From the Lockport Township Fire Protection District Facebook page:
Box alarm fire last night in District 4. Companies on scene had to wait outside for ComEd to arrive and kill the power due to an electrical hazard. Multiple void spaces made finding an extinguishing the fire very difficult. Luckily no one was injured and thank you to everyone that responded from other communities. @ Lockport, Illinois
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Lockport Township FPD photo
Lockport Township FPD photo
Lockport Township FPD phot
#1 by schnu on September 6, 2020 - 6:29 PM
The ideal situation would be to get everyone who uses the services to pay their fair share. Tho we are required to serve Stateville, they do not pay one red cent to Lockport Township Fire Protection District. That needs to stop. Can’t wait for the virus insanity to end.
#2 by tom on August 20, 2020 - 12:11 PM
That sadly is the story for most, if not all south suburban departments. 2 to an engine is not going away any time soon. Some departments should invest in cheaper commercial cabs with only two seats instead of breaking the bank with a fancy custom cab if they aren’t going to use it.
#3 by Tim on August 20, 2020 - 10:56 AM
Orland is nearby. They run 3 man (minimum) non-jump companies.
#4 by Joe on August 20, 2020 - 9:17 AM
Leroy,
A jump company is pretty simple and is utilized by many departments in order to minimize manpower while still being able to utilize all the apparatus that department requires in order to meet the needs of the community. Jump companies are not ideal, they rob manpower from one apparatus in order to repurpose it for another.
For example, in a house with an engine, truck, and ambulance at it, the ideal manpower is 3–4 firefighters per engine and truck and 2 on the ambulance. This is ideal staffing for many suburban departments, larger and more urban departments should have 4–5 on each apparatus. Many departments these days will staff a house with an engine, truck, and ambulance with only 4 or 5 firefighters total. Two or three on the engine, two on the truck with a jump company between the truck and ambulance. So in the instance that a fire call comes in, the engine and truck will respond which leaves the ambulance out of service as there is no manpower there to staff it. If an ambulance call comes in, the two from the truck, or one from the truck and one from the engine will jump to the ambulance leaving the truck out of service for lack of manpower, or leaving them and the engine hopelessly short staffed.
The ideal situation is for the department to hire more firefighters, but as personnel are expensive, that’s not happening in many areas. Jump companies make the best out of a bad situation, which is what a lot of departments are forced to do these days.
#5 by Leroy McKeever on August 20, 2020 - 7:20 AM
Not being from the area I would like to know what a jump company is and how it works.
#6 by Mike L on August 19, 2020 - 6:59 PM
That is true, they do run 10,000 runs and counting. But they are no different than other Fire Departments around the area. At least they don’t run jump companies. If they did, there would have been no engines available for this fire as all 5 ambos were out. Or maybe that was the garage fire. Either way, yes, it sucks but that’s the cards they’re dealt and they make it work. I couldn’t tell you how many fires I went to with just me and my engineer over the years there.
#7 by Mike on August 19, 2020 - 5:44 PM
10,000 runs a year and still running 2 man companies. Come on get with the program