Archive for August, 2016

MABAS Division 1 water rescue demonstration

A Water Rescue Demonstration Day event is being held by the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) Division 1 Water Rescue Team in Palatine on Sept. 8, 2016.  MABAS Division 1 includes a number of northwest suburban fire departments and fire protection districts serving communities including  Arlington Heights, Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Elk Grove Township, Hoffman Estates, Mount Prospect, Palatine, Palatine Rural (Inverness), Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg, Streamwood and Wheeling.

 

Microsoft Word - Dive Demo 2016 Media Advisory.doc

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New ambulance for Glenview

From the Foster Coach Sales Facebook page:

New Horton conversion on a Freightliner chassis

Glenview FD Ambulance 6

New Freightliner/Horton Type I for Glenview Ambulance 6. Foster Coach Sales photo

interior of an ambulance

Foster Coach Sales photo

interior of an ambulance

Foster Coach Sales photo

Glenview FD Ambulance 6

Foster Coach Sales photo

rear of new ambulance

Foster Coach Sales photo

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Chicago Fire Department news

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to sell a prime piece of property near Goose Island to try to spur development in an economically depressed South Side neighborhood by relocating the city’s largest maintenance garage to Englewood.

Under the plan, the Chicago Department of Fleet and Facility Management’s headquarters would move from an 18-acre site along the North Branch of the Chicago River on Throop Street to a similarly-sized parcel that served as the old Kennedy-King College campus at Marquette Road and South Wentworth Avenue.

The riverside parcel would be sold to a developer, who not only would redevelop the current garage site, but would be required to build the new maintenance headquarters on the South Side, according to the mayor’s office.

The Emanuel administration didn’t offer an estimate of how much the city expects to fetch for the Goose Island site, which is in an area where developers have been anxious to build residential, retail and high-tech space. But the mayor’s office did say the new fleet facility for Englewood would cost between $25 million and $30 million to build.

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State mandated consolidation of 911 dispatch centers

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

A plan to transfer Winnetka’s 911 dispatch service to the Village of Glenview, along with those of Kenilworth, Northfield, and Glencoe, has moved forward, now that all four communities have officially directed their staff to begin negotiations with Glenview.

Winnetka Police Chief Patrick Kreis told Winnetka council members who approved negotiations at their Aug. 16 meeting that village residents would see no change to the service they get when calling a 911 dispatcher, nor would they see a change in their non-emergency communications with the department.

In fact, Kreis said, having access to a larger consolidated center with more staff could actually deliver emergency services faster, by allowing one dispatcher to take information while another dispatches officers.

A state law passed in July 2015 directs small communities across Illinois to consolidate 911 dispatch centers in order to help standardize 911 systems. In Cook County, consolidation is mandated for all communities with fewer than 25,000 people, and is supposed to be completed by July 2017.

Shortly after the legislation passed, Winnetka, Glencoe, Kenilworth, and Northfield, each of which has fewer than 25,000 people and all of whose police or public safety departments already operate on the same radio network, hired California-based Matrix Consulting Group to analyze the best way the municipal quartet could consolidate.

Matrix consultants narrowed the options to the communities creating their own so-called public safety answering point center, or PSAP, or contracting for dispatch services with another community.

Kreis said the study showed contracting with Glenview – which already serves several other communities, including Highland Park, Lake Forest, and Lake Bluff from two dispatch centers – would be the most efficient and least costly way to meet state requirements.

According to Matrix’s figures, the overall cost to start an independent four-town dispatch center, including one-time capital costs and hiring of extra personnel, would be about $2.6 million, compared to roughly $2.3 million to contract with Glenview. The operational portion of that would be about $1.5 million if the four communities went it alone, compared to about $1.2 million under a contract with Glenview, Kreis said and Winnetka’s annual cost savings would eventually be about $152,000.

Matrix’s report recommended a cost-sharing formula in which 20 percent of each year’s annual cost would come from a flat fee divided equally among the communities. Forty percent would be based on each community’s population, and a final 40 percent would be based on each community’s call and other service volumes.

The Matrix report states that under that formula, Winnetka would pay 34 percent, or $409,516 of the estimated $1.2 million in operational costs; Glencoe would pay 28 percent, or $346,144; Northfield would pay 25 percent, or $305,650; and Kenilworth would pay 13 percent, or $160,308.

