Posts Tagged tower ladder

Gurnee is on the site

Gurnee Fire Department patch

Fire departments in Lake County, MABAS Division 4, continue to be added to the site. The Gurnee Fire Department is now the latest to be posted. They have two stations covering 33 square miles which includes the Six Flags Great America amusement park and Gurnee Mills, an enormous outlet mall. The Gurnee suppression fleet is made up entirely of E-ONE apparatus and currently all four of their ambulances are Type I models from Road Rescue on IHC 4700 or IHC 4300 series’ chassis. A new Type I ambulance is presently on order from Wheeled Coach.

Gurnee also houses some specialty MABAS assets. They store an interesting 1991 Mack/Volvo roll-off chassis which is used to transport metal storage containers which contain equipment and supplies for MABAS Divisions 4&5. One container is for the Technical Rescue Team (TRT) with tools and lumber and the other is for the Wildland Task Force which carries, among other things, an ATV.

Lake County and McHenry County TRT unit

Gurnee Fire Department Station 1

Gurnee Fire Department headquarters Station 1 on Old Grand Avenue. Larry Shapiro photo

An interesting note about the E-ONE apparatus is the wide range of chassis and cab styles that are represented.

Gurnee Fire Department E-ONE Cyclone II engine

This engine features the newest version of the Cyclone II which is a tilt-cab.

Gurnee Fire Department EONE Cyclone engine

This 1995 engine uses the early Cyclone chassis with a fixed cab.

Gurnee also has two engines with a Cyclone tilt-cab with a previous grille design. The tower ladder is built on a Hurricane chassis which has a fixed cab.

Gurnee Fire Department E-ONE Hurricane 95' tower ladder

In 1998 when Gurnee received their new E-ONE tower ladder, they arranged to have the unit photographed with one of the main town attractions. At that time, Gurnee Mills was billed as the largest outlet mall in the country. Planet Hollywood was one of the anchor restaurants at the mall. Larry Shapiro collection

Gurnee Fire Department E-ONE Sentry HDR

Gurnee Squad 1352 was ordered with a four-door Sentry cab and a vista roof. The Sentry is distinguishable by the straight, non-contoured door line of the driver's door. The vista roof was a raised roof that E-ONE offered without full height rear doors. This photo was taken inside Six Flags Great America when the squad was delivered. The graphics are no longer representative of how the squad looks today. Larry Shapiro collection

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North Chicago is on the site

North Chicago Fire Department patch

In northern Lake County, the North Chicago Fire Department runs a fleet of Pierce and Medtec units out of two stations. Their 8 square mile district borders the Great Lakes Naval Training Center on two sides. Their newest piece of apparatus is an 85′ tower ladder from Pierce which replaced a 1977 Hendrickson 1871-S/Pierce/LTI 85′ tower ladder. North Chicago is expecting another new Pierce in January. This will be a Pierce custom Contender engine to replace a 1986 Pierce Dash engine with open jump seats.

North Chicago Fire Department Hendrickson Pierce LTI 85' tower ladder

North Chicago's 1977 Hendrickson 1871-S/Pierce/LTI 85' tower ladder which was disposed of recently with the arrival of the new tower ladder. Larry Shapiro collection

North Chicago Fire Department Pierce Arrow XT 85' tower ladder

At North Chicago Station 2 on Buckley Road is their newest ambulance. Purchased in 2009, this was a Medtec demonstrator that was built in 2002. It arrived with blue decals which was the design that Medtec had created so the unit would appeal to a traditional rescue squad. The blue was subsequently removed and replaced with red graphics. This explains why this ambulance design is different looking than the other North Chicago ambulances.

North Chicago Fire Department Ford Medtec Type III ambulance demonstrator

Prior to changing the graphics on this 2002 Medtec demonstrator that North Chicago purchased in 2009, it was in service for a short time with the blue graphics seen here. This photo was taken on-scene at a 2nd alarm fire response in Libertyville in July of 2009 shortly after the new ambulance was delivered. Larry Shapiro photo

North Chicago Fire Department Ford Medtec Type III ambulance

The ambulance with updated red graphics.

