Posts Tagged Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger

Glenview fire chief to retire

Nov 8

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 4 Comments

The Glenview Announcements has an article about the upcoming retirement Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger:

Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger doesn’t deny most firefighters like him get an adrenaline rush from running into burning buildings. And he’s seen his share of accidents and misfortune — floods, car wrecks, plane crashes and tornadoes.

Still, nothing compares to his two weeks in New Orleans and St. Bernard Parish, where in August 2005 the deadly Hurricane Katrina killed more than 1,800. Globerger managed an emergency aid team of 100, finding 145 bodies and rescuing 12.

On Dec. 19, Globerger will retire after 27 years with Glenview Fire Department, eight as chief. He wants to care for his wife, Claudia, who has multiple sclerosis, and live in the country and raise alpachas, which look similar to llamas.

“It’s time to put her first. I’ve been playing fireman all these years. Claudia had to quit work and it’s a daily struggle. We’re moving to the Kentucky/Tennessee border,” he said.

Globerger’s brother and son are firefighters, and as a youth he signed up for a cadet program at Knollwood Fire Department. “I was only 15 years old and you had to be 16. I lied to get it. I knew what I wanted to become.”

Globerger, 51, oversees 81 employees and five fire stations. In citing current challenges, Globerger said Glenview’s senior population is increasing and put demands on village emergency medical services. This year his department had 10 percent more medical calls.

Deputy Chief Ralph Ensign has been named the new Glenview fire chief.

Tags: fire chief to retire, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger, Glenview Fire Department, Glenview Fire Department Deputy Chief Ralph Ensign

Glenview Deputy Chief promoted to Fire Chief

Oct 12

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

This from the Village of Glenview:

DEPUTY CHIEF ENSIGN TO BE GLENVIEW’S NEW FIRE CHIEF

October 7, 2014 – Deputy Fire Chief Ralph Ensign has been picked to become the Glenview Fire Department’s new chief. Ensign will succeed Chief Wayne Globerger, who retires December 19, 2014 after 27 years with the department.

A native of Northfield and graduate of New Trier High School, Ensign joined the Glenview Fire Department in February 2008 as Deputy Fire Chief. He started his fire service career as a firefighter/paramedic with the Winnetka Fire Department in 1976, after earning a bachelor’s degree in fire service management from Southern Illinois University. He served as temporary Fire Chief of the Winnetka Fire Department in 2010, while a permanent chief was sought.

Hired by the Highland Park Fire Department in 1978, he was promoted to lieutenant in 1989; to captain in 1991, and left in 2008 as a battalion chief. Ensign has also been a paid-on-call and paid-on-premise firefighter with the Northfield Fire-Rescue Department, where his father retired as assistant chief in 1979.

As Deputy Fire Chief, Ensign has been responsible for managing daily operations for the department’s more than 80 employees and five fire stations. For the last two years, a major task for Ensign has been planning and managing construction of a replacement fire station in the downtown Glenview area. The new Fire Station 6 being built just south of Village Hall, at 1215 Waukegan Road, is expected to be operational by the end of the year.

Ensign was a founding member of and assisted in the development of the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) Division III Hazardous Materials Response Team.

Tags: Deputy Fire Chief Ralph Ensign, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger, Glenview Fire Department, Ralph Ensign to become Glenview Fire Chief

Glenview Fire Chief to retire

Oct 12

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 10 Comments

This from the Village of Glenview:

FIRE CHIEF WAYNE GLOBERGER TO RETIRE

October 7, 2014 – After 27 years with the Glenview Fire Department – eight of them as Fire Chief – Wayne Globerger has announced his retirement. Globerger’s last day with the department will be December 19, 2014.

Globerger began his career with the Knollwood Fire Department in Lake County and then spent two years with the St. Augustine Fire Department in Florida. He joined the Glenview department in 1987 as a firefighter/paramedic and moved steadily up the ranks. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1996, to captain in 2001 and to deputy chief in 2003, becoming responsible for managing daily operations for the department’s more than 80 employees and five fire stations.

Under Globerger’s leadership, the department reconstructed Fire Station 7 at 3507 Glenview Road; remodeled Fire Station 8 at 1901 Landwehr Road; and planned the replacement facility for Fire Station 6, which is now under construction south of the Village Hall at 1215 Waukegan Road. A joint fire/police fire investigation team was implemented. In 2012, the Villages of Glenview and Northfield began sharing the response capabilities of an aerial ladder truck, an arrangement that more effectively and efficiently uses resources.

