A visit to Engine 53’s old house « chicagoareafire.com

A visit to Engine 53’s old house

This from Tyler Tobolt:

here is a photo of the old CFD Engine 53 house on Packer

Vacant former quarters of CFD Engine 53. Tyler Tobolt photo

Tags: Chicago Fire Department, closed Chicago firehouse, foremer home for Chicago Engine 53, Tyler Tobolt, vacant Chicago firehouse

This entry was posted on July 9, 2013, 8:27 AM and is filed under Fire Service Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

16 Comments

#1 by Phil Stenholm on July 14, 2013 - 2:17 PM

It technically wasn’t part of the Chicago Fire Department, but Chicago Fire Insurance Patrol No. 4 was located in the Stockyards (43rd & Racine) for almost 50 years (1889-1938), and it responded to all alarms of fire in the Stockyards as the de facto quick-attack “first-responder.”

Patrol 4 was unusual in that for the period of time that it was located in the Stockyards, it was the only CFIP company that operated with a fire-suppression apparatus (chemical-engine) instead of a salvage rig, and it was the only CFIP company that functioned as a fire-fighting company rather than as a salvage company.

Patrol 4 remained in the Stockyards until August 1938, when Patrol 3 (which had been located at 3527 S. Wabash) & Patrol 4 moved into the new CFIP house at 5000 S. Union Ave.

Patrol 4’s last fire-suppression rig was a 1928 Diamond “T” chemical engine, which was replaced with a standard salvage rig (1938 GMC panel-truck) when they moved to the house on Union.

BTW, the City of Chicago purchased the facility at 5000 S. Union from the Fire Insurance Patrol for $1 after the CFIP disbanded in 1959, and Engine Co. 50, Truck Co. 18, Snorkel 1, and Battalion 11 relocated there in 1960.

The CFD also purchased ex-Patrol 5 at 1044 N. Orleans Street (future home of SS1 and Special Services) at the same time they acquired the Union Avenue facility, but the city declined to purchase the CFIP facilities at 100 S. Des Plaines (ex-Patrol 1 & Patrol 2) and 3107 W. Fullerton (ex-Patrol 7).
#2 by tom sullivan on July 13, 2013 - 9:21 AM

a good example of how the change company process worked for outlying companies,,,in 1980 there was an extra alarm on western ave north of Petersen, an auto dealer, truss roof. there were many fires over the years up there in auto dealers.
e-89 was due on the 2-11 (e-59 had knocked them off the box). e-89 was a 2000 gpm pumper at that time and should have responded. when the 2-11 was struck, the fao opened the speaker and held e-89 in quarters (to the dismay of a certain rel. lieut.) a 3-11 followed but e-89 was now awaiting orders. about 10 minutes later e-94 pulled up in front of 89s quarters. when they notified the fao that they were there E-89 was ordered to take in the 3-11. upon arrival they were ordered to lead out a line to assist in the wash down of the collapsed building, not long after were ordered to pick up and return, (kind of a wasted effort in the opinion of that certain rel. lieut,)
in those years Chicago provided fire protection to Lincolnwood il. and keeping a engine available for that was a consideration in dispatching. when a call for Lincolnwood was received, the cfd still alarm companies would respond to devon and Crawford , meet a Lincolnwood police car and be escorted to the fire .
#3 by Bill Post on July 12, 2013 - 11:08 PM

