From Dave Weaver:
CFD ambulances under construction in May at U.S. Ambulance Corporation Winter Park, FL
New ambulances for Chicago being completed in May at the US Ambulance Corporation facility in Winter Park, FL. Dave Weaver photo
New ambulances for Chicago
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#1 by Bill Post on July 29, 2014 - 11:03 AM
Fred in the day’s when Chicago used Cadillac ambulances all of the Caddies had at least one green light up on the front of the roof, In the later years there may have been a green headlight on one or two models. As a rule the CFD would have there famous foot ball style oscillating red light in the Center and then there would be a small blinking type of red light on one side of football light and on the other side would be a green blinking light. There would also be two Oscillation Mars “888” model white lights on the front of the hood. One was on the left side and one was on the right side. Beginning in the mid 1960’s around 1965/66 they started putting Aurora Borealis model lights on the center of the front of the roof where the football lights used to be. The Aurora Borealis lights were put on all of the newly delivered Ambulances and Chiefs “buggies” and station wagons. The new fire apparatus that was delivered were usually equipped with the Aurora Borealis Lights. Several older companie’s had been retrofitted with the Aurora Borealis LIghts however the majority of them still ran with the original foot ball lights.
For those of you who don’t know the Aurora Borealis Light were these small red white and sometimes green lights that would move from side to side on a track, underneath a large clear transparent dome.
When they first were delivered on the Chicago’s rigs in the mid 1960’s they Fire Commissioner Quinn seemed to have liked them alot and the plans were to eventually have them on all of Chicago’s apparatus. They were highly touted. Many of Chicago’s new Fog Pressures, Engines and the new Mid Mounted Trucks were all equipped with the Aurora Borealis Lights. Chicago only had 7 Mid Mounted Trucks delivered and they were 5 Mack C cab’s with Pirsch Aerial Ladders which were delivered in late 66 early 67 and there were two Seagraves delivered in mid 1967. All of the other new Trucks were rear mounts and because the ladder was over the roof they didn’t come with the Aurora Borealis Lights.
While most of Chicago’s older (1950’s and 40’s rigs kept their red football lights, a few did get retro fitted with Aurora Borealis Lights.
Chicago’s Famous Squad 1 which was one 8 1954 Auto/Car (four door crew cabbed) Squads was retrofitted around 1966/67 with an Aurora Borealis light on the front. It was retrofitted around the time that it was redesignated as Salvage Squad 1 around February of 1967. They were in Engine 42’s old quarters (228 W Illinois) at the time.
Chicago started getting away from the Aurora Borealis LIghts around 1974/75 when Chicago started getting it’s Engines delivered with 2 revolving red and white lights on their roofs.
#2 by Fartin' Fred on July 29, 2014 - 10:20 AM
It seems we should all gather at the local watering hole–the saloon down the street–& debate all this over BEERS. But in all seriousness, it would be nice for some CFD paramedics to chime-in & compare the old vs new ambos; provide 1st-hand insight.
#3 by Fartin' Fred on July 29, 2014 - 10:16 AM
We’re gettin hated-on, Milt. Two sweet, friendly, good-smelling guys like us.
#4 by Fred on July 29, 2014 - 8:31 AM
A mundane question for anyone….did Chicago ever have green lights on ambo’s and has the tradition remained? I know they used to on fire apparatus…..
#5 by Crabby Milton on July 29, 2014 - 8:28 AM
Well I didn’t post in this topic but thanks for thinking of me. If the ambulance is up to the duty, who really cares what it looks like? If I’m sick or seriously injured, I’m not going to care if it’s a FORD E SERIES, F SERIES, FREIGHTLINER, INTERNATIONAL, SPARTAN or whatever. Being a fire apparatus nut won’t matter under such circumstances just get me to the hospital. Besides, the FORD E series was used in great numbers as an ambulance chassis years ago. I guess now it’s no good?
