More from the 3-Alarm fire in Stone Park, 9-5-20
Excerpts from chicago.cbslocal.com:
A dozen families were left homeless Saturday after winds fueled a fire that destroyed four residential buildings in the 1800 block of 36th Avenue in Stone Park. By the time the firefighters arrived, three buildings were already in flames. A dozen families – some with young children – were left homeless.
Investigators believe the fire started on a wooden back porch of one unit. They say winds fueled it, and that quickly made flames jump from one building to the next.
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
#1 by Rob on September 11, 2020 - 11:18 AM
What was the minimal manning per shift?
and did they sell the 2012 Ambo and the 1997 Squad?
I understand they had 13 part time ff/pm
#2 by Jim on September 11, 2020 - 10:10 AM
Rich S.,
Great straw man argument. I wasn’t arguing about having younger members or paying people for 20 hours. If you work 24 hours you get paid for 24 hours. If you are not then you make a complaint to the Village. If they don’t respond, make a complaint to the department of labor. They have up to three years to make this complaint regardless of a union or not. I wonder if this practice was known to the Village or an agreement between the previous chief and the members. I also never argued that Stone Park should keep a chief. That makes no sense to me either. I do believe the Village of Stone Park should have the best coverage they can afford but we differ out what that service looks like. I never argued against having a part time department. It appears, from your arguments, that you believe less people 3 blocks closer is better protection, concluding that they would have put the fire out in the incipient phase. We can agree to disagree.
#3 by Rich s. on September 10, 2020 - 9:00 PM
Jim, it’s not that the rank and file were pushed around the were working 24 hrs and getting paid for 20hrs. For years!! But I’m sure that’s okay because they were all younger members trying to get a start in the fire service. Not a full time department so they don’t matter. Even though they were trying to unionize. And hey the people who live in the town don’t deserve the closest service possible. And explain to me why you need a Fire Chief if you have no fire department. ?? I mean it was only 4 buildings and 12 families who lost everything. But you can justify it anyway you want.
#4 by Jim on September 10, 2020 - 1:42 PM
DH,
Rank and file being pushed around by the brass? I’m sure all employees want better wages but that doesn’t mean a municipality has the means to pay more and still meet their financial obligations. It sounds to me like the municipal leadership of a cash strapped suburb made the decision to contract out to a larger suburban department that would provide the same or higher level of service to the community as a whole. Will this decision be popular to everyone, no. But is it the best decision for Stone Park while still providing a vital service? I bet it is. We could hypothetically argue the outcome of this fire but hypotheticals are just that. Can a 3 person engine from Melrose Park lead out a hose line faster than the previous 2 person engine from Stone Park? Melrose Park’s station is 4 blocks away and Stone Park’s fire Station was about a half block away, not a mile away as you state.
#5 by The DH on September 9, 2020 - 8:36 PM
Jim, Stone Park FD was closed and contracted to Melrose Park, basically because the rank and file was tired of getting pushed around by the brass, wanted better wages etc…so they attempted to unionize. Shortly thereafter, they were told the department was closing. The chief is still chief apparently though.
So, the fact that the station was closed and contracted to Melrose is the problem. Not ‘the standard of a station on every block.’ Educate yourself before you coment. Pretty sure the response time would be longer when you are talking about a block versus a mile…
#6 by Jim on September 9, 2020 - 7:01 PM
So the standard is a fire station on every block now? The Melrose Park Station is 4 blocks away rather than the 1 block for Stone Park Station. While I agree response times matter, does anyone know what response time was in this case or are the complaints hypothetical? What’s criminal about how this transpired?
#7 by rich s. on September 9, 2020 - 10:09 AM
My comment was exactly that, a condemnation of closing a fire department yet keeping the chief!! What a scam, they for years cheated their members out of payroll, then when called to the carpet they close down. You could see the fire house from these apartments!! There is a huge difference in the response time. It’s criminal the way this all transpired.
#8 by The DH on September 8, 2020 - 11:22 AM
Austin, no one is Monday morning quarterbacking anything. Rich was commenting on the fact that Stone Park was needlessly closed…and if you don’t think a 1 block response vs a mile makes a difference in a fire, well, watch some videos and see what happens when you have a 4-6 min travel time vs ~1 min. Yes, families out of homes is the real tragedy, however, closing a fire station is never a positive thing…especially for why Stone Park closed…and it definitely didn’t help matters here.
#9 by Austin on September 8, 2020 - 10:42 AM
Melrose Park FD is less than a mile from there, so if 3 buildings were gutted in the fire, it already had to been well involved. Maybe if Stone Park still was still in operation, maybe a building could have had less damage, but you would still have at least 2 buildings completely destroyed and others heavily damaged. Plus it started on the back porch, in windy conditions so it probably spread immediately to the neighboring building by the time the call went out. We can arm chair quarterback the situation all we want, but at the end of the day many family’s are now homeless. Having Stone Park still in operation wouldn’t change that. I feel bad for them.
#10 by harry on September 6, 2020 - 5:09 PM
i did not even hear fire trucks yesterday if that is when the fire was 9-5-20 however isnt mpfd a few blocks away
#11 by rich s. on September 6, 2020 - 4:16 PM
Maybe if the village didn’t close down the fire department (which is 1 block away from this incident) the fire wouldn’t have been so severe. Funny how the village has no fire department but they have a fire chief ????