Chicago FD Administrative Order A-05-22

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Tags: Chicago FD Administrative Order A-05-22, Designation of Chicago FD Tower Ladder 16

This entry was posted on June 2, 2022, 1:00 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.

8 Comments

#1 by Bill Post on June 10, 2022 - 2:34 PM

Danny thanks for the interesting information.

While most of Chicago’s Tower Ladders have had steady and stable assignments and are still where they were originally assigned the exception is Tower 16 and if the rumour is true then it might also be the case for Tower 24 as well.
Believe it or not Tower 16 (ex 37) actually started out as Tower Ladder 27 when they were put in service from March through November of 1986 when they were reassigned to Tower Ladder 62 where they stayed until approximately December of 1992. They then were reassigned as Tower Ladder 37 in March of 1993 until less than 2 weeks ago on June 3rd when going to Tower Ladder 16. These were company assignments of course as there were several rigs involved over the years.
Now Tower Ladder 34 went in service in November of 1988 until March of 2021 when becoming Tower Ladder 24. As I was saying they wouldn’t have kept Tower Ladder 34 in service that long if the viaducts were a real problem. Now lets see if Tower Ladder 24 remains as a Tower Ladder much longer or if they do reassign it once again. The Original Assignment of a Tower to Truck 27 didn’t last long as I believe that there were some weight issues at Engine 62’s house so they did some re enforcement and they had relocated the Tower to Truck 62 but even after the structural reenforcement they decided to keep the Tower as Tower Ladder 62 however there were alot more working fires on the near southeast side in what is now the 5th Battalion, the 2nd Battalion and the 19th Battalion so they relocated the Tower to Truck 37 in 1993 and there was a Tower Ladder coverage gap there. It did make sense to move them there instead of being on the far south end of the city at the time. Tower 24 is also on the far south end however it seems that the 22nd Battalion has been getting more working fires over the last several years in Roseland and Pullman. I had mentioned before the CFD did an in house study in 1986 where they found that were some significant coverage gaps on the far south side which included some gaps where they felt that some new Trucks be put in service to cover some “demand zones” . One of those recommendations were for a new station for Engine 93 and a new Truck company at 103rd and State street and a new house for Engine 75 at 130th street east of Indiana avenue and also a Truck there as well. They also had recommended moving Truck 16 in to Engine 81 house because of a large gap.
If the city ever got around to building a new house for Engine 93 and new Truck company it would make more sense to have the Tower Ladder with Engine 93 which is another reason why it would have made more sense to build several smaller 2 or 3 bay stations then that 4 bay Super Station at 1024 W 119th street. While that new Station for Engine 115 was needed a Super Station of that size wasn’t ,when they could have built several slightly smaller stations which would have better covered the far south side at less of a cost per fire station. I don’t know if the current CFD management is even aware of the study that was done under the Louis Galante administration.
#2 by Danny on June 10, 2022 - 7:40 AM

Bill that makes too much sense… now the rumor going around says tower 24 going back to a truck and making truck 40 a tower
#3 by Bill Post on June 10, 2022 - 2:15 AM

I had heard that Tower 37 was going to have their Tower moved further south however Truck 30 seemed to make more stategic sense to me as it would have been also off of South Chicago avenue as well as further west closer to the expressway. Either way this does put a Tower a little closer to Truck 34.
Truck 34 was a Tower Ladder for about 33 years and only the last few years they were having clearance problems at a some underpasses. So if the underpasses were really a problem then why did they keep Tower Ladder34 in service for over 30 years?
I would have kept them a Tower Ladder and considered purchasing a mid mounted Tower Ladder if necessary as they have lower clearances and E/One does make mid mounted Towers.
#4 by Danny on June 4, 2022 - 10:22 AM

The current tower ladders are

5(E 23) 10(E 4) 14(E 117) 16(E 63) 21(E112) 23(E 108) 24(E115 E75) 39(E 123) 54(E 34) and 63(Ohare)
#5 by Pat on June 4, 2022 - 9:11 AM

TL37 was not too far from TL39, and without TL34 they need a TL closer to the SE side. Makes sense if you look at the OEMC truck map.
#6 by Mike G on June 4, 2022 - 8:42 AM

anyone have a quick rundown of all the Tower Ladders? had to keep up with all the changes and new Towers
#7 by Aidan Hughes on June 3, 2022 - 6:41 AM

It took about two years for Truck 16 to become a Tower Ladder but the day has arrived. Tower Ladder 16 will use Tower 37’s 2016 E-One 100′ RM Tower Ladder while Truck 37 will get one of the 8 new E-One 100′ RM Aerial Ladder Trucks alongside Trucks 34 and 51.
#8 by Chuck on June 2, 2022 - 7:36 PM

Wonder how long it took any number of six figure duckers at 3510 to come up with this bright idea.