DMc 77, at one time the CFD had a policy of not using most of the companies that were located near the city limits (borders) to change quarters and they wouldn’t respond beyond a still or still and box alarm to that way their districts would be covered and they wouldn’t have to have a company from further into the city drive to their end of the city to change quarters. Of course if the extra alarm was in their still district they would have change companies respond but that way they would keep the city limits companies “near home and they would minimize the need to have change of quarters companies to go to the end of the city that much.
That policy was changed in the early 90’s and possibly the 80’s.
Engine 102 or Truck 25 would never go out on changes of quarters however during the 90’s Engine 102 would be assigned on some changes of quarters. Engine 102 and Truck 25 would rarely if ever respond into the city on extra alarms as well. They would usually stay within the confines of the old 27th Battalion. I believe that several other stations would also be kept within their home Battalions as well such as Engine 119 and Truck 55 and a few others such as Engine 97 which really was an isolated company as 97 had run with a shop added ladder rack until the early 1970s and wouldn’t be dispatched out of it’s still district.
Another regularly followed practice by the Fire Alarm office was holding back on dispatching certain companies even if they were in the same Battalion as the extra alarm fire was.
An example was if there was a fire in the northern half of Engine 71’s district with Engine 102 responding as the second Engine and the fire was escalated to a Still and Box alarm even though Engine 70 was the third nearest Engine, Engine 70 wouldn’t be sent there until the 3-11 alarm.
That is not a misprint , on running cards from the 1950’s Engine 110 would be the third due and Engine 79 (from 5358 n Ashland ) would be the 4th due Engine and 70 would be held back until the 3-11 alarm.
The same thing was true on some boxes in Engine 102’s district except that Engine 70 would be the second Engine to 102 and Engine 71 wouldn’t be dispatched until the 3-11 alarm. For example for a Still and Box at Greenleaf and Ashland ,Engine 102 and 70 would be the Still Engines and Engine 79 and 83 would be the box Engines and Engine 71 would be held back until the 3-11 alarm (if it got that high). The running cards with that run down were printed in the 1950’s and were used until the late 60’s early 70’s.
#4 by DMc77 on July 12, 2013 - 9:48 PM

NJ – I noted that TL10 would be the TL assigned on the 2-11, and they are much closer than TL14. And as Bill mentioned, TL10 has a direct route north from the drive or Halsted (to Clark, etc.). Not sure they would beat TL23 as far west as California or maybe even Western, but the point is TL10 has a large 2-11 “district” that does in fact include parts of the 9th Bn, and would even go as far south as Cermak if not the River.
#5 by Bill Post on July 12, 2013 - 6:55 PM

Yes Tower Ladder 21 would be the first due Tower Ladder to anywhere in the 9th Battalion however when it comes to the second or the “2-11” Tower Ladder it largely depends how far east or west you are. For example if the fire is off of Sheridan road (especially south of 6400 north then Tower Ladder 10 would probably be able to get in there at least at quick as Tower Ladder 23(especially if it takes the Outer Drive). If the fire was west of Broadway or if it was west of Sheridan road (north of Devon Tower Ladder 23 would probably be able to be the second in Tower Ladder. As far as the third due Tower Ladder it also depends on how far west you are in the Battalion and where the Tower Ladder was coming from (such as a change of quarters assignment). A third Tower Ladder would probably have to be special called as Tower Ladders don’t normally respond beyond a 2-11 however on a HIgh Rise fire , two additional Trucks are supposed to be due on the 3-11 , at least they were a few years ago.
Tower Ladder 10 would probably be the third due Tower Ladder at least as far as California avenue but since they could use the Kennedy expressway or Clybourn or Elston they could probably beat Tower Ladder 14 in even if the fire was west of California avenue.
Another similar example are the Squad Districts on the north side. For quite a while Squad 2 would take the Lake front in the 9th and even the northern half of the 5th Battalion (and that is even when Squad 1 was at Engine 13’s quarters as well as Engine 42). The district was changed several years ago and now Squad 1 goes as far as the northern city limits if the fire is at least as far west as Ashland avenue. If the fire is west of there then it is Squad 2’s run.
I believe the reason that Squad 1’s district was enlarged to take the eastern section of the 9th and the 5th Battalions is because it dawned on them that Squad 1 could get on Lake Shore Drive and be on the north side much quicker then Squad 2 could get there.
#6 by chris on July 12, 2013 - 4:38 PM

tl10 can get up north pretty quick if they need to,cause the drive just like sqd 1 takes everything east of ashland if tl21 is out or call for 2 towers
#7 by NJ on July 12, 2013 - 1:36 PM

Why would they send TL10?

