Archive for October, 2013

Carpentersville IAFF Local 4790 reaches out to residents

From the IAFF Local 4790 web site:

Manpower Cuts Threaten Carpentersville Residents’ Safety

Added Average Response Time Likely Will Cause Loss of Life

The Carpentersville Village Board’s recent decision to cut fire department services represents a significant threat to emergency response, public safety studies show.

Village officials have told Carpentersville firefighters they intend to reduce manpower by up to 4 positions each shift, which will directly threaten emergency response capability. The daily staffing level of the Carpentersville Fire Department will drop to far less than that provided by neighboring municipalities.

“This is an extremely disturbing development, one that is not only unnecessary but which is a serious threat to the residents of Carpentersville,” said Lt. Richard Nieves, president of Carpentersville Local 4790 of the International Association of Firefighters. “Since 2008 our staffing has declined from 13 firefighter/paramedics available down to 8 on any given day.

“The maximum number of firefighters available when the department is at full strength may be 12, but that level occurs only 50 days per year. Compare our staffing levels to a municipality like Streamwood, which staffs 15 firefighters each day at full strength, and never drops below 10. Streamwood is a fair comparison because their department response demand is nearly equal to Carpentersville’s. “They are providing more fire and EMS protection with 3.1 million less dollars than Carpentersville.”

“Bottom line is this: there is no doubt that response time will lengthen in Carpentersville, which means lives and property will be gravely affected. This is a potentially disastrous decision by the political people who run the affairs of our village.”

In its 2010-2013 contract, 33 Carpentersville firefighters took minimal raises to keep manning levels secure and conceded salary and benefits up to $465,000 over the life of their contract so the village could maintain professional standard service levels.

During that same time period the village added staffing in upper level management within the village that included substantial pay increases.

“Our members have struggled to establish a daily minimum with an eye toward maintaining the public’s safety, but the city refused to accept our efforts,” Nieves said. “Instead, the political powers called for a reduction in manpower.

“They have said they want to maintain their right to shut down the use of a fire engine. Now they appear to be determined to execute that right at the expense of public safety.

“We offered them an alternative that would have reduced their expenses but they have refused our offer. Our proposal would have maintained the previous staffing levels of 12 on-duty firefighters every day, 365 days a year.”

Nieves said a result of the village’s cuts would take an engine out of service at least 53 times per year. The affected station will be manned with only two firefighters. Station 2, located on the east side of the village, will run as a “jump company” leaving the station without the ability to respond when a second call is dispatched. This represents a service reduction of nearly 50 percent.

“Our average response time is now less than 4 minutes, this will increase significantly. Studies show brain death begins to occur within 3-4 minutes when someone stops breathing, and fires in today’s homes burn hotter and faster, doubling in size every minute.

“On average we respond to 3500 calls annually, any increase in times will have a negative impact on the community. Insurance ratings will jump from the current ISO level of 3. This increase will negate any savings village officials say they are passing on to the homeowners.

“Sadly, this is nothing more than a shell game. The village board may or may not believe they are reducing costs responsibly but, in fact, they are simply shifting the costs.

“Worse, lives and property will be put at risk as the politicians move the money from one shell to another.”

 

thanks Dan

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Bedford Park FD history – the original Pitman Snorkel

first Pitman Snorkel unit

Larry Shapiro photo

Karl Klotz visited the Bedford Park Fire Department and spoke with Chief Sean Maloy about the restoration project that they have underway of their 1959 Snorkel.

The unit is a 1959 GMC/Pierce/ 65′ Pitman Snorkel. This was the first Pitman Snorkel built. It was designed for the Chicago Fire Dept, but refused due to the overall length and tandem axle.  The Bedford Park Fire Department made an offer and subsequently purchased the vehicle.
vintage magazine ad for the first Pitman Snorkel unit

Bill Freidrich collection

Snorkel 5 (later re-numbered 712) entered service in Bedford Park in 1959 and served until 1979 when it was replaced by the Seagrave Snorkel 705.
first Pitman Snorkel unit ever built

Jack Connors photo

In 1979, it was passed down to the public works department where it was used by the street light division until approximately 1995.  From that point on, it sat in the back parking lot of public works unused.
Currently it is sitting inside Bedford Park Station 1, where it is in the process of a complete overhaul.  Mechanical work is being performed by the fire department mechanical staff in house.  After completion of the mechanical work, it is slated to go to Automotive Mentoring Group (AMG) for body repair and refinishing.
fire department refurbishes 1st Snorkel ever built

Karl Klotz photo

The project is being funded in part by the BPFD Foreign Fire Board and the Village of Bedford Park.

