This from Dan McInerney:
Fyi – Oak Park sold our 1981 Seagrave 100′ to NIPSTA. It was delivered up there last week. It will need several thousand dollars of work to make it “academy ready”.1981 Seagrave with a1,250-gpm250-gpm Waterous pump with a 300 gallon tank.Seagrave installed a new aerial ladder on 11-9-1999. It only saw 2 years of in service duty with Oak Park. Since then it has been in reserve or with River Forest FD.
#1 by Mike Mc on November 15, 2013 - 3:01 PM
Much obliged. I caught a still alarm in Oak Park a couple of weeks ago and I did a double take when I realized that there no longer is an engine at Station 1.
#2 by DMc77 on November 15, 2013 - 2:03 PM
Hi Mike Mc-
1. The ambulances used to be at what we call the “outside houses”. They would run with 2 EMT-Bs then EMT-Ps, and the engine would be staffed with 3 or 4 FF’s. The dept. started downsizing, and eventually the engines went down to 2 FF’s, for a total of 4 at each outside house. This adversely affected operations because the engine would remain in service with only 2 assigned to it. At station 1, there was a truck (4), engine (4/3), squad (3/2) and shift commander (D/C, 1). Along with the downsizing came the loss of the engine, and the manpower on the truck and squad were also reduced. There were days when there would only be a 3 or 4 man truck in a very big firehouse, which meant the operational needs of a facility that size were being addressed by a very small complement of FF’s. Note that the officers and chiefs would not normally be assigned house duties.
Fast forward to the progression of ALS care, and the engines became ALS, followed shortly after by the truck. This negated the need to have an ambulance at the outside houses, as the goal with the ALS suppression rigs was to get a medic/ALS care to the scene as quickly as possible.
So the ambulances moved back to the main firehouse to provide ALS response to the center part of town which also balanced out the manpower vs. size of building issue nicely. This is a somewhat shortened version of a much longer story that played out over the better part of two decades.
2. Originally, the TL was designed with a pump due to the loss of an engine in the center of town. The idea was just that – it would be first on a fire and lead out to start and then truck work would be performed by the next arriving company or based on the operational need at the fire. For smaller fires, the auto aid engine (FOPK or RFOR) would be assigned RIT duties, which would also change if the incident escalated. The number of times the TL actually led out a line at a fire can be counted on one hand. Its hose compliment is limited to basically what can be held in preconnect trays, and we do the vast majority of our initial leadouts off the rear with a leader line.
3. The future of Station 2 at 212 Augusta is secure for now. There was “loose talk” a few years ago of closing it due to budget issues, but the reality of that scenario would entail the closing of both outside houses, dropping an engine and placing the remaining engine in service at Station 1, most likely with 4 FF’s and 3 or 4 FF’s on the truck. As you can imagine, operations would be severely affected by such a move. The justification was we just couldn’t tell one part of town we are closing the neighborhood firehouse and keeping the other one open. Although the Augusta firehouse is approaching 90 years old. There really is no other plot of land suitable to build another firehouse literally anywhere in OP.
4. At Station 1 we have plaques for each member of the OPFD to die in the line of duty. There are three. The rigs also have dedications on them for each member based on their assignment when the made the ultimate sacrifice. IAFF Local 95 also does an annual scholarship for an OPRF high school student.
#3 by Mike Mc on November 15, 2013 - 9:06 AM
DMc77: A few questions on the department if you don’t mind.
1. Why do you like to run two ambulances out of the same house? A little unusual.
2. If the tower ladder is first in on a fire and leads out, who does the truck work? River Forest?
3. Any thought being given to closing the Augusta firehouse and moving the engine to Euclid (Station 1)?
4. Are there any memorials to Lt. Patrick Luby? He was a teacher at my high school before becoming a FF. (A long time ago.)
Thanks in advance for any replies.
#4 by Adam on October 31, 2013 - 12:58 PM
That sounds great. Being put to real good use.
#5 by Drew Smith on October 31, 2013 - 9:44 AM
As the director of the NIPSTA Firefighter Academy, here is our plan for this vehicle:
It was acquired by the NIPSTA Board giving the Village of Oak Park FD a tuition credit for $5,000. The VoOP trustees accepted this offer.
On Nov. 6 UL will conduct a non-destructive test of the aerial to ensure it meets NFPA standards. The results of that test will dictate what repairs, if any, will be made.
NIPSTA acquired this vehicle for its straight aerial ladder. We do not need it to be response ready as we do not take it off campus let alone respond to calls. It will be safe to set up and climb but we are not going to repair the extensive rust on the body.
As for how will it all be paid for, whatever repairs are authorized will be paid out of NIPSTA’s budget. We are currently preparing the 2014 draft of the budget so it’s a good time to determine costs.
The NIPSTA fleet currently sits at:
E1: Former Wilmette E-One
E2: Former Deerfield-Bannockburn Pierce (a former Schiller Park engine was E2 for a while)
E3: Former Franklin Park E-One (kept as a spare-not equipped)
T1: Former Hillside Grumman TL
T2: Former Oak Park Seagrave aerial
U1: Orange pickup
U2: Former Hanover Park FD pickup
Stored at NIPSTA and used by academy: MABAS Air 3
#6 by Adam on October 30, 2013 - 8:23 PM
Who is paying for the renovations? Does NIPSTA receive a grant for that? I had no idea it had a pump on it either.
#7 by DMc77 on October 30, 2013 - 7:40 PM
OPFD runs out of three stations. The center house has (2) ALS ambs with 2 FF/PM’s assigned, a (3) man ALS tower ladder and shift commander for a total of 8 minimum. Each house north and south houses a 3 man ALS engine. Daily minimum is 14. From time to time when there are 2 additional members on shift we run a 2 man ALS squad (Chevy Suburban) that chases the ambos and does service calls in the center part of town
#8 by Jim on October 30, 2013 - 4:38 PM
How many engines, trucks and ambulances does Oak Park run? What is the manpower on each piece?