Photos by Steve Redick of the scene at 381 Rose Street in Schiller Park Monday morning (1/23/17) for fire in a warehouse.
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
and a brief video of CFD 9-2-4 the MVU from O’Hare clearing the warehouse of smoke
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Franklin Park Fire Chief William Brehm recently asked the village board to consider purchasing a new truck.
He told them that the village’s current reserve engine had undergone at least $170,000 in repairs over the last 10 years. Meanwhile, the ladder truck has undergone about $278,000 in repairs over 16 years. Because of this, he said he would like the village to invest in a new quint from Emergency One Inc. that would consolidate the functions of these other two, older trucks.
In his proposal to trustees, Brehm said the purchase of a quint would cost the village about $75,000 a year for 12 years, for a total cost of $900,000, if the department sells its vehicles — the current ladder truck and fire engine — to Emergency One.
“[Emergency One] came in and looked at the engine and ladder truck we currently have and said they would give us top dollar for those to make our first payment [towards the quint],” Brehm said. “So if we find a buyer who is willing to pay more than what [Emergency One] is offering, we can get that. Otherwise, [Emergency One] is going to give us enough money to serve as a down payment. That means that two years after purchase will be the first payment [to Emergency One] from the village.”
Brehm also said that the quint would give the fire department more flexibility as the current ladder truck can’t be used on narrow streets, but the quint can. Additionally, he said the quint would be able to carry more tools, such as foam to put out vehicle fires, and ground ladders in addition to its pre-piped, 100-foot aerial ladder and 500-gallon water tank with a 1,500-GPM pump.
During the presentation, Mayor Barrett Pedersen asked what grants were available to offset the cost of the quint. Brehm said his staff was continuing to push toward grants to pay for the purchase. However, Brehm said Emergency One was expected to raise the price for the quint truck after the fall.
From Steve Redick at the Box Alarm fire at 1040 W. North Avenue in Melrose Park (2/23/16)
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
From the Foster Coach Sales Facebook page:
Brand new Chevy chassis on a Medix Type III
Foster Coach Sales photo
New ambulance for the Franklin Park FD. Foster Coach Sales photo
Excerpts from theChicagoTribune.com:
Franklin Park Fire Chief Steve Iovinelli is retiring.
“On Sept. 29, 1980, I started my career with the Franklin Park Fire Department. I’ll be completing my journey retiring on my 35th anniversary,” Iovinelli said.
Before joining the department, Iovinelli had been working alongside his father at a heating and air conditioning company. In his mid-20s he said he saw an ad for the Franklin Park Fire Department and after passing the fire exam, began a career that spanned over three decades with Franklin Park.
In his time with the department, he’s served as secretary of its pension board for 21 years and has worked to stay current as a paramedic in good standing with Loyola University. In June of 2010, he became the department’s interim fire chief before being officially appointed to the position in September later that year. Iovinelli is described as having the respect and admiration of rank and file members of the department and knowledge as a firefighter and fire chief that Village President Barrett Pedersen called astronomical.
During his time as chief, Iovinelli was able to successfully pursue over a million dollars of grants for the village and oversee an initiative to have the village’s fire department go back to offering paramedic services, a move he said allowed the village to save money by not outsourcing it to private companies.
Battalion Chief Bill Brehm, who’s been with the department since 1993, will succeed Iovinelli as Franklin Park’s new fire chief.
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Franklin Park’s firefighters’ union is turning to arbitration to hash out a new contract with the village more than a year after the firefighters’ last deal expired.
“For the last 50 years, we have been able to sit down and work things out to avoid ever going to the last resort,” said Douglas Halverson, president of the International Association of Firefighters Franklin Park Local 1526. “Tens of thousands have already been spent negotiating and that number will double by the end of arbitration.”
Halverson made his comments to the Franklin Park Village Board during the public comment section of the board’s meeting Monday evening. Arbitration over the contract was scheduled to begin Wednesday, July 15.The contract isn’t the only issue the firefighters’ union wants to go to arbitration over — Halverson says they also want to take up a number of grievances at another set of hearings. Those include going two years without raises, the closing of a fire station, having union members staff an ambulance at a lesser wage, and the village not hiring additional firefighters to bring the department to full capacity.
