Archive for November, 2010

Countryside shows off new engine … and entertains many

Nov 22

Posted by bgshap in Apparatus on-scene, Fire, Fire Department News | Comments off

The Countryside Fire Protection District has been conducting various training scenarios for several weeks now at 27693 Chevy Chase Road, in Mundelein. The homeowner donated the house for fire training in return for having it burned to the ground making way for the construction of a new home. We posted images from Dan McInerney HERE showing the new Rosenbauer engine and tender from US Tanker working.

Countryside FPD Rosenbauer Centurion engine

Countryside's new Engine 415 has a rear pump, hydraulic ladder rack, and is on a 4x4 IHC Workstar chassis. Larry Shapiro photo

Engine 415 carries 750 gallons of water and has a 1,250-GPM pump. Tools are mounted for easy access at the scene of an emergency. Larry Shapiro photo

As fire consumes the detached garage, the structure finally collapses. Larry Shapiro photo

Countryside invited local residents, neighboring fire departments and their families, CERT, and anyone else fascinated by big fires, to come and watch them burn the house and detached garage to the ground this past Sunday.

Larry Shapiro was one of those who attended and took the opportunity to work with the fire department to get some nice images of the new Rosenbauer Centurion engine with fire in the background. There is a gallery HERE with images and there will be an accompanying video as well.

What's a traditional burn-down without the traditional group photo! Larry Shapiro phptp

What's not to love about a shot like this? Big fire, extreme radiant heat, and thick black smoke racing skyward. Larry Shapiro photo

Wauconda, Long Grove, and Libertyville sent tankers so that there was a continuous water supply at the scene. The tanker from Libertyville was the 1988, Pierce Dash, 1250/2500 which Countryside recently gave them. It has been re-lettered for Libertyville.

Libertyville Fire Department tender tanker

Libertyville Tender 461 setup to dump water into a portable tank which is being used by Countryside Engine 412. This tender was given to Libertyville by the Countryside FPD earlier this year. Larry Shapiro photo

This shows the tender when it was owned by Countryside.

Tags: Countryside FPD, Dan McInerney, Dash, Larry Shapiro, Libertyville Fire Department, Long Grove Fire Protection District, Pierce, Rosenbauer, tanker, tender, US Tanker, Wauconda Fire District

Lynwood Fire is on the site

Nov 22

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News, New Listing, Site News | Comments off

The Lynwood Fire Department in MABAS Division 24 runs out of one station to cover their district which is three square miles. Lynwood runs fire only and contracts for EMS with Bud’s Ambulance Service. They have three full-time personnel supplemented by 25 paid-on-call personnel. They run with two E-ONE engines, a 1978 CF Mack engine, a brush rig, and a dive unit. Karl Klotz submitted the images and information for this department.

Tags: Bud's Ambulance Service, E-ONE, Karl Klotz, Lynwood, Lynwood Fire Department, MABAS Division 24, Mack CF

York Center FPD is added

Nov 21

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News, New Listing, Patch | Comments off

The York Center Fire Protection District in MABAS Division 12 covers 5 square miles which includes unincorporated Villa Park, unincorporated Lombard, unincorporated Oak Brook, York Center, and parts of Oak Brook Terrace. They operate out of one station with 2 full-time and 68 part-time personnel.

The York Center apparatus includes an E-ONE Hush pumper with a rear mounted engine, a Pierce pumper, a Pierce heavy rescue, Medtec ambulances, and a US Tanker built on a Freightliner M2112 chassis.

The entire York Center fleet used to be white and lime green. This 1993 E-ONE rear engine HUSH has an enclosed top-mounted operator's console protected by the extended vista cab. There is a 1,500-GPM pump and a 750-gallon water tank. This engine is still in with the department but the green has been replaced with red. Larry Shapiro collection

Tags: E-ONE, Freightliner, Hush, Larry Shapiro, M2112, MABAS Division 12, MedTec, Oak Brook Terrace, patch, Pierce, US Tanker, York Center FPD

Lakewood Fire Department update

Nov 21

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News | 1 Comment

HERE is an article from the Northwest Herald confirming arrangements for the Woodstock Fire Rescue District to provide fire protection to Lakewood beginning next year. The article outlines the projected costs, the continued use of the Lakewood Fire Station, and talk of staffing. Lakewood has been contracting with American Emergency Services, a private company, for the past four years since they terminated a contract with Crystal Lake.

