From Tyler Tobolt:
Here are some photos of the Aurora Fire Department,Photos in order are:
- Aurora Engine 10
- Aurora Station 4 at 800 Michels Av
- Aurora Station 5 at 730 Hill Av
- Aurora Station 7 at 824 Kenilworth Pl
- Aurora Station 8 at 3770 McCoy Dr
- Aurora Station 9 at 2339 Diehl Rd
- Aurora Station 10 at 2390 W Illinois Av
- Aurora Station 12 at 2424 Hafenricter Rd
Tyler Tobolt photo
Aurora Fire Station 4. Tyler Tobolt photo
Aurora Fire Station 5. Tyler Tobolt photo
Aurora Fire Station 7. Tyler Tobolt photo
Aurora Fire Station 8 Tyler Tobolt photo
Aurora Fire Station 9. Tyler Tobolt photo
Aurora Fire Station 10. Tyler Tobolt photo
Aurora Fire Station 12. Tyler Tobolt photo
#1 by Jr on January 9, 2014 - 11:11 PM
AFDFFPM, I am on the current list that is due to expire this November, what do you think the chances are of an academy this year?
If you could email me, that would be great.
juniorafpd@gmail.com
#2 by Scott on January 5, 2014 - 4:59 PM
@JOE: have you heard of Cicero & Harvey, seems to me for a “outside of Chicago” they have fires quite frequently. There is also Maywood & Bellwood as well as others in Div 20 that get more than their average share.
#3 by John on January 4, 2014 - 10:00 AM
Aurora does have 9 firehouses. 9 engines, 3 trucks, 6 ambulances, and 3 Batt Chiefs. The engines do run with 3 guys, the trucks typically run with 3 guys also. Right now we are budgeted for 195 members. If we are at full strength for the day, there might possibly be 4 guys on the Trucks. The companies are run in sequential order of when they were organized as said before. E1, T2, E3, ect. Truck 2 is a short wheelbase straight stick and Trucks 6 and 11 are both tower ladders. The current spare ladder, truck 21 is a tower ladder, which is kept at the Central Station in the bay next to Truck 2. They are currently not run as a jump company, Truck 21 is strictly a spare Truck. There is also Squad 2 and several reserve apparatus at the Central Station. Squad 2 is not manned, but can be if manpower allows it. Currently it is used for the training academy and is manned for Haz-Mat calls. As for the guy looking to test for Aurora, we do get the fires, traumas, and extrications on a fairly regular basis. There is no residency, you would have to go through our own Aurora training academy again, no exceptions. Layoffs are not currently being talked about to my knowledge. The next test will probably be this coming summer or fall. The last test was open to anyone and I think CPAT was required. They did not do a set number of applications for the last test and you could download them off the cities website. There is also a max of 10 points given for preference. 5 for an Aurora resident, 5 for medic in the Southern Fox Valley EMS system, 5 for military, and 5 for explorer program. After completing the training program , you become a “Rover” and fill in for guys on vacation, sick days, ect. You will be on the ambulance a lot, but not every single day. It is a great Dept. to work for and I highly recommend you come and test here.
#4 by Joe on January 3, 2014 - 11:12 PM
http://www.aurora-il.org/afd/index.php
The current list is good through November 2014, so they’ll likely test this summer/fall. Your best bet is probably to call Aurora HR and ask if they have a firm date set up for testing or if they’ll notify you. Most fire departments include any kind of fire in or outside of a structure in their annual numbers. No one outside of Chicago has many structure fires. I’m sure Aurora burns more than the average suburb, but if you’re looking for a lot of fire, you’ll probably be disappointed.
I haven’t tested for Aurora in years, so my information may not be correct. When I tested they only gave out 250 applications so people began lining up early in the morning on the date they were available. They gave out a lot of preference points which made it difficult to get even reasonably high on the list if you weren’t awarded any. In addition to the standard military preference points they also gave points out for being a paramedic, being in their EMS system already, being a city of Aurora citizen, or for being an AFD explorer. If you’re none of those things, your chances of getting high on the list are quite slim.
When I tested, they required everyone to go to academy regardless of their firefighter status on getting hired. They also require CPAT. As far as job security, no one has total job security right now and layoffs are possible anywhere. That said, they’re a large enough department that they should have enough turnover that they may be able to avoid things like layoffs. I’m not sure the financial state of the city, so you may want to check that out prior to leaving a full time job for another department. Friends tell me that candidates generally get stuck on the ambulance for quite a long time prior to seeing any time on a fire company. Consider all the disadvantages of leaving a full time job to be a candidate elsewhere.
If you decide to test, good luck.
#5 by Scott on January 3, 2014 - 11:04 PM
@Northburbs: So your probably Waukegan, North Chicago or Zion (or maybe the near north shore of Evanston)… why don’t you call the Aurora Local (IAFF), Aurora FD or HR at Aurora and ask all your questions? Our questions on academy and other items would definitely be for that Department to answer. I have heard they have residency.
