Worth Fire Department history « chicagoareafire.com

Worth Fire Department history

This from Mike Summa:

For #TBT, these are what I call the Worth twins, 2 FordC/Darleys, unknown age or specs. Enjoy and comment.

Mike Summa

Mike Summa photo

Mike Summa photo

Tags: #TBT, Ford Darley engine, Mike Summa, throw back thursday, throwbackthursday, vintage fire truck photos, W.S. Darley engine, Worth Fire Department history

This entry was posted on April 19, 2018, 11:00 AM and is filed under Fire Department History, Historic fire apparatus, throwbackthursday. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

6 Comments

#1 by LT501 on April 20, 2018 - 10:19 AM

North Palos eventually donated Worth’s International ambulance to the Illinois Fire Service Institute down in Champaign… and it became IFSI Squad-2. North Palos had earlier donated their old Squad-805…and it became IFSI Squad-1. I don’t know if they are still down there…but I did see both in-service during a class back in 2015.
#2 by Matt on April 20, 2018 - 8:27 AM

When Worth went OOS, the roster included a Spartan/FMC Pumper, an E-One Typhoon and at least one International based ambulance. All went to North Palos FPD when Worth brought North Palos to service the area. Spartan/FMC was a spare until the delivery of the two E-Ones about 2 years ago and the E-One became a spare. The ambulances were replaced quickly.
#3 by MABAS 21 on April 19, 2018 - 8:01 PM

Thanks Matt! The pics look like these were photographed at the annual Worth Days Parade on 111th Street.
#4 by MABAS 21 on April 19, 2018 - 7:57 PM

Worth’s truck was an Ford C/American LaFrance. They also had a Hendrickson/Pirsch engine along with the Chevy/E-One mini pumper.
#5 by Matt on April 19, 2018 - 7:54 PM

The Worth aerial was a American LaFrance ladder on the Ford C Chassis. They also later had a Hendrickson Pirsch pumper and a minipumper. Oak Lawn had the 70th Anniversary Series Seagrave and Evergreen Park had the 65′ Pirsch Service Aerial. Central Stickney later had the Howe mid-mount and Bedford Park had their Snorkel.
#6 by LT501 on April 19, 2018 - 6:01 PM

For some reason, Worth was always big on Fords. During the 60’s & 70’s, I believe all of their apparatus were Fords, most with Darley pumps/bodies. Besides the two engines in the photo, Worth had a 85′ midmount truck with a similar cab, and a pair of older conventional cab Ford engines. Their truck was only the 3rd purchased in what is now Div.21 (Oak Lawn and Evergreen had the other two). During the 60’s, Worth also had a tanker, but I cannot say for sure it was a Ford.