 

From another  reader:

“Hey recently, I visited Bedford Park Station #1 and observed a work of love in progress. The Bedford Park Fire Department finally brought home their very first Snorkel, which has been left outside their public works yard rotting away for over 20 years, to start a desperately needed refurbishing. Some mechanical work will be performed in-house with bodywork to be completed at a local business. For those that do not know, this Snorkel is of historical significance, as it was the very first Snorkel actually produced by the Pitman Company for the fire service. It is rumored that this Snorkel was spec’d out by the late Chicago Commissioner Quinn only to be rejected because of it’s overly long wheelbase, which would’ve proved too difficult to maneuver around the city streets. Bedford Park jumped at the chance and purchased it. Snorkel 5 is a 1960 GMC chassis with a V8 gas engine and manual transmission with a Pierce body.”

 

fire department refurbishes 1st Snorkel ever built

Karl Klotz photo

fire department refurbishes 1st Snorkel ever built

Karl Klotz photo

fire department refurbishes 1st Snorkel ever built

Karl Klotz photo

fire department refurbishes 1st Snorkel ever built

Karl Klotz photo

fire department refurbishes 1st Snorkel ever built

Karl Klotz photo

Dennis McGuire, Jr. submitted images of the Snorkel during it’s stay in the public works yard.

fire department refurbishes 1st Snorkel ever built

Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo

fire department refurbishes 1st Snorkel ever built

Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo

fire department refurbishes 1st Snorkel ever built

Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo

fire department refurbishes 1st Snorkel ever built

Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo

 

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Oak Park Seagrave aerial goes to NIPSTA

This from Dan McInerney:

Fyi – Oak Park sold our 1981 Seagrave 100′ to NIPSTA. It was delivered up there last week. It will need several thousand dollars of work to make it “academy ready”.
1981 Seagrave  with a 1,250-gpm  250-gpm Waterous pump with a 300 gallon tank.

Seagrave installed a new aerial ladder on 11-9-1999. It only saw 2 years of in service duty with Oak Park.  Since then it has been in reserve or with River Forest FD.

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Country Club Hills FD

DH submitted the following:

Saw CC Hills Tower 1145 at Southwest Spring and Alignment on 85th and Columbus (Southwest Highway) in Chicago this morning. A question for the readers, is the ALF 1140 still in service? Or does CC Hills just run 2 engines when 1145 is OOS?

DH
Country Club Hills Fire Department

Country Club Hills Truck 1145.

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New engine for Palos Heights FPD

From Karl Klotz:

Engine Co. 6423
2013 E-ONE Traditional Typhoon
1,500-GPM
1,000-gallon tank
Assigned to station 1
 The following changes have been made:
  • Engine Co. 6403 (American LaFrance) is now frontline at station 2
  • Engine Co. 6413 (1996 Pierce) now in reserve status
  • Former-Engine Co. 6423 (1992 Pierce) is gone
Palos Heights Fire Protection District

New Palos Heights FPD Engine 6423. 2013 E-ONE Typhoon 1500/1000 Tradition series. Karl Klotz photo

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Mount Prospect FD budget/apparatus concerns

The Daily Herald has an article about the Mount Prospect Fire Department:

The Mount Prospect Fire Department is taking extraordinary measures to keep its response times low since budget cuts have eliminated six full-time firefighter jobs since 2010, Chief John Malcolm says, but both he and the village board are concerned about the department going forward. Most alarming, trustees indicated, is the department’s policy of running the tower ladder on every call so as not to have to go back to the station to get it.

In 2010, as a result of the 10 percent villagewide reductions, the fire department saw its number of full-time sworn firefighters decrease from 72 to 66.

Malcolm said he first tried to adjust by relying more on a “jump” company. “We had three people, a lieutenant and two firefighters, who would jump on the engine or the tower ladder, depending on the nature of the call,” Malcolm said. “So we were basically staffing two vehicles with three people.”

One of the consequences, in terms of response time, was seen in July 2011, when the fire department faced a fire at a three-story, 39-unit apartment building that had been hit by lightning. The fire grew to the point where flames were going through the roof. Meanwhile, the tower ladder was sitting at the station unstaffed.

“So I had no ladder truck at three o’clock in the morning,” he said, adding that he could get no mutual aid at the time either. “So the crew had to leave there, drive all the way back to the station, jump off that rig, jump onto the tower ladder and respond,” he said.

Eventually, Malcolm said, he decided they would just run Tower 13 on all calls — [which] tripled its responses since the department retired the engine, responding to 1,894 calls in 2012. Malcolm said the department received 5,777 calls in 2012.

Trustees at Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting expressed particular concern about the needs of the fire department … about the wear and tear on the tower unit … the risk that the tower truck may be needed when it is on an ambulance call … about the mutual aid numbers.

