by 1968 many of the engines and trucks would be running with four instead of five men. The last squads to officially go out of service were Squad 9 and 4 which were taken out of service on September 30 and October 1st in order to put Salvage Squads 7 and 3 in service.
#5 by Bill Post on June 6, 2013 - 11:08 PM

Tom I remember in the early 80’s before the ambulance assist program was put in service and if an ambulance had a cardiac arrest they would have to call for a second ambulance just to help with treating and transporting the patient while the first ambulance was doing the CPR.
At the time (around late 1981/early 1982) they just started putting more ambulances in service after running with 39 ambulance from mid 1979 until late 1981. They had just put 4 additional ambulances in service, 46 and 48 on the north side and 24 and 29 on the south side.
If you lived on the far north side there was no ambulance 40 or 56 yet.
One spring evening Ambulance 46 had a cardiac arrest about a block east of Touhy and California which was really in Ambulance 13’s district, but as they weren’t available 46 took it. After they saw what they had they called for a second ambulance and the second ambulance that was sent was 31. Now I don’t know if they were in quarters or not but they were located about 5 miles away so that meant waiting about 10 additional minutes just to get the two additional paramedics to help with the cardiac arrest. Had the ambulance assist program been in service at the time a fire company could have been on the scene in less then 5 minutes.
Chicago was slow in getting the engines and trucks helping with EMS duty while in the suburbs they were doing it for years. There were a very few engines and trucks that had been equipped with “Inhalators” (resuscitators) back then, and they were located in some of the further outlying districts on the edge of the city. Truck 56 had an inhalator that was donated, from what I understand, from a local community group. Engine 119 or Truck 55 may have had one at one time also. On the south side Engine 97 always had one and Truck 45 had one. Engine 81 may have had one and Engine 127 I believe had run with one on board. Before late 1959 (when Engine 32 and Truck 60’s house was opened), Engine 127 covered all of the area that was west of Midway Airport as the first-due engine company as Engine 118 while being located at the old Midway fire station (5837 S Central), After 1957 Engine 118 and Ambulance 12 were confined to responses at Midway Airport by FAA (Federal Aviation Administraion) regulations, as Midway was the busiest airport in the nation before most of the air traffic was switched to O’Hare Field since Midway couldn’t accommodate the early jets. When that FAA rule was put into effect the CFD had first put Ambulance 19 in service at Engine 127’s house which was located at 6411 S Central (just one block south of the airport) so ambulance 19 would cover the area that was outside of the airport. When Engine 32 and Truck 60’s new station was opened in December of 1959, Ambulance 12 was moved there so they could cover the area outside of the airport. That is when they moved Ambulance 19 to Engine 28’s quarters.
#6 by tom sullivan on June 6, 2013 - 10:17 AM

this situation is similar to the early / mid ’80s when the ambulances were worn out and response times were getting excessive. another pam zekman report “too little – too late” documented the problems. along with mechanical issues, this was a time when many ambulance cos. were brought to the academy for con – ed training on duty. the result was a shortage on the street. the “ambulance assist” program was started in this era, with many start up problems,,poor training, lack of equipment, etc.
one example of the times,,, an engine was sent out of their still district to cover a person down on the street. upon arrival found a cardiac arrest, cpr & o2 started, 15 mins later no ambulance had yet arrived, the o2 bottle was empty, the cos. did not have spare bottles then. the crowd of spectators made many negative comments about the “city that works”. the zekman report aired over 5 nights and really brought the city to task on the issues. many things did improve ,,although very slowly, after that.
#7 by NJ on June 5, 2013 - 2:41 PM

Well, Chicago definitely needs a new DePaul stadium long before it needs working, reliable and safe ambo’s
#8 by Keith Grzadziel on June 5, 2013 - 2:02 PM

Unfortunately, this has become way too commonplace in the fire service today. Besides the CFD, many financially strapped departments & districts in the Chicago Metro Area are experiencing the same burdens of fleet breakdowns due to budget shortfalls causing vehicle replacement cycles and preventive maintenance to be delayed or all together eliminated. Our do more with less orders from our village fathers coupled with increasing call volumes and manpower shortages wears out apparatus drastically compared to a vehicles service life. It is pretty sad when the village managers, mayors or financial planners choose beautification projects, property purchases among other things over public safety funding and are continuously decreasing our operating budgets. And unfortunately the average citizen, who is already suffering tax burdens, has absolutely no clue regarding the conditions of the apparatus and vehicles we utilize on a daily basis as to they may never need an ambulance or fire engine in their lives. When called for, our citizens are just greatful we arrive in a timely fashion to provide our services not knowing that the vehicle we arrive in is held together with duct tape and bungee cords.
#9 by NJ on June 5, 2013 - 11:11 AM

The bigger ambos won’t fit into many of the houses. Even the current ones don’t fit Amb 86. They have one of the really old ones from the 90’s.
#10 by nate on June 5, 2013 - 9:33 AM

Why not buy f550’s or f650’s or ih terrastars?
#11 by NJ on June 5, 2013 - 8:42 AM

Rigs are run hard, frequently and have lots and lots of hard miles on them.

The ambos are worn out plain and simple. Many of them have 20+ runs per shift, are running through potholes, over speedbumps and are ridden hard. They don’t even bother with small fixes often. 350’s are not suitable for the rigors of Chicago streets and use, yet 90% or more are 350’s, even the one new (re-chassis) they just got.

The trucks and engines are sent out on so many EMS runs they too have the issue. Because there are not nearly enough ambos you end up with tower ladders and trucks being sent out on EMS runs, often to be held up before they even show up on scene. That’s all wear and tear on heavy, often delicate and expensive rigs. So many trucks and engines are running spares now, it’s not uncommon to see all the trucks and most of the engines on a fire scene all spares.

Yes, stretching the rigs to save the budget has validity, but only to point. It is far better to have a rotation where you’re replacing rigs on a set cycle (eg. 5 years for ambo’s). Right now, CFD really needs almost an entire new fleet of ambos. Even worse, because these have been run so hard and long many of them will not even make good spares. The current system is penny wise c-note stupid.
#12 by Tom Foley on June 5, 2013 - 12:19 AM

A few comments from the peanut gallery…

1) While LED lighting is cool, there has been a lot of mony dumped in to fire department rigs for this improvement. If you can’t keep the rigs rolling, I’m sorry, lighting should take a back seat.

2) Being an avid reader of the site, we were just commenting on the truck and ladder situation in another thread including how often reserve rigs are being pulled in to service… some as much as 30 years old. And, while these function, it sounds like there is a lot to be desired.

3) I don’t know anything more than I read. However, it’s probably unfair to blame the fleet management guy. An easy target? Absolutely. But unless he has all the tools, money, and manpower to maintain, then the blame lies higher up. The people who create and manage budgets should be paying closer attention.

4) Some of this is probably just a fact of life with budgets being cut and departments expected to stretch the life of vehicles/rigs as much as they can. Vehicles not getting the maintenance as quickly as they should. Not because of lack of oversight, but because of lack of fundning.

I don’t believe in a bigger government, but the public safety area is something I feel is done really well. To have to see these areas cut in many municipalities is a real shame. The public suffers. Rigs become potentially dangerous for first responders. There are no winners here.
#13 by FFEMT on June 4, 2013 - 9:37 PM

25 new ambos…nice!