One of the toughest parts of the changeover would be the loss of some highly skilled and respected dispatchers, Kreis said. Although some dispatchers will be retained to handle some administrative duties, he said “there will be job losses.”

Kenilworth Police Chief David Miller said he believes Glenview would need to hire as many as five new dispatchers if it takes on service to the four communities.”Our hope and belief is that Glenview would consider dispatchers from our communities.”.

 

thanks Ron

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Orland FPD aerial for sale

Orland Truck 7 for sale

2004 Pierce Lance 105′ aerial
Seating for 6; 4 SCBA seats
Detroit Series 60 515 HP diesel engine
Allison EVS4000P automatic transmission
Harrison 10KW Generator
4-bottle high pressure cascade system
Engine hours: 7,349
Mileage: 56,561

Pierce ladder truck for sale

Orland FPD Truck 7 for sale. Bridle Mountain photo

thanks Al

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New engine for Cary FPD

This from Michael D. Douglass:

Here are a few pictures of our new Sutphen Engine 242 that’s currently being built.  It should arrive sometime in October.  This engine will replace our 2004 American LaFrance.  Once in service, this will be our 5th Sutphen apparatus (3 engines, 1 tower ladder and 1 squad).

Michael D. Douglass, Lieutenant / Public Education and Information Officer, Cary Fire Protection District

Sutphen fire engine being built

Cary Fire Protection District photo

Sutphen fire engine being built

Cary Fire Protection District photo

Sutphen fire engine being built

New Sutphen Engine 242 that’s currently being built for the Cary Fire Protection District. Cary Fire Protection District photo

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Aurora Fire Department news

Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:

Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman and Aurora Fire Chief Gary Krienitz [recently] answered questions from the public and talked about their departments during an event at the Aurora Public Library’s Eola Road Branch. Ziman and Krienitz graduated from West Aurora High School and Waubonsie Valley High School, respectively, and rose through the ranks of their agencies.

Ziman was in a rare position to be able to appoint her command staff when she came on board as chief earlier this year. The command staff oversees the work of three bureaus for patrol, investigations, and support services at the department.

Ziman leads a department of 289 sworn police officers and a civilian workforce that handles administrative operations. She said while having a safe and peaceful community is their top priority, she saw a need to do more in areas that would promote community engagement and build trust between the public and Police Department.

Krienitz is in his 20th year with the Aurora Fire Department. He oversees the second-largest fire department in the state with 195 sworn firefighters. Krienitz was also in a position to appoint a new command staff when he took over as chief earlier this year. He said the department has nine stations. Krienitz said the city has reached a level to add its seventh advanced life support ambulance at Station 7 on the city’s West Side.

“It’s been 19 years since we put another ambulance in service. Our population has doubled in the city of Aurora, and our call volume has doubled. Next year we will be putting another medic ambulance in service to help ease the call volume, which is approaching 15,000 calls per year — 14,000 of those are EMS paramedic calls,” Krienitz said.

thanks Dan

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Huntley Fire Protection District news

LODD presentation HFPD.docx

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Skokie Fire Department history

This from Wayne Stuart:

The Niles Center Fire Department, later renamed the Skokie Fire Department operated this 1937 Peter Pirsch Model 15 with a 60′ aerial and a 750-GPM pump.
From the Wayne Stuart collection
1937 Peter Pirsch Model 15

The Niles Center Fire Department, later renamed the Skokie Fire Department operated this 1937 Peter Pirsch Model 15 with a 60′ aerial and a 750-GPM pump.
From the Wayne Stuart collection

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New engine for Peotone

This from Karl Klotz:

Peotone put the new Engine 14 in service on 8-22-16.

It is a 2015 Smeal/UST 1,500-GPM and carries 2,500 gallons of water.  This engine replaces the 1995 Pierce Saber and the 1988 Mack/SPI tanker.
Peotone FPD Engine 14

Peotone FPD Engine 14, 2015 Spartan/Smeal/UST 1500/2500. Karl Klotz photo

Peotone FPD Engine 14

Former Peotone FPD Engine 14, a 1995 Pierce Saber. Karl Klotz photo

Peotone FD Tanker 14 1988 R-Model Mack/SPI

Peotone Tanker 14, a 1988 Mack R-Model/SPI has been replaced. Karl Klotz photo

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