In September 2005, Globerger led a crew of about 60 Illinois firefighters in Louisiana’s St. Bernard Parish following Hurricane Katrina.

He has served as the president of the MABAS Division III Executive Board since 2010. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Northeastern Illinois Public Safety Training Academy (NIPSTA) since 2008 and since 2011 as Chairman of the Fire Core Cost Containment Committee for Northwest Municipal Conference’s Suburban Purchasing Co-op.

“Looking back at my career, it’s been wonderful,” Globerger said. ”I’ve enjoyed working with Village staff, the public and my peers. I will miss the people who have touched my life.”

Tags: fire chief announces his retirement, Fire Chief Wayne Globerger, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger, Glenview Fire Department

State legislation concerns local municipalities (more)

May 13

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News | Comments off

The Chicago Tribune has more on the controversy surround Illinois House Bill 5485:

For much of the year, three Glenview firefighters work on each engine company — despite a federal standard that calls for at least four, according to Glenview fire Chief Wayne Globerger. Globerger said the village tries to follow suggestions from the National Fire Protection Association, but it also has to watch spending. “In the suburbs, it’s a different story,” he said. “Our fires are fewer and far between, and we have mutual aid. We rely on our neighbors a lot more.”

But Globerger and some other fire chiefs and elected officials in suburbs like Highland Park and Wilmette fear a bill in Springfield could force them to hire more firefighters, resulting in increased property taxes or cuts to other public services.

Supporters of the bill, currently in a Senate committee, that would amend state law to let unions negotiate staffing levels in contract talks say firefighters should have that right, given the often dangerous nature of the job. The bill, they say, will prevent lawsuits.

“As they reduce manpower, my co-workers are put at higher and higher risk,” said Eamon O’Dowd, a Glenview firefighter for 18 years and president of the Glenview Professional Firefighters Association Local 4186.

Under state law, firefighters have collective bargaining rights. When issues of wages, hours or working conditions are unresolved, they can be subject to binding arbitration. The bill, sponsored by state Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, adds staffing to the list.

“We’ve been able to negotiate manning and arbitrators have had jurisdiction to rule on this for almost three decades,” said Pat Devaney, president of the Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois and advocate for the bill.

This bill just clarifies that minimum staffing can be negotiated, he said. That explanation hasn’t reassured municipal leaders, who say they should have the final word on keeping residents safe while balancing the local budget.

At a recent Highland Park City Council meeting, Mayor Nancy Rotering asked residents to urge their local senator to oppose the bill.

“If more money has to go to supplying unnecessary labor, or employees, that’s money that’s been removed from our budget for other public safety or public works needs,” Rotering said.

Wilmette fire Chief Jim Dominik said the legislation was unnecessary and contrary to efforts to keep costs low by partnering with other communities. “When you look at a fire department independently, you might say we don’t have enough people,” Dominik said. “But it’s different when you look at how we work with our neighbors.”

Highland Park fire Lt. Steve Horne was one of the first firefighters on the scene of a house fire in December. On that cold morning, firefighters risked their lives rescuing an unconscious man in the basement. “Every day, we work in an environment that could lead to our death,” Horne said. “We should have the ability to say how our job can be done safely.”

thanks Dan

Tags: Eamon O’Dowd, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger, Glenview Professional Firefighters Association Local 4186, Illinois HB 5485, National Fire Protection Association, thoughts and discussion on Illinois House Bill 5485, Wilmette Fire Chief Jim Dominik

Glenview FD building new fire station headquarters

Oct 12

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Service News | 4 Comments

The TribLocal has an article about Glenview trustees concerned about the final cost of the new Glenview FIre Department headquarters Station 6.

Glenview trustees have expressed concern about the rising cost of the village’s new downtown fire department headquarters.

Officials originally estimated the building at 1215 Waukegan Road would cost about $5.44 million. But at a recent village meeting, the project’s developers warned that the price may rise about 15 percent, or about $816,000, over the initial estimate because of the expansions and additional architectural features that were recommended to be added to the designs by officials at previous meetings.

The new fire station is slated for the site of a former police station. It’s needed because a four-story development now under construction forced one of the village’s fire stations out of its previous location at 1815 Glenview Road. While the new headquarters is under construction, a temporary fire station opened at the intersection of Glenview Road and Roosevelt Avenue earlier this spring.