TL21, TL23 and TL14 are all closer than TL10. TL21 is the closest, followed by 23
#8 by DMc77 on July 12, 2013 - 1:17 PM

Tom you make a good point about coverage in those areas. With no assistance coming from Evanston or Lake Michigan, companies can be on their own for quite awhile before backup arrives. One need only realize that the TL on a 2-11 to the east part of the 9th (or maybe the whole battalion) is TL10! Any good worker in an apt bldg up there with rescues/exposures will almost always go to a 2-11 quiclky enough that the CQ co’s on the still and box are just getting on the road in some cases. And if memory serves the Office will send a CQ to every house in the 9th, if not every individual company

I suppose the same could be said for EMS plans or busy days for ambulance calls….
#9 by tom sullivan on July 12, 2013 - 10:19 AM

with todays policy on mega still alarm high rise responses, I would think that e-59 will be doubled up with e-70 for a long time to come. a bls ambo at e-102 would be a good move too. when a still alarm to a high rise is sent in the 9th bttn. it wipes out coverage for the whole rogers park, edgewater, uptown, neighborhoods with one stroke. change of quarters moves should be made quickly.
when e-79 was doubled up with e-83 for a while (before the house on Lehigh opened) they would be sent on a change to e-102 on every still up there. traffic congestion and narrow streets in the 9th bttn has always been a problem.
#10 by Bill Post on July 11, 2013 - 1:28 PM

NJ I have a surprise for you. Not more than a month ago I saw Ambulance 7 going west on Howard street returning from St Francis hospital. I wonder what the story on that was as not only is Ambulance 7 in the top 20 (sometimes in the top 10) for runs but the majority of the time Ambulance 7 is running further south to cover for Ambulances 15 and 52. A west side run for Ambulance 7 is pretty common so the northside must have been pretty busy to get Ambulance 7 going to St Francis.
There is no question that Engine 71 will beat Engine 102 and Truck 25 if the call is on California or west of there but Eng 102 normally responds east of there to Rockwell avenue first due. There are 3 nursing homes within 2 blocks and 102 is always running up there and very often respond to the one that is west of Rockwell also. West of California can be a problem however.
I wonder what’s going on the West end of 71’s district as like you were saying if there is a run at Devon and Kedzie and 71 is out on a run. All that Engine 89’s companies need to do is go east on Peterson and go north on Kimball to Mc Cormick. I bet you that the reason that they may be slow is because of heavy sewer construction that is going on on Peterson going west from LIncoln these days so there are back ups on Peterson. Under normal conditions Peterson is usually a good street to take. Truck 56 and 89 usually normally respond on the west end when Engine 71 is out and 89’s station can normally beat Engine 102’s house to Winston Towers (at least to the ones closer to Pratt) and Touhy avenue gets alot of congestion from the Town Center in Lincolnwood,
Engine 89 is one of slowest (in terms of runs) houses in the city so they should usually be available. Normally Devon and Kedzie would be about a 3 minute drive from 89’s house so the construction probably has to do with the slower response times that you are talking about. Truck 56 is always covering for Engine 71.
As far as for runs on California avenue near Engine 71 , Engine 110’s house can usually beat Engine 70’s house as Truck 12 usually takes Lincoln avenue as a shortcut up to California. Quite often ambulances that are following Engine 71 respond from Swedish Covenant and I wouldn’t be surprised if that is why Ambulance 7 was on the far north side a few weeks ago.
A little over a month ago Engine 71 caught a working fire half a block south of quarters at 6201 N California and Engine 110 was second due. Using Lincoln avenue Engine 110 or Truck 12 can be at Engine 71 in less then 5 minutes driving time.
#11 by NJ on July 11, 2013 - 8:42 AM

Bill,
You make some interesting points regarding the distribution in the 9th. Living up near there, I can tell you that going north and west from Devon and California, response times tend to be in the area of 9 to 10 min if 71 is on a run, getting worse the further west you go. Pratt and Kedzie area being about the worst w/o 71. We on a not irregular basis are getting A32, 48, or 47. For BLS we often get 92 or 80. All of these are coming from quite a ways away. Those rigs are pretty far out. While A46 is one of the slower rigs in the city, all of the other ones in the area are in the upper half of run numbers. Putting another ALS or even a BLS ambo with 71 would make a lot of sense.

