Posts Tagged Ford

Fire industry recalls

Firegeezer posted an entry listing several fire apparatus industry related vehicle recalls HERE involving Ford, Kenworth, Pierce, and Sutphen. The contributor, Sam Yardumian, states that …

The most recent recalls, which just arrived on my desk today include several that may be of interest to us.  These are taken from a TMC publication called “Maintenance Matters” which comes out monthly. Most of them are from NHTSA, so not all of them are new.

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Carol Stream is on the site

Carol Stream Fire District patch

In Dupage County (Division 12), the Carol Stream Fire District has three stations. They staff one engine company, one two-piece squad company, one tower ladder, three ambulances, plus a battalion chief. Their apparatus consists of two E-ONE engines, an E-ONE tower ladder, an Alexis engine, plus an Alexis heavy rescue. All of the ambulances are from Life Line on various IHC chassis.

The headquarters station has four drive-through bays, the administrative offices, and a complete training facility which includes a burn tower. This station staffs a battalion car, an ambulance, and a tower ladder quint. It is home to a spare ambulance, an OEM Mobile Command Unit, a spare engine, and two antiques in addition to FPB and other staff vehicles.

Carol Stream Fire District headquarters station and training facility

Carol Stream Station 1 at 35 N. Kuhn Road, has the administrative offices and an extensive training facility complete with a burn tower. Larry Shapiro photo

Keeneyville Fire Protection District 1947 Ford Darley antique pumper

The Carol Stream Fire District web site has a nice history of the department which tells the story of the Keeneyville Fire Protection District and the Carol Stream Company. The fire apparatus for many years was painted black over yellow until 1996 when the yellow was changed to red.

At Station 3 which is located at 1045 Lies Road, Carol Stream runs a two-piece squad company. These units always respond together. The first piece of the company is the squad 235, a 2006 Spartan Gladiator Classic/Alexis 1500/750 pumper squad. The second piece is rescue 235, their brand new 2010 Spartan Metro Star Alexis HDR. The ‘squad’ has a complete complement of hydraulic rescue tools and the ‘rescue’ has supplemental equipment, and air cascade system, and is more of a specialty unit with extensive TRT materials and supplies.

Carol Stream Fire District 2010 Spartan Metro Star Alexis technical rescue unit

Rescue 235 is the 2nd piece of the squad company. It was built by Alexis on a Spartan chassis with a stubby, 2-dr, Metro Star cab. Larry SHapiro photo

Carol Stream Fire District 2010 Spartan Metro Star Alexis technical rescue unit

Both sides of the rescue are packed solid with technical rescue equipment. The hydraulic rescue tools for auto extrications are located on Squad 235 which is the 1st piece of this company. Larry Shapiro photo

Carol Stream Fire District 2010 Spartan Metro Star Alexis technical rescue unit

The rear door of the rescue is designed like a rear ramp on a trailer to permit access to the large lumber stored down the center of the unit. Roof access to reach the top storage compartments is via the folding ladder at the rear. Larry Shapiro photo

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MABAS Division 7 is added to the site

Just when we thought we had a large enough project to undertake … listing each department, each station and every piece of rolling stock in 19 MABAS Divisions … Karl Klotz begins submitting department profiles from a 20th Division, MABAS Division 7 in Kankakee County!

So, we welcome the departments of Division 7 and have posted three of them to get things started.

  • The Grant Park Fire Protection District covers 62 square miles from two stations with 32 paid-on-call firefighters and officers. They have three E-ONE rigs, an engine from American LaFrance, plus ambulances from Horton and Road Rescue. They recently opened a new headquarters station which we mentioned HERE.
Grant Park Fire Department American LaFrance Eagle engine

The Limestone Township Fire Protection District covers a mere 36 square miles from one station with 40 part-time firefighters and officers. They are running with Pierce, Quality, and Ferrara apparatus and Road Rescue ambulances. Their newest piece is a Ferrara Inferno pumper squad that was mentioned HERE.The Limestone Township Fire Protection District station houses two ambulances, two engines, a pumper squad, a tanker, a brush unit and a pickup. Karl Klotz photo

  • In Momence, the fire department covers a whopping 92 square miles with a roster of 35 paid-on-call personnel from one station. They have three engines, a brush rig, two tankers, and a rescue squad. The apparatus was built by E-ONE, Pierce, and 4-Guys, plus one tanker that was built in 1964 by W.S.Darley and re-chassisied in 1989 on a Ford C8000 by Quality Manufacturing. Quality was purchased in 2003 by Spartan and now (with what was Luverne Fire Apparatus) have become what is known as Crimson.
Momence Fire Department Ford Quality Darley tanker

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Lake Villa is on the site

Lake Villa Fire Department patch

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.

