Archive for December, 2013

Chicago working fire, 12-31-13

One more from Eric Haak before the New Year arrives:

Around 1130 hrs, a fire was reported in a large u-shaped courtyard apartment building on the 5600 block of South Kenwood near the University of Chicago campus.  Engine 60 reported they had a fire on the second floor.  Companies were working in a dead end cul-de-sac and the hydrant in front of the building was frozen.  Engine 63 backed down on 60 and had to supply them with water from a hydrant all the way down on the corner of 56th Street.  To give you an idea of how quickly these companies work, I arrived four minutes after 60 reported on-scene and this was knocked before I could make my way around to the front of the building (parking was at a premium).  Since I don’t get over that far too often, I decided to get some shots of rigs I don’t get to very often.
Chicago firemen at winter fire scene at courtyard building

Eric Haak photo

Smoke from apartment building fire in Chicago

Eric Haak photo

Chicago fire truck at fire scene

Eric Haak photo

Chicago fire trucks at fire scene

Eric Haak photo

Chicago fire engine at fire scene

Eric Haak photo

Chicago fire engine at fire scene

Eric Haak photo

Chicago fire trucks at winter fire scene

Eric Haak photo

Smoke from apartment building fire in Chicago

Eric Haak photo

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Chicago Still & Box Alarm, 12-31-13

This from Eric Haak:

Here are some photographs of a Still & Box Alarm fire on the 6600 Block of South Oakley in Chicago.  This still went out at 0936 hrs and was boxed for the report of people trapped inside.  Engine 101 confirmed a fire in the basement of a one-story single-family residence.  An elderly woman was removed from the home but I do not know if it was fire department personnel or civilians who carried her out.  She was transported to the hospital and was alert on the scene.  It took me ten minutes to get on-scene from the time the fire was dispatched, to give you a time frame.  I included an image of Engine 123 with the memorial decal to Captain Johnson affixed below the driver’s side windshield.
Chicago firemen battle smokey house fire at year's end

Eric Haak photo

Chicago firemen battle smokey house fire at year's end

Eric Haak photo

Chicago firemen battle smokey house fire at year's end

Eric Haak photo

Chicago firemen battle smokey house fire at year's end

Eric Haak photo

Chicago firemen battle smokey house fire at year's end

Eric Haak photo

Chicago firemen battle smokey house fire at year's end

Eric Haak photo

Chicago firemen battle smokey house fire at year's end

Eric Haak photo

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Large mulch fire in McCook – Day 4

More from Tim Olk at the large mulch fire in McCook, this is Day 4 as the private contractor works for the second straight day to knock this down.

large mulch pile burns in McCook for 4 days

Tim Olk photo

large mulch pile burns in McCook for 4 days

Tim Olk photo

large mulch pile burns in McCook for 4 days

Tim Olk photo

large mulch pile burns in McCook for 4 days

Tim Olk photo

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Barrington FD & Fire District update

The Daily Herald has an article about the separation of the Barrington FD and the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District as the split nears:

An exchange of letters between the Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District and village of Barrington in late September 2012 began a 15-month process of separating their fire services that becomes real at the stroke of midnight this New Year’s Eve.

Only then will the true test of both agencies’ preparations begin, during a transitional period that will last anywhere from a minute to a year, depending who you ask. It will take a year to fully measure the finances of the fire district’s newly independent fire department, but the test of its operations should take only a few months, board President Tom Rowan said.

“To me, the measure of success is to provide even better service than we did before,” Rowan said. “That’s our goal, for people to say, ‘Wow, that’s a great operation!'” For Barrington Countryside Fire Chief Jeff Swanson, the obligation to be a great operation starts the moment his crew begins its first shift.

In addition to fire protection and ambulance service, the fire district will aim to be more community-focused — providing outreach and education through schools, churches, senior centers and other venues, Rowan said. The fire district covers 48 square miles that include parts of Barrington Hills, Lake Barrington, South Barrington, Inverness and unincorporated Cook, Lake and McHenry counties.