Of and BTW, 71 hauls ass on EMS runs like few other Engine Co’s that I’ve seen. If all are in quarters, I’d bet on them beating 102 and/or 25 any day. They’re a fair bit closer even to there than 102 house is on Clark north of Touhy. If they’re out (not uncommon) now you’re going to 70/59’s house or 89’s house or 110’s house. Even further.
#12 by Bill Post on July 11, 2013 - 7:16 AM

MIke Mc the old 11th Battalion was indeed the Old Union Stockyards Battalion and while they were located outside of the Stock yards , the Stock Yards did take up a large portion of their old district.
Actually the old 11th Battalion and the old 15th Battalions were taken out of service on the same day which was on April 11 1980 which was the same day that Divisions 1 through 7 were taken out of service and replaced by the new District ‘s 1 through 5. A 6th district for the Airports was created in early 1981 It wasn’t until September 2nd 1982 that all of the fire Battalions were renumbered, relocated and were reassigned to the now 6 Fire Districts. A new 6th Fire District was created in the city proper and a 7th was also created to cover the airports and was located at O”Hare field.
Chicago had a high of 31 Fire Battalions after Battalion 31 was created in February of 1962 in order to cover the Midway Airport and Garfield Ridge area.Battalion 31 covered the area that was west of Pulaski from the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal all the way to 87th street on the south end. Prior to the creation of Battalion 31 in 1962 Battalion 26 had covered Midway Airport and Garfield Ridge, whose district went as far west as Harlem avenue.
In 1969 old Battalions 5,6 and 9 were taken out of service reducing Chicago’s Battalions to 28. The 1968 consultant study had actually recommended that Battalion 2 be taken out of service instead of Battalion 9 but that was beside the point.
Even though Chicago highest numbered Engine company is Engine 129, in recent years (recent meaning to around 1962) Chicago really didn’t have more then 123 Engine companies in service at one time. While Engines 37,41 and 58 had been fire boats ,Chicago hadn’t had an Engine 90 in service since 1932 ,while Engine 31 was taken out of service in 1954 and Engine 3 was taken out of service in 1956. By 1970 there were only 104 Engine companies in service. From 1963 through 1969 nineteen Engine companies were taken out of service.
Getting back to the Union Stockyards area , the Chicago Union Stock yard’s which went from Pershing road on the north to 47th street on the south and from approximately Halsted on the east to Ashland on the west ( more or less) had two Chicago Fire Stations ( Engine 53 and Engine 59) within those boundaries and at least 4 or 5 fire stations within a block of those boundary line streets that I just mentioned. There were even more fire stations that were within a mile or two of the Union Stock Yards. While Engine 53 was inside the Stockyards and Engine 59 was just outside the eastern entrance to the yards. Battalion 11 and Truck 18 was less then a block south of the yards on the southwest corner of Halsted and 47th street. In 1960 Battalion 11 Truck 18 and Engine 50 (located and Wentworth and 46th street) were moved into the former Chicago Fire insurance Patrol Station at 5000 S Union and was only about half a mile from the Stockyards. About half mile west of Halsted and 47th Street was Engine 52 that was located at 4710 S Elizabeth and was also located less then a block south of the Stock Yards. Engine 52 was also assigned to the 11th Battalion.
The area that was just west of the Stockyards at Ashland avenue was called the “back of the yards” and there were another two fire stations that were located not more then a block west of Ashland avenue. Truck 33 was located on the northeast corner of 45th and Marshfield in a single Truck house and just about two and half blocks north of there on the south east corner of 43rd and Paulina was Engine 49’s quarters. On August 15th 1978 both Engine 49 and Truck 33 mover from their old stations that were only two and half blocks apart to their current station at 4401 s Ashland. Most of the Chicago readers of this site know that Engine 49’s house became the last quarters of the Chicago Civil Defense Fire and Rescue service which was renamed the EPDS from September 30th 1978 to July 24th of 1989 when they went out of service and this piece is not a history of them as there is a great website that is dedicated to the history of them.
