Posts Tagged Barrington Fire Department

Barrington Fire Department news

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

Barrington officials announced Thursday the hire of John Christian as the new fire chief, effective next month. Christian comes from the Grayslake Fire Protection District, where he’s been chief since 2009.

He started 33 years ago at the Grayslake Fire District, which covers about 25 square miles in Grayslake, Third Lake, Round Lake Park, Round Lake Beach, and unincorporated areas of Lake County. He has experience in heading a fire department that must navigate train blockages to handle emergency calls — a longtime issue in Barrington.

Christian is a past president of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association and served in the Illinois Army National Guard 1/131st Infantry, where he was honorably discharged as a sergeant in 1994. He was a captain in Grayslake when he became fire chief in 2009.

Tags: , , ,

New ambulance for Barrington (more)

From the Fire Service, Inc. Facebook page:

Congratulations Barrington Fire Department on the recent delivery of a new 2020 Wheeled Coach Type I ambulance!

Thank you for your continued loyalty & trust in Fire Service, Inc. to provide your community with reliable equipment!

Specs: Highly customized interior to provide continuity of service to the agency, Weldon VMUX Multiplex system, Stryker Power Load & Power Cot System, Cool Bar HVAC System, IMMI Per4Max 4-point restraint system, & Whelen full LED interior/exterior lighting package.

new Ford/Wheeled Coach Type I ambulance

Fire Service Inc photo

new Ford/Wheeled Coach Type I ambulance

Fire Service, Inc. photo

new Ford/Wheeled Coach Type I ambulance

Fire Service, Inc. photo

new Ford/Wheeled Coach Type I ambulance

Fire Service, Inc. photo

thanks Ron

Tags: , , , , , ,

New ambulance for Barrington (more)

submitted by a reader as found on Facebook – date unknown

Barrington firefighters inspect new ambulance

new ambulance for the Barrington FD

new ambulance for the Barrington FD

Tags: , ,

Barrington Fire Department news

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

Four month old Scarlett Soeder was the star of Monday night’s Barrington village board meeting.

Two months ago Barrington firefighters and police rushed to Scarlett’s home when her mother called 911 to report Scarlett didn’t have a pulse and was not breathing. The first responders police officers and firefighter/paramedics who saved Scarlett were honored at the village board session.

Reading from an account by the Northwest Community Emergency Medical Services System, Barrington Fire Chief Jim Arie said a police officer started CPR on Scarlett just before firefighters arrived Nov, 20. The officer, John McGowan, then handed Scarlett to Assistant Fire Chief Bruce Peterson, who continued chest compressions. In the ambulance, firefighters continued the chest compressions and performed other lifesaving measures.

Once she arrived at the hospital, Scarlett, who didn’t have any previous medical problems, was moving all her limbs and breathing without assistance. Sher underwent emergency surgery for a heart defect and she’s now healthy. 

Arie said the outcome was an example of how Barrington firefighters and police — both headquartered in a public safety building on Northwest Highway — work well together. He said the firefighters and police interact daily in the same complex, sometimes sharing meals or just chatting.

Tags: , , ,

Barrington Fire Department news

Excerpts from the Dailyherald.com:

With a state-mandated retirement age looming, Barrington Fire Chief Jim Arie will retire March 6 under an agreement that was approved by the village board Monday night. The agreement calls for Arie, who started in Barrington in 2003, to receive a $30,000 lump-sum payment along with cash compensation for all earned and accrued vacation and personal time.

The village is working with GovHR USA in seeking applicants for his replacement through Jan. 22. Arie will turn 65 on Aug. 3 and by state law he would have had to retire the day before. Instead, he chose to exit five months early.

Barrington officials credited Arie for his leadership in public safety and promoting the need for a Northwest Highway underpass at the Canadian National Railway tracks near Lake Zurich Road. He stressed how the underpass would eliminate train blockages for ambulances trying to reach Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital from Barrington’s southeast side.

Arie was the Frankfort Fire Protection District’s deputy chief when Barrington hired him in 2003. He started his career as a firefighter and paramedic in Urbana in 1976 and shifted to Champaign in 1979. In 1987, he became the first director of the ambulance service for Champaign’s city hospital. In 1995, Arie became deputy fire administrator of the New Lenox Fire Protection District and deputy chief of the Frankfort Fire District in 1998.

He was a regional leader during his time in Barrington, working with other suburban fire chiefs on the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System. He most recently has been Barrington’s emergency operations coordinator on top of his fire chief duties, which village records show paid a base salary of roughly $132,000.

Arie, who was married over the weekend, said in retirement he plans to travel, “play bad golf” and keep up with his son who is in the military.

Tags: , , ,

Barrington Fire Department news

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Four Barrington volunteer firefighters with nearly a century of service between them have retired. John Matlachwski, Tim Tuffy, Brian McCarthy, and Eric Jopp answered their final call Sept. 13 in front of the Public Safety Building, but will remain engaged in other careers.