Village trustees approved a conditional use ordinance, final site review and preliminary subdivision approval for the fire station on Oct. 1. Crews started to put up construction fences around the site on Monday, preparing for the demolition of the former police station building. But the project’s budget isn’t scheduled to be finalized until a November trustees meeting. Because of the holdup with finalization of the project, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger said he expects the construction to finish a couple of months behind the original target of June or July of 2014.

Some trustees questioned the need for an expanded fire station, which added about $375,000 to the project, and said they’d like to stick to the original estimated budget cost.

Trustee Deborah Karton reminded officials about the importance of the look of the building that would be in the downtown area, for which officials spent a long time developing a vision and a plan.

Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger said his goal is to make sure the building is functional. He explained that having an expanded fire station, which would have space for three additional bunks and an extra half bay, helps the department prepare for different future scenarios. He mentioned a possibility of consolidating the nearby Fire Station 13 with the new one.

The issue of the building’s “street appeal” is affecting the cost.

Globerger said that there has been some talk among village officials about possibly moving the village campus next to the recently built Glenview Police Department headquarters at 2500 E. Lake Ave.

This idea is still being discussed but could affect the exterior design of the new fire station, he said. At the moment, the village hall looks very different from the village trustees’ vision of what downtown Glenview should look like.

“We’re trying to get pricing both ways,” Globerger said. “… The question is how fancy do they want the outside of the fire station to look?”

Previous posts on the new fire station are HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Tags: Glenview building new fire headquarters, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger, Glenview Fire Department, new fire station for Glenview FD

Glenview box alarm for high-rise fire 9-11-13 (more)

Sep 17

Posted by Admin in Fire Service News, Firefighting Video | Comments off

The Chicago Tribune has an article stating that the high-rise fire at 3925 Triumvera Drive on 9-11-13 was caused by cigarettes.

Cigarettes sparked the fire in Glenview last week from which a mother and her 14-year-old son had to be rescued, according to authorities.

“The cause of fire was smoking, misplaced cigarettes,” said Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger.

The blaze broke out in a bedroom of a man’s apartment at around 12:30 a.m. Sept. 11, on the ninth floor of a high-rise condo building at 3925 Triumvera Drive. About 40 firefighters worked to extinguish the fire, evacuating every resident from the 16-story building, Globerger said.

Glenbrook South High School student Sungwon Choi and his mother were stuck on a balcony of their apartment, which was adjacent to the fire, and had to be rescued via a 100-foot ladder. The blaze was put out in minutes, and no one needed treatment at a hospital. But the fire caused about $500,000 in damage to the building, mainly affecting two units on the ninth floor and one on the eighth floor, Globerger said.

Most of the residents of the building are back in their apartments, but for some it may take months before their condominiums are livable once again.

Larry Shapiro also posted this short video of the fire scene

Tags: fire at 3925 Triumvera Drive, firefighting video, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger, Glenview Fire Department, Glenview firefighters rescue two from 9th floor balcony, high-rise fire in Glenview IL, Pierce aerial ladder, video of fire scene

Glenview box alarm for High-rise fire 9-11-13 (more)

Sep 16

Posted by Admin in Apparatus on-scene, Fire, Fire Service Photos | Comments off

A few images from Larry Shapiro of the high-rise fire scene last week at Triumvera in unincorporated Cook County, covered by the Glenview Fire Department.

Larry Shapiro photo

Tags: fire at 3925 Triumvera Drive, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger, Glenview Fire Department, High-rise fire, high-rise fire scene photos, Larry Shapiro, Pierce ladder truck reaches 9th floor balcony

Glenview box alarm for high-rise fire 9-11-13

Sep 11

Posted by Admin in Fire | 2 Comments

The Chicago Tribune has an article about a fire this morning in Glenview. Fire on the 9th floor and two walked down the aerial ladder.

WGN-TV

Glenview firefighters made a dramatic rescue of two people from a high-rise apartment fire overnight.

Firefighters arrived on scene to the fire at 3925 Triumvera Drive at 12:30am to find flames shooting out a 9th floor window, as a 14-year-old boy and his mother waited for help on their nearby balcony.

Emergency crews evacuated the entire building, while firefighters used their ladder truck to reach the 9th floor balcony. Sungwon Choi, 14, and his mother were safely rescued down the ladder.

Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Gloverger says the fire was extinguished quickly and there were just a few minor injuries at the scene and no one was transported to the hospital.

Choi said is was a long way to climb down but it was “like rock-climbing, but in reverse.” Choi said he listened to the firefighters to make sure he was safe.

More to follow later.

Tags: fire at 3925 Triumvera Drive, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger, Glenview Fire Department