Chicago Still & Box Alarm fire, 4-4-16

Chicago firefighters were called to a laundromat at 5130 W. Fullerton Avenue after 2AM Monday morning (4/4/16) and found heavy fire in a one-story, 60×100, commercial building with a bow-string truss roof. The building had no immediate exposures with parking lots on either side. After venting the roof, companies went defensive with Tower Ladder 14 setup to the west and Squad 2A to the east. There was a special call for an additional tower ladder which brought Tower Ladder 23 to the front of the building. Two multi-versals and the three elevated master streams inundated the building with water for two hours.

Heavy fire vented out the front of the building burning a car parked at the curb. The utility company was called to shut off gas to the building as a gas fed fire burned freely near the front.

Steve Redick and Larry Shapiro were at the scene.

Here is a brief cellphone video clip from Steve with more to follow

Here is a video with some photos from Larry Shapiro

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

Chicago FD Tower Ladder 14 E-ONE Cyclone II tower ladder HP100

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

American flag on E-ONE fire truck at night

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

more photos at shapirophotography.net

Tags: American flag at night on E-ONE fire truck, Chicago FD Engine 7, Chicago FD Engine 91, Chicago FD Squad 2A, Chicago FD Tower Ladder 14, Chicago FD Truck 58, Chicago Fire Department, E-ONE Cyclone II tower ladder, E-ONE tower ladder at Chicago fire scene, fire scene video, Larry Shapiro, night fire scene photos, shapirophotography.net, Steve Redick

This entry was posted on April 4, 2016, 10:00 AM and is filed under Apparatus on-scene, Fire Scene photos, Fire Scene video. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

3 Comments (and 2 trackbacks)

#1 by Brian on April 4, 2016 - 8:31 PM

Thanks Chuck.
#2 by Chuck on April 4, 2016 - 6:00 PM

Brian, they would NOT require an engineer, because the truck would not have a pump. You could have a prepiped waterway without a pump on a truck, but for the limited number of times it would see use, and with a Snorkel from the Squad and the assignment of a Tower Ladder on every box and higher, the maintenance and upkeep of a prepiped waterway is not worth the extra cost.
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#3 by Brian on April 4, 2016 - 11:42 AM

With this sort of fire as an example, would CFD ever think about putting a prepiped water way on some of the truck companies, maybe two per district, like Aerial Tower 1 has?

Same set up as the companies have now, just a prepiped water way. Pin it so the stick is always ready for rescues if need be but have the option to put another water way in the air.

I don’t know the CFD contract but this wouldn’t require an engineer on the truck right?

This is a question and not saying they should do it so don’t freak out.