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This from Tim Olk:

Some photos from CFD Special Operations celebrating the last day on the job for Special Operations Battalion Chief John Collins.

Tim Olk photo

Tim Olk photo

Tim Olk photo

Tim Olk photo

Tags: Chicago FD Battalion Chief John Collins, Chicago FD Special Operations Battalion Chief, Chicago Fire Department

This entry was posted on November 21, 2016, 4:32 PM and is filed under Fire Department News. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Comments

• #1 by Nicholas Moulopoulos on December 9, 2016 - 9:16 AM

  

  I would love to meet him and tell him thank you. He was the only guy that was nice to my father when he got hurt.

• #2 by Chuck on November 22, 2016 - 11:28 PM

  

  John is a good man – happy retirement, sir.

• #3 by David on November 22, 2016 - 4:26 PM

  

  Something you won’t see in every job, love the snorkel display.

• #4 by 9 man squad on November 22, 2016 - 4:07 PM

  

  Would have been nice to see one of the new snorkels there to, or the segraves reserve Snorkle 1.

• #5 by Marty Coyne on November 22, 2016 - 3:27 AM

  

  Even more amazing is all three front line snorkels operational at the same time.

• #6 by Bill Post on November 21, 2016 - 11:56 PM

  

  Yes that was a moving tribute to have all of those men and three of the four squads there.

  As a matter of history though, during the 1960’s the CFD ran with the three original Snorkel squads and they normally dispatched all three to the same extra alarm fires. Yes this not a type o, all three were dispatched to the same 2-11 Alarm fires citywide. If there was a 2nd extra alarm or other emergency while all three Snorkel squads were responding to the initial 2-11, the Fire Alarm Office (FAO) would divert one to the 2nd incident. If all three were already on the scene, the FAO would ask if one could be released for the other run. That was actually pretty common in the 1960’s.

  In some places a Snorkel squad would be due on the Still Alarm or the Still and Box Alarm and on the the 2-11 the other two were due. While I can’t speak for the south side, I do know that on the north side Snorkel Squad 1 was due on a Still and Box Alarm as far north as Foster Avenue, but not north of there. If a fire was north of Foster all three were dispatched together on the 2-11. In addition, two of the large Snorkels were sent on every Still and Box Alarm, plus a third on the 2-11 and a fourth on the 3-11. That policy was in effect roughly from 1961 until sometime in 1969. On February 16th of that year Snorkel 2 was taken out of service.

  Snorkel 1 was taken out of service on May 16 1965 in order to put Snorkel Squad 3 in service. Snorkel 1’s 1958 GMC/Pitman Snorkel was used for Snorkel Squad 3’s one and only Snorkel unit. During the big snow storm of January 1967, Snorkel Squad 3’s Snorkel was incapacitated in a snowdrift and was taken out of service. Snorkel Squad 3 ran without a Snorkel after that and had either a new GMC/Timco/Seagrave booster pumper, a 2nd fog pressure, a spare engine, or an ex-high pressure hose wagon with a permanently mounted turret as the second piece. By the middle of 1968, Snorkel Squad 2 stopped running with their 1955/61 International Harvester Snorkel. The remnants of Snorkel Squads 2 and 3 were taken out of service during May of 1969. From approximately December of 1968 through May of 1969, Snorkel Squads 2 and 3 were redesignated as Rescue Squads 2 and 3.

• #7 by T. B. on November 21, 2016 - 9:31 PM

  

  I think it is a true testament to the man and his history with the CFD, that all his colleagues and all the squads of the CFD would come together to say thank you and good bye. Why does there always have to be some sort of negative connotation from the viewers? I don’t even know him, but thanks John for your service to the CFD!

• #8 by Tom Foley on November 21, 2016 - 7:57 PM

  

  It is interesting they would put 3 snorkels in one place. You don’t even typically see this at an extra alarm fire scene (reserve excluded).

  Are the new ones in service to where this is really a non-issue?

• #9 by Daniel Hynd on November 21, 2016 - 6:13 PM

  

  Its not a good Idea to have all of the squads in 1 place.

• #10 by John on November 21, 2016 - 4:49 PM

  

  Snorkels, snorkels everywhere…

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