Archive for May 8th, 2012

Fire Departments enjoy group savings on equipment

The Daily Herald has an article describing three fire departments that got together to buy heart monitors in bulk. This allowed them each to realize significant cost savings.

By partnering with the fire departments in Elgin and Franklin Park, the Carpentersville Fire Department saved nearly $9,000 on new heart defibrillators that come with EKG monitors.

Carpentersville bought three of the machines at the total cost of $72,440.95 and they are scheduled to arrive in about a month, Schuldt said. The cost savings was the result of a volume discount.

Elgin ordered five of the same machines and two already are in service, Elgin Fire Chief John Fahy said.

Carpentersville’s machines will replace three others that are 10 years old and inside three ambulances.

Like Elgin has already done, Carpentersville officials will move the ones in the ambulances to three fire engines, turning them into “advanced life support engines,” Schuldt said.

So if an ambulance was tied up and a fire engine responded to a call instead, the machines would give the engines same sort of lifesaving capabilities as the ambulances.

Meanwhile, the partnership with Carpentersville is the latest example of Elgin reaching out to its neighbors.

Elgin is also taking over dispatching services with South Elgin and its fire department is taking calls in unincorporated Kane County that East Dundee had been handling for years.

“This is just another example of when we work together, the taxpayer wins,” Fahy said.

The complete article can be found HERE.

thanks Chris

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CFD Apparatus History – Ward LaFrance

To supplement our multi-part series on the Ward LaFrance apparatus used by the CFD, Bill Friedrich has submitted copies of the 1970 Ward LaFrance sell sheets/brochures featuring these units. Previous posts can be found HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Ward LaFrance 1970 brochure with Chicago engines

This Ward LaFrance brochure features a shot of all seven Ward LaFrance 2,000-GPM engines for Chicago in 1970. Bill Friedrich collection

Ward LaFrance 1970 brochure with Chicago engines

All sides of a 1970 Ward LaFrance 2,000-GPM engine for Chicago with complete specifications. Bill Friedrich collection

Ward LaFrance 1970 brochure with Chicago ladder trucks

Both sides of a 1970 Ward LaFrance/Grove 100' ladder truck. These had 300-gallon booster tanks, Hale 2CBP booster pumps, Grove 4S-100 ladders, and "many other items of special equipment.". Bill Friedrich collection

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Mt Zion fire station destroyed by fire

The Mt. Zion Fire Department in central Illinois lost their fire station, their aerial, an engine, a pickup and their command vehicle.

Mount Zion Fire Station and trucks damaged by fire

A Decatur firefighter removes a portion of the Mount Zion Fire Department's firehouse in an effort to expose any lingering hot spots from a fire that erupted in the building early Saturday morning. In the building you can see what remains of the ladder truck in which authorities believe the fire started. Herald & Review photo by Scott Perry

The Herald-Review.com has an article which states that

The alarm calling firefighters into action came at 4:20 a.m. They arrived to find the ladder truck ablaze inside the building and smoke wafting from any openings. The fire eventually broke through the roof.

(Fire Chief Don) Wright said the heat was so intense that firefighters were prevented from getting to their equipment and could do little until help from neighboring departments arrived.

Long Creek Fire Protection District crews were the first to respond. Teaming up with the Mount Zion firefighters, they immediately began flooding the bay with water through the broken windows and an open door.

Wright said the fire was knocked down in about 20 minutes, but the damage was done.

The ladder truck was destroyed and the rear portion of the building, a fire engine, utility pick-up truck and command vehicle were severely damaged.

Wright said it appears the smoke damage to two rescue units, another fire engine and an airport crash truck kept in the front bay of the building was minimal. By 9 a.m., one of those pieces of equipment was already on its way to Warrensburg where firefighters there were prepared to clean it up and give it a good looking over.

In all, crews from eight area departments and the American Red Cross were on scene to assist with the effort. Responding were Decatur, Argenta-Oreana, South Wheatland, South Macon, Cerro Gordo, Dora Township and Harristown.

Wright said preliminary indications are the fire started in the ladder truck, which was purchased just a few months back, and was electrical in nature.

He said a loaner ladder truck from Decatur was already on its way and that the Springfield and Warrensburg departments had made offers to provide more equipment if needed. He said mutual aid agreements already in place will assure the department’s needs are met until new equipment can be obtained.

The complete article can be found HERE.

Mount Zion Fire Protection District tower ladder

photo from the Mt. Zion FPD web site

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