Tags: American Emergency Services, Crystal Lake, Lakewood Fire Department, Woodstock

Oak Brook Terrace is on the site

Nov 20

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News, New Listing, Site News | Comments off

Another department in MABAS Division 12 has been added to the web site. The Oak Brook Terrace Fire District operates out of one station and covers a district of 2.5 square miles with a combination of full-time and part-time personnel. This station is packed with apparatus. They have two engines, a tower ladder, two ambulances, a TRT trailer, and a pickup. As mentioned in previous posts, they just put a brand new Spartan/Marion engine into service. This unit represents a transition for the department to black over red rigs from white over red. The other engine and tower ladder are both E-ONE units and the ambulances were built by Medtec.

Chicago is well known as the birthplace for the Snorkel’s use in the fire service, and the entire Chicago metropolitan area was a mecca for Snorkels. Units could be found with every boom length that was offered and built by several different body builders. Prior to purchasing the 95′ tower ladder from E-ONE in 1991, this department had an unusual 85′ Snorkel on a conventional GMC 7000 chassis. This was one of the only Snorkels in the area that was not built on a C-Series chassis from Ford, a cab-over International, or on a custom fire truck chassis.

The headquarters station for the Oak Brook Terrace Fire District. Larry Shapiro photo

Oak Brook Terrace Fire District E-ONE engine

This 1964, 85' Pitman Snorkel preceded the the E-ONE tower ladder in Oak Brook Terrace. Shown here at their old stations, the body was built by Pierce on a GMC 7000 chassis with a V-12 engine. Snorkel 86, as it was known at the time, had a 1,000-GPM pump and carried 200 gallons of water. Larry Shapiro collection

Tags: 85' Snorkel, E-ONE, Ford C-Series, GMC 7000, International, Larry Shapiro, MABAS Division 12, Marion, MedTec, Oak Brook Terrace, Pierce, Snorkel, Spartan

New Station in Palatine

Nov 19

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News, New Fire Station | Comments off

Construction is well underway on the new Palatine Fire Department Station 81 at 1215 N. Quentin Road, south of Dundee Road. The station is less than a mile from the current, outdated station which Palatine inherited from the Palatine Rural Fire District in January of 2001. When the fire department occupies the new facility, the Palatine Masonic Temple will move into the vacant fire station at 455 Dundee Road that was built in the early 1980s.

Palatine Fire Department new station construction

The new station 81 will be set back from the road with a fairly long driveway unlike the current facility. In addition, apparatus will enter onto a four-lane road with a center median. This will allow them easier and safer access to the roadway than they have now on the narrow stretch of Dundee Road which is heavily travelled and gets backed up daily. Larry Shapiro photo

The new fire station will have roughly 8,700 square feet of space and will be home to Quint 81 and Ambulance 81 which is currently a jump company. Larry Shapiro photo

This is the current Station 81 in Palatine that used to belong to the Palatine Rural Fire District. Larry Shapiro photo

Tags: fire station construction, Larry Shapiro, new station, Palatine Fire Department, Palatine Rural Fire Department

Oak Lawn fire on 95th Street

Nov 19

Posted by bgshap in Apparatus on-scene, Fire | 2 Comments

Hank Sajovic has posted a complete gallery with almost 800 images that he took at the 2-11 in Oak Lawn on Wednesday. Click HERE to view the gallery.

Tags: Eva's Bridal Shop, fire on 95th Street, Hank Sajovic, Oak Lawn FIre Department

Classic engine at Darien-Woodridge

Nov 18

Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News | Comments off

On Tuesday, we mentioned the addition of the Darien-Woodridge Fire District to the site. One of the engines that was posted along with the apparatus at Station 2 is an unusual antique with a long history. Jack Connors has provided us with information about the engine as well as a few photos.

The engine is a 1949 Oshkosh/Howe with a 1,000-GPM pump and a 1,200-gallon tank. The Oshkosh chassis is an Oshkosh Model W-2201 carrying serial number 3541. The Howe serial number is HR-10-7961.

This image shows the 1949 Oshkosh Howe engine as lettered for the Belmont Fire District. Jack Connors collection

This engine first saw service at the Argonne National Laboratory, in Argonne, IL. Next it went to Grandview Park, IL which was annexed by Oak Lawn. It was then used by the Belmont Fire District which became part of the Darien-Woodridge Fire District.