#6 by Joe on January 3, 2014 - 4:10 PM
I’m currently full time on the north shore. My family lives here on the north shore. I told my wife, who is from St. Charles, that I would try to get her back to where she is from. The dept I work for gets a lot of fires, shootings, stabbings and just good quality calls in the firefighters eyes. I am looking to test for Aurora, but I can’t find much on them. I have read their annual reports and it looks like they burn a lot. Do they really though or are those numbers also counting cooking fires? garabage fires? Would I have to go back to the academy? Is there job security there? Layoffs in the near future?
Pingback: Aurora FD station assignments « chicagoareafire.com
#7 by Tyler T on August 8, 2013 - 12:11 AM
When i was there. Front Bays going to Broadway was (from left to right) Tower 21, Truck 2, Engine 1, Medic 1 Behind Tower 21 was Squad 2 and C-24 , nothing behind truck 2. Dive truck 23 and (2) Boats behind engine 1. Utility 22 and haz-mat trailer behind medic 1
#8 by Brian on August 7, 2013 - 10:56 PM
Truck 2 must have been oos. Not enough room for them both in the station
#9 by Tyler T on August 7, 2013 - 7:13 PM
Oh Thanks Brain, They must of been using Tower 21 that day because guys gear was on both sides of the rig.
#10 by Brian on August 7, 2013 - 9:40 AM
Tower 21 is the reserve truck. Truck 21 was an aerial until the new Tower arrived. Tower 21 was Tower 6 previously.
#11 by Tyler T on August 6, 2013 - 11:49 PM
Tower 21 is stationed at Station 1 now , when i was there.
#12 by Brian on August 6, 2013 - 11:02 PM
For a while Aurora was blacking out TL11 on the west side (Station 10) due to manpower issues. I believe this has been resolved but was a very quiet thing.
#13 by Mike Lopina on August 6, 2013 - 10:13 PM
Aurora just numbers rigs consecutively IE- Eng 1 Trk 2 Eng 3 Eng 4 Eng 5 Trk 6 Eng 7 Eng 8 Eng 9 Eng 9 Eng 10 Trk 11 Eng 12. Ambos share the number of the Eng they’re with. They don’t do Eng 1/Trk 1 or Eng 8/Trk 8, etc. They used to run a “jump Truck/TL” at Station 1 20-30 years ago. If it was a commercial fire, Tower 2 responded. If it was residential, Truck 2 responded. Not sure when they stopped that program.
#14 by FFPM99 on August 6, 2013 - 10:00 PM
@Joe, close enough, I’ll correct a few things. The reason for the numbering of the stations is because the houses with truck companies are a different company than the engine. Meaning T2, T6, and T11. Also, T2 is a straight stick. T6 and T11 are platforms, though they are called Trucks. Again, no pumps. And as far as 4 guys, that depends on staffing for the day, which occurs far less in our favor. There is also a Shift Commander(Car 24)/BC at Central Station. BATT 1 runs out of station 5 and BATT 2 runs out of station 3.
Yes, it would be good to see a complete listing of all vehicles from Aurora, which could be obtained by contacting David Lewis at the Aurora Regional Fire Museum.
#15 by Drew Smith on August 6, 2013 - 9:44 PM
I believe the missing station numbers are due to closures over time. Perhaps David Lewis, curator of the Aurora Regional Fire Museum could shed some light on the history. When I worked at the Geneva FD in the 80s we occasionally would have to transport to the old Copley hospital. I recall seeing a few turn of the 20th Century stations in their downtown area.
An interesting tidbit from the 80s was how Aurora dispatched an EMS call to its then four ALS ambulances. The distance between Aurora and Naperville seemed greater (development along Rt. 59 was just getting steam) and no one around them had ALS. Instead of stating in the dispatch announcement which ambulance was due they would end the message with an announcement that “all medics code green” meaning all ambulances were available. If one or more were committed on a call they would then say, for example, “Medics 2 and 4 code red.” Sometimes you would hear “All medics code red” which meant none of the ambulances were available in which case someone was supposed to try and free up and/or they would man up a BLS ambulance held in reserve. What was interesting to me was that everyone knew the order of who went 1st, 2nd, etc. based on the given address. No CAD – they just knew.
#16 by Joe on August 6, 2013 - 6:29 PM
Aurora has 9 stations, engine 1, truck 2, and ambulance 1 are at what they call “Central Fire Station.” They number the rest out of sequence. They have stations 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 12. I’m unsure why they number this way. Aurora has 9 engines, 3 trucks (which I believe are all tower ladders with no pump), 6 ambulances, and 2 battalion chiefs. They run 3 per engine company, 4 on a truck, and 2 medics on an ambulance. In 2012 they ran 15,932 calls, 12,307 of which were EMS responses.
Thanks a lot for the pictures, Tyler. I’ve been hoping to see more of Aurora on here for a while. One of the larger fire departments in Illinois and there’s not a whole lot of information out there about them. Seems odd to me in a day and age when fire departments need to do everything that they can to justify their budget and expenditures that there isn’t tons of information out there on every department, what they do, and the services they provide for their communities.
#17 by Drew Smith on August 6, 2013 - 6:01 PM
http://www.aurora-il.org/firedepartment/stations/.
#18 by Rich on August 6, 2013 - 5:56 PM
How many stations does Aurora have? Does anyone have complete photos?