In Will County, the Crete Fire Department has been added to the site. Crete has two stations with Pierce, Saulsbury, and Medtec apparatus.
Crete is changing the color of their units from white over lime green to black over red.
Crete Fire Station 2 is a t 3740 Melanie Lane. It was built in 1983. Dennis McGuire, Jr. photo
Three new mobile ventilation units from Tempest Technology have been delivered to serve area MABAS divisions. They will be assigned to
Each identical unit features a Ford F550 chassis and the Tempest MVU-125 Lightweight Unit.
One of the new Mobile Ventilation Units built by Darley with a Tempest fan. Gordon J. Nord, Jr. photo
A 2011 Ford F550/Darley/Tempest Mobile Ventilation Unit for MABAS Division 27. Tim Olk photo
A rear shot showing the Tempest MVU-125 Lightweight Unit with bodywork by Darley. Gordon J. Nord, Jr. photo
Another shot of the unit for MABAS Division 10. Tim Olk photo
Three new Mobile Ventilation Units which will be distributed to MABAS Divisions 1, 10, and 27. Gordon J. Nord, Jr. photo
The Beecher Fire Protection District in MABAS Division 27 responded mutual aid to an extra alarm fire last week in Lowell, Indiana. According to Beecher Fire Chief Dave Lagesse, Beecher Truck 405, a 2006 Pierce Enforcer with a 75′ aluminum ladder, flowed in excess of 640,000 gallons of water over a period of 10 hours on the scene. The fire occurred a week ago Thursday, on August 10th, at the former Rieter Automotive building, 101 W. Oakley Avenue, and according to The Northwest Indiana Times,
A construction company working inside … is believed to have accidentally sparked a spectacular fire at the abandoned plant shortly before noon Wednesday. Jimmy Harper, a project manager for BRT Indiana LLC, a recycling and sales company, said crews were moving equipment and cutting beams when an unidentified material caught fire. Harper, who was working inside the building with 11 other employees, said sprinklers in the building were shut off and crews could not control the flames with fire extinguishers.
The complete article can be found HERE. A Youtube video is HERE, and additional coverage is HERE.
Chief Lagesse submitted several dramatic images showing Truck 405 working. He was unable to tell us who the photographer was. We would like to acknowledge the photographer if someone can supply us with that information.
Two elevated master streams work at the Rieter Automotive property in Lowell, Indiana on August 10, 2011. photographer unknown
A firefighter from Beecher, IL rests at the tip of Beecher Truck 405's ladder directing water on the massive fire. photographer unknown
Another shot showing Beecher and Lowell Fire Department aerials working. photographer unknown
A fire ball appears to erupt directly beneath the Beecher firefighter working the master stream, although there is quite a bit of space between them. photographer unknown
As the dynamics of the fire change, the firefighter redirects the master stream. photographer unknown
Heavy fire burns through the roof of what was the Rieter Automotive facility in Lowell, Indiana on August 10, 2011. photographer unknown
Beecher Truck 405 was flowing water for 10 hours at the scene in Lowell, Indiana. photographer unknown
The newest station for Crete Township is at 26730 S. Stony Island Avenue. Bill Friedrich photo
The Crete Township Fire Protection in MABAS Division 27has three stations. They have a variety of engines made my Pierce, E-ONE, Luverne, and Alexis. The ambulances are from Medtec and they also have three tankers (tenders), the newest of which was completed in 2011 by Alexis on a Freightliner M2 chassis.
In 1995, Crete Township was one of several south suburban fire departments to order an engine from Luverne on an HME 1871 chassis. Two of these had the largest extended and raised cabs that were offered; one went to Alsip and the other is still on the roster for Crete Township with a fully enclosed pump operator panel.
The newest unit in the Crete Township fleet is a 3,000-gallon tender built by Alexis on a Freightliner chassis. There is a graphic on the porta-tank cover which illustrates a steamer that was refurbished by Gene Morris of Alexis Fire Equipment.
