More from the Box Alarm fire in Mundelein, 9-2-20
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Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Posts Tagged Mundelein FIre Department
Mundelein firefighters were dispatched for a commercial building fire on Wednesday afternoon at 839 S. Lake Street. The first arriving units had light smoke from the roof of a strip mall with a hze in the restaurant. The building was evacuated and the fire intensified. The alarm was upgraded to a Box Alarm for additional resources. Fire burned through the roof and the front overhang with signage eventually collapsed. The fire was held to one unit with damage to the restaurant next door. A ladder pipe was used for a short time after companies withdrew from the building.
Companies on the scene were from Mundelein, Countryside, Deerfield-Bannockburn, Lincolnshire-Riverwoods, Libertyville, Wauconda, Lake Forest, Buffalo Grove, Long Grove, Arlington Heights, and Lake Zurich.
DBFD photo
DBFD photo
DBFD photo
DBFD photo
Excerpts from abc7chicago.com:
Jet Blue, New York public transit, and others are using UV Light technology to help sanitize their spaces. UV technology is now part of the plan to slow the spread of COVID-19 and other illnesses at the Mundelein Fire Department. They’ve installed a UV air disinfectant device in their bunk room that uses a fan to shoot air through intense ultraviolet light. “We can’t just spray chemicals in a room and leave for three hours. We have to be able to live in these spaces. So, the UV technology was essential,” said Mundelein Fire Department Deputy Chief Darren Brents.
According to the CDC, the light works on the molecular level. It can damage germ DNA, making the germ itself inert. UV technology isn’t a replacement for surface cleaning, but part of a multi-pronged approach to stop the spread of the virus.
From the Mundelein Fire Department Facebook page:
On Friday, Mark Rivera from ABC7 came to Mundelein to discuss the steps we have taken to protect our firefighters during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our mitigation strategy involved equipping our personnel with the proper PPE, surface disinfection, and addressing air quality.
Air quality and the spread of viruses, mold, bacteria, and other pathogens in the air we breathe have not been publicly discussed. Recently, a chorus of scientists have concluded these and other viruses (influenzas, measles, etc.) are aerosolized and can remain in the air and travel significant distances. We proactively addressed this issue with the purchase of the Zone360 UV-C device to protect our first responders.
ABC7 reporter Mark Rivera graciously came to Mundelein to share our story with our community to help raise awareness.
Mundelein FD photo
Mundelein FD photo
Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
The Mundelein Fire Department will gain two shift lieutenants under a deal that settles complaints over a 2018 command staff restructuring. The deal, approved by the village board Monday and effective immediately, reverses the changes made in that controversial shuffling. The department will now have six lieutenants, up from four, and the number of full-time firefighters will drop from 20 to 18 as two firefighters will be promoted to lieutenant.
The village board enacted the 2018 organizational changes after officials said the fire department was top heavy. The changes left two officers to manage six firefighters per shift, as well as administrative officers. The reorganization was expected to save the village about $149,000 annually in salary and overtime cost reductions.
The International Association of Firefighters Local 4786 filed formal complaints with the Illinois Labor Relations Board in 2018 and 2019 over the command staff changes saying they violated a 2017 labor agreement between the union and the village. The changes approved Monday settle those complaints.
The board separately approved a four-year labor contract with the firefighters’ union that’ll last through April 2023. All firefighter-paramedics and lieutenants will receive .67% raises that are retroactively effective May 1. Additionally, they’ll receive 2.25% cost-of-living increases retroactive to May 1, 2.25% raises in May 2021 and 2.5% raises in May 2022. The new starting salary for a Mundelein firefighter will be $71,539 annually. The new average salary will be about $86,000 annually.
As part of the agreement, the fire department will be able to hire up to six additional firefighter-paramedics through an independent company, Metro Paramedic Services. The department employs six firefighters from that company now.
Hiring additional firefighters reduces departmental overtime costs. Hirings made over the last two years could save the village more than $500,000 in annual overtime costs, and it also saves the village nearly $3 million in lifetime pension obligations per firefighter.
Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Mundelein’s police officers, firefighters, and public works employees won’t be eligible for extra paid time off if infected with the COVID-19 virus despite a recent federal law creating that benefit for American workers. In a meeting held remotely Monday night, the village board voted to exempt those workers from the benefits of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which was signed into law last month.
Many other suburbs have taken the same step.