Lake Villa Fire Department station

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.

Lake Villa Fire Department Engine 241 Pierce Arrow XT

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.

Lake Villa Rescue Squad Ford Osage Type III ambulance

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.

Lake Villa Fire District Mack CF Pierce engine

Lake Villa Mack CF Pierce engine

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

Annandale, NJ Mack CF engine

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.

Lake Villa Fire Department 1933 Pirsch antique

Lake Villa Fire Department 1968 Mack CF engine

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

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New orders

  • The Waukegan Fire Department, in Division 4 (Lake County) recently placed an order for a KME Severe Service engine.
  • The Long Grove Fire Protection District, in Division 4 (Lake County) recently placed an order with Alexis for a brush rig on a Ford chassis with a body similar in design to Rescue 55 which was built by KME. The new unit will have 300 gallons of water, 10 gallons of foam, and a 500-GPM pump.
  • The Lake Villa Fire District (also in Division 4, Lake County) has two new ambulances on order from Osage Ambulance in Linn, MO. Both will match the fleet and be Type III designs on Ford E450 chassis with one exception. These ambulances will arrive painted red instead of the blue and white color scheme of the existing ambulances which were part of the Lake Villa Rescue Squad. The new units are expected to be delivered in March of 2011.
  • The Evanston Fire Department has ordered a Pierce Arrow XT tractor-drawn aerial. They received a grant to pay for the unit which is expected to be completed in March of 2011.
  • Evanston also is ordering a new ambulance. As of now, we do not have the specs although it is believed to be coming with an IHC chassis like their current units.

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Hebron-Alden-Greenwood FPD is on the site

In McHenry County Division 5, the two stations of the Hebron-Alden-Greenwood Fire Protection District have been added to the site although two apparatus images are missing. They run with four commercial engines utilizing Ford and Freightliner chassis. They have two brush rigs and a 3,500-gallon tanker which formerly saw service in Woodstock. According to their website, the district completed their first year of Advanced Life Support service in February of this year. They have two Type III Medtec ambulances.

Thanks to Bill Friedrich for supplying the images.

Hebron-Alden-Greenwood Fire Protection District IHC 4-Guys tanker

Hebron-Alden-Greenwood Fire Protection District Medtec ambulance

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New ambulance in Franklin Park

We received the following information:
Franklin Park's new ambulance is in service. It's a 2010 Ford/Osage. Different color scheme than usual for them (Franklin Park). It's all white with decals applied to it. ... looks like a demo unit. It's also not numbered as Ambulance 1, it's numbered 482. 

Rick Armentano Jr
Elmwood Park FD

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New Medtec ambulances

Ambulance 15 in Rolling Meadows is slated to be replaced in the next several months with an IHC 4300/Medtec Type I unit.

Ambulance 8 in Elk Grove Village recently received a 2009 Ford E450/Medtec Type III unit.  (sn 8505)

Elk Grove Village Medtec Ambulance

Additionally in Elk Grove, Battalion 2 has a new 2009 Chevy Suburban which is red. This replaces the previous unit that was maroon.

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Chicago apparatus updates

Several Chicago rig photos have been updated, some with new units and others to present a nicer photo. Hank Sajovic, Jack Connors and Steve Redick are to thank for these images.

Chicago Fire Department Engine 69

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Orland is on the site

The Orland Fire Protection District which covers the towns or Orland Park and Orland Hills has been added to the site thanks to Karl Klotz. All six stations can be viewed along with the in-service and reserve apparatus. Karl has one ambulance (#1) yet to photograph before the listings are complete. Orland runs Pierce aerials and the engines are either Pierce or Darley. All of the ambulances were built by Road Rescue and are Type III units on Ford E450 chassis. The newest engines and ambulances were delivered in 2008.

Orland FPD Spartan Darley engine

Orland runs three of these units.

Orland FPD Ford/Road Rescue Type III MICU

Orland has several specialty units as well. They have a haz mat unit, small squad, TRT, dive, communications and a fire investigation unit. A favorite unit for many native Chicagoans is the 55′ Snorkel which is no longer in active service. It is reportedly used for public relations activities and lives at Station 6.

Orland FPD Station 1

Orland Station 1 at 9790 W. 151st Street with traditional red doors labeled with each company. Karl Klotz photo

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