The district has two fire stations, one in Barrington Hills and one in Lake Barrington. It has begun looking for a third location that will improve response times. The district has automatic-aid agreements with several neighboring departments, but Barrington is not one of them.

The two agencies will provide one another with the more standard form of mutual aid — in the case of a big fire, it’s all hands on deck — but they don’t have an auto-aid agreement that spells out the specifics of going above and beyond mutual aid.

Countryside is trying to staff itself so it can depend less on mutual aid than before, Rowan said.

Barrington, however, considers the lack of an automatic-aid agreement with its old partner to be unfinished business, Barrington Fire Chief Jim Arie said. While the Barrington Fire Department is narrowing its focus to the village’s five square miles with the more experienced half of its staff, the lack of an auto-aid agreement with a neighbor ignores a basic tenet of emergency service, Arie said. “It takes some of our closest resources off the table,” he said. “That’s a change I’d prefer didn’t happen.”

The fact that fire district equipment will be passing through Barrington to reach areas of its jurisdiction flies in the face of using the closest available resources, Arie said. He just hopes it’s not at the expense of anyone’s well-being in the meantime.

The separation initially was sparked by fire district trustees’ frustration that their requests for more equipment and staff were regularly denied by Barrington officials, who ran the fire service for both jurisdictions. Now, Countryside trustees say they are satisfied with their starting staffing level. They will study whether their two water tankers are enough, since a large area of their territory is without hydrants, Rowan said.

Both Barrington and Countryside will experience a slight increase in their staffing levels relative to their jurisdiction size — Barrington to 18 firefighters and Barrington Countryside to 34.

Barrington Countryside’s staff will consist of 19 firefighters laid off by Barrington, with the rest hired from private contractor Paramedic Services of Illinois.

thanks Dan

Also, from the Barrington-Courier Review:

The Barrington Countryside Fire Protection District announced Friday that it will assist the village of Barrington’s Fire Department through the regional response program, but said it is no longer seeking an automatic aid pact with the village.

Reporting that negotiations are at a stalemate, district officials said they will rely on aid agreements with other neighboring agencies when independent fire operations begin Jan. 1.

“The [protection district] will gladly provide assistance to our neighbors in the village of Barrington through [the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System] whenever they need us,” District Chief Jeff Swanson said. “As we move forward, we will work with all our neighbors to continuously improve the levels of service provided to area residents and revise our current agreements when opportunities arise.”

“If Barrington needs us, all they have to do is make the call and we’ll send the cavalry,” District President Tom Rowan added. “We will provide whatever personnel and apparatus they may need that we have available.”

Starting Jan. 1, the Barrington Fire Department will serve its 5-square-mile area while the district focuses on its 46-square-mile area.

MABAS, a regional mutual aid system formed in 1968, includes more than 1,500 fire departments and districts across Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and Missouri. MABAS allows firefighter/paramedics to pool resources in situations such as multiple-alarm fires or weather-related disasters that exceed the capabilities of a single department or district.

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Chicago Fire Boat – Engine 2

This from Jamie Moncrief:

Wanted to share these fire boat photos I took on Sat. Dec 28, 2013 – while walking along the river, we spotted the Chicago Engine 2 fire boat “Christopher Wheatley” heading out  – thirty minutes later, we were able to see her on Lake Michigan from the top of the Hancock Building.

Best wishes to her and her crew!
Jamie Moncrief
Streeterville, Chicago
Chicago Fire Boat "Christopher Wheatley" on the Chicago River

Jamie Moncrief photo

Chicago Fire Boat "Christopher Wheatley" in the winter

Jamie Moncrief photo

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Fatal fire in Naperville, 12-18-13 (more)

The Daily Herald has a followup human interest article on Naperville’s fatal house fire from 12-18-13.

Allen Belaguas had been saving for nursing school, working as an in-home caregiver for several months, but only in the home of Jan and Tom Lambert of Naperville for about a week when it happened.