This piece is really on the what happened to the old 11th Battalion in relationship to the Union Stockyards and the Chicago FIre Department.
The 11th battalion was one of 4 Battalions that had been assigned to old 4th Fire Division, which was the predecessor of today’s Fire Districts.
The four Battalions that were assigned to the 4th Division were Battalions 10,11,16 and 21. Battalion 11’s district during the early and mid 60’s was went from Pershing road on the north to Garfield boulevard (55th street) on the south and from State street on the east to Ashland avenue on the west and about 4 square miles. As of mid 1963 There were only 5 stations that were assigned to the 11th Battalion, The Stations were Engine 50 and Truck 18 ( Battalion 11 Headquarters) at 5000 S Union, Engine 52 at 4710 S Elizabeth, Engine 53 at 4005 S Packers (in the middle of the Union Stock Yards), Engine 59 and Division 4 at 818 W Exchange avenue ( east Entrance to the Stock Yards and Engine 48 and 16s quarters at 4005 S Dearborn.
While the Stock Yard officially closed on July 30th 1971 the Stockyards were declining since at least the 1950’s as more meat animals were being slaughtered in new Stockyards and meat packing plants by and large further west such as Omaha and Kansas City.
Engine 53’s house was the first to close on July 9th 1964. On September 16 1965 Engine 52 was taken out of service and their station was closed and Engine 48 was taken out of service on the same day. That was only about 15 months after Engine 53 was moved out. It’s ironic that Engine 48 was taken out service instead of Engine 16 as the house at 4005 s Dearborn was originally Engine 48’s house and Engine 16 had only moved in with them when Engine 16’s old house was closed on October 24th 1960. Taking Engine 48 out of service really had little to do with the Stockyards however.
Even though Engines 53 and 52 were no longer in service near the Stockyards Engine 59 was still on the east end and Engine 49 was just about a block west of the Yards. Engine 49 and Truck 33 weren’t assigned to the 11th Battalion however . They were assigned to the 21st Battalion.
When Engine 49’s and Truck 33’s new station had opened on August 15th 1978 at 4401 S Ashland Division 4 was relocated from Engine 59s house.
The Union Stock yards was officially closed for 7 years by then.
It turns out that Engine 59 ‘s house was being leased by the city for all of the years that it was being used as a fire station since 1934 and the private owners had decided that they needed the space and they weren’t going to renew the lease next time. As the Stock Yards had been closed for a while already and Engine 59’s quarters were only about a mile from Engines 29,50’s and Engine 49’s new quarters it really wasn’t adding too much risk to closing down their station and as there were many more runs in the Edgewater and Uptown areas so on June 1st 1979 Engine 59 was relocated to Truck 47’s quarters on the north side. It is interesting to note that when Engine 59 was relocated to the north side it was several years before the Ambulance assist program was begun and the Engines an Trucks didn’t normally respond on EMS runs yet.
Even though Engine 16’s quarters were technically speaking in the 11th Battalion Engine 16 was assigned to Battalion 10 for administrated reasons. After Engine 59 was relocated to the north side Engine 50 and Truck 18 were the only companies that were administratively assigned to the 11th Battalion even though Engine 16 was actually located in Battalion 11’s still district. Engine 49’s new quarters were located on the border of Battalions 11 and 21 however they were assigned to Battalion 21. Battalion 15 on the West side also only had one or two stations under it’s administration so when the CFD went from 7 Divisions to 5 new Districts on April 11th 1980 both Battalions 11 and 15 were eliminated and absorbed into neighboring Battalions. Battalion 11’s quarters was assigned to the old 12th Battalion as the 12th Battalion was only a mile and a half further south down Halsted street. Battalion 15’s station was just about on the border of Battalions 28, 18 and 4.
Slightly over a month after Battalion 11 was taken out of service Battalion 21 was relocated to Engine 49;s quarters on May 24 th 1980 until September 2nd 1982 when the Battalions were renumbered and most of them were relocated.
#13 by Bill Post on July 10, 2013 - 9:14 PM