  • In 2011, Mount Prospect received mutual aid on 314 calls and gave mutual aid on 142 calls.
  • In 2012, it was 300 to 235.
  • So far in 2013 the numbers are 185 calls given, 218 received and in 2014, it is projected Mount Prospect will receive 338 mutual aid calls, as opposed to giving 150 calls.

Thanks Ron & Chris

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2-Alarm fire in Gurnee, 10-27-13 (more)

Radioman911.com provided radio traffic from yesterday’s fire in Gurnee:

2013/10/27 Gurnee 2nd Alarm Townhouse Fire 17434 W. Walnut Ln.
 

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2-Alarm fire in Gurnee, 10-27-13

This from Larry Shapiro:

The Gurnee Fire Department was dispatched for a fire at 17434 W. Walnut early afternoon. Companies found fire in one unit of a six-unit townhouse. The alarm was escalated to a Box Alarm and then to a 2nd Alarm as the fire began to spread to adjacent units. Crews made an aggressive attack and were able to stop the fire before it spread to the end units.

Three firefighters were transported with minor injuries and several residents signed medical releases on the scene.

Mutual aid with engines was from : Beach Park, Grayslake, Mundelein, Waukegan, and Libertyville. Round Lake was due with a truck, Fox Lake with a squad, and a total of four mutual aid ambulances (Lincolnshire-Riverwoods, Lake Villa, Long Grove, and Zion) were at the scene to handle rehab and the transports.

Images from the scene include Larry’s and several from area residents or bystanders.

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Fire blows out the second floor window of the unit at 17432 Walnut Lane. chicagoareafire.com photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Jacquie silvestri photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Jacquie silvestri photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Jacquie silvestri photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

2-alarm townhouse fire in Gurnee injures 3 firefighters 10-27-13

Larry Shapiro photo

A gallery with more images can be viewed HERE.

 

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CFD Class

From Stephen Wilcox:

Chicago FD training class photo

Stephen Wilcox photo

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New radio system for Elgin

This from Chris Ranck:

From CARMA Chicago:

FCC Application 0005972614 – ELGIN, CITY OF
http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/ApplicationSearch/applAdminAttachments.jsp?applID=7901896#

Action Performed Location Transmitter Address /Area of Operation Latitude, Longitude
Add   1 – Fixed INT OF RT 25 & I-90
ELGIN, IL COOK County
42-03-56.0 N, 088-15-39.0 W
Add   2 – Fixed 777 S STATE ST
ELGIN, IL KANE County
42-00-50.0 N, 088-17-07.0 W
Add   3 – Fixed 2355 College Green Drive
ELGIN, IL KANE County
42-00-51.2 N, 088-20-04.8 W
Add   4 – Fixed 599 SHALES PARKWAY
ELGIN, IL COOK County
42-01-34.4 N, 088-14-08.2 W
Add   5 – Fixed 800′ S OF RT 20 4 M N OF RT 72
HAMPSHIRE, IL KANE County
42-08-50.0 N, 088-30-45.0 W
Add   6 – Fixed IL RT 47 6 MI N OF LILY LAKE
PLATO CENTER, IL KANE County
41-59-22.0 N, 088-28-00.0 W
Add   000851.32500000 1 1 1 FB2 1 100.000 51.300
Add   000851.66250000 1 1 2 FB2 1 100.000 51.300
Add   000853.62500000 1 1 3 FB2 1 100.000 51.300
Add   000854.28750000 1 1 4 FB2 1 100.000 51.300


SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE CITY OF ELGIN, IL. 
REGION 54 FREQUENCY APPLICATION


Section 1 – Service
The City of Elgin submits this application on behalf of its Police and Fire Departments which  will  use  this  system  subject  to  the  terms  and  conditions  of  the  Starcom21 
Subscription Agreement. Use of this system  will also be made available to other City Agencies.

