Dan McInerney photo
New double decker training prop. Dan McInerney photo
Dan McInerney photo
Dan McInerney photo
New annex at Rescue 1. Dan McInerney photo
Archive for June, 2018
This from Eric Haak:
Chicago’s 19th Battalion had a working fire this morning (Sunday, 6/24) at 7241 S. Sangamon. The fire came in at 5:45 and Engine 54 landed a short time later with a fire on the first floor. I arrived just in time to catch companies washing down. While the rear attic window was being laddered, a mother pitbull and 5 of her puppies came charging out the back door. Thankfully, all were friendly and didn’t seem at all bothered by the work going on around them.
Eric Haak photo
Eric Haak photo
Eric Haak photo
Eric Haak photo
Eric Haak photo
Eric Haak photo
Eric Haak photo
Mattoon Fire Department news
Jun 23
Excerpts from wandtv.com:
Mattoon Fire Chief Anthony Nichols says July 25 will be the last day Mattoon firefighters will operate ambulances. The Mattoon Firefighters Association has been involved in a legal battle with city leaders since July 2017, when the city council voted to end city-run ambulance services.
The city administrator has argued the city is losing about $600,000 a year through fire department-operated ambulances. With the change, two private companies will be operating Mattoon ambulances. They were previously sharing those duties with firefighters in a three-week rotation system.
Nichols says he expects an ordinance to regulate those private companies to be heard at the next Mattoon city council meeting, which is scheduled for July 3. He issued an email on Thursday to thank Mattoon firefighters for their work with the ambulance service.
The former Tinley Park tower ladder is for sale by Command Fire Apparatus
2000 Emergency One 95? Aerial Platform Quint, Cyclone II 4 door enclosed cab powered by a Cummins ISM 450 diesel engine, Allison HD4060 automatic transmission, 50 gallon fuel tank,Hale QMAX 1500 GPM single stage fire pump, 300 gallon poly tank, E-One aluminum body with high side compartments on BOTH sides of body, E-One 95? rear mount aerial platform with aluminum ladder, 4 low profile hydraulic jacks, pre-piped waterway with monitor nozzle and stacked tips, 2 crosslays, generator with 2 quartz lights on body sides and 2 quartz lights on platform, breathing air to platform with 2 air cylinders, 6 aluminum ground ladders, hose bed with capacity of 600? of LDH hose, LDH discharge on right side, 2018 pump and aerial certificates, 58,000 miles..available NOW for $ 210,000
Command Fire Apparatus photo
Production photos of the new Ferrara Igniter engine being built for Hoffman Estates
Ferrara Fire Apparatus photo
Ferrara Fire Apparatus photo
Ferrara Fire Apparatus photo
Elgin Fire Department news
Jun 22
Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:
With a new round of eligibility list testing set for next month, the Elgin Fire Department has dropped its requirement that candidates have 60 college credit hours in an effort to increase diversity. Like most suburban fire departments, Elgin’s is predominantly white and male, and the last round of testing in 2016 didn’t do much to change that. The decision to lower the educational requirement came after conversations with a diversity consultant and community groups.
The fire department has 133 firefighters, including four women and eight minorities. The last hiring eligibility list comprised 42 men and two women; 35 were white and three were minorities, with eight who didn’t specify their race.
Elgin created a Fire Explorer program for youths ages 14 to 20 about four years ago to increase diversity. One-third of Explorers are minorities, but so far, the only two who plan to take the test are white males. The department also is reaching out to middle school students and college female athletes.
Eligibility list testing applications are being accepted through July 13 at cityofelgin.org/98/employment. Applicants must be 21 and 35 years old and have an EMT basic certification. They get preference if they have 60 college credit hours or degrees, military service, city residency, and more.
Production photos of the new Ferrara Igniter pumper being built for Downers Grove
Custom Pumper – Downers Grove, Illinois
Chassis: Igniter
Body: Extruded Aluminum Body
Pump: Side Mount – Waterous CSU 1500 GPM
Tank: 500 gallon water
Ferrara Fire Apparatus photo
Ferrara Fire Apparatus photo
Ferrara Fire Apparatus photo
Ferrara Fire Apparatus photo
This from Tim Olk:
Chicago Working Basement Fire 2200 W Cermak
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Tim Olk photo
Excerpts from the ChicagoTribune.com:
Buffalo Grove officials announced Wednesday they are challenging a decision to award a full line-of-duty death pension to the widow of a 51-year-old Buffalo Grove firefighter, arguing not enough evidence exists that his fatal colon cancer was related to his work.
The full pension award for Kevin Hauber’s wife and their four children represented an unprecedented claim and marked the first award of its kind in Illinois after the Buffalo Grove Fire Department Pension Board determined earlier this year that his cancer was caused in the line of duty, village officials said in a statement.
But the board’s decision on a 3-2 vote back in March was made with the “absence of clear evidence or research proving that firefighting has a direct or indirect causal relationship with colon cancer,” officials said.
In announcing their appeal, Buffalo Grove officials said the only appropriate and fiduciary response was to challenge the pension board’s decision, which was reaffirmed by the board in May. Village officials estimated the full, 100-percent pension award would create an additional liability of $1.7 million compared to a 75-percent award that the Hauber family was qualified to receive.
Hauber, a veteran firefighter and paramedic in the village, died in January, roughly four years after being diagnosed with colon cancer. In the statement, officials believe a surviving spouse pension benefit equal to 75 percent of Hauber’s final salary is more appropriate than 100 percent.
The issue over Hauber’s death benefit touches on a volatile debate happening among local, state and federal lawmakers over whether cancer found in firefighters is the result of their work in the line of duty.
To that end, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) began a multi-year study in 2010 of nearly 30,000 firefighters from departments in Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Francisco to better understand the potential link between firefighting and cancer. Researchers found the firefighters who were studied showed higher rates of certain types of cancer than the general U.S. population. Based on U.S. cancer rates, firefighters in the study had a greater number of cancer diagnoses and cancer-related deaths, which were determined to be mostly digestive, oral, respiratory, and urinary cancers.
