Chris Ranck found this video from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation
Archive for January, 2013
From myFoxChicago.com:
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Fire departments in Illinois will share more than $1.5 million in grant money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced the grants, which come from the Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program. In the Chicago area, fire departments in Bellwood, Bolingbrook, Calumet City, North Riverside and Leyden will receive money. Calumet City will get nearly $380,000 and Westchester will receive about $440,000.
In central Illinois, departments in Standard, Urbana and Elkhart will receive funding. The southern Illinois towns of Alton, Ashley, Centralia, Granite City and Washington County will also get money.
New engine for Peoria
Jan 5
Peoria got a new Impel pumper
Pierce composite
Truck Details
Delivered October 2012
Pump:Waterous
Pump GPM:1250
Tank:Foam, Water
Tank Size:30 foam, 500 water
Safety:Command Zone™, Control Zone™, Hands-Free SCBA Brackets, PS6™ Seats, TAK-4® independent front suspension, Tire Protection System, VLH® Caps
Category:Pumpers
Model Type:Pumpers
Chassis:Impel
Body:Pumper
Overall Height:9′ – 6″
Engine:Cummins ISL
Horse Power:400 HP
Foam System:Akron 3096 95 GPM foam system
thanks Chris
This from Chris Ranck:
Its a little outside the area but a good winter video and might get a response locally
This from the News-Gasette:
An autopsy is scheduled today for a Champaign man who died after being in the frigid waters of a retention pond for more than an hour Tuesday before rescuers could safely get him out.
The Champaign County Coroner’s Office said Kenneth Brown Jr., 20, who listed an address in the 2000 block of Moreland Boulevard, Champaign, was pronounced dead at 1:08 a.m. Wednesday at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.
He had been taken there shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday after being rescued from a pond on the north side of Town Center Boulevard in front of Menards — the third time Tuesday that police had been called about him.
The Illinois State Water Survey reported the air temperature at 4 p.m. Tuesday was around 20 degrees.
As Officers Tim Atteberry and Doug Kimme got out to walk toward Mr. Brown, he began jogging in the Menards parking lot, then ran directly onto the iced-over pond south of the store. The sergeant responding to the domestic dispute “sees Brown on the pond and can see it’s partially frozen and can hear it cracking, so he’s calling for the Champaign Fire Department before he even falls in,” Gallo said. “Within seconds, he fell in.”
As the firefighters were suiting up and getting tethered, other team members threw out a rescue disc — “a Frisbee with a rope on it” — in hopes that Mr. Brown would grab on. He did not. As that was being tried, the rescue raft was being inflated, something that can’t be done too fast or the raft will pop like a balloon.
As the firefighters were sliding the raft out to where Mr. Brown was, he went under the water at 4:11 p.m., Mitchell said.
“As our guys got out there, they took poles and were trying to feel for him. The water was a lot deeper than they’d been told,” Mitchell said. “Originally, they were told it was waist deep and that he had been standing up. It was over 15 to 18 feet deep.
“When he went under, that’s when they dispatched Cornbelt (Fire Protection District), which is the county dive team. Their chief was there at 4:21 p.m.,” Mitchell said.
“They ended up having to dive. (Mr. Brown) was out of the water and in the ambulance at 5:09 p.m.,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said one police officer and six different firefighters were in the water before the mission was complete.
Mitchell said after reviewing the reports and seeing a YouTube video of about 10 minutes of the rescue that was posted Wednesday, he feels like his colleagues did what they were supposed to do.
The entire article with a more detailed timeline and description of events is HERE.
The Daily Herald has an article discussing changes to the 9-1-1 Dispatch Center.
The Des Plaines public works committee Thursday night agreed to recommend to the city council the establishment of a Des Plaines dispatch center and emergency telephone system board to handle 911 calls for Des Plaines and Park Ridge.
It’s the first step toward the dissolution of the North Suburban Emergency Communications Center, which provides 911 dispatch services for Des Plaines, Park Ridge, Niles and Morton Grove, and the disbanding of the Joint Emergency Telephone System (JETS) Board, which governs the current 911 center located in Des Plaines.
The 24-hour center, which has been in operation for 20 years, has been handling emergency police and fire calls for Des Plaines and Park Ridge, and police calls for Niles and Morton Grove since 2004.
Morton Grove and Niles already have opted to leave the cooperative due to cost concerns and join with Glenview’s dispatch center. Des Plaines and Park Ridge considered joining with Northwest Central Dispatch System but that agency’s governing board declined their request for a feasibility study due to its own constraints.