“When you sit down in executive session, have you asked, ‘Why so many grievances now?’ Have you asked why we filed an unfair labor practice?” he said to the board. “Have you asked, ‘How we can avoid arbitration?’ This union only put ink to paper after failed attempts to resolve these issues.”
According to documents obtained by the Franklin Park Herald-Journal, the most recent agreement with the union lasted from May 1, 2012, until April 30, 2014. Negotiations between the village and the firefighters’ union began months before the expiration of that agreement and have continued into this year.
Halverson went on to say the reason the union agreed to concessions, like staffing the ambulance at a lesser wage and trying to “do more with less,” was that the village said it was in a deficit five years ago and the union was under the impression that, once the most recent contract expired, the village would fund the department better.
“For the first time in my career, we staff a ladder truck with two firefighters. This is unsafe,” said Halverson.
Franklin Park officials believe they’ve offered the union a fair deal, according to an emailed statement from the village’s attorney.
“The village has negotiated with the fire department’s union in good faith and has strived to accommodate many of the issues raised by the union’s leadership … the village believes the compensation package offered to the union’s leadership is fair and equitable and will continue to work toward a reasonable resolution of the union’s salary and other financial demands.”
Unlike litigation, arbitration takes place out of court. The two sides choose an impartial third party, an arbitrator, to oversee a hearing where each side presents evidence and testimony. The union and the village will split the cost of the arbitrator’s services, according to the most recent union contract. The arbitrator will then submit a ruling on the conflict within 30 days of the hearings and the decision will be final and binding to all parties.
The Franklin Park Herald Journal has an article about the closing of a fire station in Franklin Park.
The village of Franklin Park stopped staffing its fire station on Elm Street on May 1 due to changes in calls and rail traffic. As anyone driving through Franklin Park knows, the village is divided by rail tracks. The eastern section of Franklin Park used to be split off from the rest of the village by north and southbound tracks.
The Elm Street station, located on the eastern border of Franklin Park between Parklane and Franklin Avenue, was primarily responsible for calls in that portion of the village. “That (Elm Street) station was primarily (built) there because it was inaccessible when trains were coming through town,” Fire Chief Steve Iovinelli said. That changed, however, in 2007 when the Grand Avenue underpass was finally completed. Trains no longer stopped emergency vehicles and other traffic.
Earlier this year, Iovinelli started looking at call numbers. He found three things:
• From 2010 to 2013, only 9.5 percent of all calls to the fire department came from the section of Franklin Park covered by the Elm Street station
• Call volume north of the Canadian Pacific tracks — which run east and west near downtown — had increased. The area north of the Canadian Pacific tracks includes much of the industrial section of the village as well as residents.
• Rail traffic along those tracks increased about 25 to 30 percent over the last few years.
As a result of these changes, Iovinelli said the ambulance at the Elm Street station was responding to more calls north of the rail tracks and, because of increased train traffic, taking longer.
The ambulance from Elm Street is now based at the main fire station at Addison and Scott Street. The station at Atlantic & Franklin Avenue will now be the first responder for all calls south of the Canadian Pacific rail tracks including the section of town previously handled by the Elm Street station.
thanks Dan
The Franklin Park Herald Journal has an article about a Federal Grant for the Franklin Park Fire Department:
Franklin Park is getting $461,724 to hire new firefighters and paramedics. The money comes from a grant issued by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The village applied for the grant in September 2013. U. S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-5), who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, pushed for the village to get the grant.
In April 2013, when firefighters signed a two-year contract with the village, Chief Steve Iovinelli said there were 39 firefighters plus the chief. That number had dropped through attrition from seven years earlier, when the department had 46 firefighters and 12 contract paramedics.
The grant is not renewable. However, the fire department can reapply for another grant.
Images from Steve Redick from the scene of a working fire at 9017 Grand in River Grove on Thursday evening.
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
This is the 3rd and final part of Harry Pederson’s retrospective on the Franklin Park Fire Department fleet. This post highlights cars for chief officers and staff. The previous post, part 2, featured fire suppression units, and the first post highlighted ambulances.
Part 3 staff vehicles
thanks Harry
For the finest department portraits and composites contact Tim Olk or Larry Shapiro.
