Sep 26
From Tyler Tobolt:
Engine 4517 – 1995 Pierce Saber 1500/1000
Squad 4516 – 1990 Ford 8000 Pierce 1250/500
Squad 4520 – 2006 Pierce Saber 1500/500
Utility 4570 – 2006 Ford F-550 XLT Super Duty
ATV 1476 – 2015 Polaris Ranger 800 135 Gallon Pump
Tyler Tobolt photo
Tyler Tobolt photo
Tyler Tobolt photo
Tyler Tobolt photo
Tyler Tobolt photo
Photos from Max Weingardt of the Box Alarm fire at 5 N. Skokie Valley Road in Lake Bluff this morning (2/24/19).
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
The following departments have been added to the new site.
There have been some updates of newer or current apparatus, but most likely they are not completely accurate. Any assistance would be appreciated with regards to missing photos and fact checking department specs etc.
Excerpts from the DailyNorthShore.com:
When Jerry Kluchka was honored during a Lake Bluff Village Board of Trustees meeting on Dec. 14 for 30 years of service to the Lake Bluff Fire Department, his three firefighter sons were there to share the honor with him.
Tim Kluchka, 30, is a member of the North Chicago Fire Department; Matt Kluchka, 25, works for the Lake Forest Fire Department; and Russell Kluchka, 23, fights fires in Highwood.
Lake Bluff’s department consists entirely of volunteers, and all four Kluchkas serve in their hometown. They said when a call goes out to multiple towns, they head to the blaze but not always from the same place.
“It’s definitely interesting,” Russell Kluchka said. “One time there was a fire in Lake Forest, I got there from Highwood and we all saw each other. People give us a hard time. They say ‘it’s you again.”
Jerry Kluchka, who has lived in Lake Bluff since elementary school, joined the department just before Tim was born.
“I had friends whose fathers were firemen,” Kluchka said. “We got to go inside the fire station when I was a little guy. In Lake Bluff they blew the siren to call the volunteers. We lived nearby and ran down to the station to see the fire trucks leave.”
Using his mechanical skills, Jerry started volunteering. He said he worked on the equipment and it was not long before he was a firefighter. As his family started to grow, the next generation of Kluchka men hung around the firehouse like their father did as a youth.
All four are paramedics. Tim, Matt and Russell said they all took EMT courses while in high school and were volunteering in their teens.
“There were times I ditched school to go on an ambulance call,” Tim Kluchka said. “I’d come in for the last periods (of the day) and got some looks.”
“My wife got some calls about that,” Jerry Kluchka added.
Though the younger generation of Kluchkas are full-time firemen, Jerry Kluchka is a volunteer.
thanks Dan
From the Highland Park Fire Dept.:
As part of our dispatch consolidation, the Lake Forest Fire Department in conjunction with the Lake Bluff Fire Department, Highland Park Fire Department, and Glenview Public Safety Dispatching Agency will be moving all radio traffic to the East Shore Fire Network effective Tuesday, January 27, 2015. The system is composed of 3 repeater sites and multiple receiver sites which communicate through T1 lines and microwave signals.
The Lake Bluff water tower site is scheduled to go online in early April but comprehensive testing has shown that the Lake Forest Water Tower site covers the Lake Bluff response area with no problem.
o Lake Forest Primary (Lake Forest water tower)
o Lake Bluff Primary (Lake Bluff water tower)
o Talk Around or Direct in case of voting system failure
o Highland Park Fire south channel
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced today (July 2, 2014) that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has awarded $231,210 in grants to fire departments in the Chicagoland area. Today’s funding will support and improve the capability of each department to respond to fires and other types of emergencies.
Under this announcement, the following fire departments will receive funding for operations and safety:
- Streamwood Fire Department, (Streamwood, Illinois): $211,410 in funding;
- Park Forest Fire Department (Park Forest, Illinois): $19,800 in funding.
Lake Bluff Fire Department (Lake Bluff, Illinois): $42,513 in funding
The funding is provided through the DHS’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program which seeks to strengthen the Nation’s overall level of preparedness and ability to respond to fire and fire related hazards.
Lake Forest firefighters responded to a reported basement fire Tuesday afternoon at 180 W. Laurel Avenue. The first arriving unit reported nothing showing from the outside, but found smoke upon entering the large house. Within roughly 9 minutes, the alarm was upgraded to a working still alarm, a MABAS Box Alarm, and then a 2nd Alarm as smoke began escaping from the eaves.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
There was a hydrant at the end of the long, curvy driveway. The first-due Lake Forest engine and the Knollwood quint both made the driveway … with some difficulty. Fire was located in the void space beneath the first floor and then in some walls on the second floor.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
The alarm was upgraded to a 3rd Alarm for additional companies to standby in the event that the fire got away from the companies working inside. The fire was contained before long without doing extensive damage to the structure of the house. Temperatures were hovering just above 0 with a negative windchill.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro and Tim Olk took it in.
Lake Bluff squad. Larry Shapiro photo
Apparatus lined the narrow street. Larry Shapiro photo
Companies at the scene were:
Beach Park Engine 1222. Larry Shapiro photo
Round Lake Engine 262. Larry Shapiro photo
Great Lakes Truck 1931. Larry Shapiro photo
The complete set of Larry’s images will be posted soon to his site.
Third posting about the 2nd Alarm Fire on Memorial Day at the Jamaican Gardens (north) in Libertyville. Here are images from larry Shapiro and a video.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
A gallery with more of Larry’s images is HERE.
The second article with images from Tim Olk is HERE.
The Libertyville Fire Department responded to a reported fire at the Jamaican Gardens North located at 14595 W. Rockland Road (Route 176). First companies found heavy smoke obscuring visibility on Route 176 and had a significant fire burning on the east end of the property near what was the retail store entrance. An attack was initiated and the fire was upgraded to a MABAS Box Alarm.
The business had closed to the public several years ago and was reportedly vacant. Libertyville Tower 461 and Engine 463 were deployed on the eastern side of the property. The fast moving fire quickly spread to additional buildings on the west side, where access was limited. Lake Forest Tower Ladder 421 was positioned on the northern driveway and Countryside Engine 412 was at the northwest corner. As the fire grew in intensity, the alarm was upgraded to a 2nd Alarm bringing additional units to the scene.
A special request was made for the Division 1 MVU out of Wheeling, but the unit was not deployed and subsequently released before the box was struck out.
The two tower ladders deployed master streams in addition to multiple hand lines and two multi-versals. Along with Libertyville Engine 463 and the Countryside engine, Lake Bluff Engine 517 and Knollwood Engine 44 were also pumping. The fire was struck out after roughly three hours.
Other fire departments with companies at the scene were Mundelein, North Chicago, and Lake Zurich with ambulances, Lincolnshire-Riverwoods and Gurnee with rescue squads, Highland Park with a truck, plus Waukegan, Deerfield, and Newport Township with engines. Chief officers came from Countryside, Grayslake, Gurnee, Lake Bluff, and Lake Forest.
Tim Olk, Jeff Rudolph, and Larry Shapiro were at the scene.
This is the first in a three part series covering this fire.
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
For the finest department portraits and composites contact Tim Olk or Larry Shapiro.
