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14 Comments

• #1 by BMurphy on November 5, 2018 - 11:38 PM

  

  To Dan’s questions: overall, all companies and personal at ORD are kept busy doing a great many PROACTIVE things, things that prevent incidents from happening at all or from getting worse. These things include inspections of fueling systems, transportation systems, fire suppression systems, emergency response plans, hazardous materials handling and containment (cargo/freight, delivery vehicles, aircraft maintenance facilities), medical and biological hazards and events (there are flights to/from all but one continent), runway safety inspections, training on the hazards and emergency response to new types of aircraft (including the largest passenger aircraft in service, the A380, which will resume its transportation of 500-600 passengers for British Airways again in March), and many other important items too numerous to mention.

  All this in addition to emergency standby alerts for aircraft with various issues (from electrical to fuel to control systems problems to overheated brakes), car accidents, fire alarms, structure fires, and medical emergencies (tens of thousands of passengers per day plus tens of thousands more employees and support people). Then there’s all the hazards associated with the massive construction projects in progress.

  And that’s just on a Sunday.

  O’Hare is the primary economic engine for the Chicago metro area, and the entire Midwest, responsible in large part for maintaining and growing the region’s economy. It’s a key factor for the presence of Fortine 100 companies, international finance and tech companies locating here. If Jeff Bezos were to locate a branch of his empire here, O’Hare would be a major reason.

  Protecting this operation is incredibly essential, as it’s value to the region and in and of itself is in the HUNDREDS of BILLIONS of dollars. Subpar emergency services and response capabilities would push global air transportation elsewhere, and with it a fortune in revenue, capital and investments. Airlines want to use O’Hare in part because it’s one of the best protected airports in the world. The cost of providing and maintaining this protection is minuscule compared to the benefits it provides.

  And the ARFF folks more than earn their pay every day.

• #2 by Mike Mc on November 5, 2018 - 9:21 PM

  

  I’d say let’s not worry about any of it or even ask questions. Who cares!? Honestly why do you concern yourselves with this nonsense. None of you obviously work there because I guarantee none of the FF/EMTs there would comment on it and they don’t care so why should any of you. Find a better hobby.

  Former CFD

• #3 by Paul on November 5, 2018 - 2:29 PM

  

  The number of stations has to do with the ability to get to the various area of the airport in a set amount of time. In order to do this they need to have stations placed strategically around the property which requires that number of stations.

• #4 by Dan on November 5, 2018 - 11:11 AM

  

  My question is this: How busy are the stations at OHare to justify 4 stations?
  Obviously, there are not too many crashes at Ohare, so what else do they do?
  The occasional medical call, fuel spill, does that justify 4 stations?

• #5 by Mike L on November 4, 2018 - 9:21 PM

  

  Bill-

  Yes. The addition opened in late June/early July. The addition is basically a full firehouse with the exception of a kitchen which remains in the original section of Rescue 1 just off the west apparatus bays.

  To Bmurphy’s thoughts, there had been talk at the beginning of this project to have 6 stations. Rsc 4 has to stay about where it is so it won’t relocate. Rsc 2 is rumored to be getting a 2nd tower ladder at some point. Rsc 5 would be somewhere by the UAL satellite terminal with Rsc 6 being at the way future west entrance. That was the talk years ago so it may no longer be valid. Time will tell. There had also been some bean counters saying they could get by with only 2 or 3 firehouses by determining distance as the crow flies rather than the reality that they can’t drive in straight lines. That nonsense got straightened out quickly and rejected.

  With the promotion of Chief Sampey to DFC-Ops, Charlie Roy is promoted to ADFC of airport ops so the airport remains in good hands and, in my opinion, will remain aggressive and progressive in ARFF operations.

• #6 by Bill Post on November 4, 2018 - 4:39 PM

  

  Has the new addtion to ARFF station 1 been opened yet?

• #7 by Bill Post on November 4, 2018 - 12:47 PM

  

  I would like to make what I consider to be a common sense suggestion. Engine 12 and Engine 9 should change places. Since Station 3 covers the terminals, the auto traffic, and expressway to O’Hare, Engine 12’s more compact rig can be better used in those areas from a maneuverability perspective while Engine 9’s much larger ARFF pumper would be better off at Station 1 near the runways and cargo area. Now I believe that Engine 12 might have originally been assigned to Station 1 because of limited space in what is a crowded station. Since they expanded or are expanding Station 1, perhaps the engines can change places because it just makes more sense to use the smaller rig at the terminal and expressway approaches.

  B Murphy your idea for ARFF station distribution makes sense to me. One concern I have is that once the new Station 2 is opened it will be more difficult for to access the area west of 22R. The rigs would have to drive around that runway as it is diagonal and intersects with runway 27L and will intersect with 27C when it is completed.
  Also when 27C is completed the ARFF units from the new Station 2 would have to drive around 27C to get to 27L so there might be a need to either build a new station south of runway 27L or possibly move Station 3 to the north end of the terminal area where it would be more adjacent to runway 27L.
  This is contingent on meeting NFPA minimum requirements to have at least one ARFF apparatus able to reach the midpoint of the farthest runway serving air carrier aircraft within 3 minutes of the alarm and begin application of extinguishing agent, and to have all other required apparatus arrive within 4 minutes.

