Archive for March, 2015

Prescribed burn in Busse Woods, 3-31-15

This from Larry Shapiro:

It’s the season for controlled or prescribed burns, so I followed a huge header Tuesday afternoon (3/31/15) to the Busse Woods Forest Preserve where the Cook County FPD Resource Management firefighters were burning in a large field. I walked in and stayed for about 45 minutes as they moved through the area. Here are some images from the burn area of what’s called the Nature Preserve on the north side of the Salt Creek.

huge flames and heavy smoke from prescribed burn

Larry Shapiro photo

huge flames and heavy smoke from prescribed burn

Larry Shapiro photo

huge flames and heavy smoke from prescribed burn

Larry Shapiro photo

huge flames and heavy smoke from prescribed burn

Larry Shapiro photo

wildland firefighter uses drip torch in field

Larry Shapiro photo

wildland firefighter at prescribed burn

Larry Shapiro photo

wildland firefighter uses drip torch in field

Larry Shapiro photo

wildland firefighter at prescribed burn

Larry Shapiro photo

wildland firefighter with huge flames

Larry Shapiro photo

huge flames and heavy smoke from prescribed burn

Larry Shapiro photo

An extensive gallery is at shapirophotography.net

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Dumpster fire in Buffalo Grove, 3-30-15

This from Larry Shapiro:

I took in a dumpster fire at 948 Country Lane in Buffalo Grove Monday afternoon … there was a very impressive header from a distance. Here are a few shots.

Ferrara tower ladder in Buffalo Grove IL

The tower ladder was setup when the fire proved difficult to access with a hand line. Larry Shapiro photo

fire in a construction dumpster

After the initial fire was knocked down, it flared up again. Larry Shapiro photo

fire in a construction dumpster

The tower ladder was put to use to extinguish the fire. Larry Shapiro photo

Tags: , , , , ,

Box Alarm in Broadview, 3-25-15

This from Code Photography:

Here are some photos of the Broadview Box Alarm on 3/25/15.

-Code Photography
firemen on roof of house fire at night

Code Photography

house fire at night

Code Photography

firemen on roof of house fire at night

Code Photography

silhouette of firemen at night

Code Photography

firemen at night house fire

Code Photography

Tags: , , ,

House fire in Munster, IN – 3/29/15

This from Brad Steinweg:

I was at home when a call came out for a house fire at 7946 Madison Avenue, in Munster (3/29/15). I stopped by and they had it knocked, but I got some photos. While operating at this scene they also received a call for smoke inside an apartment a couple blocks away from Station 2, which turned out to be burned food. Since most of the rigs were tied up at the other fire, they called Schererville and Lynwood for assistance on the 2nd call. At the 2nd call, I got a good shot of Lynwood’s Mack CF, one of the few Macks left in Cook County.

-Brad S.
firemen rolling hose after fighting a fire

Brad Steinweg photo

fire truck at fire scene

Brad Steinweg photo

Brad Steinweg photo

Brad Steinweg photo

house fire scene

Brad Steinweg photo

house fire scene

Brad Steinweg photo

fire engine

Brad Steinweg photo

American LaFrance tower ladder

Brad Steinweg photo

fire truck at fire scene

Brad Steinweg photo

Mack CF Fire engine

Brad Steinweg photo

Mack CF Fire engine

Brad Steinweg photo

Tags: , , , , ,

Where are they now … Barrington Countryside

This from Bill Friedrich:

Good morning. Here is the x-Barrington Countryside Engine 3611. It is now at the Deer Creek FPD,IL (Bill Fricker photo)
E-ONE Typhoon fire engine

Barrington Engine 3611, 2004 E-ONE Typhoon 1250/960/40. Bill Friedrich photo

E-ONE Typhoon fire engine

Deer Creek FPD Engine 2, 2000 E-ONE Typhoon 1250/960/30 is X-Barrington Engine 3611. Bill Fricker photo

Tags: , , , , ,

Chicago Still & Box Alarm – 3/29/15

This from Eric Haak:

About 1610 hrs on Sunday afternoon (3/29) the Englewood Fire Alarm Office put out the report of a fire at Garfield and Damen.  The office boxed the incident very shortly afterward.  Engine 123 reported that they had a fully-involved 1.5-story frame on arrival.  Images in this gallery were taken about 20 minutes in.
Chicago FD Engine 123 at fire scene

Eric Haak photo

Chicago firemen at fire scene

Eric Haak photo

fireman working from tower ladder

Eric Haak photo

Chicago FD Engine 101 at fire scene

Eric Haak photo

house gutted by fire

Eric Haak photo

fireman working from tower ladder

Eric Haak photo

Tags: , , , , ,

Box Alarm in Mundelein, March 29, 2015

Mundelein had a Box Alarm for the house fire at 240 Banbury Road around 4AM (3/29/15).

