Archive for February 15th, 2012

Commissioner Hoff stepping down

Chicago Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff

Chicago Commissioner Hoff announces he's leaving the CFD.

CBS Chicago is reporting the CFD Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff is steping down:

CHICAGO (CBS) – Mayor Rahm Emanuel is losing his first major cabinet member. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine has learned that Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff is stepping down.

Hoff was one of the few leftovers from the Daley administration. Sources said he submitted his resignation on Wednesday.

He will be replaced by former Office of Emergency Management and Communications boss Jose Santiago, who left the city when Emanuel took over as mayor, in part because of problems during the Groundhog Day blizzard last year.

The entire article can be found HERE.

The Sun-Times has an article HERE.

Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff — who said he was “deathly against” closing firehouses or reducing the minimum staffing requirement on fire apparatus — abruptly resigned Wednesday, leaving firefighters without a champion headed into contentious contract talks with Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Hoff, 56, is a third generation Chicago firefighter whose father was killed in the line of duty. He chose to retire — and go out on his own terms — on the 50th anniversary of his father’s death. Sources said the decision was his. The mayor did not force him out.

“Thirty-five years is long enough. He wants to go teach firemen and keep them safe. That’s what he wants to do,” said a source close to the commissioner.

The Chicago Tribune has an article HERE.

Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 President Thomas Ryan announced Hoff’s planned departure at a union meeting. Ryan told fire union members that Hoff had told him “it was time to go.”

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CFD Crimson aerials update

Bill Friedrich submitted the following comprehensive list of the new aerials in service in Chicago:

New trucks as follows:

Truck 9    E-337
Truck 13  E-342
Truck 31  E-338
Truck 42  E-343
Truck 50  E-344
Truck 51  E-341
Truck 56  E-339
Truck 59  E-340
Truck 61  E-345
Truck 62  E-336

All 2010 Spartan Gladiator – Crimson 103′ ladders
Chicago Fire Department Truck 62 Spartan Gladiator Crimson

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Old video looks at the CFD

Steve Redick found this old video highlighting the Chicago Fire Department working during the coldest temperatures on record in the city, January 10, 1982.

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