The graphic represents a steamer which resides at Alexis Fire Equipment. Bill Friedrich photo
The Crete Township Fire Protection District in MABAS Division 27 has taken delivery of a new 3,000-gallon tender. The unit built by Alexis is on a tandem axle Freightliner M2-106 chassis. The tanker has a 500-GPM-PTO pump and a large flag graphic on the portable tank cover.
Tender 157 carries 3,000 gallons of water and was built on a Freightliner chassis by Alexis. Bill Friedrich photo
The officer's side shows the portable tank storage with the attractive flag graphics. Bill Friedrich photo
Karl Klotz provided images of another department in MABAS Division 27. The Steger Estates Fire Protection District is a volunteer department working out of one station at 23940 S. Kings Road in Crete. They have an ambulance, a tanker, an engine, and a brush rig.
The newest piece is a 2005 HME/SFO/Ahrens Fox pumper tanker. They also run an E-ONE engine on a Freightliner chassis and one of the remaining E-ONE ambulances in the area.
Jun 22
The Beecher Fire Department listing in MABAS Division 27 has been updated with additional photos from Dennis McGuire, Jr.
In MABAS Division 27, an historical gallery has been added for the South Chicago Heights Fire Department. Currently, the gallery features 15 images including a reproduction of a photo showing the original fire station from the early 1900s.
This copy of an old photo from Bill Friedrich shows the original South Chicago Heights fire station with an engine that we have no information about.
This photo by the late Dan Martin shows a 1950 Mack Type 45 in a local parade.
This beautiful rig was one of two Hi-Ranger aerials in the metropolitan Chicago area outside of the CFD. It would be great to add an image to the gallery of this unit working at a fire!
The website currently has 128 fire departments posted in addition to the Chicago Fire Department. Most of these departments are represented with their current station photos and images of every vehicle assigned to each station. It has always been the intent of the contributors to add historic photos for each department to supplement the current images. We broke ground today on this monumental task with the addition of an historic gallery linked to the Sauk Village Fire Department (MABAS Division 27). This gallery currently consists of 18 images supplied by Bill Friedrich which depict the Sauk Village Fire Department vehicles dating back to 1969. The images show that the fire department was red, then changed to white, and now they are black over red. Bill is going to begin scanning slides and negatives to add other departments as well.
Sauk Village used to run this 1979 Dodge/Palomar Type II ambulance. Bill Friedrich photo
The historic galleries will hopefully grow with the addition of images from other sources including the regular contributors. We would like to receive submissions from anyone who has history to share. These galleries can contain static posed shots, action shots, patches, old stations, fire scenes, and whatever else we can assemble to document the history of the departments. We encourage readers to submit what you have in your collection to bolster these galleries for the enjoyment of everyone.
Sauk Village ran this 1968 Darley engine for many years. It was eventually repainted to match the newer color scheme which featured a big blue stripe running down the middle of a white rig. Bill Friedrich photo
The Sauk Village Fire Station. Karl Klotz photo
The Sauk Village Fire Department in MABAS Division 27 has been added to the site. Sauk Village has a relatively new fleet of Crimson apparatus on Spartan chassis with Gladiator cabs featuring the Evolution trim package. The rigs are black over red with a gold stripe. This scheme replaces white apparatus with a blue strip that the department has been running for quite some time. There is still one white engine left in the fleet, a 1995 Spartan Gladiator/S&S TM engine.
Among the units from Crimson are an engine, a pumper/squad, and one of the area’s few mid-mount tower ladders. Previously, Sauk Village ran with a Hendrickson/3D/Darley/65′ Snorkel and another engine from S&S on a Spartan chassis.
Sauk Village recently retired this 1980 Hendrickson 1871L/3D/Darley 65' Snorkel and replaced it with a 2008 Spartan Gladiator Crimson mid-mount tower ladder. Larry Shapiro photo
For the finest department portraits and composites contact Tim Olk or Larry Shapiro.
