This from Danny Nelms for #TBT:
Found a small Stack of the Old Chicago Fire Fighter magazine. Here is an apparatus profile in the autumn 1967 issue profiling all the new “usual” vehicles joining the department.
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#1 by Bill Post on September 14, 2020 - 4:49 AM
Danny thanks for sharing that article with us. Bob Freeman, the author of that article had been the longtime driver for the original 18th Battalion which was with Engine 44 at 3138 Lake Street. He was also a CFD apparatus buff and photographer who wrote a periodic column for Local 2’s quarterly magazine the Chicago Fire Fighter. The column about the Chicago Fire Department’s apparatus and their assignments was a regular feature that appeared several times a year until the mid 1970s.
So as not to confuse anyone, the GMC/Timco/Seagrave mini-pumper in that last photo was not a fog pressure wagon. It was a one of kind rig for Chicago. The CFD was running with 12 fog pressure companies and 3 additional fog pressure wagons as the second pieces of the Snorkel Squads. That mini-pumper was originally labeled Booster 1 however it wasn’t permanently assigned as Booster 1. It served some assignments in lieu of fog pressures and was initially put in service on temporary details for trade shows at the International Amphitheater.
It was delivered in December of 1966 a month before the McCormick Place fire on January 16th 1967. McCormick Place was destroyed and many of the trade shows and conventions were relocated to the International Amphitheater at Root and Halsted. The Chicago Auto Show was held at the Amphitheater and the fire department had a small display of their new apparatus which included the new Booster 1 and the Clark Cortez Communication Van 424.
During some of the larger trade shows and conventions, the fire department would detail an engine company or a fog pressure unit to the amphitheater for the duration of the show. Engine 59 was located just north of the amphitheater on Exchange Street and either they or another engine plus a fog pressure wagon and ambulance remained inside the amphitheater. This was especially true during the two week annual International Live Stock Show and Rodeo held every November the Union Stockyards were closed down in 1971.
Booster 1 may have been part of the temporary detail during the Auto Show as well.
That photo of Booster 1 was in front of Snorkel Squad 3’s station at 2858 W Fillmore Street during the spring or summer of 1967 while it was running as the 2nd piece of Snorkel Squad 3. Most of you know that during the blizzard of January 1967, Snorkel Squad 3’s 1958, GMC/Pitman Snorkel was damaged in a snowdrift and permanently taken out of service. From then on, Snorkel Squad 3 ran with different apparatus as their 2nd piece in addition to their regularly assigned fog pressure wagon which was known as SS 3A. For at least the summer of 1967, the mini-pumper was assigned there. From January 27th 1967 until May 1st 1969 when it was taken out of service, Snorkel Squad 3 ran without a Snorkel. A 1956 International Harvester spare high pressure wagon was lettered for Snorkel Squad 3 which became Rescue Company 3 from December 1968 through May 1st 1969.
I was at a 4-11 alarm fire in a church at Ashland and Lunt in late July 1967 and saw the booster rig. I had no idea that it was assigned to SS 3.
For a short time the mini-pumper was assigned as Battalion 18’s buggy in September of 1968. It ended up being reassigned as Chemical rig 4 (634) at Meig’s Field from late 1968 through late 1973 before being sent to O’Hare for several years.
#2 by Bill Post on September 13, 2020 - 7:46 AM
Michael m, the CFD purchased Ward LaFrance products for six years. The first was Engine 42 as mentioned above. The last ones were in 1973 and the company went out of business in 1979. Chicago purchased 18 Ward LaFrance engines on custom chassis, six in the 1960s and 12 in the early 1970s. An additional 22 were built on Ford chassis with C-Series cabs for a total of 40 engines. Chicago also purchased five rear mounted trucks from Ward LaFrance with 100-foot ladders built by Grove in 1970. These were quite bulky.
The most famous Ward LaFrance rigs were the seven, 1970 2000-GPM pumpers. These were the first 2000-GPM pumpers ever purchased by the CFD with one assigned to each of the seven fire divisions. These too had huge bodies. Six of them were rebuilt between 1988 through 1990 with cabs from Ranger and E/One bodies that had 140-gallon foam tanks and higher capacity deck guns. Two of these were used in the movie Back Draft as Engines 17 and 51. Most of them lasted only about four or five years during their second life. Quite a few were taken out of service in 1995 however Engine 34’s rig was the last to go out of service in 1998. The rebuilt rigs were assigned to Engines 122, 14, 46, 113, 69, and 34. Technically speaking 34’s rig was the last one in service however it depends how you look at it. Many the of the Ward LaFrance components had been replaced by E/One and Ranger when the rigs were rebuilt. The five 1973 rigs were the last ones delivered and four of them were rated at 1,500-GPM, however the last one was rated at 1,750-GPM and was taken out of service in 1987.
Here’s an interesting fact. Chicago also purchased quite a few American LaFrance rigs during the 1970s. They were never the same company. American LaFrance was founded by Truckson LaFrance in 1873, and Ward LaFrance was founded by his nephew Addison Ward LaFrance in 1916.
#3 by Chuck on September 11, 2020 - 1:51 PM
Actually, I dial the 312-FI7-1313 all the time. It gets answered directly by the fire side without having to go through the idiots on the police side of 9-1-1.
#4 by Drew Smith on September 11, 2020 - 12:04 AM
Type WARD LAFRANCE into the search box on this webpage and you’ll get more than a dozen previous posts on the subject. Some have extensive commentary from Bill Post and perhaps Phil Stenholm.
#5 by Drew Smith on September 10, 2020 - 11:58 PM
From Wikipedia
the City of Chicago, Illinois, had access to 9-1-1 service as early as 1976
#6 by Michael m on September 10, 2020 - 9:56 PM
The number to call the fire department is different. Does any one know when 911 was implemented?
#7 by Michael m on September 10, 2020 - 9:53 PM
Love the article, interesting about the Ward. Didn’t the CFD purchase more Ward engines in the early 1970’s? How many years did the CFD purchase Wards? I am guessing they purchased the first E-Ones in the 80’s. Nice to see that E-One is coming back to the CFD after 30 years! When were the last Wards taken out of front line service? Was there a Ward in service when city hall flooded in the early 90’s?
#8 by crabbymilton on September 10, 2020 - 11:47 AM
Interesting vehicles. Like that WARD.