Archive for January 16th, 2011

New (used) heavy rescue with crane for Newport FPD

Bill Friedrich informs us that the Newport FPD in Lake County has purchased a 1985 Mack MR/Saulsbury, walk-in, heavy rescue with a mid-ship mounted, 8-ton, 33-foot, National Crane from the Lutherville Volunteer Fire Company in Baltimore County, MD. The unit is not yet in Illinois, but reportedly will be soon. Lutherville’s apparatus are painted white with gold striping and a black band along the bottom. Lutherville replaced this squad in 2008 with a Pierce Velocity, tandem axle, walk-around, heavy rescue with a 10-ton National Crane.

Lutherville Vol Fire Company Squad 303 Mack MC Saulsbury National Crane

The Lutherville Vol Fire Company in Baltimore County, MD ran this 1985 Mack MR/Saulsbury heavy rescue as Squad 303 until it was replaced in 2008. Larry Shapiro photo

Lutherville Vol Fire Company Squad 303 in action

Lutherville Squad 303 demonstrates the capability of the crane to stabilize or lift a vehicle to assist with an extrication. Larry Shapiro photo from the book Cranes in Action, MBI Publishing

Lutherville Volunteer Fire Company MD Pierce Velocity heavy rescue National Crane

The Lutherville Vol Fire Co in Baltimore County MD put this Pierce Velocity heavy rescue into service in 2008. Squad 303 has a mid-ship mounted 10-ton National Crane. Larry Shapiro photo


Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District – update

The Kane County Chronicle has an article which outlines a new deadline for the Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District board to choose a service provider for the new fire department.

Some excerpts from the article:

The Fox River and Countryside Fire/Rescue District board did not choose an emergency service provider as expected on Thursday but said they would negotiate a contract with two potential providers and choose one by Feb. 1.

The two are the City of St. Charles Fire Department and AES, American Emergency Services. The board met at a special meeting in a basement training room at St. Charles Fire Station 1.

“We brought them in, gave each one three minutes to answer questions and the citizens advisory wrote down their comments,” Baldwin said of the potential service providers. “AES met pretty much down the line in regards to the [request for proposal] we had and St. Charles suggested pretty much staying status quo.”

A third potential service provider, Metro Paramedic Services, was dropped from consideration because its proposal response was not complete.

The entire article can be found HERE.

The Daily Herald had an article last week (January 10) which stated that American Emergency Services (AES) will almost certainly get the contract. That article can be found HERE.

American Emergency Services will almost certainly be the new 911 service provider for the former St. Charles Countryside Fire Protection District.

On January 14th, The Daily Herald had a followup article.

Residents grill Fox River Countryside fire district over dumping St. Charles firefighters

Feedback during Thursday’s meeting at the St. Charles downtown fire station made it clear that some residents remain wary of what it will all mean to the emergency services in the St. Charles, Campton and Wayne township areas served by the district.

“Perhaps some of us missed some of the details in the past as to what was going on, but we are confident in the St. Charles Fire Department, and your plan slipped by us,” (resident Dennis) Marquis told fire district trustees. “There is no excuse for not watching more closely in the past, but we will be watching more closely now. We wish you success with your plan and hope you come through on your goals of better response time and cost controls.”

“We have a centrally located fire station in St. Charles, so why would we build and staff two separate offices, supposedly for better protection? It seems very unusual to me,” (resident Becky) Lenard said.

The complete article can be found HERE.

Tags: , , , , , , ,