#6 by Markus on July 29, 2014 - 7:50 AM
Half you guys sound like babies. “EMS in Chicago is great or EMS in Chicago stinks.” Who cares this post is about New ambulances. Just say they look nice or I liked the older ones better. You guys are worse then Crabby Milton or Fartin Fred.
#7 by FFEMT on July 28, 2014 - 11:41 PM
I completely agree with you there, Chuck. But by the same token, some of the financial difficulties of EMS are fire department created. We have many suburban departments that will spend huge bucks on the newest and greatest fire apparatus….for their (in some cases) 1 or 2 in-town structure fires per year. NOT AT ALL saying that it isn’t important (obviously it is), but when EMS is 75-80% of your run volume, your resource (money, personnel, and TRAINING) allocation should at least somewhat reflect that. I was a union guy in the northern suburbs for 3 years before getting CFD and the state of EMS affairs at my department and most others I saw was horrible. Our brass made damn sure that we could drop and stretch a skid load in 90 seconds (despite only doing that maybe a dozen times a year throughout the department). But try to get training on difficult IVs (which you’d run into at least once a shift) or difficult intubations? Hahaa NEVER.
#8 by Chuck on July 28, 2014 - 11:19 PM
Cutting edge, plain and simple, costs MONEY. MONEY that neither the Fire Departments, the hospitals, nor the insurers wish to pay, especially when they can’t get reimbursed for monies they spend now, like on the hundreds of gunshot victims every year. Because we know all those choir practice attending, honor society graduates that get shot every single day all have the best insurance money can buy. NOT.
#9 by FFEMT on July 28, 2014 - 8:29 PM
Dennis, what are your thoughts about backboarding and immobilizing patients?
#10 by ttguy on July 28, 2014 - 7:20 PM
Time to wave the ammonia capsule under Dennis’ nose. He’s been out too long if he can’t see that many other states surpass IL in terms of the scope of EMS care provided. He would only have to look to our neighbors immediately to the north to see that first hand. WI EMS has IL beat hands down. WI has a state wide EMS organization that actually does something.
#11 by FFEMT on July 28, 2014 - 7:15 PM
That’s awesome, Dennis. Please show us some statistics that rank this area with the best of the best? Oh wait. They don’t exist.
#12 by Dennis on July 28, 2014 - 5:40 PM
I 100% disagree.
#13 by FFEMT on July 28, 2014 - 2:32 PM
Dennis…that’s the point they were making. SMOs and protocols for the entire area are (literally, in some cases) DECADES behind the times. There are many interventions that are standard in this area that are completely, utterly useless and in some cases detrimental to patient care. The closest thing we have to a truly up-to-date EMS system in the area is Northwest Community’s system….and even that isn’t anything compared to the cutting edge work being done in places like Seattle, Pittsburgh, Boston, etc.
#14 by Dennis on July 28, 2014 - 12:40 PM
US Ambulance Corporation is a Florida FICTITIOUS NAME filed on August 19, 2013. The company’s filing status is listed as Active and its File Number is G13000082372. The company’s principal address is 2737 N. Forsyth Road Winter Park, FL 32792.
The company has 1 principal on record. The principal is Wheeled Coach Industries, Inc. from Winter Park FL.
#15 by dennis on July 28, 2014 - 12:34 PM
Bill C., CHUCK, AND WAYNE. you all are off the subject here as far as quality of EMS in the Chicagoland area. IF you all claim to medics like you do then you will know it has nothing to do with the skills of the medics, how many IV’s the start or how many times they tube someone. The whole region(s) are governed by the resource hospital(s) of which are then the doctor who decides what the medics can do, give or use. Every system has shitty medics just the same every system has great medics. Different systems let their medics give different drugs then other systems do, some systems let their medics do more then some systems do. No department anywhere is better then any other department in the country. Each system is different which means each system does things differently. This not only applies to medics but also EMT’s. You can only do what the system SMO’s say….period.
