This from Kevin Griffin:
The x-ambulance 6302 has been converted to a dive squad. It was sitting in tinley park. This is a 1999 IHC/road rescue
Kevin Griffin photo
Kevin Griffin photo
Kevin Griffin photo
Archive for November, 2014
New dive squad for Palos FPD
Nov 27
This from Larry Shapiro:
Here’s an updated photo of the new Glenview Fire Station 6
Status of the new headquarters fire station in Glenview 11-26-14. Larry Shapiro photo
The West Chicago FPD has a new fire chief, Patrick Tanner coming from Highland Park.
Chief Tanner comes to us after a 29-year career with the Highland Park, IL Fire Department, serving as chief since 2010.
We will be holding a swearing in and welcoming ceremony on Tuesday, December 2, 2014 at 09:00 at Fire Station #6, 200 Fremont Street, West Chicago, Il 60185
Highland Park Fire Chief Pat Tanner retires and Deputy Chief Dan Pease is promoted:
Fire Chief Announces Retirement, Deputy Fire Chief Promoted
Fire Chief Patrick Tanner will be recognized by the city council for 29 years of service to the City of Highland Park at the city council meeting on December 1, 2014. Chief Tanner announced his plan to retire effective December 1 after a rewarding career with the Highland Park Fire Department.
City Manager Ghida Neukirch is pleased to announce the promotion of Deputy Fire Chief Dan Pease to fire chief of the Highland Park Fire Department following Chief Tanner’s retirement.
Pease started with the Highland Park Fire Department in 1987 as a firefighter and emergency services technician. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1997, Battalion Chief in 2008 and Deputy Fire Chief in 2010. Pease is certified in a multitude of areas including Hazardous Materials Incident Command, Weapons of Mass Destruction Response, Advanced Cardiac Life Support, National Incident Management System, PADI Ice, Evidence and Open Water Diver/Rescue, and has been a certified paramedic since 1989. He serves on the Board of Directors for both the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy (NIPSTA) and the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) Division 3. Pease holds a Bachelors of Science from Southern Illinois University.
Dan Pease will become the City’s Fire Chief effective on December 2, 2014.
Images by Tim Olk from the recent training exercises at a vacant Niles motel.
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
The RBlandmark.com has an article on the ongoing attempt by North Riverside to privatize the fire department:
It’s not just the future of the North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714 that could be at stake when both sides meet again in court on Dec. 18. It could be the future of public employee unions, period.
The village of North Riverside contends that its responsibility to honor the union contract ended when the village declared it to be at an impasse with the firefighters union in September. That’s when the village filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court, asking a judge to declare the contract, which expired on April 30, null and void in order to allow North Riverside to hire Paramedic Services of Illinois (PSI), a private company, to take over firefighting services for the village. The company has provided the village with paramedic services for almost 30 years.
On Dec. 18, Judge Diane Larsen is expected to make a ruling with respect to the village’s contention that the contract is terminated. How she will rule is the wild card.
“She may rule or she may take it under advisement,” said J. Dale Berry, the local counsel for the firefighters’ union. “But we’ll get to the merit of the claims.”
If Larsen does rule in favor of the village, it could have a monumental effect on how labor contracts with municipalities are interpreted. Language in contracts for police officers and firefighters include no strike, no lockout provisions to allow negotiations and arbitration to occur after contracts expire without putting public safety at risk. North Riverside itself has clung to that interpretation in the past. The most recent firefighters’ contract was approved more than two years after the previous deal expired.
“It’s an attractive solution for people looking for easy answers,” Berry said of the village’s belief that it can unilaterally walk away from contract negotiations by citing an impasse.
North Riverside Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr. said that if the court rules in the village’s favor “it would change the whole playing field.”
Since the village filed its lawsuit on Sept. 12, several things have happened. The firefighters union responded to the suit by filing an unfair labor practice complaint with the Illinois Labor Relations Board and, at the same time, filed a demand for compulsory arbitration. The Illinois Labor Relations Board agreed with the union’s demand for arbitration and chose an arbitrator. The first arbitration session is scheduled for Nov. 24.
Additionally, on Oct. 1 the firefighters’ union received word that it would be granted legal assistance from International Association of Firefighters through the union’s law firm, Woodley & McGillivary, based in Washington, D.C.
On Oct. 30, the village’s attorney, Burt Odelson, filed an amended complaint in Cook County court, adding the Illinois Labor Relations Board as a defendant. And on Nov. 17, Odelson made a motion to prevent contract arbitration from beginning. While the judge ruled that arbitration could move forward, she also ruled that if North Riverside refused to participate in the Nov. 24 session, it wouldn’t prejudice the court against the village in terms of its lawsuit seeking to terminate the contract. In other words, nothing that happens during arbitration will have any effect until after the judge rules on the merits of the village’s lawsuit on Dec. 18.
While the judge could rule in favor of the village, she could also rule that the court is not the place to resolve the dispute. Rather, she could rule that arbitration is where the dispute ought to be settled. If that happens, Odelson said he would immediately appeal the case to the Illinois Court of Appeals.
Village officials had hoped to be able to privatize the fire department this year, but the court case has moved slower than officials had hoped for.
