chicagoareafire.com

New CFD company artwork

Here are two new CFD company logos produced by Firehousedecals.com

New company logo for CFD Engine 1, Truck 1, and Ambulance 41

New company logo for CFD Engine 50, Truck 18, and Ambulance 1

 

Tags: Chicago FD Ambulance 1, Chicago FD Ambulance 41, Chicago FD Engine 1, Chicago FD Engine 50, Chicago FD T18, Chicago FD Truck 1, Chicago Fire Department, fire company artwork, fire company logo, fire company patches, Firehousedecals.com, firehousedecalsandmore.com

This entry was posted on February 25, 2014, 7:05 AM and is filed under Fire Department News, Patch. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Comments

• #1 by Bill Post on February 27, 2014 - 3:32 AM

  

  Yes I agree with you Tim if the Chicago Fire Department were to purchase one or both of them they wouldn’t even need to change Aerial Tower 1’s officially designation and they might possibly consider purchasing one of them for Truck 3 as well. Of course Chicago can’t afford them as of now but they should be considered for a few years down the road.

  0.02 E/One started manufacturing a 137 foot straight Aerial Ladder just a few years ago however I think that Chicago would be better off purchasing 136 foot articulated Aerial Platforms as they are better for Rescue and (in my opinion) fire fighting work. In effect they are really large “Snorkels”.
  The Gimaex company is based in France while the Bronto Skylift company is based in Finland. The Bronto Skylift company actually builds much taller Aerial Platform devices for European and Asian fire departments with the tallest one being 367 feet however it is a very large and heavy apparatus and needs a large turning radius. In Europe and Asia Aerial Ladder and Aerial Platform apparatus are built strictly for the use of the Aerial device and they rarely if ever carry ground ladders while in America the Truck companies carry ground ladders and many tools which is one of the reasons why the largest Aerial Platforms that are built for and sold in America are currently only 136 feet tall.

  The fact that “Aerial Tower 1” has a 105 foot Aerial Ladder on it really isn’t that unique as in the 1980’s and most of the 1990’s Chicago had several 110 foot E/One Aerial Ladders that were assigned as regular Truck companies. At least 2 or more of them are still being used in the CFD’s spare rig pool. The real reason that Truck 1 is officially called Aerial Tower 1 is not because of it’s current height but because it is equipped with a “prepiped waterway”.

  The Boston fire department’s straight aerial ladder fleet are all either 110 feet (E-Ones),105 feet (Pierces) or 109 feet (KMES) with the exception of their “Brigade Ladder Truck” which uses a used 1973 Maxim 85 foot Aerial Ladder because it is confined to “Long Island” and is isolated from the rest of the city and protects an old hospital and not directly connected to the City of Boston. The point is that Aerial Ladders over 100 feet are not that uncommon. Aerial Ladders with “prepiped waterways” are also pretty common and quite a few fire departments use them. A “HIgh Aerial Ladder” today really is higher then 110 feet and generally refers to Ladders that over 120 feet. Smeal has been selling 125 foot Aerial Ladders for quite a while and Ferrara sells a 127 foot model and even KME puts out a 123 foot model.

  The Chicago Fire Department had run with “High Aerial Ladders” for 46 years as in 1960 they put 2 144 foot Magirus rear mounted Ladders in service on Mack B cab chassis which ran until 1975/77. In 1975 the Chicago Fire department had put in service a 135 foot Morita Lift (elevator quipped) Aerial Device on a Hendrickson/Pierce chassis which had run as Truck 1 until 1987. In 1985 the CFD had put the E/One-Pemfab 135 “Aerial Tower” in service at Truck 3 which ran until it was wrecked in a traffic accident in 1995 and of course Truck 1 ran with one from 1988 until 2006.
  It is ironic that the New York City Fire Department had also purchased 2 146 feet Magirus Aerial Ladders on Mack C-95 Mack cab chassis around the same time Chicago purchased theirs on Mack B cab chassis however about 10 years later in 1969 New York city had retrofitted the chassis with 100 foot Grove Aerial Ladders as the Magirus’s were difficult to get parts for and to maintain (as it was a German company) while Chicago kept using theirs for another 5 to 7 years until the apparatus was taken out of service.
  New York City had originally run theirs as Ladder companies however they were then redesignated as “High Ladder companies” to be used only when their 146 foot Aerial Ladder was needed. One of them was reassigned to Ladder 119 in Brooklyn in the mid 1960’s before being taken out of service.

• #2 by Tim Danner on February 26, 2014 - 3:22 PM

  

  Spartan ERV has that Gimaex 136 ft Telstar boom that would look real nice at AT1. Or go with the Pierce Bronto at 136 ft either way it would get the CFD back into the tall ladder world.

• #3 by 0.02 on February 26, 2014 - 12:20 PM

  

  I think they keep the aerial tower as a bit of tradition and history. Preciously aerial tower 1 and when aerial tower 3 were in service they had at least 135 foot main ladders. E-one stopped making the 135 foot ladder but I’m sure when aerial tower 1 is up for replacement you will see another big ladder. Aerial tower 3 was destroyed in an accident back in the 90’s.

• #4 by CFD 1979 on February 26, 2014 - 10:32 AM

  

  Nothing special about Aerial Tower 1? It is an extremely unique rig considering it has, first off, a mounted aerial pipe and, secondly, the rig has an 105 foot aerial. I think that both of those features are extremely unique when you compare it to the rest of the CFD’s fleet. I will agree with you that the name “Aerial Tower” is definitely a misnomer.

• #5 by Mike Mc on February 26, 2014 - 10:17 AM

  

  If the members call it Truck 1 then it’s high time the department reclassified it as Truck 1. There is nothing unusual or special about a pinned aerial pipe. In some cities, all the the aerials are that way. Visitors from out of town probably expect to see a Bronco-skylift or Lord knows what, when they visit the firehouse.

  “Union Station” is a nice play on words but the phrase fire station is never, never, used in respected CFD circles. As Ken Little once said to the media, “Chicago has no fires stations, only firehouses”.

  You know you are on old man when little things like that bother you!

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