Archive for October, 2013

Algonquin-Lake in the Hills FPD hires former CFD chief

The Northwest Herald has an article about a restructuring and new hires at the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District.

The Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Protection District this week completed the reorganization of its administration by hiring a Chicago firefighter with 34 years of experience as the new assistant chief.

Peter Van Dorpe, who is in charge of the training division for the Chicago Fire Department, is scheduled to start with Algonquin-Lake in the Hills on Oct. 1.

He is set to earn $111,750 a year.

According to fire district documents, 20 people applied for the position and four were interviewed.

Van Dorpe’s responsibilities will include strategic planning, budget administration, data analysis, policy development and emergency preparedness coordination, among other things.

Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Fire Chief Patrick Mullen said Van Dorpe has broad experience in the fire protection industry, including in fire suppression, firefighter training and budget management.

The fire district also recently hired Cristiane Randall as the management services director. Randall started work Aug. 26 at an $84,818 annual salary.

Her job includes human resources responsibilities, managing employee benefit programs and risk management, worker’s compensation administration, informational services and data management, supervising occupational health, processing payroll, and participating in labor-management and contract administration.

Randall previously worked for the village of Hanover Park in the human resources department. She also has experience in network administration, programming and web design.

“We expect great things from them,” Mullen said.

The additions of Van Dorpe and Randall were the final moves of an administrative restructuring at the fire district.

Mullen was the permanent replacement for former Fire Chief Kevin Rynders, who resigned January.

John Gaughan, former assistant chief of administration, did not have his contract renewed at the end of April and was replaced by Randall.

The assistant chief position has been vacant since the middle of last year. The position was held by Tim Littlefield, who now is the administrative captain.

thanks Dan

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Glenview FD building new fire station headquarters

The TribLocal has an article about Glenview trustees concerned about the final cost of the new Glenview FIre Department headquarters Station 6.

Glenview trustees have expressed concern about the rising cost of the village’s new downtown fire department headquarters.

Officials originally estimated the building at 1215 Waukegan Road would cost about $5.44 million. But at a recent village meeting, the project’s developers warned that the price may rise about 15 percent, or about $816,000, over the initial estimate because of the expansions and additional architectural features that were recommended to be added to the designs by officials at previous meetings.

The new fire station is slated for the site of a former police station. It’s needed because a four-story development now under construction forced one of the village’s fire stations out of its previous location at 1815 Glenview Road. While the new headquarters is under construction, a temporary fire station opened at the intersection of Glenview Road and Roosevelt Avenue earlier this spring.

Village trustees approved a conditional use ordinance, final site review and preliminary subdivision approval for the fire station on Oct. 1. Crews started to put up construction fences around the site on Monday, preparing for the demolition of the former police station building. But the project’s budget isn’t scheduled to be finalized until a November trustees meeting. Because of the holdup with finalization of the project, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger said he expects the construction to finish a couple of months behind the original target of June or July of 2014.

Some trustees questioned the need for an expanded fire station, which added about $375,000 to the project, and said they’d like to stick to the original estimated budget cost.

Trustee Deborah Karton reminded officials about the importance of the look of the building that would be in the downtown area, for which officials spent a long time developing a vision and a plan.

Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger said his goal is to make sure the building is functional. He explained that having an expanded fire station, which would have space for three additional bunks and an extra half bay, helps the department prepare for different future scenarios. He mentioned a possibility of consolidating the nearby Fire Station 13 with the new one.

The issue of the building’s “street appeal” is affecting the cost.

Globerger said that there has been some talk among village officials about possibly moving the village campus next to the recently built Glenview Police Department headquarters at 2500 E. Lake Ave.

This idea is still being discussed but could affect the exterior design of the new fire station, he said. At the moment, the village hall looks very different from the village trustees’ vision of what downtown Glenview should look like.

“We’re trying to get pricing both ways,” Globerger said. “… The question is how fancy do they want the outside of the fire station to look?”

Previous posts on the new fire station are HERE, HERE, and HERE.

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Park Forest Box Alarm 10-10-13

This from Dennis McGuire, Jr.

I was in the area when Park Forest, Illinois transmitted a Box Alarm for their working fire at 354 Winoa St. I arrived after the fire was knocked but was able to get a few pictures. The fire was in a single family 1 sty ordinary with reports of a trapped occupant. The first arriving crews which were Park Forest Engine 50 and Richton Park Truck 35 made an aggressive interior attack to rescue the victim but it turned out the person was already out and safe. Great job by all companies on the scene. As a side is a shot of the new squad company in Chicago Heights using the X-Tinley Park engine.  