#16 by Bill C. on July 28, 2014 - 10:06 AM
Chuck, I currently have more than 15 years as a medic and more than 25 in EMS . I Have worked multiple EMS regions in the “Chicago area” and there are many suburban regions that perform more difficult life saving interventions than the city is allowed. Medics that have come from outside the area, state OR from some of those suburban regions, are forced to NOT have or be able to use skills and equipment that they know will produce a better outcome of patient care. While I will not address the specifics of the differences , I have experienced the ” Why dont your medics do such treatment or use such drug therapy? – I dont care if you are around the block from the hospital better pt care is just the best treatment. ” Seems hard to argue against that point when you agree with it .
#17 by Wayne on July 27, 2014 - 11:29 PM
Skills, no matter how well you can perform them, don’t make you a good medic. If half your ET tubes are because you let a patient deteriorate inappropriately or tube someone that otherwise didn’t need one, you’re still a bad medic. Also, as a professional medic trained and working in the area, I can safely we are VERY behind on a lot of things in EMS as a region. There’s a lot of factors behind that that we shouldn’t be getting into on here, but we’re nowhere near on the cutting edge. In fact, a lot of rural services are leading the way for change across the country because they NEED more efficient EMS and have longer patient contact times, necessitating more advanced protocols and better education to make up for lack of resources. Bill isn’t entirely off base.
#18 by Chuck on July 27, 2014 - 9:12 PM
Bill _ I’m curious what level of EMS background or experience you have to portray the “Chicago area” as being “behind” national standards in EMS? I would much rather have a Chicago Fire Department medic (or any suburban Chicago medic, for that matter,) take care of me. I don’t want some book learned moron who can quote chapter and verse from a textbook and can’t find his ass from a hole in the ground when somebody is crashing in front of them – I want somebody that starts 500+ IV’s a year or can do intubation blindfolded in a dark closet at midnight – I worked with a great many Chicago Fire Department paramedics in my time on the job (and this was 20+ years ago,) who were some of the greatest technically proficient people I ever met, and they are all still the same today. Hope you have proof before you malign an entire region of a profession.
#19 by 0.03 on July 27, 2014 - 8:49 PM
Ambulance 23’s chassis is most likely totaled. The box will probably get remounted.
#20 by Union firefighter on July 27, 2014 - 8:49 PM
Saw one of these for the first time tonight all lit up and I have to say you can see them for a mile away.. The lighting pattern is something I have never seen before and personally I think it is perfect.
#21 by Bill Post on July 27, 2014 - 8:29 PM
I wonder if another one of the new “Ambulances” will be given to Ambulance 23 as their “second new rig” or whether Ambulance 23’s “new” wrecked rig is reparable?
#22 by ffpm571 on July 27, 2014 - 8:06 PM
Bill C. spoken like a true whacker.
#23 by Bill C. on July 27, 2014 - 5:17 PM
Well Fred, FIRST – the Design concept behind those lights is entirely a SAFETY FACTOR . the light pattern is designed as a ” ALWAYS ON ” Lighting package. As most people expect the lights to FLASH “On & Off” ( the OFF side of the equation is JUST NOT SAFE), there have been issues over the years ACROSS the ENTIRE Emergency Vehicle builder & operator industries to find a safer way to warn people & Keep the Operators of the units safe FROM the general population. That is why these light patterns even exist.
SECOND – WHY does ANY VOLUNTEER seem to be LESS of a Qualified responder compared to those in the “mean streets of Chicago” ?
EVER CONCIDER the idea that those volunteers in “Arkansas” , Just MIGHT BE more highly trained than the Chicago Paramedics. NEWS FLASH – the Chicago area IS BEHIND most of the national standards for EMS !
#24 by Brian on July 27, 2014 - 4:04 PM
Fred, all new ambulance light packages are this way. LED lighting and light companies offering the options
#25 by Fartin' Fred on July 27, 2014 - 12:40 PM
These new rigs with their circus lighting look like they should be serving a volunteer ambulance service in Arkansas–NOT the mean streets of Chicago.