The only remaining option is for Des Plaines to operate its own dispatch center out of City Hall with fewer employees. Park Ridge would contract with Des Plaines to handle its 911 police and fire dispatch calls, Des Plaines Fire Chief Alan Wax said.
If approved, the Des Plaines 911 center would be governed by a five-member board consisting of the city manager, finance director, police and fire chiefs, and a citizen member appointed by the mayor with the city council’s consent, Wax said.
The cost of upgrading the antiquated dispatch system would have to be deferred until officials know whether the new 911 center will continue beyond the proposed two years. The center needs a new computer-aided dispatch system, which would allow for the transmission of text, video, and pictures. The estimated cost is roughly $2 million.
The entire article can be found HERE.
thanks Chris
This from Josh Boyajian:
Took in a working still @ 1537 s Trumbull. Engine 38 lead out a line to the 2nd floor. Truck 48 made the roof while Engine 109 backed down a lead out a line. Here are some photos.
Engine 38 on a hydrant just past the fire building. Josh Boyajian photo
Chicago Engine 109 on a hydrant. Josh Boyajian photo
Another shot with Truck 48 to the roof. Josh Boyajian photo
Truck 48 laddered the roof. Josh Boyajian photo
The Chicago Tribune writes:
Grand Crossing District officers kicked in two doors of a burning apartment building and ushered to safety a resident who had trouble walking and seeing through a thick haze of smoke that enveloped the second floor.
Two plainclothes officers were on patrol on the 400 block of East 66th Street in the West Woodlawn neighborhood just after midnight when they noticed smoke from a first floor window.
No one was injured in the fire, though some suffered from smoke inhalation. Firefighters responded to the apartment from about a block away, at 67th Street and Vernon Avenue, and contained the fire to the single apartment. Responders had to contend with slippery conditions – the water soon froze after discharged from the hoses, authorities said.
The complete article is HERE.
thanks Chris
The following is from an article from the Radio ResourceMedia Group:
FCC Grants Narrowbanding Extensions to NYC, Chicago and Philly (12/27/12)
The FCC granted the VHF and UHF narrowbanding waiver requests of three of the nation’s largest cities, just days before the Jan. 1, 2013, deadline.New York City received separate extension dates for two different components of its radio communications system. The main portion of the UHF system used by the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) and the New York Police Department (NYPD) operates on frequencies in the UHF T-band, for which the Jan. 1, 2013, narrowbanding deadline was waived earlier this year. The city also received a waiver for additional non-T-band channels that are operationally integrated with the T-band systems.
New York received separate waivers for certain other systems used by FDNY, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Department of Corrections (DOC) that are not integrated with the city’s T-band systems. DEP received an extension until May 1, 2013. FDNY and DOC received a waiver until Dec. 31, 2014.
New York filed the waiver request in June, and the FCC sought comment in August.
Chicago, the nation’s third-largest city, received an extension of the narrowbanding deadline up to and including Jan. 1, 2015. The city has completed narrowbanding for some systems but requests more time for other networks and has prepared budgets and timelines to complete the work.
Philadelphia, the fifth-largest U.S. city, received an extension through Feb. 1, 2014. City officials had requested a deadline of July 1, 2014. Philadelphia filed its waiver request in September.
The article can be found HERE.
thanks Chris
Homewood Acres VFD
Jan 3
A brief and perhaps odd article appeared in the Southtown Star about the Homewood Acres VFD.
Homewood Acres a fire department in name only, but officials hope to change
If there’s a fire in the tiny, unincorporated community of Homewood Acres, no one counts on the Homewood Acres Volunteer Fire Department for help.
It’s been several years since the single-station company has been able to respond to a fire in the one-square-mile area nestled between Country Club Hills and Homewood. Some of its firefighters are not state-certified, the department itself lacks certification from the Illinois State Fire Marshal, and it is caught in an ugly political brawl between the department’s former and current leadership.
The article is HERE.
thanks Dennis
Previous posts about the department are HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
This from Drew Gresik:
Hello,I was at the Franklin Park 2-11 yesterday, and I spotted Schiller Park’s new Battalion Chief’s vehicle. It’s either a 2012 or 2013 Chevy Tahoe.Thanks.Drew Gresik
Schiller Park Fire Department Battalion 5. Drew Gresik photo
Schiller Park Fire Department Battalion 5. Drew Gresik photo