 

house fire in Park Forest IL

354 Winoa in Park Forest. Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo

 

Chicago Heights FD fire engine

Chicago Heights Squad 652 is X-Tinley Park. Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo

 

house fire in Park Forest IL

Crews doing a wash down on side B. Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo

 

house fire in Park Forest IL

Crews doing overhaul. You can see they had heavy fire in Side A. Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo

 

Richton Park Fire Department truck

Richton Park Truck 35 was first truck on the scene. Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo

 

house fire in Park Forest IL

University Park Truck 85 was 2nd truck on the scene. Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo

 

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Fire department open houses tomorrow

The following fire departments that we know of are hosting open house events tomorrow, October 12.

Prospect Heights Fire Protection District open house

  • Long Grove

The Long Grove Fire Protection District will be holding its annual open house 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday Oct. 12, at the fire station, 1165 Old McHenry Road. The event is free and will be showcasing multiple demonstrations including an auto extrication, residential live-fire sprinkler demonstration, Lake County Sheriff K9 unit, and multiple fire trucks for the children to take photos on. Hot dogs, chips, refreshments and popcorn will be available.

  • Northbrook

Northbrook Fire Department Open House

The Northbrook Fire Department will host an open house on Saturday, October 12, from 9 a.m. to noon at 740 Dundee Road in Northbrook to celebrate Fire Prevention Week – October 6-12, 2013. The theme is Prevent Kitchen Fires. Did you know that two out of every five home fires start int he kitchen? Educate your family about fire safety in the kitchen. Go to FPW.ORG and GET COOKIN’ WITH FIRE SAFETY!

Fire & Police Annual Community Open House

Fire Prevention Week marks the anniversary of the Chicago Fire.  The Fire & Police Departments invite all youngsters to bring their parents to the Public Safety Building Open House at 428 Green Bay Road, on Saturday, October 12 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
This has been an annual family event for many years and is a fun time for all.  The ice cream and popcorn carts will be on hand for snacks.  Please mark your calendar for this exciting experience – we hope to see you there! If you have question, please call 847-501-6029.

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Northbrook Box Alarm 10-10-13

For the second time in a week, there’s been a need for the MABAS Division 1 MVU to clear a large facility of smoke from an fire within the building.

Northbrook companies were dispatched to a fire alarm with a followup call reporting stacks of cardboard burning inside a large industrial building at 725 Landweher Road early Thursday afternoon. The address is within a block of Northbrook Station 10, and the first units arrived very quickly and reported an evacuation with smoke showing. The alarm was upgraded to a Code 4 for additional units after the battalion chief arrived, followed by a MABAS Box Alarm shortly thereafter.

The fire , which was contained to the area of origin, created an extensive amount of smoke, and an impressive header was visible for a good while. The MVU was requested and  companies did their best to pressurize the building to clear the smoke.

warehouse fire in Northbrook

Units at the scene included two engines, two ambulances, a tower ladder, squad, and several chiefs from Northbrook plus mutual aid from Glenview, Deerfield, and Highland Park with trucks, Glencoe, Lincolnshire-Riverwoods, Buffalo Grove, and Wheeling with engines. Lincolnshire-Riverwoods and Prospect Heights were due with ambulances along with chief officers from Glenview and Wheeling.

Larry Shapiro was at the scene … late … and submitted images and a brief video.

warehouse fire in Northbrook

Larry Shapiro photo

warehouse fire in Northbrook

Larry Shapiro photo

warehouse fire in Northbrook

Larry Shapiro photo

Lincolnshire-Riverwoods firefighters

Larry Shapiro photo

warehouse fire in Northbrook

Larry Shapiro photo

A gallery with more images can be viewed HERE.

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Moraine Valley Fire Safety Week 2013

This from Martin Nowak:

Moraine Valley had their fire safety demos on 10/9/2013. Here are some pictures I took. Also, North Palos was not on had this year. Everything was done by Moraine Valley. More pictures are on my Facebook page.
Moraine Valley Fire Science College

Martin Nowak photo

Moraine Valley Fire Science College

Martin Nowak photo

Moraine Valley Fire Science College

Martin Nowak photo

Moraine Valley Fire Science College

Martin Nowak photo

Moraine Valley Fire Science College

Martin Nowak photo

Moraine Valley Fire Science College

Martin Nowak photo

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Inverness president wants new auto-aid agreement (update)

The Inverness president has asked for an agreement between the Barrington Countryside FPD (BCFPD) and the Palatine Rural FPD (PRFPD) that would have the PRFPD respond to all areas of Inverness, even those within the BCFPD. The Daily Herald has an updated article on the matter;

Inverness Village President Jack Tatooles continues to urge Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District trustees to pursue an agreement allowing the Palatine Rural Fire Protection District to cover the west side of his village.

