From the Foster Coach Sales Facebook page:
Foster Coach Sales photo
Foster Coach Sales photo
Foster Coach Sales photo
New ambulance for Buffalo Grove. Foster Coach Sales photo
Archive for November, 2015
Park Ridge FD updates
Nov 14
This from Bill Smaha:
E-35: 2005 E-One Typhoon
E-35R: 1995 Pierce Saber
A-35: 2015 Ford F-450 with Horton Conversion
Utility vehicle (housed at 35)
E36: 1996 Pierce Saber
A36: 2015 Ford F450 with Horton Conversion
A36R: 2005 Ford E350 with MedTec Conversion
BC vehicle (housed at 36)
Foster Coach photo
Bill Smaha photo
Bill Smaha photo
Bill Smaha photo
Bill Smaha photo
Bill Smaha photo
From the Fire Service, INc. Facebook page:
Congratulations to the Homer Twp. Fire Department on the delivery of a 2015 Road Rescue/Ford F450 Type I Ambulance. This is the department’s second unit. We thank you and look forward to your continued business.
Fire Service, Inc. photo
Fire Service, Inc. photo
Fire Service, Inc. photo
Fire Service, Inc. photo
Fire Service, Inc. photo
A pilot program that teamed the Rockford Fire Department with SwedishAmerican Hospital to reduce the number of times “superusers” ride an ambulance to the emergency room was successful this year, b how to fund an expansion of the program remains unclear.
Eight of SwedishAmerican’s estimated 380 patients who use the emergency department more than 10 times per year and often visit dozens of times were chosen to participate. Nurses and fire personnel conducted health and safety check home visits during the first half of the year, significantly cutting the number of times the patients wound up in the ER, said Dr. Kathleen Kelly, the chief clinical integration officer for SwedishAmerican.
Called the Mobile Integrated Healthcare pilot program, it involved just a fraction of the number of patients who are using, and in some cases abusing, ambulance services in Rockford. The goal was to reduce the number of avoidable ER visits and ambulance rides while improving the health of the eight participants.
“After our intervention where our team made proactive home visits to our patients to try to understand what the triggers were for coming to the emergency department, they were able to reduce the (emergency department) and ambulance transfers by a significant amount,” Kelly said.
Officials said an expansion of the program, which could involve funding and cooperation from all three major health systems in the region, would be effective. And the results match what has been seen in other places across the country that have implemented mobile health care programs.
The eight patients chosen for the pilot program visited the SwedishAmerican Hospital emergency room a combined 65 times the first six months of 2014. With assistance from home visits, the number of their ER trips dropped to 30 in the same time period this year, a 54 percent reduction. In addition, they took 30 ambulance rides in the first half of 2015, a 38 percent reduction from the 48 rides they took in the first half of 2014.
All have complex medical conditions requiring treatment with medications. But much of the time, a visit to the primary care physician would be a better use of resources and provide improved health results, Kelly said.
They are often living in poverty or have low incomes and might not have access to resources or transportation. Just providing the patients with a phone number to reach nurses who could answer their questions prevented many calls to 911, Kelly said.
Updated production photos of the new tower ladders being built by E-ONE for Chicago
E-ONE photo
E-ONE photo
E-ONE photo
This from Tyler Tobolt:
Few photos I took at the McHenry Township 3rd Alarm on Tender Box 5-1274 for the house fire on (11/11/15). Fully engulfed home due to a lightning strike.– Thanks Tyler Tobolt.
Tyler Tobolt photo
Tyler Tobolt photo
Tyler Tobolt photo
Excerpts from the NorthwestHerald.com:
A lightning strike might have caused a fire that destroyed a McHenry home, but fire officials said it was other elements that kept them at the scene of the blaze until about 12:30 a.m. Thursday
McHenry Township Fire Protection District Battalion Chief Mike Majercik said crews had to call in tankers to bring water to the two-story home at 607 Silver Glen Road because the area does not have fire hydrants. That, paired with the high winds blowing as firefighters tried to extinguish the blaze made for a difficult battle.
“The fact that it was so windy and the fact that we didn’t have water really let the fire get a jump on us,” Majercik said.
McHenry Fire struck a Box alarm about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday, and by 10 p.m. flames were still seen coming from the two-story structure. Lt. Mike Kempster said the lingering flames were from a gas main that hadn’t been shut off. Nicor arrived about 10:30 p.m., Kempster said. Firefighters reported having the fire under control within 90 minutes.
Winds were gusting up to 35 mph when the fire started and by the time firefighters left the scene about 1 a.m., gusts were approaching to 40 mph.
The fire completely destroyed the house. He estimated the damage to be $450,000 when considering the house and all its contents.
Firefighters have not officially ruled the lightning strike as the cause of the fire, but Majercik said the homeowners reported hearing a loud sound on the roof before a neighbor called to say the roof was on fire.
Video from the Boston FD and the Boston Globe
Three city firefighters painted a grim portrait as they sat in front of a wall plastered with images of their fallen comrades. These colleagues did not perish in a raging fire or after falling into a collapsing building. They all succumbed to cancer.
New truck for Romeoville
Nov 12
From the Smeal website:
Smeal photo
Smeal photo
A request for assistance
Nov 12
This from John Lake:
I had two uncles who were both Chicago firemen and avid photographers. I just stumbled across your site and wonder if there is any chance that someone can identify the events in these photos.Thanks.
Excerpts from MySuburbanLife.com:
Fire trucks began to arrive Monday morning at the Elburn and Countryside Fire Protection District’s new station on Route 38 in Elburn.
After 14 months of construction and years of planning, the new station, which sits east of Route 47, on the north side of Route 38, was bustling with activity Monday, its first day of operation. Assistant Fire Chief Tate Haley has been overseeing the project and he highlighted some of the features of the new station.The station is much larger than the previous station at 210 E. North St. in Elburn. The district covers areas beyond Elburn, including the Mill Creek subdivision, and Elburn’s population is expected to rise as building begins in the Elburn station area.
Funds for the station had been covered by the department, and no additional public funding was required. Original cost estimates were between $8 million and $10 million, and Haley said the station came in at close to $10 million.
… an open house is in the works for Dec. 13 so residents will have a chance to see the new features. Visitors also will notice more displays and areas open for public education. Haley said such items previously would be kept in boxes most of the year and taken out for special occasions, such as the annual Christmas Stroll.
The station has three levels. On the middle level, which is the main level, there are offices, boardrooms, training areas and a kitchen. Downstairs, is a fitness room. Previously, firefighters wanting to use a fitness room would use one in a different building that once housed ambulances.
The downstairs area also includes an emergency operations center and a large boardroom area that can be used for training. There will be a museum of sorts with an old wheel that had been on display at the old station for years, but some people never realized it.
Upstairs, there are 15 bunks, a large multipurpose room and a patio. Instead of a fire pole, firefighters can go from the second-floor residence area to the apparatus bay using a slide. There is also a training tower, which also can be used to dry hoses and can be used for training for rescues and confined spaces.
