From Steve Redick:
5-11 and 4 specials at 7400 S Kostner, April 2, 1968
photographer unknown
Posts Tagged historic fire photos from Chicago
This from Danny Nelms:
William Swart Ruting photos
This was the old International Harvestor Works at 26th & Rockwell in Chicago. Fire was in 1974. This is Snorkel Squad 1 operating at the fire. Got a little close and melted the taillights.
William Swart Ruting photo
William Swart Ruting photo
William Swart Ruting photo
This from Steve Redick:
This was a 5-11 and 4 specials at 1400 W 32nd Place on May 25, 1966 in a large, vacant, wood-frame grain elevator. I have not seen very many color photos of this. My favorite shot is what looks like SS3’s Snorkel working. I would assume the fireboat would was Engine 41.These amazing images were taken by Gerald Bean.
Gerald Bean photo
Gerald Bean photo
Gerald Bean photo
Gerald Bean photo
Gerald Bean photo
Gerald Bean photo
Gerald Bean photo
This from Eric Haak:
The first image is showing Engine 48’s house on the far right side with a massive 5-11 fire burning just on the opposite side of the elevated tracks. The second image is a close-up showing what I believe is the first snorkle basket that Bill Post wrote about a couple weeks ago. The fire was a 3-11 on November 2, 1959 at 1109 W. 63rd Street. Kind of a rare image of the Snorkel basket working at an early fire
Vintage Chicago fire photo showing Engine 48’s house on the far right side with a massive 5-11 fire burning just on the opposite side of the elevated tracks. Eric Haak collection, photographer unknown
Chicago firefighters in the basket of the first Snorkel operating during a 3-11 Alarm fire on November 2, 1959 at 1109 W. 63rd Street. Eric Haak collection, photographer unknown
This from Eric Haak:
The following images were taken just after noon on June 24, 1966. The fire was in the Western Lumber Company yard at 2732 W. Madison Street and was a 5-11 +2 specials. One of the great things about these old images is that they show what many of these areas once looked like. The wider angle views show Madison looking west just before California. A few years later, this area would be decimated by the 1968 riots. The other nice thing about this series of images is that it shows the early attack in the first picture and then the Snorkels being brought in by the last picture. In that last picture, the building on the left with the Rocky’s Grill sign on it is just about the only building left standing today. Nearly every other building you see in these images are a thing of the past.
From the collection of Eric Haak, photographer unknown
From the collection of Eric Haak, photographer unknown
From the collection of Eric Haak, photographer unknown
From the collection of Eric Haak, photographer unknown
This from Eric Haak:
This week’s blast from the past is a 5-11 from June 26, 1961. The address was 2600 S. State Street with the fire breaking out on the top floor of the 7-story, Douglas Hotel around 1:45 in the afternoon. The building at one time was a grand hotel from the 1890’s but had fallen in esteem, along with the neighborhood, and was functioning as an SRO with over 500 residents at the time of the fire. The first image is looking west across State. The last image is looking south down State Street and the Dearborn Homes housing project can be seen in the background. Three of the four Snorkels were used at this fire and two Jeep pressure rigs can be seen in the images. Enjoy!
From the collection of Eric Haak, photographer unknown
From the collection of Eric Haak, photographer unknown
From the collection of Eric Haak, photographer unknown
This from Eric Haak:
The images below show the scene from Valentine’s Day, 1962. The 4-11 Alarm fire at 1365-75 East 70th Street broke out around 11:15 in the morning. About and hour and a half later, companies were working in the interior of the third floor when things began to crumble around them. At approximately 12:45, Commissioner Quinn ordered the men out of the building as the roof began sagging. As the men made their way out, the west wall and roof caved in, taking three men with it. 52 year-old Chief of the Fire Prevention Bureau Robert O’Brien and 43 year-old Battalion Chief Thomas Hoff were buried under debris in the basement. Chief Hoff’s driver, Edward Stack, was also taken down by the collapse but managed to escape unhurt by rolling through a first floor doorway. An inquest made into the cause of the deaths of Chief’s O’Brien and Hoff’s was inconclusive as to the cause of the fire, although at the time, it was thought to have been a faulty furnace in the basement. Chief O’Brien was a childhood friend of Mayor Daley and grew up five doors down from the Daley family on Lowe Street.
4-11 Alarm fire at 1365-75 East 70th Street in Chicago February 14, 1962. Photographer known, from the collection of Eric Haak.
4-11 Alarm fire at 1365-75 East 70th Street in Chicago February 14, 1962. Photographer known, from the collection of Eric Haak.
4-11 Alarm fire at 1365-75 East 70th Street in Chicago February 14, 1962. Photographer known, from the collection of Eric Haak.
4-11 Alarm fire at 1365-75 East 70th Street in Chicago February 14, 1962. Photographer known, from the collection of Eric Haak.
4-11 Alarm fire at 1365-75 East 70th Street in Chicago February 14, 1962. Photographer known, from the collection of Eric Haak.
