Images from Steve Redick:
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
10 Rescued From Blaze At Lincolnwood Bank 11/3/92
Firefighters rescued 10 people from a fire that spread through offices in the Lincolnwood Bank Building in the north suburb Monday evening, fire officials said.
“We had quite a rescue effort,” said Cmdr. Drew Smith of the Lincolnwood Fire Department. “It took some time to fight the fire. We couldn`t put water on it because we were rescuing people. One man was hanging from the (third-floor) window, and we had to rescue him by ladder.” Seven other people also were rescued by ladder from windows of the five-story building at 4433 W. Touhy Ave., he said.
Smith said he didn`t know how many people were working in the building at the time. The fire started about 5:15 p.m. on the third floor in the south central portion of the brick and glass building. The building houses several offices on the second through fifth floors. The bank, which is on the first floor, was not damaged.
Seven engines, five trucks, and 50 firefighters helped fight the extra-alarm blaze. Lincolnwood was assisted by firefighters from Skokie, Niles, Morton Grove, Evanston, Glenview, Rosemont, Des Plaines, Northfield, Park Ridge, Winnetka, and Wilmette.
this from Drew Smith:
Here’s what I can add:
For those that don’t know the geographical location of Lincolnwood, it is surrounded by the City of Chicago on three sides and Skokie to the north. While Skokie companies arrive quickly, the other suburban mutual aid takes a little longer. Also, with the exception of Evanston, all the mutual aid comes from the north and west as Chicago is to the south and Lake Michigan is on the east. In the past several years Chicago has begun to respond into the suburbs on MABAS alarms when requested.
Lincolnwood FD (LFD) was already on two ambulance calls and as such the truck crew was staffing the second ambulance, not the truck. Terry Menzel was the Commander (BC) on duty and IC. He is currently the deputy chief at the Woodstock Fire Rescue District. I came in when they called the MABAS box alarm and assisted at the command post. The media was everywhere. When this fire occurred, the LFD was just a little over two years old having been created 1/1/1990 after the village informed Chicago they would no longer rely on the CFD for fire suppression. Lincolnwood Police had used Paramedic Services of IL for ambulance service since 1977 and after going out for bids, PSI was selected over two other contractors to run the LFD. I am proud to say I was part of that original group and worked to purchase the apparatus and equipment in the ten months leading up to the start of the FD.
As I recall (its been over 23 years now) …
Skokie T16 arrived pretty quick as they are about a mile to 1.5 miles down the road. They were presented with multiple people at the third floor windows and as shown in the photos began rescues.
The fire was on the third floor. Getting the hose flaked and charged took some time in the heavy smoke, and manpower in the first ten minutes was limited. Skokie sent additional companies and chiefs when the rescue was announced. When I arrived the rescues were over and the fire suppression was underway. It was a standpipe operation, I believe, but I recall that in the building just about each floor had a different floor plan and the two stairwells, while they discharged remote from one another at ground level, were pretty much back to back inside a center core. One went from the roof and penthouse to the basement while the other was just from the lobby to the top floor.
It could have been much worse.
#1 by Drew Smith on September 6, 2015 - 5:29 PM
I can’t speak as to why things are the way they are currently as I have not worked there for 14 years. I can say that between 1990 and 2001 there were many iterations of what Skokie companies would come to Lincolnwood when requested. Some of this had to do with politics (I know, hard to believe) and some practicality and some standardization. Prior to Lincolnwood joining RED Center no CAD was available to assist with determining alarm assignments. To simplify things, the dispatchers simply announced the location and nature and the BC determined what rigs would go. That system was also simple: Send the engine and ambulance or send everyone.
The history behind why TWR16 goes with E3 is that if a Skokie engine were sent the next closest truck is Niles T2. When TWR15 jumps to A15R and leaves LFD without a truck it was felt relying on TWR16 (which also has a pump) was a good plan. You can always build a better response. However, Skokie’s first job is to cover Skokie. History also shows that in many cases additional Skokie companies have been special called for some working fires.
#2 by Bill Post on September 6, 2015 - 5:09 PM
As ridiculous as it seems on a reported structure fire, Lincolnwood, on reported structure fire only gets their Engine, Truck/Quint, Chief and Ambulance dispatched to the scene without getting any automatic aide such as a second engine from Skokie. If the alarm turns out to be an actual working fire then Skokie will send in their Tower Ladder 16 however Skokie’s Engines will stay in quarters and Niles Engine 3 will be dispatched as the second Engine. This practice is both ridiculous and dangerous as Skokie Station 17 is easily the next nearest station to the east end of Lincolnwood ( east of approximately Keeler Avenue ,4200 West) and Skokie Station 17 in effect runs with two manned Engine companies as Rescue 17 is in reality an Engine company with some extrication tools and some extra Truck equipment on board. Station 16 is the nearest station west of Keeler avenue while Tower Ladder 16 will be dispatched on a working fire to Lincolnwood ,Engine 16 isn’t. As Skokie runs with 4 Engines ( 5 if you include Squad 18 which is also a Pumper/Squad) they can easily send Engine 16 as the second Engine into northwest Lincolnwood and if necessary Rescue/Engine 17 can change quarters to Station 16. The main point is that several Skokie Engine companies and stations are by passed for fires into Lincolnwood even though Skokie Station 17 and 16 aren’t much over a mile from the Lincolnwood border and can easily beat Niles Engine 3 on calls into Lincolnwood.