The federal law applies to employers with fewer than 500 employees. It gives full-time employees up to 80 additional hours of paid sick leave relating to the coronavirus, through the end of the year. It also allows for up to 12 extra weeks of unpaid family leave to care for children under 18, funds 14-day paid leave for workers directly affected by the pandemic and other provisions.
The legislation allows employers to exempt health care providers and a variety of emergency personnel, including police officers, firefighters, jail and prison workers, public works employees, and members of the military.
In the police department, the exemption will apply to: Chief Eric Guenther and all sworn officers regardless of rank, records clerks, and tele-communicators.
As seen around … Mundelein
Feb 27
This from Larry Shapiro:
A couple shots of an engine and ambulance that were parked this week at Mundelein Station 1 and a brief video of units responding for an EMS run.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
This from Danny Nelms:
Versailles, KY Fire Dept. Truck 1 – 2005 Pierce Dash 2000/300/100′ x-Mundelein, ILPhoto by me on 12 21 19
Danny Nelms photo
From the Foster Coach Sales Facebook page:
Brand new custom Horton conversion on a Ford F550 chassis.
Foster Coach Sales photo
Foster Coach Sales photo
Foster Coach Sales photo
Foster Coach Sales photo
Foster Coach Sales photo
Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Mundelein officials have commissioned an independent study of fire department activity to assess whether additional fire stations might be needed.
The Illinois Fire Chiefs Association will look at types of calls, traffic conditions, response times, likely future development, and other factors to determine if a proposed third station is needed. The group also will advise if land being eyed on the University of St. Mary of the Lake campus would be an appropriate location for a station. They will opine if a west-side station may be warranted in the future, too — and if so, suggest where it should be built. In July 2018, the village board approved a letter of intent to lease land on the University of St. Mary of the Lake campus for a third fire station. The letter didn’t commit the village to a lease or to building a new station.
The study will be good for long-range village planning, especially if officials ever decide to build a station on the west side because of continued expansion in that area.
Both of the village’s fire stations are west of the train tracks. The main station is on the village’s north side at 1000 N. Midlothian Road, north of Route 176. A satellite station is on the south side at 1300 S. Lake St., near Hickory Street. Mundelein hasn’t had a fire station east of the railroad tracks in decades. Train traffic on the Canadian National Railroad results in frequent road closures at the tracks, which can affect response times to emergencies on the east side of town.
The information from the study could be used to encourage a developer to donate land to the village for a new station. Such a gift led to the construction of the main station, which opened in 2000. This also could help village officials determine impact fees that would be assessed to developers to help pay for fire service to any new homes. The study will cost the village nearly $15,000.
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Mundelein officials took another step with restructuring the fire department after trustees recently decided to continue a plan that first was acted on last year to reorganize the department. The 4-3 vote June 24, approving the restructuring, eliminates a vacant lieutenant position and adds a new firefighter to the department which now includes four lieutenants and 20 firefighter/paramedics. Last year, the department employed six lieutenants and 15 firefighters. Mundelein also uses six firefighters from a private firm.
The board’s vote formalizes the staffing situation. It proved to be much closer than in February 2018, when a larger majority approved the first staffing change and the sale of a 100-foot ladder truck following a long debate involving members of the Mundelein firefighter’s union and its supporters.
With the latest vote, the mayor, who supported the restructuring plan in 2018, was required to break a split among village board members, giving the latest proposed staffing changes village approval.
A portion of another ordinance that trustees recently addressed also seemed to indicate a desire to employ three lieutenants, describing how the fire department functioned responsively and safely with three lieutenants up to 2007. Between 2007 and 2018, the department used two lieutenants per shift, with one at each of the two fire stations. The ordinance seems to depart from the original staffing decision in 2018, when the stated goal was to have four lieutenants — one for each 24-hour shift and a training lieutenant who could fill in on a shift when others are on leave.
But following the vote on June 24, the fire chief said the goal of employing four lieutenants still remains the same. He said officials have not decided, yet, if the fourth lieutenant will be a training officer or would stay on one of the three shifts. He also pointed to a June 2018 decision to hire three additional firefighters, which were paid for with money previously being spent on overtime, and money saved when the first lieutenant position was eliminated.The staffing change has resulted in fewer firefighter/paramedics working 72 consecutive hours, which involve an extra 24-hour shift at overtime wages in between regularly scheduled 24-hour shifts.