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New tower in Tri-State FPD

The Tri-State FPD which services areas in Darien, Burr-Ridge and Clarendon Heights recently took delivery of a new Tower Ladder. As soon as the training and equipment mounting is complete, the new Truck 529 will be going into service. The unit was built in 2010 on a Smeal Sirius chassis (made by Spartan) with a 2,000-GPM pump and a 300-gallon water tank. The tower ladder is a 100′ rear mount. The old Truck 529 has been sold to a department in Pennsylvania.

Tri-State FPD Smeal TL

Tri-State's new Spartan/Smeal Sirius 2000/300 100' RM Tower Ladder. Photo by Bill Friedrich

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IAFC Fire Rescue International Trade Show Final Installment!

Chicago Fire Department Spartan Crimson aerial ladder

The first Spartan/Gladiator Crimson 103' rear mount aerial ladder. The assignment for this piece has not yet been released. Larry Shapiro

There have been several previous postings which referenced the IAFC Fire Rescue International Trade Show in Chicago several weeks ago. A gallery is available by scrolling to the bottom of the page HERE which fittingly shows many of the trucks as they were leaving McCormick Place and lining up to receive a few gallons of fuel so that they could make their way to a gas station. As with any trade show, the fuel is siphoned out of the tanks before they enter the convention center as a safety measure to reduce the hazards of fires and leaks.

Although the units featured in the gallery are a hodgepodge sampling of the display pieces, there are images of several local units which are better shots than what was available inside the convention center. These images include the Freightliner/Medtec MICU from Algonquin-Lake in the Hills, the Pierce Impel quint from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in North Chicago, the Spartan/Super Vac (SVI) HDR from Cherry Valley, the Pierce Velocity PUC tower ladder from South Holland, the custom Sutphen SP112 industrial tower ladder for the Exxon Mobile Joliet Refinery and the Spartan/Crimson rear mount aerial ladder for Chicago.

South Holland Fire Department Pierce Velocity PUC tower ladder

South Holland's Pierce Velocity PUC tower ladder. Larry Shapiro photo

Exxon Mobil Joliet Refinery Sutphen tower ladder

The Sutphen SP112 tower ladder for the Exxon Mobil Refinery in Joliet. Larry Shapiro photo

Pierce Impel quint Great Lakes Naval Training Center

The Pierce Impel quint going to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in North Chicago. Larry Shapiro photo

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Ferrara updates

On the Ferrara Fire site there are updated photos of the new Ember engine being built for the Nunda Rural FPD in McHenry County. The pictures can be seen HERE with the body mounted to the cab and chassis.

Also on the Ferrara site HERE are finished photos of the Algonquin Igniter MVP rescue pumper that was on display at the IAFC trade show last week. You’l have to scroll down to see the photos listed alphabetically under Lake in the Hills. Similarly, the new Inferno tower ladder can be seen HERE by scrolling down as well.

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Many new area rigs at Fire Rescue International

There are many new pieces of apparatus for our area currently on display at the Fire Rescue International 2010 trade show at McCormick Place. Among them are:

  • Pierce – South Holland Velocity PUC 100′ PAP rear mount tower ladder; Great Lakes NTC Impel 75′ RM quint
  • Medtec – Algonquin Lake-in-the-Hills Type I Freightliner
  • Crimson – CFD Spartan pumper; CFD Spartan 103′ RM aerial ladder; Naperville Spartan pumper
  • Horton – Minooka Ford Type III MICU
  • US Tank – Pingree Grove FPD Kenworth tanker
  • Federal Signal – CFD Ford Expedition battalion chief unt
  • Ferrara – Algonquin Lake-in-the-Hills Inferno engine and RM Tower ladder
  • Sutphen – Exxon Mobil Joliet Refinery industrial mid-mount tower ladder quint
  • Super Vac (SVI Trucks) – Cherry Valley Spartan HDR
Chicago Fire Department Crimson ladder

