Excerpts from theChicagoTribune.com:
Chicago firefighters were responding to a routine drill in a Loop high-rise hotel Saturday when a West Side man allegedly took advantage of their distraction and stole a Chicago Fire Department SUV from the scene, authorities said Monday.
Joseph Gunn, 43, of the 4200 block of West Cermak Road, allegedly made off with the first battalion chief’s SUV that was left running outside the Hilton Chicago at 720 S. Michigan Ave.
The chief, who was one of the most senior officers on the scene that day, discovered the vehicle was gone when he got out of the building.
“It was red and black. … It had Chicago Fire Department all over it,” said Larry Langford, spokesman for the department.
Police spotted the vehicle about 10 minutes after it was discovered gone and stopped Gunn near 15th Street and Homan Avenue. All fire department vehicles are equipped with tracking devices.
Gunn was charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle and impersonation of a firefighter, both felony counts, as well as misdemeanor driving on a revoked license, according to police. He appeared in bond court Sunday and was ordered held in lieu of $25,000 bail, according to records.
thanks Dan
#1 by Phil Stenholm on December 29, 2015 - 11:57 AM
BILL: I remember it well!
It was about 6:30 AM on a Sunday morning in 1969-70. I heard Evanston Squad 21 get toned out to the Church Street Boat Ramp for a car in the Lake (which was actually not an uncommon occurrence).
We got there about 15 minutes later, and the vehicle was totally submerged. I didn’t even know it was a CFD buggy until it was pulled out of the water. We heard later that the Aurora Borealis lights had been flashing (that’s how the buggy was noticed), but they weren’t flashing by the time we got there.
6-8-7 showed up about 30 minutes later and the CFD divers hooked up the front-bumper winch from Squad 21, and the buggy was pulled back onto the shore. I didn’t realize until I saw the buggy re-emerge from the water that the reason 6-8-7 was there was because it was CFD vehicle, and I remember thinking at the time that it especially odd because it was a south-side buggy (10th Battalion Chief).
I remember when they opened the doors there was a collective laugh as a fish flushed out (along with some paperwork and a styrofoam cup). They pulled the stretcher and inhalator out of the back, and they were totally water-logged.
The buggy was supposedly stolen from the scene of a working fire on South Princeton Avenue sometime in the early morning hours, and one of the Evanston police officers at the scene speculated that the theft of the buggy was either a gang initiation, or drunk frat boys from Northwestern who had maybe stayed out a bit too late after attending a Sox ball game, and took advantage of the unattended CFD buggy at a nearby fire to get back to Evanston.
#2 by mike mc on December 29, 2015 - 11:43 AM
Thanks for the historical info Bill. I remember seeing pictures of Battalion 10’s partially submerged buggy in Chicago FF magazine. I never liked the Aurora Borealis but it sure was unique. Some of the 1966 Mack engines were delvered with, and initially went in service with, a red federal beacon light, just like FDNY. The beacon light was almost immediately replaced by the Aurora Borealis.
The 1966 buggies and engines also had dual faced, fixed, rear red lights. I always believed that they made the Aurora Borealis workable because it gave the appearance of two additional forward red flashing lights. The Aurora Borealis was woefully lacking in red lights. It could look spectacular at night but on a sunny day you had to look close to realize that it was on.
#3 by Bill Post on December 28, 2015 - 10:56 PM
This isn’t the first time in the history of the Chicago Fire Department that a thing like this has happened. It had probably happened several times , however the time that I best remember was around 1969 or 70 the Old 10th Battalion had it’s car (which was a 1968 Ford Station Wagon) from the seen of an incident on the near south side and the Battalion Chiefs “buggy” was found later partially submerged off of the Evanston shore line in Lake Michigan. The battalion chiefs station wagon top half was sticking out of the water with the “Aurora Borealis” Emergency light still on and flashing on the top of the car.
In those days Battalion 10 was located at Engine 19 and Truck 11’s house at 3421 S Calumet which is where it was located until Sept 02 1982 when the Battalions were renumbered and most were relocated.
The Aurora Borealis Light was this Emergency Light that Chicago Fire Apparatus started using in the mid 1960’s until the late 1970’s. Those were the small white and red lights that were under a transparent dome and they moved from side to side. Started using them around 1965/66 on buggies , ambulances and Fog Pressures. When the first new Engines were delivered in late 1966 they also had them. Several fire companies were retrofitted with them but not all of the companies were. They couldn’t use them on the rear mounted aerial ladders because the ladders were over the roof of the rig so on the rear mounted ladders they had to have two revolving red lights on each side of the ladder and the Mar “888” white light on the front of the truck.