New tower ladders for Chicago (more)

From Tim Olk at the Quinn Fire Academy for training

CFD Tower Ladder 39 – 2016 E-ONE Cyclone II 100′ shop# E-354. Tim Olk photo

Tim Olk photo

Tim Olk photo

Tim Olk photo

Tags: Chicago FD Tower Ladder 39, Chicago Fire Captain Herbert 'Herbie' Johnson memorial, Chicago Fire Department, E-ONE Cyclone II tower ladder, new tower ladders for Chicago, Tim Olk

This entry was posted on February 24, 2016, 11:00 AM and is filed under Fire Department News, Fire Truck photos, New Delivery. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

35 Comments

#1 by Brian on February 26, 2016 - 1:21 PM

Disregard my previous comment, been a long morning
#2 by Brian on February 26, 2016 - 1:19 PM

Just saw a photo of the current Tower 14 (the Pierce) and it doesn’t have a MARS888 either. Obviously this change happened a while ago.
#3 by Mike Mc on February 26, 2016 - 11:07 AM

A Mars 888 or a similar type of white oscillating light in the center grill is more than just a decoration or tradition. It is an excellent warning light. They would be especially useful on the tower ladders whose roof mounted warning lights are partially obstructed by the basket. Did you ever notice, even in 2016, how many cops will jiggle/rotate their hand operated spot light to create a Mars 888 affect? That’s because they know it works. Check out the dashboard camera from the unfortunate but infamous CPD shooting if you don’t believe me. The officer drives with his right hand and moves the spotlight with his left as he approaches the intersections.

If you want to talk about an unnecessary, decorative, and useless item to put on rig; how about the bells you see on the grills of some suburban apparatus? Talk about a waste of tax money.
#4 by Ffpm621 on February 26, 2016 - 8:53 AM

Add in new Snorkels with Mars 888 Lights $5,000,000,000,000.00
#5 by FireTroll on February 26, 2016 - 7:04 AM

I am thinking of making an App game called CFD Commissioner where you can tweak budget line items to make the department of your dreams.

For instance: 2016 CFD Budget
Air Masks: $200.00
PASS Devices: $100.00
Training: $50.00
Green LEDs: $200,000,000.00
Blue LEDs: $0.00
235′ Bronto SkyliftSkylift (one for each district plus reserve): $3,500,000,000.00
Hose: $300.00
Etc…
LOL
#6 by Ffpm621 on February 25, 2016 - 8:34 PM

Aluminum, they were built in Florida. The E-One stainless plant (Former RD Murray) built the airport pumpers and is in Hamburg, New York.
#7 by Mike C on February 25, 2016 - 7:41 PM

Does anyone know if this is a stainless steel cab and body or aluminum?
#8 by ffpm571 on February 25, 2016 - 7:36 PM

The lights can’t be solved cheaply They are LED modules that run over $100 each to replace.
#9 by Bill Post on February 25, 2016 - 7:16 PM

Getting off of the subject of lights (which can probably be solved fairly cheaply) the tower ladders I believe are 100 feet (like Scott points out) which would make them taller then the previous ones that are 95 feet. I also like the baskets on the new units, they look a little larger than the Pierce’s however it might just be the design. It also looks like there is plenty of cabinet space which is good as it wouldn’t be a bad idea if at least some of the trucks or towers carried air bags instead of always having to wait for the squads. Quite a few fire departments like New York City and Los Angeles also carry air bags on their trucks as part of extrication equipment.
- #10 by Scott on March 2, 2016 - 7:36 PM
  
  The basket on the Pierces is actually bigger the previous E-Ones. For the new E-Ones they are a different shape. Both the Pierces and new E-Ones are a 1000lb basket load with no water flowing.
#11 by Scott on February 25, 2016 - 4:30 PM

The E-One website may have more info on the CFD towers. I thought the aerial is the 100′ heavy duty. And for those that don’t know, these have no pumps. CFD runs true trucks not quints.
#12 by Crabby Milton on February 25, 2016 - 11:31 AM

Well, CFD is paying good money for those apparatus, they may as well have some traditional lights on them.
Maybe they just do it to annoy people who think fire apparatus should be as ugly as possible and anything that looks nice or that maintains tradition should be done away with at once. 🙁 🙂
#13 by Ffpm621 on February 25, 2016 - 11:05 AM

Sebastian I dont know if the Truck will work as well or last as long with that Blue light on it. Im just so worried. I might not sleep tonight because of it. Lol

What a joke who the frick cares what color lights are the truck.
- #14 by Johnny Roy on February 25, 2016 - 1:32 PM
  
  Apparently a lot of people. If you have to get your house painted, you wouldn’t say,”oh, whatever ya want…sure, that hot pink looks good” you do what looks good……It’s a paramilitary organization. Stick to your traditions. I think you snide guys are the only ones losing any sleep over us caring! Ha!
#15 by eugene O on February 25, 2016 - 6:48 AM

Thanks tim sharing the photos and video, nice rigs so happy to see tower 39 get one of the new trucks. I agree with johnny the suburbs are keeping with chicago tradition more then chicago itself.
#16 by Sebastian on February 25, 2016 - 4:48 AM

