The Gurnee Fire Department in Division 4 (Lake County) has ordered a new ambulance. They are expecting delivery of a 2010, IHC 4300/Wheeled Coach, Type I unit in December. This will replace their Ambulance 1343 which is a 1998, IHC 4700 LoProfile, Road Rescue Type I unit.
Posts Tagged Division 4
Gurnee ambulance
Oct 30
Lake Villa is on the site
Oct 18
Another Lake County (Division 4) department has been added to the site. The Lake Villa Fire Department/Lake Villa Fire District/Lake Villa Rescue Squad is an interesting marriage of resources and organizations. Together, they currently occupy three fire stations in Lake Villa and Lindenhurst. The downtown station and most of the apparatus assigned there is owned by the Lake Villa Fire Department which is a private organization. They do their own fundraising in addition to being paid for contract services from the Lake Villa Fire District. The other two stations and the fire vehicles in them are owned by the Lake Villa Fire District. The ambulances in all three stations which are white and blue, are owned and staffed by the Lake Villa Rescue Squad.
The Lake Villa Fire Department station which has been expanded three times since the original building was constructed. Photo by Hank Sajovic
The Lake Villa Fire Department station in downtown Lake Villa is an interesting building which has had three separate additions built over the years. The building now has eight bays. Each two bay addition has an engraved stone with the year of that particular addition.
All of the fire suppression equipment with the exception of a 1973 CF-Mack/Welch was made by Pierce. This includes four engines, a pumper/squad, a 105′ ladder, and two tankers of which all but one are on Dash chassis. The newest piece is a 2009, Arrow XT engine at station 1.
The rescue squad currently has five Ford/Osage Type III ambulances which are painted in the traditional rescue squad color scheme of blue and white. As mentioned in a previous post HERE, there are two new ambulances on order and they will be red, and lettered for the Lake Villa Fire District as are the current units.
The Mack/Pierce engine shortly after it was purchased. It was Engine 2420 at the time, was purchased by the FIre Department and did not have the Wil-Burt Nightscan mounted on the roof. Lake Villa had been a Mack customer for many years. When Mack stopped building fire trucks, many of its customers continued to buy the CF chassis with other companies completing the unit. Lake Villa's transition to Pierce began with this unit. By the time they were ready to purchase their next vehicle, Mack was no longer offering the CF chassis. Photo by Larry Shapiro
This engine from Annandale, NJ is an example of a four-door fabricated by Mack. The rear doors are recessed, flat, and cover the step. The engine was originally built in 1981 and was updated and refurbished in 1996 by The Swab Wagon Company. Larry Shapiro photo
There are three rather uniquely interesting units on the roster in Lake Villa. One is a 1933 Pirsch antique that’s in great shape. The other two units are a throw back to a time when all of the Lake Villa engines were built by Mack on CF chassis. They have a 1973 CF-Mack that was refurbished with a new body complete with high-side compartments by Welch, and the other is a 1989/1990 CF-Mack/Pierce combination. One trait which makes this unit especially nice is the four-door conversion which was fabricated by Pierce. When Mack enclosed the CF cab with four doors, the rear doors were flat, straight, and set in from the contour of the body by several inches. Pierce fabricated the enclosure using a set of front doors for the rear of the cab which kept the same contours and body lines of the cab from the front to the rear.
This is one of the CF Mack engines that preceded the Pierce units in Lake Villa. Engine 621 as shown here was built in 1969 and carried 750 gallons of water with a 1,000-GPM pump. Larry Shapiro photo
The Newport Township Fire Protection District in Wadsworth (Lake County MABAS Division 4) is now represented on the site. They operate out of two stations and their district runs all the way to the Wisconsin border. This department has three engines, a pumper squad, an elliptical tanker, two ambulances, a brush rig, an ATV on tracks, and two 1980s R-Model Mack trucks that are assigned as TRT support units.
Photo by Larry Shapiro
Station 1 is by the Wadsworth Post Office just off of Wadsworth Road but Station 2 has an interesting story to it in a separate article HERE.
Station 1 is at 39010 Caroline in Wadsworth and is full to the brim with vehicles. Larry Shapiro photo
Another Division 4 department has been added to the site. The Lake Bluff Fire Department is another volunteer department covering the roughly 4 square miles of Lake Bluff along Lake Michigan between Lake Forest and North Chicago. This is mostly a Pierce department with four Pierce units plus a brush rig built by Danko.
There are several interesting points with regard to the apparatus here. First of all, each of the suppression rigs bears a unique name on the front of the cab. Lake Bluff has always gone to the local third grade class for help with a name when a new piece of equipment is ordered. The current names are ‘The Volunteer’, ‘The Defender’, ‘Guardian’, and ‘Centennial Pride’.
Built-in, color-coded, cross-lays are located amidship. Larry Shapiro photo
Rescue 520 has a rear pump along with rescue squad type storage and a full complement of hydraulic tools. Larry Shapiro photo
Lake Bluff has an interesting rescue/pumper. Rescue 520 is a Pierce Saber with a squad body that features a rear 1500-GPM pump, built-in cross-lays, and has a roof-mounted, Will-Burt Night Scan, light tower. As a matter of fact, all three of Lake Bluff’s engines also have a Night Scan.
At one time, all of the Lake Bluff engines were built by Pierce on Ford C-Series chassis. When they purchased their last Ford unit in 1990, they were informed by Pierce that this unit would be the last Ford-C-8000 that Pierce would build on.