A better example is if you have a fire on the South Side of Touhy and Mc Cormick which is the Lincolnwood Town Center Mall , Skokie Station 17 won’t be dispatched and conversely if the fire is on the north side of Touhy and Mc Cormick (the Skokie side) where there are two new malls and Lincolnwood won’t get dispatched as the second companies even though both fire departments are less then 2 miles away from that location.
By the way Drew there are actualy 3 Chicago fire stations located less then a mile from the Lincolnwood border as Engine 71 is only about 3/4’s of a mile east of Lincolnwood and can usually beat Engine 89 to Devon and Mc Cormick until and the area east of Lincoln on Devon.
#3 by Suburbia on September 6, 2015 - 1:56 PM
Does Skokie carry adapters for the Chicago threads? They must since they’re in Lincolnwood all the time I think just because LFD is pretty small.
This is pretty interesting. Did the police just respond with their squad cars or did they have any special equipment or vehicles in 1989? where did they keep their ambulance?
I remember reading they almost contracted with skokie rather than going on their own. That would have been an interesting scenario. I wonder if the SFD would have ended up adding another station inside Lincolnwood, or just adding equipment if they did Lincolnwood and Skokie. I think Skokie would have to have at least one more engine if they were responsible for Lincolnwood.
#4 by Drew Smith on September 5, 2015 - 1:07 AM
A few additional comments:
The decision the end the arrangement with Chicago wasn’t made by the CFD but the politicians. The timeline to end CFD service to Lincolnwood occurred under Mayor Eugene Sawyer’s administration. I don’t recall the reasons given for the end of the arrangement. I do know that in 1989 the City charged $1,000 per company per hour for service. Lincolwood had about 100 calls to CFD annually before formation of the LFD.
It was estimate in that LFD would handle about 700 calls a year based on past records. In the first year LFD ran over 1000 calls. It was discovered that calls for mutual aid ambulances were not counted int he planning. If the LPD ambulance was busy and Skokie or Niles called they handled it and the village didn’t have a report on file. Also, none of the service calls ran by the LPD were counted in the planning.
Also, at this same time the Lincolnwood Town Center mall was being built. The LPD had a new chief from outside the dept. Dispatch at the LPD was handles by sworn police officers who rotated desk duty. The police chief anticipating a rise in calls due to the mall proposed that rather than add more police officers that the village hire civilian dispatchers and form a fire department to relieve the officers of non-traditional duties freeing them up for police work.
#5 by Drew Smith on September 5, 2015 - 12:54 AM
I don’t know the history of when or how CFD began to cover Lincolnwood. I can say that when I started in Lincolnwood in 1989 (the original 28 members started on days 12/1/89 until service launched 1/1/90) that we quickly learned that there were a lot of political heavy hitters in town. Former Cook County Sheriff Elrod was one. There were several judges as well. Back then Lincolnwood has their own mini-license plates (instead of city windshield stickers) and the residents coveted them.
As for hydrants, in 1989 Lincolnwood has all CFD dual steamer hydrants and they had CFD thread. While there is a huge difference in the 2&1/2 inch thread (CFD vs. NS/NH – “Chicago can screw the suburbs but the suburbs can screw Chicago”) the difference on the 4&1/2-inch steamers is minimal and both fittings work easily on each other. LFD carries adapters for 2&1/2 CFD thread as most sprinkle and standpipes use the CFD thread.
As mentioned there are two CFD houses, E79 and E89, each within a half-mile of the village border. Prior to the LFD the LPD would send a patrol car to Devon and Peterson and escort the CFD to the location of an incident. The village only called CFD when it was a reported fire or upon police request. Incidents such as odor investigations, alarms, etc. were handled by the police.
#6 by J.C. on September 4, 2015 - 1:52 PM
79’s and 89’s houses are with in 5 blocks of Lincolnwood.
#7 by chris on September 4, 2015 - 1:37 PM
Eng 89 Trk 56 are only 4 blocks from lincolnwood, Eng 79 isn’t much further either
#8 by Suburbia on September 4, 2015 - 11:34 AM
How did CFD end up providing coverage for Lincolnwood anyway? Does anyone know the story behind this? Did CFD provide service to any other suburbs in the past?
Lincolnwood has the suburban style hydrants. Did CFD carry adapters back then?
None of the CFD stations are that close to Lincolnwood so this would have been interesting.
#9 by Drew Smith on August 31, 2015 - 8:01 PM
On Bill Friedrich’s Smugmug site he lists the Skokie truck as both a 1977 and 1978 Pirsch. It was refurbed by RPI of Tipton, IN with new cabinets.
The FF on the ground ladder is a Skokie member.
Chicago FD’s full adoption of bunker pants did not occur until 2006 when Lion Apparel was awarded the TotalCare contract to provide and service all PPE. If you watch video from the 1993 Paxton hotel fire you’ll see only a few CFD members in bunker pants.
#10 by Brian on August 31, 2015 - 6:47 PM
This fire happened in 1992. CFD didn’t move to full turnout gear until the 00’s as a reference point
#11 by Michael M on August 31, 2015 - 2:03 PM
How Old is Truck 16? It looks like a late 70’s early 80’s Pirsch? It does not look like the firefighter in the first picture near the top of the ladder does not have any turnout pants on. I am guessing Engine 15 is the first Engine Lincolnwood Purchased?