Meanwhile, North Riverside firefighters and firefighters from surrounding communities are expected to go door-to-door this weekend in the village, passing out information regarding the village’s proposal to privatize fire services. “It’ll be a quick handout of information that residents aren’t getting,” said Rick Urbinati, president of North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714.
thanks Dan
This from John Tulipano:
Pingree Grove FPD new station 3 being built on Reinking Road just north of Route 72
John Tulipano photo
John Tulipano photo
John Tulipano photo
This from Tyler Tobolt:
Around 10:40pm November 21st, the Crystal Lake Fire Department was dispatched to 5116 Mt. Thabor Rd for the reported fully engulfed barn fire. Crystal Lake FD responded with Engines 341, 343, 344, Ambulances351, 353, 354 Battalion 330, Chief 303, Chief 305, and Tender 371 with automatic aid from Algonquin with a chief and a tower ladder plus a McHenry engine as RIT.Shortly thereafter Ambulance 353 arrived reporting a fully engulfed pole barn with an exposure and requested MABAS box 5-371 to the 2nd alarm level. The following apparatus was due to the scene; engines from Huntley and Barrington Countryside, tenders from Woodstock, Wauconda, Wonder Lake, Fox River Grove, and McHenry. A Barrington truck was due, a squad from Cary with a cascade system, EMS units from Carpentersville, West Dundee, and East Dundee, chiefs from McHenry (RIT), Woodstock and Huntley. Special equipment due included Rehab South, an Algonquin Safety Officer, a Cary Safety Officer, AMA 56, a Huntley Safety Officer and the Salvation Army Canteen.Change of quarters to Fire Station 1 was a Lake Zurich engine and Pingree Grove ambulance. About an hour and a half into the incident command upgraded to the 3rd alarm level bringing in the Lake Zurich engine, tenders from Richmond, Marengo, and Union plus a Cary chief, Rehab North, Air 5 and Fox Lake engine for change of quarters. After the 3rd alarm, command requested three extra engine companies which came from Hampshire, Rutland Dundee and South Elgin.These photos were taken from a subdivision just west of the scene.Thanks Tyler Tobolt.
Tyler Tobolt photo
Tyler Tobolt photo
Tyler Tobolt photo
Te Daily Herald has an article about yet another municipality that is voicing an opinion regarding IL HB 5485
City officials in Elgin railed against a bill — now headed to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk — that requires fire departments’ staffing levels to be subject to bargaining.
City Manger Sean Stegall and Fire Chief John Fahy argued it should be up to local officials to determine staffing levels.
Adding just two firefighters per shift would cost almost $791,000 per year based on the average firefighters’ salary of about $78,500 and an overtime rate of $45 per hour, they said. That’s a total of $8 million over 10 years “for no tangible resulting improvement in services,” Stegall said.
The so-called “minimum manning” bill is all about keeping firefighters employed, Fahy said. “It takes away your authority as the elected representatives of the citizens of Elgin to determine the level of EMS and firefighters, putting it into the hands of an arbitrator out of Chicago,” Fahy said.
Quinn’s staff said the governor will review the bill, which got “yes” votes from State Rep. Anna Moeller, a former Elgin councilwoman, and state Sen. Michael Noland, both Democrats from Elgin.
“The safety of our communities should not be at risk simply because municipal leaders want to limit the influence of unions,” Noland said in a news release Thursday.
Moeller objected to the notion floated by Elgin council members that she changed her mind about the bill after she became a state legislator.
“As a city council we didn’t take a position on that,” she said. “This gives the unions the ability to negotiate. It’s not a mandate. If it goes into arbitration, an arbitrator could determine the request is unreasonable.”
Determining how many firefighters a municipality needs is the result of an equation based on multiple factors, including the location of fire stations and the type of equipment owned, Fahy said.
For example, a few years ago the city opted to buy paramedic engines, which require less staffing than ambulances, Mayor David Kaptain said. As a result, the city didn’t replace two firefighters, bringing the number on shift down to 34 from 36.
“I don’t want to jeopardize anybody’s safety,” Kaptain said. “We felt we could transition to this (paramedic engines) and still provide the same level of quality of service based on response times.”
The bill also defeats the notion that cities should invest in money-saving technology, Kaptain pointed out.
The firefighters union has sued Elgin over lost overtime opportunities stemming from the paramedic engines, but that lawsuit won’t be affected by the minimum manning bill, Corporation Counsel Bill Cogley said.
thanks Dan
The City of Chicago has a closed firehouse for sale. **THIS PROPERTY IS NO LONGER FOR AVAILABLE**
Former Chicago firehouse for sale. City of Chicago photo
1405 E. 62nd Place
Located just a few blocks west of the lakefront, this firehouse sits on 62nd Place, a quiet dead-end street off Dorchester Avenue. Adjacent vacant lot at corner of Dorchester and 62nd Place is also available. The parcel is trapezoidal in shape and abuts the railroad tracks. The main firehouse structure is 2-stories tall and is clad in red brick and gray limestone. The 1-story addition to the east incorporates two apparatus doors.
- Zoning: B3-3
- Approximate Lot Size: 120′ x 120′
- Approximate Building Area: 4,480sf
- Woodlawn TIF
- Condition:Building requires complete rehabilitation.
- Ward: 20
- PIN: 20-14-416-002-0000
For more information call: HED’s Real Estate Division at 312.744.2777
Download Negotiated Sales Packet
thanks Dan