  As O Hare Field is rated as an Index E airport the minimum required apparatus are 3 ARFF apparatus of which 2 of them carry ” an amount of water and the commensurate quantity of AFFF so that the total quantity of water for Foam production carried by all 3 vehicles is at least 6,000 gallons”. One vehicle must carry at least “500 pounds of sodium based dry chemical or 450 pounds of potassium based dry chemical and a commensurate quantity of AFFF to total 100 gallons for simulataneous dry chemical and AFFF application”.
  To simplify it what determines how many ARFF stations there are is if those above mentioned requirements can be met for each runway.
  So the far the only other plans that I know of are the possibility of building a new and larger station 4 on the north end of the field however I do wonder whether the 4 stations (after the new Station 2 is opened) will be able to actually reach the midpoint of each runway within the 3 and 4 minute required time frame especially when the new parallel runway 27 C is opened within 2 years from now?

• #8 by Jim on November 4, 2018 - 12:17 AM

  

  Mike, Currently Rsq 3, houses Engine Co. 9, Squad Co 7, Amb Co. 59, the M.V.U. 924, Command van 2-7-3. Plus its the home of the 3rd District HQ, plus all the 2-9-xx companies [trainers and fuel inspectors]. In the not too distant future, 2-7-3 will be moving back to Rsq 1…

• #9 by Mike on November 3, 2018 - 9:00 PM

  

  What equipment is currently at Rescue Station 3? I know that at Ohare in general there have been plans to move more equipment around, much to Rescue Station 1.

• #10 by BMurphy on November 3, 2018 - 1:24 PM

  

  The new Rescue Station 2, from the aerial views above and from cross-checking the most up-to-date ORD FAA airport diagram (https://flightaware.com/resources/airport/ORD/APD/AIRPORT+DIAGRAM/pdf) looks as if it is just about at the intersection of taxiways M (Mike) and D (Delta), partially on the closed (‘X’) diagonal strip of (former) taxiway between Mike and Delta. This places it several hundred feet north of the future Rwy 9C/27C, and just to the east of Rwy 4L/22R.

  If you review the current airport diagram and the location of the ARFF stations, it seems as if another station will be needed to the west of the terminal complex, to allow for adequate response times to the western ends of 9R, 9C, 10L and 10C. It would also provide fire/ems to the future western expansion of the terminal complex, as well as all the maintenance and support building in and planned for that area.

  It might also be in the plans to slightly relocate, reconfigure access out of or a combination thereof for Rescue Station 3, which at present does not have any ARFF vehicles (engine, squad, support units, ambo and admin). Adding airfield ARFF response capabilities to this station area would help cover the eastern ends of 27L and 28R, and get heavy ARFF assets within the area of all the very large parked and taxiing aircraft (and their fuel loads) found at Terminal 5 (international).

  I’ll also take the liberty to suggest a satellite station, similar to Rescue Station 4, down to the SE of the end of 28L/10R and the the slight west near the end of 4R/22L. This would give rapid access to the high-volume of arrivals on 10R and departures on 22L.

  Once ORD’s expansion is complete (until the next one), I would envision 6 stations total to provide adequate response coverage. Just my 2 cents from a very frequent and long-time user of ORD, firefighter and aviation geek.

• #11 by Chris S on November 3, 2018 - 12:37 PM

  

  You are correct Bill, it is just east of what was north/south runway 18/36, and north of under construction 27C & its north taxiway, just south of the new cargo area & west of the private/charter terminal. Way NE of current #2

• #12 by MABAS 21 on November 3, 2018 - 10:53 AM

  

  Bill; to me it appears that the new Rescue Station 2 is approximately here on Google Earth:

  41.9911301, -87.8987286

• #13 by Bill Post on November 3, 2018 - 12:13 AM

  

  I could be wrong but based on information that I have, the new Station 2 may be east of Runway 22R and north of Runway 27L. If that is the case the new parallel runway Runway 27C will probably be just south of the station which would make it more difficult for them to access runway 27L. If that is correct then the new station should be quite a bit further east and north of the current Station 2.
  Only those familiar with O’Hare or who work there will probably understand what I am talking about.

• #14 by Bill Post on November 2, 2018 - 10:47 PM

  

  Thanks for putting those aerial shots of the new Station 2 online. What I would like to know is exactly where it is located in relationship to the current Station 2. I know that a new east/west parallel runway is scheduled to be built where the current station 2 is so they have to relocate it. I understand that the current station 4 will remain where it is for the time being however I have also read that it too may be replaced. That would most likely be so it would have a new facility. It currently is in a small section of the original Station 2 and the rest of building is used for other purposes.

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