This from Max Weingardt:
Jet slides off the runway at Chicago Executive Airport Wednesday night 10/21/20
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Posts Tagged Wheeling Fire Department
Police and firefighters from Prospect Heights and Wheeling responded to a crash with entrapment Wednesday morning (9/30/20) that was reported at Wolf and Palatine Roads. The incident actually occurred at Messner Drive and Wolf Road with both vehicles crashing through an outer fence at the Chicago Executive Airport. An SUV was on it’s roof and a small box truck on it’s side at the edge of a taxiway. Two victims were entrapped and a third was ejected from one of the vehicles and was trounced dead at the scene. One of the other patients also died and the third was critically injured.
Max Weingardt photo
This from Max Weingardt:
about 5:40 p.m. Saturday August 22, Wheeling Fire Department to a report of a townhouse fire at 1477 Chippewa Trail
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Firefighters from the Prospect Heights FPD and the Wheeling FD trained together for aircraft rescue and firefighting at the Chicago Executive Airport
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Wheeling police and firefighters were sent to 189 South Milwaukee Avenue around 4:15PM on Sunday (8/9/20) for a reported motor vehicle accident with entrapment. The location was within blocks of Wheeling Station 24 and the battalion chief was on the scene quickly. He reported a one-car MVA with extensive damage and entrapment after the car had apparently crossed two lanes of traffic before striking a retaining wall at 189 S Milwaukee and then completely sheered off the front porch of a building at 213 S. Milwaukee before coming to a stop in the adjacent parking lot. Wheeling companies were assisted at the scene by Prospect Heights Ambulance 39 and Lincolnshire-Riverwoods FPD Engine 52.
A passenger in the car signed a medical release at the scene and the driver was transported to an area hospital after being extricated from the wreck.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
From the Village of Wheeling Facebook page:
Congratulations to these esteemed Wheeling Fire Department employees who were recently promoted!
From the desk of Fire Chief Mike McGreal:
It is with great enthusiasm that I announce Lieutenant Steve Mella is promoted to the rank of deputy fire chief. Steve is a 25 year veteran of the Wheeling Fire Department, with 14 years at the rank of lieutenant. Steve has a Bachelor of Science from the University of Wisconsin, Stout and has been a paramedic since 1994. Steve has collaborated with the public, local EMS systems and hospitals, neighboring fire departments, the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) elected officials, and local agencies. He was deployed to the Gulf Region in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as part of the Illinois MABAS response. Steve also was recently deployed to North Carolina for Hurricane Florence with Illinois Task Force 1, as a swift water technician.
With equal enthusiasm I announce that Firefighter Paramedic Dan Murdock is promoted to lieutenant. Dan has 20 years with the department and also served with the Lincolnshire-Riverwoods Fire Protection District for 2 years. He was recently given the responsibility of team leader for the hazardous materials rescue/mitigation team. Dan is also certified in fire investigation and is a member of the department’s fire investigation team.
And saving the best for last, Management Analyst Ileen Bryer has been promoted to executive officer. Ileen spent 2 years with the Wheeling Police Department before coming over to the fire department for the last 5 years. She handles the day to day administrative functions of the department as well as all facets of the medical billing program, manages and participates in the Cook County Pharmaceutical Dispensing plan, manages/updates the Cook County Hazard Mitigation Plan, manages the departments records management system Imagetrend™ and Aladtec™ scheduling system, and chairs the village’s Threat Hazard Identification Risk Analysis (THIRA).
Wheeling photo
Wheeling photo
Brief video from Larry Shapiro of the Box Alarm fire in Wheeling, 7-10-20
Wheeling firefighters and neighboring auto-aid companies were dispatched for a confirmed fire at 15 Brougham Drive shortly before 4PM on Friday (7/10/20). Police officers were confirming a fire and the header was visible for miles from a burning mobile home in the Whippletree Village mobile home community off of McHenry Road in Wheeling. First arriving companies found a mobile home trailer completely engulfed by fire with flames communicating to neighboring units on either side. Initial reports which proved to be inaccurate were that two children might have been trapped inside. The first engine company on the scene initiated a defensive attack. Both Wheeling engines had lines off and all auto aid and mutual aid companies provided manpower support.
Crews attacked fire in three mobile homes and dealt with high ambient temperatures. The original fire building was destroyed and the adjacent units suffered extensive damage to the point of becoming uninhabitable.
Wheeling firefighters were assisted by firefighters from Prospect Heights, Buffalo Grove, Northbrook, Lincolnshire-Riverwoods, Long Grove, Schaumburg, Palatine, Palatine Rural, Rolling Meadows, Lake Forest, and Lake Zurich.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Two workers who were sandblasting and painting the inside of a Wheeling water tower Friday are in critical condition after a cable holding up their scaffolding snapped and caused them to fall. One of the workers fell 60 to 80 feet, while the other had facial injuries but was mobile, after the scaffolding swung and smashed into the side of the tank. The preliminary investigation points toward equipment failure.
As many as 40 technical rescue firefighters from a dozen towns arrived at the village-owned water tank at 702 Wolf Court just after 9 a.m. Firefighters used ropes and harnesses to help both victims in what was described as a very involved and technical rescue. It took them about 12 minutes to ascend to the top of the tank, reach the injured workers, and give them emergency medical treatment. Both injured men were then put in harnesses, and ropes were used to lift and lower them some 100 feet to safety.
“There are a series of manhole-size openings, so they actually had to lift the patients up to lower the patients (to the ground), so it was a pretty tricky technical rescue” Wheeling Fire Chief Mike McGreal said.
A spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration confirmed Friday afternoon that the federal agency has opened an investigation. The contractor, D & M Painting Corp., based in Washington, Pennsylvania, was awarded a $482,840 contract by Wheeling in April to re-coat the tank which holds potable drinking water for residents and businesses. A $41,100 contract went to Dixon Engineering to perform the initial analysis.
Village tanks are drained and inspected every five years to analyze coatings for any corrosion, while a full-scale stripping of coatings followed by re-coatings takes place every 17 to 24 years.
Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
Wheeling Fire Department Fire Chief Mike McGreal. Larry Shapiro photo
Mike McGreal was sworn in Monday as Wheeling’s new fire chief, minus the public ceremony that typically occurs for such milestones in a village hall packed with supportive friends, family, and colleagues. Due to the need for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, McGreal was sworn in by Wheeling’s clerk near the flagpole outside village hall. McGreal, 57, replaces Keith MacIsaac, who retired last week after 30 years as Wheeling’s fire chief.
McGreal previously was with the Wilmette Fire Department, retiring as chief there in 2017 before joining Wheeling later that year. He was Wheeling’s deputy fire chief before his elevation to the top post Monday. He came to Wheeling in 2017 to assist MacIsaac in a succession plan.
McGreal’s credentials include certification as a chief fire officer by the National Fire Academy, the Illinois state fire marshal, and the Center for Public Safety Excellence.
Mike spent 29 years with Wilmette, working his way up to deputy fire chief and then chief for 3½ years before deciding the time was right to retire and hand the department to new leadership. A second-generation firefighter, McGreal’s father served with the Chicago Fire Department for 36 years.
McGreal is an avid sailor who has made four solo crossings of Lake Michigan.
Wheeling has had only three fire chiefs since 1969. That’s when Bernie Koeppen became the village’s first full-time fire chief, followed by MacIsaac 30 years ago, and now McGreal.
