This from the Village of Glenview:
FIRE CHIEF WAYNE GLOBERGER TO RETIRE
October 7, 2014 – After 27 years with the Glenview Fire Department – eight of them as Fire Chief – Wayne Globerger has announced his retirement. Globerger’s last day with the department will be December 19, 2014.
Globerger began his career with the Knollwood Fire Department in Lake County and then spent two years with the St. Augustine Fire Department in Florida. He joined the Glenview department in 1987 as a firefighter/paramedic and moved steadily up the ranks. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1996, to captain in 2001 and to deputy chief in 2003, becoming responsible for managing daily operations for the department’s more than 80 employees and five fire stations.
Under Globerger’s leadership, the department reconstructed Fire Station 7 at 3507 Glenview Road; remodeled Fire Station 8 at 1901 Landwehr Road; and planned the replacement facility for Fire Station 6, which is now under construction south of the Village Hall at 1215 Waukegan Road. A joint fire/police fire investigation team was implemented. In 2012, the Villages of Glenview and Northfield began sharing the response capabilities of an aerial ladder truck, an arrangement that more effectively and efficiently uses resources.
In September 2005, Globerger led a crew of about 60 Illinois firefighters in Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish following Hurricane Katrina.
He has served as the president of the MABAS Division III Executive Board since 2010. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy (NIPSTA) since 2008 and since 2011 as Chairman of the Fire Core Cost Containment Committee for Northwest Municipal Conference’s Suburban Purchasing Co-op.
“Looking back at my career, it’s been wonderful,” Globerger said. ”I’ve enjoyed working with Village staff, the public and my peers. I will miss the people who have touched my life.”
#1 by Drew Smith on October 15, 2014 - 8:06 AM
Perspective, and not saying anything more than that, but a top of the line pumper (purchased once every 7-20 years) costs about the same as the annual expense of one firefighter position (3.5 firefighters) funded 24/7 with properly funded pension and benefits (health insurance and coverage for time off).
#2 by Fartin' Fred on October 15, 2014 - 1:40 AM
Bill & Drew, thanks for the information & insight–it is much appreciated. And Bill, you are absolutely correct about those 2 reserves (2001 & 2006).
Yeah it’s weird that a department loaded with brand-new shiny rigs would have to cut an ambulance to half-days. Perhaps different budgeting for paying firefighters vs apparatus purchases?
#3 by Drew Smith on October 14, 2014 - 10:13 PM
I cannot speak for any department except my own, Prospect Heights. Given our staffing limitations and the diverse area we cover (hydranted, non-hydranted, airport) we desire some features not typically found on standard pumpers. Hose bed capacity, foam system, ladders storage, and truck/extrication tools are all carried on our pumpers. With that said, the Pierce pumper that was on the SPC program is of a somewhat standard design with somewhat predetermined cabinet configuration and limited options. For many department this works well, but as mentioned above not so much for us. One advantage to the SPC is that the municipality need not conduct its own bidding and vetting process which can not only require a large investment of staff time but also require some legal navigation. One disadvantage is that the specification used by the SPC may not meet the needs of the department and its community. In that case there is no other option other than to conduct one’s own bidding. Northfield and Wilmette have had many E-Ones over the years. Schaumburg also still has several E-Ones in its fleet.
#4 by Bill Post on October 14, 2014 - 9:11 PM
Fred while I don’t know if this is still accurate or not, Glenview had been using a 2001 HME pumper as one of their reserve rigs and the other reserve engine was a 2006 Pierce. That is pretty good when you consider that their oldest front line engine is a 2006 model and that when they have been buying engines it’s generally 2 or 3 at time as opposed to buying one at a time like most other communities. They really must be getting a pretty good deal to have such a new fleet of apparatus. Even their spare truck is only 11 years old which explains why they let Northfield use it as a front line truck (which really isn’t very busy).
Another interesting thing about Glenview’s fleet of front line engines is that they actually are using two different designs. Two are pumper/squads with extra cabinet space and the other two are a standard engine design plus one more as a spare. In most places a 2006 engine would still be front line and not a spare.
Glenview however still has been having some financial problems as Ambulance 8 had become a part time company a few years ago.
I’m glad that they are building a new replacement station for Station 6 but ideally it would have been better located south of Glenview Road since they will not be that far from station 13.
Station 13 should still stay in service in order to keep the east end of Glenview properly covered plus Station 13 is still a new station by most standards. Even the old station 6 was a nice modern building but it was sacrificed for the prime real estate.
#5 by Fartin' Fred on October 14, 2014 - 2:30 PM
You’re right-on, Bill. As far as paint scheme & lighting design, Glenview’s rigs are BY FAR the nicest in Chicagoland. And I think their oldest reserve engine is a 2009.
#6 by Bill Post on October 14, 2014 - 10:15 AM
Drew I have a question regarding the Suburban Purchasing Coop. As most of Chicago’s areas suburbs and towns are members, I would figure that during the last year when Pierce/Global had the fire apparatus contract that all of the heavy duty fire apparatus would be Pierce, however I noticed that a number of new apparatus delivered were not Pierce. An example is Northfield’s new Squad 29 which is an E/One product. That is interesting as their neighbor to the west and south (Glenview) has been an exclusive Pierce customer over the last 10 to 11 years and considering that Glenview and Northfield share Truck 29 which was originally Glenview Truck 14 I would figure that Northfield would have purchased a Pierce pumper/squad instead.
While it appears that a majority of purchases in the Chicago suburban area are from Pierce, a number of them are not. Another example is Wilmette’s new Engine 27 and even Prospect Heights’ new Squad 39. Apparently those fire departments were able to get a good deal on new rigs however I would have thought the contract with Pierce/Global through the Suburban Purchasing Coop would have assured a better price as the main point for such an inter community contract would be to make apparatus purchases more economical due to the economies of scale when many towns and fire departments are involved in purchasing apparatus? Apparently it appears the towns involvement with the SPC contract are optional or the towns that didn’t purchase apparatus from Pierce had gotten a better deal elsewhere.
#7 by Drew Smith on October 13, 2014 - 10:37 PM
On September 5th I downloaded the Suburban Purchasing Coops brochure which indicated the duration of the contract is from July 9, 2013 through July 8, 2014. The brochure now on the SPC website has the same language as the above link. It would appear that Pierce/Global did not loose the bid but that the SPC wants to go back out for bid rather than extend the contract which is already more than 90 days past its expiration and was being extended month-to-month while the SPC considered the one-year extension.
#8 by rusty on October 13, 2014 - 4:21 PM
I wonder if Glenview will still be ordering Pierce. Pierce lost the NWMC bid last week. I wonder what happened anyone know?
http://www.nwmc-cog.org/SPC-Documents/SPC_Global-Emergency-Products-Pierce-Letter-10-01.aspx
#9 by Bill Post on October 12, 2014 - 4:43 PM
Under Chief Globerger’s watch the Glenview fire department also seemed to upgrade the quality and design of their frontline fire apparatus as well.
The current fleet of Pierce apparatus not only seem’s be well designed (as well as being amongst the sharpest looking rigs in the Chicago area).
There in no doubt that the overall design and paint scheme of the current fleet is head and shoulders above the previous fleet of HME apparatus.
I know that ultimately the bottom line is how well the apparatus performs at emergencies and apparently Glenview seems pretty happy with the current fleet design as they have already had repeat orders in 2010 for additional Engines as well as in 2013 for a new Aerial Ladder (Quint).
#10 by Kevin on October 12, 2014 - 1:39 PM
Hell of a career.