Archive for March 15th, 2016

Aurora Fire Department updates

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Aurora aldermen voted to appoint Battalion Chief John Gilbert as deputy fire chief and Captain Javan Cross as fire marshal.

Gilbert is replacing Deputy Chief Tom Griener, who retired along with Fire Chief John Lehman earlier this year. Lehman was replaced by Gary Krienitz, who was Aurora’s fire marshal.

Cross is a 1991 graduate of East Aurora High School, and has served in the Aurora Fire Department for 18 years. Beginning as a firefighter and paramedic in 1997, Cross also became a fire investigator in 2004. He served in those dual roles until 2009, when he was promoted to lieutenant. Five years later, in 2014, he was promoted to captain.

Gilbert has been with the Aurora Fire Department for 27 years, beginning as a firefighter and paramedic in 1989. In 2003, he was promoted to lieutenant, and in 2010 he was promoted to captain. In 2014, Gilbert became battalion chief.

 

thanks Dan

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Chicago firefighter and author … Matthew Drew

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Matthew Drew goes to work in a building in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. It is a firehouse and Drew is a firefighter, one of 4,800-some other dedicated people in Chicago who share this precarious profession.

“I love my job,” he says. “There is no job on Earth any better.”

He lives across the city, in the Beverly neighborhood on the South Side with his wife and three young children and he likes to play softball and other sports. He also likes to write.

He’s been a firefighter since 2002. He’s earned a master’s degree in writing from DePaul University and has taught English composition at local high schools and colleges. He has taught firefighting tactics at the University of Illinois at Chicago and has served on the Chicago Fire Department Hazardous Incident Team.

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Maywood orders new engine

This from Tony Carlini:

Maywood Engine 507; Spartan Metrostar, Marion Body Works body, Hale 1,500-gpm pump, and 500-gallon tank. Delivery is expected late August 2016

mechanical drawing of new fire engine

New engine design for Maywood.

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Newport Township FPD seeks tax increase

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

The Newport Township Fire Protection District is again seeking a tax increase to upgrade equipment.

A referendum on the March 15 ballot will ask for .132 cents for every $100 of a home’s assessed market value — the same proposal that was defeated last year when it got only 44 percent of the vote. If the referendum passes, a person with a home valued at $100,000 would pay $43.75 per year to the district, Newport Fire Chief Mark Kirchhoffer said.

The chief said taxes have not been raised for the fire district in 23 years and the money is needed to replace equipment. He said home values in the township have dropped from $268,807,724 in 2009 to $188,752,091 in 2015, which means less revenue generated through taxes. That loss of about $80 million in taxable value has left the Newport Fire District with about $1.25 million in tax revenue and a $1.9 million budget.

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