From the Mundelein Facebook page – click the link for a video from the scene

house fire

Mundelein Fire Department photo

Tags: ,

Chicago FD History – Ward LaFrance (more)

Images from Dave Fornell’s collection illustrating Chicago’s Ford C-Series Ward LaFrance engines.

The Ward/Ford canopy pumpers were delivered near the end of 1969. There were 10 units in the order and were the only WardLaFrance/Ford canopy pumpers delivered to the CFD. There were a number of non canopy Ward/Fords delivered, and quite a few of Pierce/Ford, E-One/Ford and even a set of Seagrave/Ford canopy pumpers supplied.

The WardLaFrance/Fords went to extremely busy companies, who beat the stuffing out of them. They all had rear compartment mounted winches and were built on Ford C-8000 chassis with 175′ wheelbases. Later E-One and Pierce rigs had 153′ wheelbases largely because the size of the canopy seating area was much smaller.

In those days, the yearly apparatus orders were distributed among politically connected vendors. So, when these were delivered, Schuster equipment was the designated vendor. Pierces (and Seagraves) came from Illinois FWD Truck and Equipment in Rosemont, owned by Ray Schuster, yes a brother to the owner of Schuster Equipment, and the later E-Ones from Able Fire and Safety.

The photos show the following:

The side view is of one of the rigs being acceptance tested on the lake near McCormick place.

Engine 19’s rig is shown right after delivery in front of its quarters.

As the years wore on, Engine 95 and Engine 61 are shown in front of quarters.

Note that Engine 95 was running with 150′ of 3″ supply line, 100′ of which was carried on top of the driver’s side compartments, and the rest in the hose bed. This was a precursor of the 150′ of 4″ line carried on the front bumpers of Chicago rigs today.

One photo shows this evoloution-not standard in the CFD at that time-in use at a junk yard fire on the West Side in the late 70s.

The photo of Engine 19, shown operating at a fire in 1977, with the three-compartment driver’s side body. The story goes that a well-heeled lawyer slammed into the rig and the resulting insurance settlement was enough to allow 3D Metals in Wisconsin to replace the original body.

All of the 1969 Ward/Fords had the same 2-compartments each side body. The later E-One, Seagrave and Pierce bodies had half/height compartments on top of the lower compartments.

These rigs were the last Ward/Ford rigs delivered to the CFD.

Capt. Dave

classic Ford Ward laFrance fire engine in Chicago

Dave Fornell collection

classic Ford Ward laFrance fire engine in Chicago

Dave Fornell collection

classic Ford Ward laFrance fire engine in Chicago

Dave Fornell collection

classic Ford Ward laFrance fire engine in Chicago

Dave Fornell collection

classic Ford Ward laFrance fire engine in Chicago

Dave Fornell collection

vintage Chicago fire scene photo

Dave Fornell collection

classic Ford Ward laFrance fire engine in Chicago

Dave Fornell collection

Tags: , , , , , ,

New tower ladder for Bedford Park

From a reader:

Here is a pic of the new Bedford Park Tower 709, shown on their Facebook page, at the Pierce plant

Pierce tower ladder for Bedford Park

New tower ladder for Bedford Park.

Tags: , ,

Working fire in McCook, 3/27/15

This from Josh Boyajian:

McCook had a fire Friday (3/27/15) in a restaurant at 9507 Joliet Rd. It seemed as they had some fire in the walls that started in the kitchen. I attached some photos I took of some roof work in the back of the building. Companies working were, McCook’s squad, Forest View’s engine, Brookfield’s truck, a Pleasantview quint, and Riverside’s truck.
fireman on roof at commercial fire

Josh Boyajian photo

firemen on roof at commercial fire

Josh Boyajian photo

Brookfield FD E-ONE ladder truck at fire scene

Josh Boyajian photo

firemen on roof at commercial fire

Josh Boyajian photo

Forest View fire engine at fire scene

Josh Boyajian photo

Tags: , , , , , ,