Darien Woodridge Belmont Fire District Oshkosh Howe engine

The engine currently has a Darien-Woodridge Fire District decal replacing the Belmont Fire Protection District name on the door. The Belmont name still resides on the hood. Jack Connors collection

Tags: Argonne National Laboratory, Belmont Fire District, Darien-Woodridge FPD, Grandview Park, Howe, Jack Connors, Oak Lawn, Oshkosh

Barrington brush fire

Nov 18

Posted by bgshap in Apparatus on-scene, Fire, Fire Department News | Comments off

Throughout the north and northwest suburbs during the past week or so, the skies have been dotted by random headers which have largely been the result of widespread prescribed prairie burns. Occasionally, the fires have not been sanctioned or properly permitted and necessitate a fire department response. Tuesday, while driving through the northwest suburbs, Larry Shapiro followed a header to a prairie fire that was not supervised.

Upon arrival of the first Barrington companies, the fire was running along a line in the middle of a large field. The dense smoke had already subsided. Larry Shapiro photo

Barrington units were dispatched to a prairie fire behind homes on Old Dundee Road west of Sutton (Route 59). While en-route, responding units requested additional companies based on what was a substantial header. They found a large field that had been largely consumed already but with a good amount of fuel load remaining and conditions which would endanger at least one large home with a shift in the wind.

Although flame heights were fairly impressive as depicted here, the fuel load was not sufficient to sustain the fire for very long. Larry Shapiro photo

Barrington’s new IHC/US Tanker was on the scene as well as two engines, a quint, an ambulance, battalion chief, and brush unit. The fire was controlled without incident and contained within the prairie grasses without encroaching on the residential properties.

Barrington's Brush Truck arrived after the initial companies and was driven into the field to wet down the remaining spot fires and the perimeter of the field. Larry Shapiro photo

This shot illustrates the size of the field that was involved. The bulk of the fire was out before the fire department arrived. In the distance there is a considerable area visible which did not burn. The foreground shows the proximity of the fire to the resident's yard. Larry Shapiro photo

A small gallery can be seen HERE.

Tags: Barrington Fire Department, brush fire, brush rig, Larry Shapiro, prairie fire, US Tanker

Oak Lawn 2-11

Nov 17

Posted by bgshap in Apparatus on-scene, Fire, Reader submission | 4 Comments

updated with more photos at 11:45PM

Oak Lawn pulled a 2-11 late this afternoon for fire in a strip mall on 95th Street. Hank Sajovic was on the scene within minutes and submitted several terrific images of the buildings before companies got water to the front. The shots depict firefighters in the rear where the fire was discovered at Eva’s Bridal Shop and then the progression of heavy smoke and fire out the front on 95th Street as the fire spread to the Radio Shack next door.

Firefighters advance lines in the rear of Eva's Bridal Shop in Oak Lawn as heavy smoke pushes out of the windows. Hank Sajovic photo

Another view from the rear of the strip mall shows the wide spread of the fire. Hank Sajovic photo

The view down a barren 95th Street as smoke escapes from the front of the building. Hank Sajovic photo

Smoke and fire are now visible along 95th Street prior to fire companies going to work. Hank Sajovic photo

Chief officers communicate with fire companies in preparation of a defensive attack. Hank Sajovic photo

Fire companies can be seen preparing to put a Chicago Ridge tower ladder to work as the fire intensifies and takes hold of the neighboring Radio Shack as well. Hank Sajovic photo

Roberts Park firefighters ready another aerial for master stream operations. Hank Sajovic photo

Firefighters stretch hose lines to attack the fire from 95th Street. Hank Sajovic photo

Two elevated master streams plus several handlines darken the fire stopping the spread to additional units. Hank Sajovic photo

There is more coverage of the fire plus videos HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

The Oak Lawn Fire Department stations and apparatus can be seen HERE.

Heavy fire can be seen now in the Radio Shack store to the east of the bridal shop. Hank Sajovic photo

The Roberts Park FD Pierce aerial is seen deployed on the east end of the 'A' sector. Hank Sajovic photo

The facade has caved in on the original fire unit. Chicago Ridge firefighters sweep their master stream into the single story structure from a low angle just above the street. Hank Sajovic photo