Archive for February 12th, 2015

House fire in Highland Park, 2-12-15

Feb 12

Posted by Admin in Fire Scene photos | Comments off

Highland Park firefighters were called to 24245 St. Johns Avenue this afternoon by workers reporting fire in the insulation between the 2nd floor and the attic. The large,unoccupied two-story house was being remodeled at the time. First arriving companies encountered heavy smoke and upgrade the alarm to the Code 4 for the working fire. An aggressive stop contained the fire to the area of origin.

Mutual aid companies were Highwood Truck 37, Lake Forest Engine 412, Deerfield-Bannockburn Truck 20, and Northfields Truck 29. Highland Park units on the scene were both ambulances, all three engines, the chief and battalion chief.

Late images from the scene by Larry Shapiro.

large house after a fire caused by workers

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

Larry Shapiro photo

fireman drainign large diameter hose in the winter

Larry Shapiro photo

More photos are at shapirophotography.net

Tags: Highland Park Fire Department, Larry Shapiro, Pierce fire engine hooked to hydrant, Seagrave fire engine, shapirophotography.net, winter fire scene photos

New engine for Batavia (more)

Feb 12

Posted by Admin in Apparatus on-scene, Fire Truck photos | 1 Comment

This from John Tulipano:

New Batavia Eng 1 2015 E-One Typhoon at St Charles’ General Alarm on 2-6-15

John Tulipano photo

Tags: Batavia Fire Department, John Tulipano, new fire engine for Batavia

Chicago 5-11 at 1520 S Indiana in 1974

Feb 12

Posted by Admin in Fire Department History, Fire Scene photos | 15 Comments

This from Steve Redick:

I returned from Arkansas with a lot of my dad’s collection. One of the things he had displayed on his wall was a series of 3 x 5 color prints from a 5-11 he and I were at in 1974. This was a cold storage warehouse and I recall it burned for days. I also remember at some point the building collapsed onto an adjacent structure causing the transmission of another extra alarm. We took it in well after the initial alarm and toured the fireground getting these shots of some classic rigs in action. The image with Big John in the background is probably one of the few images you will see with both guns working. Most times they couldn’t muster up the water supply to use both. Also note the 2000-GPM LaFrances often used both ports on the hydrant. They had an order that no other pumper was to share a hydrant with a 2,000-gallon rig, thus giving them the ability to use both steamer ports.

These photos were in horrendous condition … colors way off and faded. I was surprised at how much of the damaged images I was able to restore. They are far from perfect but at least they are now useable. I bet if I made them B&W they would be near perfect. Enjoy the history.

Steve