New ambulances for Chicago (more) « chicagoareafire.com

New ambulances for Chicago (more)

New CFD ambulance assignments

Tags: Chicago FD receives ambulances on Dodge chassis, Chicago Fire Department, chicagoareafire.com, new ambulances for Chicago, New CFD ambulance assignments, New Chicago Fire Department ambulances.

This entry was posted on July 14, 2018, 3:30 PM and is filed under Fire Department News. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

16 Comments

#1 by harry on July 27, 2018 - 5:56 PM

I just saw last night july 26 2018 Chicago fd amb 20 new dodge coming from ohare from I assume getting fuel I was unable to get picture looks nice
#2 by Steve on July 21, 2018 - 4:40 PM

Hey everyone, this is a little off subject. I’m looking for the vehicles that were used in Backdraft. I found them like forever ago online but cannot find them. Anyone have any idea where I might find a link. It had pictures of Engine 17 the several trucks numbered 46. The ambulance and the pick up Kurt Russell drove in the movie. If anyone could help me I would really appreciate it very much. Thank you so much. If ya happen to know any info please email SPaoline4302@gmail.com

Steve
#3 by Chuck on July 19, 2018 - 9:34 PM

John – this is the Chicago Fire Department – they’ve been behind the curve on EMS from the start. Of COURSE sending two companies makes no sense. It made even less sense years ago with the BLS rigs, when they sent a fire company with a BLS ambulance, then when it was decided to upgrade the run to an ALS run now they send an ALS company AND an ALS ambulance but the BLS rigs can’t leave till the ALS rigs get there and usually a Paramedic Field Chief was responding as well so now you have 15 guys standing at the scene of one run.
#4 by John on July 19, 2018 - 5:33 PM

Chuck, don’t you agree it’s a waste of resources sending 2 fire companies on a chest pain? Having 2 company houses with neither being ALS shouldn’t be allowed. 112, 106, 86, 42 is insane.
#5 by Chuck on July 18, 2018 - 4:48 AM

Bill, your narrow focus on the swath of the North Side with no ALS companies, while accurate, does not take into account that IN that area, the Alarm Office will send 2 companies PLUS the ambulance on an ambulance assist – Engine 69 frequently gets Engine 108, 124 or Truck 58 depending which direction in their still district they go. Engine 89 gets Engine 79 if they go west and Engine 71 if they go east. Engine 94 gets 108, 125 or Truck 58. There are multiple options available to OEMC, and while none of them are perfect, they have been able to make them work.
#6 by Marty Coyne on July 17, 2018 - 9:16 AM

CFD is replacing the ambulances more frequently because they are throw away junk. Braun is one of the best built ambulances and was built on the F-350 truck diesel chassis. They lasted much longer. Wheeled Coach is a comparitvely lower quality build and on gasoline van chassies.
#7 by Michael M on July 17, 2018 - 8:19 AM

I am also happy to see the CFD getting new Ambulances more frequently than they were before. It seems like the 2007 Ambulances were in service much longer than they should have been.
I know there are issues with the 2014 Fords, I know that there are some 2016 and 2017 Fords out there.
My guess is there have been enough issues with the Fords and that is why the city switched chassis.
#8 by Michael M on July 17, 2018 - 8:13 AM

Glad to see the Ambulances they purchased specifically to expand the fleet will be going into service soon!
Interesting to hear there is a large area on the north side that does not have a ALS fire company.
Why not make Engine 22, 69 and Engine 94, ALS companies? it seems like those companies are in excellent locations to be ALS companies. Especially engine 22, with it’s location in Lincoln Park.
Once these Ambulances go into service, how many Ambulances will be in the city proper? By my count there will be at least 77 Ambulances in the city.
#9 by Bill Post on July 17, 2018 - 1:40 AM

Chuck you make some very good points that I myself have recognized. It seems that when ever I turn on my digital radio Engine 125 is going out on another ALS run however busy Engine 125 is the EMS units to the south and east of Engine 125 are much busier. So given that the CFD has limited ambulance resources (in comparison to the demand for those resources) the CFD is apparently is putting the long overdue 5 ambulances on the west and on the south sides. Short of putting even more new ambulance companies in service (which I am sure Chicago could use) the CFD at the very least should put more ALS fire suppression companies in service. Even though there currently are about 60 ALS Engines in service and there are about 12 ALS Trucks in service there are still a number of fire stations without any ALS fire companies that are assigned to those stations.
For example you just brought up that when Ambulances 20 and 7 have to follow Engine 125 on an ALS run it leaves a large gap on the northwest side for Ambulance coverage which can produce what is sometimes known as snowball or a cascade effect, That gap of ambulance coverage is even worse then the example that you have cited. Do you know why? The reason why that EMS gap is even worse is because there are several fire stations on the norhwest side (plus in other areas of the city) that don’t have any ALS companies assigned to them.
None of the companies that are located with Ambulance 20 (Engine 86 and Truck 57) are ALS units. Just east of Engine 86’s quarters is Engine 94 whick also is not an ALS company either. If you go another 2 miles east of Engine 94 you have Engine 69 which also is not an ALS company. A little less then 2 miles south east of Engine 69 is Engine 106 and Truck 13 NONE of which are ALS companies. Less then a mile and a half east of Engine 106’s quarters is Engine 56 which also in not an ALS company. Less then a mile and a half north of Engine 56 is Engine 112 and Tower Ladder 21’s quarters which also has no ALS companies assigned. Less then 2 miles south east of Engine 56 is Engine 35 and Truck 28 also with no ALS companies assigned,
Getting back to Engine 69’s quarters . If you go less then 3 miles north of Engine 69 you have Engine 89 and Truck 56’s quarters also without an ALS company assigned. On the near north side Engine 22’s quarters and Engine 14 and Truck 19’s quarters are also without any ALS companies assigned.
That leaves 10 fire stations on the north side of Chicago without any ALS companies assigned to them. That is only on the North Side of Chicago so the grand total is even larger.
The point that I am trying to make is short of adding additional ambulances the CFD hasn’t converted any more fire companies into ALS units for several years and quite a few of the stations on the north side without any ALS fire companies assigned to them are very close together.
#10 by Chuck on July 16, 2018 - 12:49 AM

