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Archive for February 8th, 2018

St Charles Fire Department news

Feb 8

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from the Kanecountychronicle.com:

No one was injured during a fire at a St. Charles apartment complex Feb. 7. The call came at about 1 p.m. at the Surrey Hill Apartments, 201 N. Tyler Road, resulting in an evacuation of the building to the lobby while firefighters worked to extinguish the fire which apparently started on a fourth floor balcony.

The apartments have balconies located next to each other and the fire extended to both of the sides. Investigators were trying to determine the balcony where the fire started – as well as how it started. Both apartments had some smoke damage, but the bulk of the fire and damage was to the balconies and the roof overhang. Damages were estimated at $10,000.

The St. Charles Fire Department was assisted by the Geneva, Batavia, Elburn, and West Chicago fire departments.

thanks Dan

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Midlothian Fire Department history

Feb 8

Posted by Admin in Fire Department History, Historic fire apparatus | 2 Comments

This from Mike Summa:

I do not know anything about this fire truck.  I found it on a website called “I grew up in Midlothian.” What I do know is that firemen and kids have not changed.  The dates may change, but firemen are always firemen and kids, well they are always aspiring firemen.  Enjoy and comment.
Mike Summa
Midlothian Fire Department history

photo found at ‘I grew up in Midlothian’

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Chicago Fire Department news – Mickelberry Fire Ceremony

Feb 8

Posted by Admin in Fire Department History | 1 Comment

Excerpts from the ChicagoSunTimes.com:

People blocks away from the Mickelberry Sausage Plant were knocked off their feet when a deadly explosion caused by a gasoline fire leveled the building in the Back of the Yards neighborhood on Feb. 7, 1968. Four firefighters were killed.

On Wednesday — 50 years later — more than 100 Chicago firefighters gathered at the site of the fire to remember their bravery, as well as the lives of five employees of the company who also perished.

Moments before the late afternoon blast, Arthur G. Murray, a 23-year-old accountant, was on the roof of the brick building with several co-workers as firefighters scrambled to get them down ladders. Billowing smoke had forced them to the roof. The blaze was being fed by a gasoline tanker that — after completing a delivery to the sausage plant — began leaking fuel into the building’s basement. When the gas reached the boiler, it ignited.

Murray was standing at the edge of the building’s roof, watching the chaos on the street below with an odd sense of detachment when he heard one firefighter tell another: “We’ve got to get people off this roof because it’s going to blow.”

“And as soon as he said the word ‘blow,’ the building just disintegrated,” Murray recalled Wednesday. “I was blown off the roof,” he said. “I ended up across Halsted Street in a used car parking lot — banged against several automobiles — but I was conscious all the while,” he said.

Firefighter Charles Bottger, 27, Firefighter Thomas Collins, 45, Captain John Fischer, 40, and Firefighter Edward Leifker, 40 were killed.

More than 70 people were injured.

However, the carnage could have been much worse. At the time of the explosion, most factory workers had left for the day. Only a skeleton crew remained — most of whom escaped.

thanks Dan

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