Matlachwski, 60, retired as a full-time firefighter, and the other three answered their final call because the department is eliminating the paid on-call program where part-timers are paid for the shift they work. Fire Chief Jim Arie said the program is over because fire insurers are requiring all firefighters, volunteer or full-time, to have the same training and that is not feasible for the paid on-call staff.

Matlachwski had wanted to be a firefighter since he was a youngster, but had to wait until he was 18 to apply. He was then voted in by the department as a volunteer and eventually became a full-timer. He also is an electrician and will continue in that business.

McCarthy is now a double retiree. He said he is also retired from Cook County, where he did maintenance work at the Rolling Meadows courthouse. He also wanted to do something good for his community, so he joined the fire department.

Arie led the ceremony, explaining sounding the final general alarm for the four men, the gift to them of flags which once flew over the firehouse, and handing them their retirement badges.

The four firefighters did a final inspection, reviewing their colleagues who stood at attention. The ranks broke for handshakes and hugs.

Tags: , , , ,

Barrington Fire Department news

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Barrington Fire Chief Jim Aire and Barrington School District 220 Superintendent Brian Harris remember the time a teacher collapsed at Barrington High School and the instructor’s colleagues, the school nurse, and fire department paramedics all had a role in saving a life. 

The Illinois Department of Public Health gave the fire department the Ron W. Lee, MD — Excellence in Pediatric Care Award in community service May 21 during a Board of Education meeting.

Dr. Charles Nozicka, a physician at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge who presented the award, said the department has a strong commitment to children. Not only has the department worked with students, teachers, and staff during fire and active shooter drills, it has conducted special training for faculty and other workers in the event they need to help in those situations. Members of the Barrington Fire Department taught over 500 teachers and staff how to provide emergency first aid bleeding control.

Preparation is also part of the effort as it was when the collapsed teacher’s life was saved. There are AEDs in every school in the district. The nurses and teachers know how to use them, as well as how to administer CPR. Along with training teachers and staff, the department works with students on what to do during an evacuation drill – whether for fire or something else.

The award is named for Lee, who was the emergency department medical director at Loyola University Medical Center. Lee worked with the IDPH more than 20 years ago to help obtain federal grants for emergency medical services for children.

Tags: ,

Barrington Fire Department news

Excerpts from the dailyherald.com:

Barrington firefighters responded to a fire Tuesday morning at a three-unit apartment building in the 300 block of East Russell Street. One person was treated and released at the scene.

A resident called the fire department at 7:49 a.m. after seeing smoke coming from the first floor where a sauna was located. When firefighters arrived, they found heavy smoke and fire and did not immediately know whether other residents were home. They brought the fire under control within 27 minutes.

One unit sustained heavy fire damage while the other two units had smoke damage. The entire building was declared uninhabitable and residents are being assisted by the Red Cross with relocation and other immediate needs. The cause of the fire remains under investigation but is not being considered suspicious.

Assisting Barrington were firefighters from the Barrington Countryside FPD, Lake Zurich, Fox River Grove, Long Grove, Buffalo Grove, and Wauconda.

Tags: ,

Barrington Fire Department news

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

ComEd and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus will provide $10,000 for the village of Barrington’s purchase of two Lucas CPR mechanical assist devices. The battery-powered units enhance paramedics’ efforts for cardiac arrest patients through automated chest compressions, allowing paramedics to concentrate on more advanced resuscitative skills, such as IV access, medication delivery, defibrillation and advanced airway management.

Tags: ,

Barrington Fire Department news

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

Ten years ago, Barrington residents predicted that running enormous CN trains on the EJ & E tracks through town would clog traffic, and slow emergency personnel and ambulances.

On June 12 at 4:41 p.m., those warnings coalesced when a stalled CN train bisected the village during the afternoon rush. Among the thousands of vehicles caught in the jam were ambulances headed to Good Shepherd Hospital with two patients from a DUI crash at Ela Road and Northwest Highway.

“Do we have any idea where this stopped train is extending from?” a Barrington paramedic radioed in a video provided by the village last week. “I’m not sure which direction I should head in.”

As firefighters quickly found out, all four CN crossings — at Main Street, Hough Street (Route 59), Northwest Highway and Lake Zurich Road — were inaccessible, and trains on an intersecting rail line also backed up.

While traffic gridlock spiraled, Barrington police who had coalesced south of the tracks to handle the DUI crash reached out to neighboring departments. “Can you please let Lake Zurich PD, Lake County and Barrington Hills know on our northwest side we have no officers on right now. So if we need assistance we’ll be calling them,” a dispatcher asked.

Some desperate commuters ducked under train cars to reach the opposite side. “There are numerous people who are actually crawling over the train that’s stopped here,” a 911 caller reported. “It’s getting more and more dangerous — there are kids doing it as well.”

Nearly one hour later, the train started moving again.

Tags: ,