Archive for December 6th, 2013

CPD and CFD assaulted on-scene

Dec 6

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News | 14 Comments

ABC7 has an article about an alleged assault of two CFD paramedics and a CPD officer:

Two paramedics and a Chicago police officer were injured when prosecutors say the man they were called to help assaulted them Tuesday night in the city’s River North neighborhood.

All three … were sent to the hospital. The suspect was sent to court. None of the injuries were life threatening. The paramedics and police officer were released Tuesday night. The suspect, who was treated for injuries as well, was in court Wednesday. Also in court were fellow paramedics and firefighters frustrated by violence first responders sometimes face.

A call for [an] injured man came from this block Tuesday evening on North LaSalle. Two Chicago paramedics responded. They were evaluating him and they say something happened.

“It was an average run and nothing out of the ordinary. It’s almost like flipped a switch and the gentleman became combative and that was the result three people hospitalized,” said Asst. Deputy Chief Jeff Larson, Chicago Fire Department.

The 28-year-old delivery driver from Indiana appeared in court Wednesday. Joseph Zajac is charged with aggravated battery of the paramedics and a Chicago police officer.

Prosecutor said Zajac hit a 63-year-old paramedic and a Chicago police officer who responded to help the paramedics. The second paramedic was injured. Prosecutors say she ended up with a concussion.

“They are sore, they are beaten up. And they’re exhausted at this point. All they want to do is get some rest and be with their family,” said Tom Ryan, president, Chicago Firefighters Union.

The president of the union representing the paramedics says he’s gone to court five times in just two weeks for suspects charged with assaulting paramedics on the job.

“This is insanity, this should never happen, much less with the frequency that it is happening and I hope the citizens of this city are as outraged as we are,” said Ryan.

In the last two years in Cook County, more than sixty people have been charged for assaulting a paramedic.

Tags: Asst. Deputy Chief Jeff Larson, Chicago Fire Department, Chicago Firefighters Union, paramedic assaulted after call for service, president, Tom Ryan

Video: Chicago Firefighter Saved by MSA PASS Device

Dec 6

Posted by Admin in Fire Scene video | 2 Comments

Chris Ranck found this video about an MSA PASS device saving a Chicago firefighter

Tags: Chicago Fire Department, Chicago Firefighter Saved by MSA PASS Device, fire scene video, fire service video, MSA PASS device

Oak Park buys tower ladder

Dec 6

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, New Apparatus Order | 16 Comments

Dan McInerney provided the following information about the new tower ladder that is being purchased by Oak Park.

The OPFD recently opted to purchase a new truck. The bidder that was selected was E-One. The type of truck selected was a 95′ platform on a low profile chassis. The low profile chassis is needed due to numerous viaducts with low clearance issues. Also making a return to the OPFD is a truck without a pump. The main reasons we chose no pump is to cut down on cost and complexity, be able to carry more equipment, and due to a recent ISO grading that showed us we no longer needed an aerial ladder with a pump. The compartment space that will be added due to the new configuration will more than double the amount of space we currently have.

E-One was able to meet our height restrictions by lowering the height of the ladder when bedded. If you look closely in the drawing and picture, you will see that the cab is a normal sized Cyclone, but the waterway is nestled in a cutout of the roof of the cab. There is approximately 4-5 inches of dead space in between the top of the roof and cab ceiling where insulation, wires, radio stuff, etc. would go. Another big concern was the amount of forward visibility that was lost with other low profile designs.There were three other manufacturers that bid – Rosenbauer, Ferrara, and Spartan ERV – all three of them had forward visibility issues with their low profile designs.

Another point of contention with the 95′ model is we would loose several feet of vertical reach from what we currently have. Those concerns were put aside when we compared an E-One 95′ vs. 100′. The 100′ has a larger outrigger spread compared to the 95′, and in all, we would only loose a little over 2 feet of reach if both were set up at the same spot.

The attached picture of a low profile 100′ was sent to us by E-One for a customer whose agency escapes me at the moment. Our rig will have no pump and roll-up doors throughout, except in a spot over the rear duals where a roll up door would be impractical. In this picture you can really see the bottom of the platform affects only the top portion of forward visibility.