The following departments have been added to the new site.
There have been some updates of newer or current apparatus, but most likely they are not completely accurate. Any assistance would be appreciated with regards to missing photos and fact checking department specs etc.
With the help of Palatine FD Battalion Chief Doug Hoyt, the Palatine Fire Department station listings have been updated and are current.
A note from the webmaster:
I’d like to apologize to everyone who follows the website (in addition to the blog) for the lack of updates, changes and modernization of the main website. When the site was designed and went live in August of 2009, fire departments and districts throughout the region were added along with updates to stations and apparatus. In an effort to create a layout that I felt would be easy to view and navigate, the site was created using three different pieces of software. As time went on, the site grew, the blog evolved, and the monumental task of finishing the site became tremendous. It got to the point where a new department could be added in roughly the same time it took to update one or two rigs. Needless to say, this became unworkable. Consider that it took just under 20 minutes to add a new vehicle purchased to the page of a department on the site. There had to be a revamp of the entire site to make things more manageable.
As a stopgap measure, I made sure to post on the blog all new apparatus submitted while saving the images in a folder for updating the stations when possible. The current site has probably not been updated in over a year which is not acceptable.
After sampling several different software solutions to accomplish this, the project is well underway at this time. The job of recreating each and every department/station already on the site plus those that have never yet been posted is to say the least monumental.
It was initially my wish to complete the new site and make a one-time change to the new pages but that could still be months away. So, the current site Chicagoareafire.com is still online alongside the new site Chicagoareafire.com/dev which is under development but available for anyone to access.
To date, the Chicago Fire Department is online along with MABAS Division 1, MABAS Division 3, and a portion of MABAS Division 4. Some of the new deliveries have been added to replace older rigs but many have not. Several contributors have been instrumental in assisting with the process of updating departments.
I welcome corrections and submissions as things progress. Please feel free to browse the site and submit constructive comments or corrections via webmaster@chicagoareafire.com. I need to know what’s changed and welcome photos to fill the voids.
If your department has been added to the new site, please take a moment to verify the stats (personnel, frequency, district size, station addresses) that are listed. Apparatus may have been retired or relocated since they were added to the site and that information is needed.
You can tell when departments have been added to the site when there is a white box around the station photo on the MABAS division page and the link is active.
Take the new site for a spin … there are several ways to navigate through dropdown menus and full pages.
Most of all, please be patient. It’s a long and involved process that has to find it’s way into a busy schedule to get completed.
Thankyou
The addition of the Bridgeview Fire Department completes the entire list of departments now in MABAS Division 21. The following information is from Keith Grzadziel
Bridgeview Fire Department Station 1. Larry Shapiro photo
•Station #1 7500 S. Oketo Ave. Bridgeview, IL 60455
Engine Co. 416 (front line)
Engine Co. 425 (reserve)
Ambulance 417
Battalion 40 (Car 403)
Car 400
•Station #2 7350 W. 100th Pl. Bridgeview, IL 60455
Engine Co. 405 (front line)
Engine Co. 415 (reserve)
Ambulance 406
Ambulance 426 (reserve)
Brush 407
Car 401 (spare pool)
Daily staffing is 9 personnel until we hire ????
5 @ Sta. #1( BC or Lt in car, 2 on Eng, 2 on Amb)
4 @ Sta.#2 (2 on Eng, 2 on Amb)
*Sta. #2 can drop down to 3 and act as a jump company.
The Burbank Fire Department has been added to MABAS Division 21. They have two stations and a fleet of suppression units on Spartan chassis. Two were built by Crimson (an engine and quint), two by General Safety (an engine and the squad), and one engine by Ferrara.
Burbank covers four square miles from two stations. They also have three ambulances, one of which is a reserve.
In MABAS Division 12, the Hanover Park Fire Department has now been added to the site. They run out of two stations in addition to managing the city Department of Inspection Services with offices in the city hall.
They have four engines, one tower ladder, four medic units, a regional rehab unit, the brand new haz mat unit, and a bunch of support vehicles.
Hanover Park Fire Station 1. Larry Shapiro photo
Hanover Park Medic 381. Larry SHapiro photo
Hanover Park Engine 361. Larry Shapiro photo
Hanover Park Rehab 374. Larry Shapiro photo
LaGrange Park is in MABAS Division 10. They have two stations covering 2.3 square miles. Station 1 is staffed and Station 2 unmanned. Staffing is provided by four contract medics and 46 paid-on-call personnel. The fleet consists of three engines, a truck, an ambulance, and a utility buggy.
La Grange Park Fire Station 1. Larry Shapiro photo
Aug 4
The Lyons Fire Department apparatus photos have been updated on the site. Also, the MABAS Division 10 MVU has been added to the page.
The Forest View Fire Department has been added to the departments in MABAS Division 10. They cover four square miles from one station with three carer and 19 part-time personnel. The fleet consists of one ambulance, two engines, and three support vehicles.
Forest View fire station. Larry Shapiro photo
Brookfield Fire Department headquarters. Larry Shapiro photo
The Brookfield Fire department in MABAS Division 10 has been added to the site. 24 career firefighters cover 3 square miles from two stations. Their suppression fleet is all E-ONE and they have two ambulances from LifeLine.
One interesting note is Reserve Engine 412 was built in 1986 by E-ONE on a chassis by Kovatch (KME) who had recently purchased the Hendrickson fire chassis. The cab is an 1871-W from the Hendrickson line before Kovatch began building their own.
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For the finest department portraits and composites contact Tim Olk or Larry Shapiro.