The blaze erupted about 6:50 a.m. Dec. 18 in the Lambert’s two-story house on Field Court. The couple never made it out of the house. Authorities said they may have been victims of a floor collapse that sent the home’s second story tumbling into the basement. Tom, a 57-year-old brain cancer patient, and Jan, a 56-year-old who was blind, both died in the fire.

By all accounts, Belaguas, the 21-year-old Orland Park man hired to care for them, did what he could to try to bring the Lamberts out alive.

When firefighters got to the scene three minutes after being called, they said two people were escaping the home — Tom’s father, John Lambert, and sister, Patricia Carhoff. Firefighters found and rescued one other occupant whom they described as critically injured — Belaguas — before the threat of a floor collapse sent them retreating from the structure. Belaguas originally was taken to Edward Hospital in Naperville along with John Lambert and Carhoff. While the two relatives arrived at the hospital in good condition and soon were released, Belaguas was transferred to Loyola for treatment of severe smoke inhalation, authorities said.

There, Belaguas has been unconscious, unable to respond to questions or his name, his mother said Thursday. Burns cover only six inches of his body, but his lungs were damaged from the smoke of the blaze, which firefighters said burned hotter because of oxygen tanks in the home and a ruptured gas line. The fire’s cause has not yet been determined.

Pierson said her son’s condition has not improved in the eight days since the fire, though she keeps praying it will. On Thursday, doctors decided to operate, creating a hole in the front of his neck that often helps patients breathe when they are on ventilators or the normal pathways are obstructed. She said doctors also were doing a skin graft to help Belaguas’ burns heal.

The 21-year-old of Filipino descent had been living with his mother for about the past year and a half, working first at a nursing home and then for BrightStar Care in Naperville. Belaguas had been hired primarily to care for Jan Lambert, but also helped the woman’s husband. “He had been there only a week. He just started,” Belaguas’ mother said.

thanks Dan

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Large mulch fire in McCook (more)

Tim Olk visited the large mulch fire which has been burning since Saturday (12-28-13) at 5300 Lawndale in McCook. Tim reports that companies were there again today and that a private contractor has been hired to mitigate the fire.

large mulch pile burns in McCook

Tim Olk photo

large mulch pile burns in McCook

Tim Olk photo

large mulch pile burns in McCook

Tim Olk photo

large mulch pile burns in McCook

Tim Olk photo

large mulch pile burns in McCook

Tim Olk photo

large mulch pile burns in McCook

Tim Olk photo

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2-Alarm commercial fire in Evanston, 12-29-13 (pt 4)

More images from Evanston’s 2nd Alarm fire at 1030 Davis Street from Tim Olk, Steve Redick, and Jeff Rudolph.

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

Steve Redick photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

Steve Redick photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

TIm Olk photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

TIm Olk photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

TIm Olk photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

Jeff Rudolph photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

TIm Olk photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

TIm Olk photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

Jeff Rudolph photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

Steve Redick photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

TIm Olk photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

TIm Olk photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

Steve Redick photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

Steve Redick photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

Steve Redick photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

Steve Redick photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

Jeff Rudolph photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

TIm Olk photo

large fire destroys stores in downtown Evanston 12-29-13

TIm Olk photo

Previous posts are HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Additional images are at FireScenes.Net

Steve has a gallery with more images

 

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Elgin buys demo tower ladder

A reader informs us of the following:

Elgin purchased a new Pierce Arrow XT tower. The truck will be delivered after minor alterations are made. This truck will replace the current 1996 KME tower based at Station 2.

Pictures are from Piercemfg.com

Pierce Arrow XT tower ladder demo

Pierce Arrow XT tower ladder demo. Pierce photo

Pierce tower ladder

Pierce photo

Pierce tower ladder

Pierce photo

Pierce tower ladder

Pierce photo

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2-Alarm commercial fire in Evanston, 12-29-13 (pt 3)

Steve Redick’s video from last night’s fire in Evanston.

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