The first Spartan Gladiator Crimson 103′ rear mount aerial ladder built for Chicago was displayed at the Fire Rescue International (FRI) 2010 trade show. Larry Shapiro photo

Algonquin Lake-in-the-Hills Medtec ambulance

This Freightliner/Medtec Type I ambulance for the Algonquin lake-in-the-Hills Fire Department was on display in the Pierce booth. There were a total of three units on the trade show floor for this department. Larry Shapiro photo

Algonquin Lake-in-the-Hills Ferrara engine

The smaller than normal pump enclosure and built-in cross lays on the new Ferrara engine for the Algonquin Lake-in-the-Hills Fire Department resembles a trend in apparatus design which was first introduced several years ago by Pierce. Larry Shapiro photo

Cherry Valley Fire Department Spartan SVI Super Vac heavy rescue

A Spartan Super Vac (SVI) heavy rescue for Cherry Valley with walk-around body, light tower, front bumper hydraulic rescue tools, air cascade system and an abundance of slide-out shelving and trays. Larry Shapiro photo

A gallery showing several of these units can be seen on Larry Shapiro’s site HERE.

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New tower for South Holland

The South Holland Fire Department is reportedly going to take delivery of a new Pierce Velocity 100′ tower ladder at the International Fire Chief’s Conference this week at McCormick Place. We will post photos as soon as we get them.

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Addison is added to the site

Addison Fire District Station 2

Addison Fire District Station 2

Addison Fire District patchIn Division 12, the Addison Fire District No. 1 runs out of three stations. They staff one truck, three engines, three ambulances (medic units) and a battalion chief covering 13 square miles. There are a bunch of missing photos though in this listing as Larry Shapiro visited the department Monday with limited time and was not able to complete the photography. A few of the apparatus photos represent the units on-scene at fires over the past year or so. The images will be updated with more flattering shots when new photos are submitted. Addison runs Medtec Type I ambulances and E-ONE engines; two of which are on Cyclone chassis and the newest unit has a Spartan Gladiator chassis. They have a Pierce  100′ tower ladder as their frontline piece with an E-ONE tower in reserve.

Interestingly, their E-ONE tower ladder is unique to this area. By far, the best selling tower ladder for E-ONE for many years has been the 95′ rear mount tower. Addison was one of the few departments in the US that took advantage of a newer EONE model in 1993 when they introduced a longer tower ladder with a reach of 105′. The 105′ model in the E-ONE product line was replaced by the HP100 (100′) tower ladder over 10 years later.

Addison Fire District engine

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Joliet is on the site

Joliet Fire Department decal

The Joliet FIre Department in Division 15 has 10 stations. They have 212 career personnel that are responsible for a city which is over 38 square miles. Only nine of the stations are manned as Station 2 houses the Fire Investigation Unit and the Dive Rescue Unit. Joliet is an E-ONE department for 100% of their suppression units and a Horton department for EMS. They run two Battalions, two ladder trucks, one tower ladder, eight engines and six ambulances.

Joliet Fire Station 4

Joliet Station 4 is an example of one style firehouse utilized in the city. This is one of five similar houses.

Joliet Fire Station 10

There are three Joliet stations featuring the same design as Station 10 shown here.

Joliet Fire Department engine 10

Engine 10 is a one-of-a-kind in Joliet featuring a Saulsbury body and an E-ONE Cyclone cab.

Dennis McGuire, Jr., Karl Klotz and George Reichardt submitted the images to represent Joliet.

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Naperville is complete

Naperville Fire Department station 8

Naperville Station 8 is a single engine house at 120 Modoff Road. Larry Shapiro photo

All 10 stations in Naperville have been photographed and added to the site with the apparatus as it is currently assigned. This includes the two new Spartan/Crimson quints and the reassigned engine 8 and squad 1. A return trip will be necessary when the next Spartan Crimson engine comes in to replace the Freightliner/EONE currently running out of station 4. Our thanks to Lt. Andy Hilk for making the arrangements for the group to get the photos around town and to the personnel who were very accommodating to a bunch of photographers.

Naperville Fire Department Pierce Dash Tower Ladder Truck 9

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