Mike, it’s not a matter of Ambulance 20 and Ambulance & “handling it,” as you put it. It’s a matter of you pull Ambulance 20 south and east…and now you pull Ambulance 7 south…and you pull Ambulance 47 south or east – now you have this gigantic swath of unprotected area where people call ambulances for real, legitimate incidents, not colds and baby sick for a month and now they have a 15-20 minute wait (or more,) because now you’re waiting on Ambulance 2 or Ambulance 39 or Ambulance 73 or dragging somebody from the east to head way west. Move the 8th Battalion. Ambulances make money for the City – fire companies don’t.
#11 by John on July 15, 2018 - 2:20 PM

In my opinion, Engine 23 does not need an ambo as they are a slower ALS company. They need more ambos to the west side besides Engine 38’s new ambo so by doubling up Engine 107, they have an ambo that is EAST/WEST in the middle. They can assist the west side, and get downtown extremely easy. If you put that ambo at 96 or 125, they could not assist both downtown and the west side. These 2 west side ambos will really help because in 2017 the top 4 busiest ambos in the city were 10/15/23/64, which those 2 ambos directly help out.
#12 by Bill Post on July 15, 2018 - 1:47 PM

There is no question that the west side could use those additional ambulances. For years Ambulance 10 was the busiest in the city. I don’t know where they ranked as of last year however I am sure they are among the highest in terms of runs in city. Engine 38 certainly could have used an ambulance for quite a while now considering that they are the first station south of Engine 95’s and Ambulance 10’s quarters and they haven’t been running with an ambulance until now.
While I can’t speak for other types of runs the Austin neighborhood on the far west side has been the leading area in terms of shootings and gunshot victims, with Garfield Park and North Lawndale coming in 2nd and 3rd as of 2017. So far that ranking is still holding up. Surprising as it may seem there are still a number of fire stations in the city that don’t have any ALS fire companies and Engine 107 is one on the west side. There is no doubt that Engine 107 should be converted to an ALS company. It still is surprising that that they aren’t assigning proposed Ambulance 80 to Engine 23 as it is one of the few stations with an EMS district field commander that doesn’t have an ambulance company.
#13 by Mike L on July 15, 2018 - 10:36 AM

It looks like this is an OEMC memo as it states to start entering their areas into CAD so that would seem legit. As far as doubling up ambos, it would seem likely that the reason is due to many 2nd and 3rd calls in those areas; IE- How many times is Amb 33 or Amb 58 out and another ambo has to go into their still. Conversely, how many times are the surrounding ambos out on their own runs making it necessary for an ambo from farther out have to cover the call? By putting a doubled up ambo in a house in addition to putting an ambo in a neighboring firehouse (38 and 88), it seems likely that there will be much less waiting for a much farther out rig having to come into an area. As for 125, I agree with the thought of too crowded. Plus, that area gets help from Amb 20 and Amb 7 which can handle it. And, by putting 2 additional ambos in the busy west side, 68’s ambo can be available more for runs into 125’s still rather than going south. Of course, only time will tell if this works out in that regards.
#14 by Bill Post on July 15, 2018 - 2:45 AM

Chuck assuming that the locations on that list are accurate the proposed location for Ambulance 80 wouldn’t be the first double ambulance house as and Ambulance 58 and 75 still would be sharing quarters at Engine 101’s house.
I do tend to agree with you it would be good if Engine 125 did get an ambulance however I really wonder if there would be enough room for an ambulance as Battalion 8 is already there. I think they might have to relocate Battalion 8 elsewhere in order to fit an ambulance into 125’s house. That probably would mean relocating Battalion 8 to Engine 68 which really wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Another place where the proposed Ambulance 80 could be located is Engie 23’s house which has plenty of room. There isn’t an ambulance there now but they do have an EMS district field commander.
Whether that is from an official document is also a good question. It appears fo be from an in house memo. I have already seen a least two other location proposals over the last few months and there have been some differences, however the other proposed locations were not from memos but from some information from people on line,
This is the first time I have seen Engine 115’s quarters and 107’s quarters on the list. I saw Engine 26 was listed about 2 months ago which makes about as much sense as Engine 107. Engine 26 has Ambulance 45. I have also seen Engines 4 and 55 mentioned however this list had no new ambulances proposed for the northside. The south and the west are both very busy areas and are also where the bulk of the shootings have been taking place. While the locations of both Engine 101 and Engine 107 are both in busy areas which do get a large share of EMS runs, I would sooner see fire stations without an assigned ambulance get one rather than doubling at the moment. I am glad to see Engine 88 is finally getting an ambulance but it certainly would have made more sense if Ambulance 75 would have been located with them instead of having them with Ambulance 58 at Engine 101.
Based on call volume Engine 96’s location would be a good spot for an ambulance however floor space might be an issue.
#15 by Chuck on July 15, 2018 - 12:31 AM

Doubling up Engine 107? Whose bright idea is that? Why not E-125?
#16 by rich on July 15, 2018 - 12:12 AM

If this list is for real, then 2 kinda cool things come of it…
Amb 77 will be with Eng 38, it may not be Eng 77 but its a 77 none the less….
Amb 78 will be with Eng 88, making their qtrs, the House of 8’s, Eng 88 and the old telegraph key for Amb 78 would be 8-8-8….
Useless info, but kinda cool…