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Chicago Fire Department history

This from Steve Redick:

A classic column by Paul Ditzel in the December 1968 issue of Fire Engineering Magazine

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Tags: Chicago FD Snorkel Squad 3, Chicago FD SS3, Chicago Fire Department history, vintage clipping of a column by Paul Ditzel in the December 1968 issue of Fire Engineering Magazin

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3 Comments

• #1 by Bill Post on May 17, 2020 - 1:17 AM

  

  Mike Mc, ultimately Robert Quinn did end up taking SS2 and SS3 out of service. He saved SS1 even though the 1968 Maatman report recommended that all three Snorkel squads be taken out of service. 1967 was a bad year for the Chicago Fire Department and 1968 was worse because of the severe manpower changes due to the reduction in working hours for firefighters and Chicago’s refusal to hire more personnel. Most of the remaining squad companies were taken out of service in 1967 and 1968. While the CFD began 1967 with 11 squad companies including Salvage Squads 1 and 2, by mid 1968 there were two squad companies and two salvage squads. These were Salvage Squads 1 and 2 and Squads 4 and 9.

  After the 1968 report, it was apparent that Chicago didn’t need any new Snorkels for the Snorkel squads. In mid 1967 the CFD put two new Snorkels in service. One was an International Harvester/Pierce 75-foot Snorkel for Snorkel 4 and the other was a 1967 Mack/Pierce 55-foot Snorkel for Snorkel Squad 1.

  In 1971 the CFD purchased a Ford/Pierce 55-foot Snorkel that was initially assigned to Snorkel 3 on the south side. About a year later it was moved to Snorkel 6 on the north side. They were originally put in service on the far south side however they were relocated to Engine 110 on November 16 1971 as one of the Maatman report recommendations. What made this ironic is that a 55-foot Snorkel was the right size for a Snorkel squad however they ended up using it for regular Snorkel companies which usually were assigned units of at least 65 feet.

• #2 by Mike Mc on May 15, 2020 - 6:08 PM

  

  Thanks for the historical perspective Bill. I always thought that Quinn did not purchase new snorkels for SS-2 and SS-3 because he knew that he was going to have to implement the Maatman plan and put them out of service within a couple years. Hard to believe that Engine 105’s old house on Erie was worse than 66’s old house on Fillmore.

  Paul Ditzel was a Los Angeles newspaper columnist and a life long buff. He became familiar with the CFD when he attended Northwestern – presumably the journalism school. He wrote several books on the fire service. He wrote an excellent history of the LA City FD. Like Hal Bruno, he’s long gone.

• #3 by Bill Post on May 14, 2020 - 6:58 PM

  

  The article is interesting as it mentions that SS3 was no longer in their original Station at 2858 Fillmore. They had already moved to 2337 W Erie (east of Western) which had previously been Engine 105’s house. The story also included the wishful thinking of Bill Quinn that the original Snorkel would be repaired and put back in service at SS 3, but that was not to happen. SS 3 was without a Snorkel until going out of service in May 1969.

  He mentioned the former high pressure wagon that was running in place of the Snorkel. That was in addition to the fog pressure wagon which was the second pierce to Snorkel Squad 3. By then all of the high pressure wagons were out of service as high pressure companies. Their rigs were being used as spare squads since they a fixed turret like the Autocar and Mack squads. The old high pressure wagons were actually large diameter hose wagons with one or two fixed deck guns.

  In the last few lines of column two, Ditzel wrote “Sometimes I think that SS3 is a big put on”. That turned out to be an interesting statement. The irony is that Snorkel Squad 3 was the busiest company in the city and it wasn’t until a few months before they were taken out of service in 1969 that they were officially designated as Rescue 3 even though they ran for over two years without a Snorkel. The CFD was putting people on by calling them a Snorkel Squad without repairing or replacing their Snorkel. In that respect Paul Ditzel was correct.

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