Knollwood is on the site
Oct 14
The Knollwood Fire Department covers the 1.5 square mile Rockland Fire Protection District in Division 4. They have one station at 14 Skokie Highway along Route 41 at Route 176. Knollwood is a volunteer department with two engines, a 75′ E-ONE quint, a rescue unit, utility, and a boat which they house that is jointly owned with Lake Bluff and Lake Forest. Knollwood does not have an ambulance and contracts with Lake Forest. Lake Bluff has the same arrangement. Both Knollwood and Lake Bluff have EMTs who respond on EMS runs to arrive prior to one of the ambulances from Lake Forest.
Lake Forest is on the site
Oct 13
In Division 4, the Lake Forest Fire Department‘s two stations have been added to the site. The main station at 255 W. Deerpath Road is packed full of equipment including a buggy, two engines, three ambulances, a tower ladder, squad, utility, boat, and ATV. All but one ambulance has been posted.
The headquarters station at 255 W. Deerpath also houses the police department and dispatch center. Photo by Larry Shapiro
The Lake Forest apparatus was painted all red until 1991 when they purchased four Pierce units which were painted with a white roof. As recently as 2007 they were still using the white over red color scheme when they received Engine 422, a Pierce Dash rescue pumper. In 2008, they took delivery of an IHC/Horton ambulance that was painted black over red. In addition to the new ambulance, the 1994 Pierce Saber was recently sent to Renewed Performance, Inc. (RPI) in Tipton, Indiana to have body work done and it is now black over red as well.
Station 2 on the west end of town was for many years in the old converted Everett School House on Everett Road near Waukegan Road (Rt 43). As the town grew and the area was rebuilt, the school house gave way in 1993 to a new, large firehouse with three drive-though bays, offices for the Fire Prevention Bureau, and classroom space. The new station was built within a block of the old station.
Station 2 is at 1111 S. Telegraph Road, less than a block from the old Everett Road house. The second floor dormers on this large station are cosmetic only. There is no second floor. Photo by Larry Shapiro
New engine for Countryside
Sep 19
In Division 4, Countryside has received another new piece of apparatus. This one built by Rosenbauer Central States is a commercial engine on an IHC WorkStar chassis with a MaxxForce 9 engine. It can be seen HERE on the Rosenbauer website. The new engine has a 1,250-GPM Rosenbauer pump and carries 750 gallons of water.
The new Rosenbauer Central engine for Countryside. Rosenbauer photo
MABAS Response Drill Photos
Aug 31
Another photo gallery has been posted detailing the MABAS 90-90 Response Drill from last Friday. The gallery by Larry Shapiro can be viewed by scrolling down on the page found HERE. Yesterday, Hank Sajovic posted a gallery of images which can be seen HERE.
This is the pad at NIPSTA in preparation for the arrival of 11 task forces, each consisting of nine units. Larry Shapiro photo
This is the view from the same location after all of the task forces were in place. Larry Shapiro photo
Each task force brought three ambulances to the staging area. Larry Shapiro photo
The task force from Lake County (IL) Division 4 is shown arriving at north staging. Larry Shapiro photo
Staff personnel at two computer stations checked in all personnel via bar-coded MABAS issued ID cards. Larry Shapiro photo
Although media coverage for the response drill was extensive, evidently it was all centered at the north staging site at NIPSTA in Glenview. Reportedly the sites in Hoffman Estates and Tinley Park received much less media attention. Larry Shapiro photo
Woodstock is on the site
Jul 18
There are three stations serving the Woodstock Fire District in Division 5 (McHenry County). They cover over 86 miles with a combination paid and part-time staff. Each station runs an ambulance and there is a 105′ Pierce Arrow XT quint at Station 1. Both of the other stations have a Pierce engine, a tanker, and a brush rig. Station 2 houses two antique units which have not yet been photographed. In addition, Hazmat 5, which serves both Divisions 4 and 5 is housed at Woodstock Station 1.
Woodstock Station 2 on Dean Street is the same basic design as Station except that Station 3 has only two bays. Larry Shapiro photo
Stations 2 and 3 share the same design with one exception; Station 2 has three bays and Station 3 has only two. Both have drive-thru bays.
Station 1 has their own creative decal representing the companies assigned there.
Station 3 also has a unique decal.
The newest units in Woodstock are a 2009 Pierce Arrow XT engine and a matching 105′ RM aerial.
Hinsdale is now on the site
Jul 10
Another addition to Division 10 is the Hinsdale Fire Department. They are a single station department with 26 career personnel serving the town of Hinsdale which covers roughly 4.64 square miles in DuPage County. They run two ambulances, three engines, and a tower ladder. Hinsdale has always had a rather unique color scheme shared in this area by only Carol Stream which is also in DuPage County. They both had bright yellow apparatus with black roofs. While Carol Stream changed to black over red several years ago, Hinsdale still maintained their entire fleet of suppression vehicles in the black over yellow colors until recently. In 2008, they received their newest unit, a Spartan/Rosenbauer/Metz Raptor tower ladder which was painted black over red. There is one other department locally with this unique aerial device, and that’s the Countryside Fire Protection District in Division 4 (Lake County). While both of these towers are on short, single axle chassis, the Countryside unit is on an HME chassis and has a white roof.
This color scheme is unique to the area but does not appear to be around for too much longer.
The newest unit arrived with a traditional 'Chicago-style' paint scheme.
Thanks to Karl Klotz for providing all of the Hinsdale images.
