Box Alarm fire in Lincolnwood, 1-1-20

Cellphone images and video from Steve Redick of a house fire at 6616 N Kenton Avenue in Lincolnwood

Steve Redick photo

Steve Redick photo

Steve Redick photo

Tags: fire scene photos, fire through the roof of a ranch house, house fire in Lincolnwood, Lincolnwood Fire Department, Steve Redick

This entry was posted on January 1, 2020, 10:32 AM and is filed under Apparatus on-scene, Fire Scene photos, Fire Scene video. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

10 Comments (and one trackback)

#1 by B on January 4, 2020 - 10:09 AM

Based on the photo of the garage in the other thread, I’m wondering if there may have been hoarder conditions inside the house. Was that the case? If so, that adds another set of complications to the mix — huge fire load, added weight, inability to move around, etc — that would have made it hard to get inside.
#2 by The DH on January 3, 2020 - 1:18 PM

Steve, I know a couple of guys that were there. One of which was on the roof, initially. He said there were holes in the floor, with fire, when the first line went in.
#3 by Steve on January 3, 2020 - 10:36 AM

I believe that someone said it was a basement fire. But i don’t believe what they’re saying. If you catch my drift.
#4 by John on January 1, 2020 - 8:14 PM

Mike,on Steve’s vid somebody said it was a basement fire and the floor collapsed,so we can assume they’re not going interior…..
#5 by Mike on January 1, 2020 - 7:17 PM

Why is the tower so high up and why are they standing outside. I know it’s only a few photos from this but it looks like an attic fire in a 1950’s brick and wood single story building. That thing is probably true dimensional lumber in that attic. Having the tower ladder that high up does nothing.
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#6 by Rich on January 1, 2020 - 4:55 PM

Thanks for the info
#7 by Mike Hellmuth on January 1, 2020 - 4:45 PM

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#8 by Bill Post on January 1, 2020 - 2:16 PM

Rich, Squad 2 is actually due on a MABAS Division 3 Box Alarm for a structure fire in Lincolnwood.

What surprised me about this particular fire is that it took two elevated master streams to extinguish the fire. I would have thought one stream from Tower Ladder 15 to have been adequate. I noticed that at the beginning of the video even though the tower ladder was up they weren’t using it’s master stream.

In Lincolnwood on a still alarm for a structure fire they normally only dispatch Engine 15, Tower Ladder 15, Ambulance 15, and Battalion 15 from Lincolnwood Station 15. If the still alarm is insufficient then it is upgraded to a Code 4 where they dispatch Engine 3 from Niles and Skokie Tower Ladder 16. They also send a RIT company from Evanston, a second ambulance from Skokie, and Morton Grove Squad 4. The Code 4 is actually a full still by Chicago standards. If the Code 4 is insufficient then it gets escalated to a Box alarm for two engines, another truck, a squad, another ambulance, and additional chiefs. Squad 2 is the squad on the box. The truck on the box is supposed to be Tower Ladder 12 from Northbrook. If all of the companies due were available, this fire would have had three tower ladders on the scene in addition to Squad 2 with their Snorkel.

One thing I noticed is that on MABAS box alarms, you don’t always get the closest companies on the extra alarms. There are several truck companies closer than Northbrook Tower 12 which comes from a pretty good distance. None of the nearby Chicago companies were dispatched other than Squad 2.

On MABAS box alarms they tend to skip over a lot of fire companies. They claim the reason is so no other department gets depleted. They could dispatch the nearest units and have further companies change quarters which is the way they do it in the city.

I recall when Lincolnwood contracted with Chicago to provide fire protection. Engine 89 and Truck 56 would be dispatched plus the old Battalion 30 from Engine 124’s quarters. Other nearby Chicago companies such as Engines 79, 71, and Trucks 25 and 38 would be skipped over for further companies on the extra alarms.
#9 by Tarik Cimpo on January 1, 2020 - 1:35 PM

Squad 2 is on their box card.
#10 by Rich on January 1, 2020 - 1:05 PM

Squad 2 went?? Why???