But both fire districts remain skeptical they can overcome financial differences to reach a deal.

“I don’t think this is going to be negotiated,” Palatine Rural President Glen Grosch said Tuesday. “I think this is going to be left as is or changed by a referendum.” Grosch said that he as a board member he can’t change fire district boundaries, but that citizen-driven referendums sometimes can.

Tatooles made his push Tuesday as Barrington Countryside trustees Paul Heinze and Marvin Hill held an informational meeting with community leaders to explain the impacts of the district’s Jan. 1 split from the Barrington Fire Department. Questions from Lake Barrington, South Barrington and Barrington Township officials about staffing levels and the impact of passing trains on response times weren’t as pointed as Tatooles’ on his desired agreement between the two fire protection districts.

Under the proposed agreement, the fire districts would respond to emergency calls within one another’s boundaries if they have the closer station. Tatooles said Palatine Rural’s station is only 1.5 miles from the west side of Inverness, while Barrington Countryside’s Station 2 in Barrington Hills is 5 miles away and Station 3 in Lake Barrington is 7 miles away.

The likelihood of an automatic-aid agreement appears contingent on the working out of a dispute over how much property tax money Palatine Rural would get from it. Grosch said Palatine Rural has rejected a paid-on-call arrangement and is looking for “a large share” of Barrington Countryside’s property taxes from that part of Inverness. Palatine Rural pays the Palatine and Rolling Meadows fire departments for similar coverage of distant corners of its own district, Grosch said. The agreement it seeks with Barrington Countryside would mirror those arrangements but no precise dollar amounts have been filled in, he added.

 

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Chicago Fire tv show filming

The Chicago Fire TV show has been filming an episode which includes a train derailment. This setup was in Union, IL this past week, and ABC13.com has a behind the scenes look at the filming.

Small town, Union, Illinois finds itself in the TV spotlight once again as the Railway Museum fills the need for a train wreck.

NBC’s hit show, Chicago Fire used the museum as a means to stage a train wreck for an upcoming episode.

This episode, airing November 12th is set at a train crash. If the location seems familiar, it should. The Illinois Railway Museum in Union has played host to many television film crews.

“We’re well-known in Illinois in the film industry, the Illinois Film Office, whenever film companies come here to Illinois, if somebody needs trains, they send them our way,” said Nick Kallas. Museum Executive Director Nick Kallas says money made from the filming benefits the museum’s patrons.

Actual Union firefighters, on hand for safety purposes watch with excitement. Firefighter and EMT Jessica Carr says the best part for her, is how realistic the interactions are. “It’s a lot of just how we interact, like, just the relationships between the firefighters and how we work on a major scene accident like this,” said Carr.

The article includes a short video segment and a few images.

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New blog online to showcase fire scene photos (update)

If you enjoy viewing photos of fire scenes and you haven’t been checking out the new FireScenes.Net blog that went live one month ago, you’re missing some very interesting posts. But, for Chicago area enthusiasts, there’s a special treat – several ‘never before seen’ images submitted by Eric Haak from Chicago, Harvey, Alsip, and Dolton to name a few. Prior to his submissions to chicagoareafire.com, Eric did not have a means to share his fire scene photos, and he is generously culling through his archives and posting them to FireScenes.Net.

In addition, several other contributors to chicagoareafire.com who frequent the fire action in Detroit are also finding this as a new venue to share images which some of our readers have enquired about in the past. Since this site features Illinois and ‘just over the border’ fires in Wisconsin and Indiana, it’s not really the place for Detroit stuff, so these images are beginning to find their way to the new blog.

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Smokey inside truck fire in Wheeling 10-8-13

This from Larry Shapiro

Wheeling and Prospect Heights companies were dispatched after 3PM on Tuesday to the FedEx Ground facility at 1430 S. Wolf Road. The caller reported a delivery truck was on fire inside the building.

The first units on scene reported a truck fire inside the building with heavy smoke. They determined that only the engine compartment was burning and not the storage area of the truck, which later was determined to be empty.

The MABAS Division 1 Mobile Ventilation Unit (MVU) was brought to the scene and put to work in an effort to clear the large building of smoke.

I arrived as the fire was contained and got a few shots plus a short video.

Wheeling Fire Department

Larry Shapiro photo

Wheeling Fire Department

Larry Shapiro photo

Wheeling Fire Department

Larry Shapiro photo

Wheeling Fire Department

Larry Shapiro photo

Wheeling Fire Department

Larry Shapiro photo

A gallery with a few more images is HERE.

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