Archive for March 23rd, 2014

New Lenox voters reject tax hike for FPD

The Chicago has an article about the defeat of a tax hike request by the New Lenox Fire Protection District.

Residents said no to a tax increase proposed by the New Lenox Fire Protection District despite officials’ assurances that added taxes would lead to upgraded services for the community.

With 17 of 20 precincts reporting as of press time Tuesday night, the fire district’s tax increase received support from 46 percent of voters, with 54 percent opposing, unofficial vote totals show.

Marisa Schrieber, the Fire Protection District’s public education coordinator, released a statement on behalf of the district thanking voters. “Although the referendum did not pass, we will strive to become the best we can be for everyone who lives and passes through our district,” Schrieber said.

Fire district officials said the increase would have added $86 per year to the tax bills of owners of a $200,000 house.

The fire district sought to upgrade service in the growing community by replacing five ambulances and three fire trucks over the next five years with the money brought in by the tax increase. It was the fire district’s first tax increase request in 25 years, according to district officials.

Since 1989, south suburban New Lenox has doubled in size from nearly 17,000 residents to more than 34,000, officials said. The fire district workload also has intensified from 890 calls in 1990 to more than 3,398 by 2012, officials said.

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Grease chute fire in Chicago, 3-22-14

This from Eric Haak:

This came in just before 0700 hrs on Saturday morning.  Companies were given an address on the 8200 block of Cottage Grove and 8200 Maryland as well.  The first company on-scene reported that it was on Cottage Grove and that there was smoke showing from the roof.  It looked real impressive coming down Cottage Grove from the North but turned out to be just a grease chute for the jerk chicken place.  
grease shoot fire in Chicago

Eric Haak photo

Chicago FD Spartan fire engine

Eric Haak photo

Chicago FD Spartan aerial ladder truck

Eric Haak photo

Chicago firefighters at scene

Eric Haak photo

Chicago firefighters at scene

Eric Haak photo

firemen with hose at restaurant fire

Eric Haak photo

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Chicago working fire 3-22-14

This from Eric Haak:

At approximately 1045 hrs on Saturday, companies in Chicago’s 23rd Battalion were dispatched to the report of a fire in an apartment building on the 7900 Block of South St. Lawrence in the Southside Chatham neighborhood.  Engine 122 was first in and reported light smoke from the 3rd floor.  The apartment’s resident was standing outside and reported that the fire was in a back bedroom.  Smoke was very minimal at the front of the building but once in the rear, it was obvious there was a decent working fire.  Companies got water on the fire pretty quick and the incident was brought under control within minutes.

 

heavy fire at apartment fire

Eric Haak photo

heavy fire at apartment fire

Eric Haak photo

firemen with heavy smoke overhead

Eric Haak photo

spartan fire engine at fire scene

Eric Haak photo

Chicago tower ladder at fire scene

Eric Haak photo

Chicago spartan fire engine at fire scene

Eric Haak photo

fireman after fighting fire

Eric Haak photo

fireman after fighting fire

Eric Haak photo

chief fire officer

Eric Haak photo

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Des Plaines ambulance controversy

The Daily Herald has an article about an unusual turn of events surrounding the purchase of a new ambulance in Des Plaines:

Des Plaines was set to become one of only a handful of suburban municipalities with a vertical exhaust ambulance, which city council supporters say is safer than the current fleet of vehicles that releases harmful diesel fumes at ground level near firefighters and the public.

Others, including Des Plaines Fire Chief Alan Wax and Mayor Matt Bogusz, say purchasing an ambulance with a vertical exhaust system may have been trying to fix a problem that doesn’t exist. That’s why Bogusz asked the council Monday to rescind the purchase., [and] cast the deciding vote, breaking the council’s 4-4 tie, and officially rescinding the ambulance purchase.

Fifth Ward Alderman Jim Brookman, a retired Des Plaines firefighter who pushed for the vertical exhaust ambulance purchase, said he doesn’t recall a Des Plaines mayor ever pushing for a resolution to rescind a previous council vote. “I think the motion to rescind was improper and illegal,” said Brookman, who promised to ask the Office of the Illinois Attorney General for an opinion on the matter.

“It’s my belief this is a solution in search for a problem,” Bogusz said. “It’s not a policy decision. It’s an operational decision. I believe this body needs to work to stick a little bit closer to policy.”

Though the council approved the purchase March 3, fire department officials didn’t make the purchase.

The fire chief said he believes there isn’t a problem with the current horizontal exhaust ambulance fleet, since new vehicle emission standards disperse fumes quicker than before. Fire department officials surveyed 40 nearby communities — two of which, Evanston and Winnetka, had vertical exhaust ambulances. Wax said ambulance manufacturers interviewed by the Northwest Municipal Conference Suburban Purchasing Cooperative report selling and making few ambulances with vertical exhaust systems.

Brookman said Des Plaines needed to go “above and beyond” to protect firefighters and the public who could be harmed by exposure to diesel fumes from idling vehicles. He cited health studies from the World Health Organization that show diesel fumes contribute to cancer risk. At the March 3 council meeting, Brookman became emotional when talking about Des Plaines firefighters he knew who died of cancer, including his best friend.

It would only cost an extra $1,500 to put a vertical exhaust system on an ambulance, but would cost $75,000 to add a vertical exhaust capture system in fire stations.

On Monday, Brookman and Wax engaged in a heated back-and-forth dialogue about whether there was a problem with the current fleet of ambulances, which give off emissions from tailpipes at the back of vehicles. 

“I was on the ambulance for 15 years of my 30 years on the job,” Brookman said. “There’s no way to be on the ambulance and not breathe diesel fumes that are pumped out of the side of the ambulance. It’s impossible. I don’t understand how you can say there is not a problem.”

Wax said he didn’t have any evidence to suggest fumes were making their way into ambulances.

“It does go in the back because I’ve been on the rig,” Brookman responded, “and I know when you open the doors, the air goes inside, and if there’s diesel fumes all around the rig, it goes in. There’s no way for it not to happen.”

“I don’t know there are diesel fumes all around the rig,” Wax countered.

“If they’re pumped out the side of the rig, where the hell do they go?” Brookman said.

“They dissipate into the air. They go whatever direction the wind is going,” Wax said.

“They come up from the ground and you breathe them if you’re standing in the fumes. I’ve been on thousands of calls and so have you,” Brookman told Wax. “I don’t get it. They’re breathing diesel fumes. The public is breathing them and so are the firefighters. How in the world can you say they’re not breathing diesel fumes?”

Following the council’s rejection of the vertical exhaust ambulance, Bogusz asked aldermen to approve the $226,229 purchase of a horizontal exhaust ambulance. But 3rd Ward Alderman Denise Rodd’s motion to do so wasn’t seconded.

Wax said he will ask the council to approve an ambulance purchase at a time still to be determined. The department currently has five ambulances in service, and has been buying new ones as part of an annual replacement schedule.

thanks Dan

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