Section 2 – System Type
This  new  system  will  be  an 8-site  700/800MHz  ASTRO  Project 25  Simulcast System with  a  9  link  Point-to-Point  (PTP)  microwave  backhaul  network  on  the STARCOM21network.  It  will  maintain  the  Grade  of  Service  required  by  the STARCOM21 contract at each of its sites, with 16 dB in-building coverage for the City of Elgin Public Safety Agencies dispatched by its Main and Backup Dispatch Centers. The subscribers will use a combination of both mobile and portable radios. The  City  of  Elgin  has  requested  to  join  STARCOM21  which  will  combine  State frequencies  with  Elgin  frequencies.    Upon  addition  of  these  frequencies  to  the STARCOM21 system the City of Elgin will actively use the Starcom21 system for public safety purposes. The State of Illinois STARCOM21 system is a statewide public safety radio  system  used  and  governed  by  public  safety  entities  throughout  Illinois  and  is managed  by  Motorola  Solutions,  Inc.   Motorola  Solutions,  Inc.  maintains  the  radio infrastructure  of  the  system  and  assists  with  coordination  of  frequencies  into  the STARCOM21 system. Motorola Solutions, Inc. does not own licenses on the system.Elgin also has AutoAid and Mutual Aid partners that can come onto the subsystem  the 
amount of radios which will be included are:
Kane County Office of Emergency Management  –  4 Streamwood FD  –  30 Streamwood PD  –  20  Hoffman  Estates  FD  –  42  Hoffman  Estates  PD  –  30  Bartlett  Fire  Protection 
DIstrict – 38 South Elgin Fire Protection District – 9 Pingree Grove Fire Protection District –  3 Rutland Dundee Fire Protection District  –  3 West Dundee FD  –  2 East Dundee Fire 
Protection District – 2
The future subscribers coming onto the system is projected to be about 125 additional subscribers over the next 5 years. The City of Elgin is requesting that the licenses be granted to enhance the coverage and interoperability with the State of Illinois. This interoperability will provide enhanced public safety operations within this region. Granting these frequency requests will allow the  City  of  Elgin  to  join  the  statewide  STARCOM21  system,  and  allows  Law Enforcement,  Fire,  and  EMS  agencies  to  significantly  improve  their  public  safety 
communications  capabilities.  The  system  is  owned  by  the  vendor;  however,  the subscriber radios (mobiles and portables) and consoles are owned by the City. The City 
of Elgin will license these frequencies in its name for use on the STARCOM21 system.This  system  uses  Motorola’s  ASTRO  25  digital  platform,  an  FDMA  based  technology 
that uses the P25 IMBE vocoder. It supports integrated voice and data applications. 

Section 3 – Intersystem Interoperability
The  new  City  of  Elgin  radio  system  will  have  the  ability  to  interoperate  with  existing public safety agencies using 800 MHz and UHF/ VHF/ low band frequencies. The 800 MHz users will be able to communicate with City of Elgin STARCOM21 system users,  such  as  the  Illinois  State  Police,  via  the  five  NPSPAC  821  Mutual  Aid frequencies. The subscriber units will have the ability to o perate on these channels with analog operation. Interoperability between the City and other agencies on UHF or VHF frequencies can be achieved by having the dispatch operator setup a crosspatch between a talkgroup in the network  and  the  desired  analog  conventional  channel.  Interoperability  between  the existing ISPERN and IREACH frequencies will be accomplished in accordance with the guidelines  outlined  by  each  respective  Governing  Board.   The  Illinois  State  Police  & Motorola  have  identified  specific  STARCOM21  ISPERN  and  IREACH  talkgroups  that will allow for interoperability with VHF ISPERN and IREACH users. City  of  Elgin  subscribers  will  utilize  the  STARCOM21  system  through  talkgroups dedicated to their specific agencies. Existing STARCOM21 users will be  encouraged to enter  into  an  intergovernmental  agreement  that  will  allow  for  the  sharing  of  specified talkgroups to provide for interoperability with other county, state and federal government users. Other  non-City  public  safety  &  local  government  agencies  that  subscribe  to  the STARCOM21 system will be able to interoperate directly with City users.

Section 4 – Channel Loading Factors
These frequencies will be used by 738 units initially. Of these, 409 will be distributed to the  Police  Department  and  329  to  the  Fire  Department.  Since  trunking  technology 
shares  resources  among  all  users,  the  radio  and  microwave  frequencies  the  City of Elgin will add to the STARCOM21 network will also support radio traffic of other network 
subscribers. This includes 1306 State Police, 3492 DuPage County, 8785 Cook County, 1224  Tollway,  and  1166  McHenry  which  include  neighboring  local  government  Public 
Safety Agencies.

Section 5 – Coverage area 
This application includes the necessary 40, 25, and 5 dBu contour maps for the City of Elgin  sites  and  the  current  STARCOM21  sites  located  in  Kane  County.  The  City  is 
requesting additional frequencies to support the microwave sites, which include: Plato, Nessler, Illinois State Police District 2, Shales Water Tank, Elgin Toll, Randall/College 
Green  Water  Tank,  120  S.  State  Street  and  both  the  Main  and  Backup  Dispatch Centers. The  additional  frequencies  are  necessary  to  provide  the  backhaul  network  and  to maintain the Grade of Service for the public safety users of the STARCOM21 system. The contour maps were run on a software program called Hydra. Hydra is an internal use only software program designed and used by Motorola.

Section 6 – Vacated Frequencies Returned
No frequencies are planned to be vacated at this time.

Section 7 – Implementation Schedule
The City of Elgin plans to roll out all subscribers, 738 users, by October of 2013 when the system is fully implemented and on the air

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