NJ that’s an interesting point that you make about the coverage in what in effect is the 9th Battalion (which was the old 27th and that included the northern half of the old 20th Battalion). Engine 59 in reality now covers Engine 79’s old district when they were located at 5358 N Ashland in Andersonville. As you also know, when Truck 12 was put in service at Engine 110’s house in 2005, they were putting the old Truck 43 back in service, which had been located with Engine 110 for over 30 years, until they were taken out of service on November 16th 1971 so they could put Flying Squad 6 and Snorkel 6 in with Engine 110.

Truck 46 was taken out of service the same day as Truck 43. This was recommended in the fire department’s consultant studies of 1964 and 1968. Both of those truck companies were to be moved to other areas of the city once new stations were built. Just as Truck 12 had in effect taken over old Truck 43’s area (34 years later), Tower Ladder 14 has in effect taken over Truck 46’s old still district. Truck 46 was located with Engine 67 and the old 23rd Battalion at 4666 W Fulton and covered the area in between Truck 29 and Truck 26. Tower Ladder 14 covers the same area for the most part.

When it comes to the present 9th Battalion in terms of EMS coverage, all four stations that are officially assigned to the 9th Battalion have an ALS company. Those companies are ALS Engines 83, 59, 102, and 71. Truck 12 which is assigned to Battalion 10 is also an ALS company. The only company in Battalion 9 that doesn’t have an ambulance assigned with it is Engine 71, and that is largely because they don’t have room for an ambulance. Engine 70’s house actually is less then two miles from both Engine 102 and Engine 71, and is slightly over two miles from both Engine 110 and Engine 83. Engine 70’s area is pretty well surrounded and covered by neighboring stations, however the real problem is the amount of EMS runs that all of the stations get, plus all of the high-rise stills that Engine 70’s house goes to on the east end of their district along Sheridan road. As far as runs for Engine 71, the vast majority are EMS related (just like most other of the companies in the 9th Battalion).

Even though Engine 71 is on the west end of the battalion, their area is pretty well covered on the north end. I can tell you for a fact that Truck 25 and Engine 102 always get to Touhy and California within a minute of Engine 71 and if you go two blocks east of California on Touhy, Engine 102 will beat Engine 71 to the scene.

A few years ago, the CFD was seriously considering building an addition to Engine 71’s house, most likely so that an ambulance could be moved in.

As far as ambulances go, a case can be made to put another BLS ambulance in with Engine 70 or even Engine 102 as many times Ambulances 80 and 92 are running from further distances into those areas on BLS runs.
#14 by Mike Mc on July 10, 2013 - 10:07 AM

Thanks for the historical insight Bill. You may want to elaborate on how the old 11th Battalion was whitled away until it was eventually placed out of service. The old 11th Battalion’s reason for being having been the stockyards.
#15 by NJ on July 10, 2013 - 9:15 AM

That area of Chicago has large gaps in CFD coverage. There are few ambos in the area, and stations are far apart with long response times, especially if 71 is out on a run.
#16 by Bill Post on July 10, 2013 - 2:09 AM

That’s an interesting shot of Engine 53’s abandoned station. The irony is that Engine 53 wasn’t taken out of service after the moved them out of the house but they were put in service with Engine 80 at their new station on opening day on July 9th 1964 and they weren’t taken out of service until June 16th of 1967 almost 3 years later.
Engine 59 is another former “Stock yards” company that had been located just east of the Main entrance to “Yards” at 818 W Exchange avenue and they are still around and the amazing thing is they too now are at a “double engine” station” for over 4 1/2 years now.