Photos from Tim Olk of the Box Alarm at 2711 247th Ave in Salem, WI (12/26/15)
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
More photos at firescenes.net
Archive for December, 2015
Man steals CFD buggy
Dec 28
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
This from Steve Redick:
5-11 2209 Lumber 1-28-65.Interesting article about some suburban fires as well
From the collection of Warren Redick.
Warren Redick collection
Warren Redick collection
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
During 38 years as a Chicago firefighter, George Beary regularly heard the emergency sirens as he rode on the back of the firetruck. Since his retirement in 2005, Beary, the chairman of a committee of retired Chicago firefighters, said he suffers from tinnitus, a condition that causes ringing or buzzing in the ears.
Beary, former vice president of Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2, is among about 4,400 current and former firefighters nationwide who are suing Federal Signal, an Oak Brook-based company that makes sirens, claiming it didn’t do enough to make them safer for those on firetrucks. Since 1999, Beary said he and about 700 Chicago firefighters have filed suit. Some have been settled or ruled on, but the vast majority, about 500, are still open.
Firefighters contend the company could have designed sirens in a way that directs the volume away from areas where firefighters sit in the engines, shielding them from sound blasts that lawyers say reach 120 decibels, roughly equivalent to a rock concert.
Federal Signal argues that directing the sound defeats one of the main purposes of a siren — to warn motorists and pedestrians that a truck is coming. And it says it has long supported what many departments have advised their firefighters to do: wear ear protection.
David Duffy, attorney for Federal Signal, said studies measuring the level of noise firefighters are exposed to during their work shifts, including sirens, is on average below 85 decibels.
The lawsuits, which began surfacing more than a decade ago, have been in places such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, New Jersey and the Chicago area, said attorney Marc Bern, who’s leading all of them. In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said juries have decided in favor of Federal Signal in most of the half-dozen or so suits that have gone to trial.
The company also has settled in some cases without admitting any wrongdoing. The largest settlement, reached in 2011, required the company to pay $3.6 million to 1,069 firefighters for cases filed in Philadelphia.
Federal standards take into account the intensity of the sound and the duration. The higher the decibel level, the shorter the time workers can be exposed to it. Rick Neitzel, who studies noise and other exposures at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, said the standards are geared to traditional jobs like manufacturing, not firefighting, where shifts can last longer and the exposure is intermittent but intense.
thanks Dan
Excerpts from theDailyHerald.com:
As he heads into retirement, Lake Zurich Deputy Fire Marshal John Bzdusek was hailed for improving education efforts and community involvement in the village.
Bzdusek, an Army veteran, spent about 27 years at the Park Ridge Fire Department where his culinary skills were incorporated into his fire service career. He was a firehouse chef when he worked as a firefighter/paramedic and inspector in Park Ridge before shifting to Lake Zurich in 2004. In addition to fire marshal, he was an inspector and public educator in Lake Zurich.
“Hopefully, in the last 11 years, I’m leaving (Lake Zurich) a little more fire-safe than when I came here,” said Bzdusek, a Des Plaines resident. “And that is what we wanted to do.”
Lake Zurich Mayor Thomas Poynton praised Bzdusek for his work and volunteerism that included the village’s special events committee. He said Bzdusek regularly visited kindergarten and first-grade students at Lake Zurich Unit District 95.
While not in the firehouse on a daily basis in Lake Zurich, he still worked food into his job in the village. Poynton said it was only natural for Bzdusek to become a major influence in the Lake Zurich Area Chamber of Commerce Business After Hours’ annual Chili Cook-Off, hosted by the fire department. Bzdusek shared his passion with a wider audience when he was named a Daily Herald Cook of the Week in 2008.
He said he received advice from a chef on using roasted fresh tomatoes and red pepper, garlic, cream, and Asiago cheese after an inspection at Stoney River Legendary Steaks in Deer Park.
thanks Dan
This from Steve Redick:
Civic Center Blaze 1965 – I think the date is 5/17/65. A serious hi-rise fire during the construction phase of the Daley Center
YEAR DATE MONTH TIME BOXNO STNUM STDIR STNAME ALARM SPECIAL EMSPLAN EMSPLANNO TYPEBLD TYPECONST HEIGHT OCCUPIED DIMENSION TRUSS NOBLDS PHOTO PHOTONO INJURYFF INJURYFFNO DEAD DEADNO DEADFF DEADFFNO DESCRIBE MONTHNO 1965 17 May 1036 26 150 N. Clark 3-11 0 Garag S-G 31 250 x 400 0 01 -1 4436 0 0 0 05
Civic Center Blaze 1965. Warren Redick collection
Civic Center Blaze 1965. Warren Redick collection
Civic Center Blaze 1965. Warren Redick collection
Civic Center Blaze 1965. Warren Redick collection
Civic Center Blaze 1965. Warren Redick collection
Excerpts from Mysuburbanlife.com:
Fire Chief Jeff Bacidore is retiring in February to take a job in the private sector, according to a news release from the city of Elmhurst.
Bacidore has served 31 years in the Elmhurst Fire Department, and he plans to retire effective Feb. 5, 2016. He began his firefighting career in May 1985 and was promoted to lieutenant in June 1995. Three years later, he was promoted to battalion chief, and in 2002 he was promoted to deputy fire chief. His final promotion with the city of Elmhurst was in May 2012 when he was named fire chief.
“I feel blessed to have been a small part of this great city,” Bacidore said in the release. “It has been an honor to work with the dedicated fire fighters and paramedics of the Elmhurst Fire Department. Their hard work and dedication to the mission of the Elmhurst Fire Department is something I will remember for years to come.”
thanks Dan
Spotted on FentonFire.com from the Frankfort FPD
Frankfort FPD tower ladder for sale. Fenton Fire photo
thanks Al
Two new Pierce Enforcer PUC engines for Lockport – Engine 1 so 28663, Engine 5 so 28661
2015 Pierce Enforcer PUC for Lockport Engine 1. Pierce composite
2015 Pierce Enforcer PUC for Lockport Engine 5. Pierce composite
thanks Hunter
This from Eric Haak:
Just some quick images of an auto Engine 16 had on the southbound Dan Ryan at 47th street Christmas morning.
Eric Haak photo
Eric Haak photo
Eric Haak photo
Eric Haak photo
Eric Haak photo