When there’s a fire or actual emergency!! Don’t really think people will care about what kind of light is on the rig!!!!!! This is just pure foolishness!! I’d be more concerned as to why cfd still has 30 year old rigs as front line still! Instead of a light!!
- #17 by Johnny Roy on February 25, 2016 - 1:31 PM
  
  Apparently a lot of people. If you have to get your house painted, you wouldn’t say,”oh, whatever ya want…sure, that hot pink looks good” you do what looks good……It’s a paramilitary organization. Stick to your traditions. I think you snide guys are the only ones losing any sleep over us caring! Ha!
#18 by David on February 25, 2016 - 4:31 AM

Thanks for sharing the photos and video! Really sharp looking rigs. Also great to see that they kept the green light on the officer’s side (not sure of the lightbar though). Still have to say that the blue light kinda spoils the impression. I totally agree with Johnny Roy and CFD137. I thought they’ll avoid this trend like they did a few times before when something similar emerged (the lime green rigs, etc…) but unfortunately looks like this won’t be the case.
#19 by chris on February 25, 2016 - 1:07 AM

I hope they fix the light that’s not working on the drivers side of the basket and the ladders stored under the main could be a pain to get in a hurry if the main is bedded
#20 by Mike C on February 24, 2016 - 8:02 PM

From what I remember in the past Chicago specified no manufacturer labels on the rigs. Has this been removed out of spec or was it in oversight?
#21 by Bill Post on February 24, 2016 - 6:30 PM

It looks like Tower Ladder 21 is probably keeping their current rig. I was expecting this as it was known that one of the 1996 HME/LTIs would remain in frontline service and Chicago was only getting three new tower ladders, plus the oldest one was the 1988 E/One at Tower Ladder 34. While I don’t have the latest run statistics it does seem right to me as Tower Ladder 21 probably gets the least amount of working fires out of the three towers using the HME/LTIs. Tower Ladder 39 has been using the same rig since 1996 while Tower Ladder 37 was assigned a hand me down rig. I believe that it was originally assigned to Tower Ladder 10.
#22 by 9 man squad on February 24, 2016 - 6:08 PM

Heard they were keeping there current rig as it gets less use then the others.
Ps does anyone have spaces on tower ladder 63 at o’hare.
#23 by Douglas on February 24, 2016 - 5:52 PM

TL 21? any news about TL 21?
#24 by Eric Haak on February 24, 2016 - 5:00 PM

I am certainly not an authority but word out on the street is that yes….TL34 is getting the old TL14.
#25 by Douglas on February 24, 2016 - 4:30 PM

What about TL-21 ?
#26 by 9 man squad on February 24, 2016 - 4:27 PM

Can wait to see them on the street
#27 by Barry on February 24, 2016 - 2:33 PM

mm, you make a good point. No pun intended, but it’s hard to talk about capabilities and innovations, when none are shown in the three photos and the video. If I had no idea about this truck, it would look like a nice E-One Ladder with a bucket on the end. Mainly because there are no photos of the compartments or photos/information related to its “capabilities”. It’s obvious the video was taken just to show the lights, it’s not like they are throwing the stick in the air. Just food for thought.

Now as for the lights talk, everyone is entitled to there opinion, personally I would like to see them stick with the red and green as they have for the last 60 or so years and the Mars 888 have always been a CFD thing from the 1950’s on up. I think people are more concerned with tradition than just the lights. Wait until they buy a all red unit with no black top which has been a tradition from the days where we had Ford A model cars with the rubbery/tar roofs and they couldn’t be painted red. That will be another tradition gone, if that happens.
#28 by mm on February 24, 2016 - 2:07 PM

I don’t mean to be rude, really…this is an honest question.

What are buffs’ (in general) obsession with lights? It seems that every discussion of apparatus, especially CFD, gets derailed by “well they usually put this light bar on but they did ______” or the dozens upon dozens of comments regarding CFD’s blue lights. It would be nice to see some in depth conversation about the capabilities and innovations in these apparatus.
- #29 by Johnny Roy on February 24, 2016 - 7:22 PM
  
  I don’t care about the actual lights. This job is heavy in to Tradition. This is one of those obvious and very recognizable Chicago specific traditions that very easily can be kept going. All red lights on the rig, with the officer (starboard) side having one or two green lights up front meets NFPA qualifications. So why even add the blues? Just illogical and frustrating is all.
#30 by Johnny Roy on February 24, 2016 - 1:50 PM

Nice tower…except for those disgusting clear lens blue lights that are completely unnecessary and don’t make any sense!! Somebody make it stop!!! Hopefully the Captain’s of these rigs right the wrong! An 888 would be nice too!!
- #31 by Johnny Roy on February 24, 2016 - 1:59 PM
  
  All I’m saying is it’s pretty sad that the suburbs are better at keeping Chicago tradition alive then Chicago itself!
#32 by Chris S on February 24, 2016 - 1:42 PM

The blue lights are supposed to be on the rear, ick.
#33 by Brian on February 24, 2016 - 1:31 PM

Will 34 get 14s rig then?
#34 by Josh Boyajian on February 24, 2016 - 12:37 PM

New CFD Towers

FDE-352 TL-14
FDE-353 TL-37
FDE-354 TL-39
#35 by Marty Coyne on February 24, 2016 - 11:52 AM

Nice rig. I see they kept the blue lights on the bar.