From Phil Stenholm:
100 years ago today (October 1, 1920), the Evanston Fire Department became the 387th fire department in the nation to institute a two-platoon/84-hour work-week schedule for its firemen. (Prior to this, Evanston firefighters worked a 112-hour work-week — 24 hours on duty/ 12 hours off duty, with one hour long meal breaks taken away from the firehouse).
In order to implement the two-platoon schedule, the fire-fighting force was increased to from 41 to 49 (with 24 men on each shift, plus the Chief). 14 men (seven on each platoon, with one man from each platoon assigned as the chief’s chauffeur/administrative assistant) were assigned to Truck Co. 1, twelve men each (six on each platoon) were assigned to Engine Co. 1 and Engine Co. 2, and ten men (five men on each platoon) were assigned to Engine Co. 3. Firemen now worked 24 hours on duty, followed by 24 hours off-duty, and the men were no longer permitted to take meal breaks at home or at a restaurant, as the stable facilities in the city’s three firehouses were replaced with kitchens and dining rooms. (The Evanston Fire Department was fully-motorized and all remaining EFD horses had been transferred to the Street Department or sold by March 1918).
Firemen were now permitted two weeks’ annual paid vacation leave, but no vacations were allowed between November and March. One man per company could be on vacation at any one time, and only one man per company could be absent on any given shift. Firemen absent due to illness were not paid for hours not worked, and would have to make up (pay-back) the lost day by working his day off at a later time (to be determined by the company officer). If a fireman absent due to illness on a given shift would result in the company running more than one man short, the absent firefighter would be replaced by a firefighter from the company’s opposite platoon (a firefighter could volunteer to work his day off, otherwise the company officer would select the replacement), who would cover for the absence by working his day-off and receiving an alternate day-off (to be determined by the company officer) at a later point in time when the company was back at full-strength.
In addition to authorizing reduction of the work-week from 112 hours to 84, the City Council also approved a 25-35% pay raise for all members of the EFD in 1920. The Chief Fire Marshal’s annual salary was increased 25% to $3,000 (with an additional 20% increase to $3,600 in 1921), the Assistant Chief Fire Marshal’s annual salary was increased from $1,530 to $2,100, and the annual salaries for “Captain” (company officer) and “Lieutenant” (assistant company officer) were elevated $510 per year to $1,980 and $1,920, respectively. The annual salaries for “Engineer,” “Assistant Engineer,” and “Fireman I” were upped by $480 per year, to $1,890, $1,830, and $1,800, respectively.
On March 11, 1919, five-year old Robert Oldberg died, one day after he was burned when his clothes caught fire while he was playing with matches in the basement of his home at 1024 Maple Ave. (His mother was severely burned trying to extinguish the fire). Then a year after the Oldberg child was killed, Minerva Iverson, a maid in the employ of the Walter Neilson family at 2711 Harrison Street, died from burns suffered after an alcohol stove exploded while she was curling her hair. Ten years earlier (on December 27, 1910), a six-year old girl had died from burns suffered after her clothes caught fire when she came into contact with candles on her family’s Christmas tree at 1107 Washington Street. With three deaths resulting from “careless use of fire” within ten years, Chief Hofstetter initiated a “Fire Prevention“ educational program on October 10, 1922, to correspond with U. S. President Warren G. Harding declaring October 10th as “National Fire Prevention Day“ (commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Great Chicago Fire). The educational program involved sending Evanston firemen into the city‘s schools to teach children about the danger of fire. This program would eventually be formalized as part of the EFD’s “Fire Prevention Bureau” after the FPB was created in 1929, and eventually led to educational campaigns such as “Learn Not to Burn” and “Stop, Drop, and Roll.”
In the twenty-year period between 1892 and 1912, Evanston’s population grew from 15,277 to 26,253, an increase of 65%. Then in the ten-year period between 1912 and 1922, Evanston’s population grew from 26,253 to 43,339, an increase of 80%! It was during this latter ten-year period (most especially between 1916 and 1922) that most-all of the classic hotels and apartment buildings that dot Evanston’s landscape were constructed. As might be expected, as Evanston’s population increased, the Fire Department’s work-load increased as well. For instance, just from 1921 to 1922 alone, Truck Co. 1 showed a 30% increase in alarms, Engine Co. 1 a 15% increase, Engine Co. 2 a 62% increase, and Engine Co. 3 a 24% increase.
In its report following a 1924 inspection of the Evanston Fire Departmemt, the National Board of Fire Underwriters (NBFU) recommended that the EFD acquire an aerial-ladder apparatus for Truck Co. 1 at Station # 1 (Truck Co. 1’s 1907 American LaFrance 85-ft HDA had been demolished in a traffic collision at Grove & Sherman in September 1916 and was replaced with a Seagrave automobile city-service ladder truck in November 1917), construct a fourth fire station in the vicinity of Dempster & Dodge, and organize an engine company and a ladder company at this new firehouse (Fire Station #4) with the new west-side ladder company manning the 1917 Seagrave city service truck and responding first-due to all alarms west of Asbury Avenue.
Although the EFD did acquire an aerial-ladder apparatus and did organize a second truck company in September 1924, a proposed Fire Station #4 in the vicinity of Dempster & Dodge was not constructed at that time.
So Truck Co. 2 (later known as “Truck Co. 22”) was organized at Fire Station # 1 on September 1, 1924. Ten new firemen (eventually twelve) were hired to staff the new truck company. As recommended in the 1924 NBFU report, the 1917 Seagrave city service truck (formerly Truck 1) was assigned to Truck Co. 2, while Truck Co. 1 received a brand-new tractor-drawn 85-foot aerial-ladder truck (TDA), purchased from the Seagrave Corporation for $16,500. Thomas McEnery was the first captain assigned to Truck Co. 2. (Tom McEnery would retire as 1st Assistant Chief Fire Marshal in 1948 after 46 years of service, the second-most years of service by an individual in the history of the EFD).
Just as the two truck companies had different rigs, they also had different responsibilities. Truck Co. 1 (operating the EFD’s lone aerial-ladder truck) was first-due to all alarms east of Asbury Avenue (an area that included the downtown “high-value district,” the Northwestern University campus, both hospitals, most of the city’s churches and apartment buildings, and all of the hotels and movie theatres), while Truck Co. 2 (operating the city service truck 1924-1937, and a 65-ft aerial-ladder truck 1937-1952) was first-due to all alarms west of Asbury Avenue (an area consisting mainly of single-family residences and factories). Both of the truck companies responded to alarms received from schools during school hours and hospitals.
Also In September 1924, the Chicago Fire Insurance Patrol (CFIP) began to respond to all “working fires” in Evanston. Patrol No. 8 (established at 3921 N. Ravenswood Avenue in 1922) was the first-due CFIP salvage squad to Evanston. Patrol No. 8 was disbanded on January 1, 1933 due to budget cuts related to the Great Depression, and the City of Evanston’s contract with the CFIP was terminated at that time. The CFIP was dissolved in 1959, with many of its members joining various local Chicago-area fire departments, most notably the Skokie F. D. (which ended up with a former CFIP officer as its new chief, and an ex-CFIP salvage truck as its “Squad 1”).
Sirens were installed on Evanston Fire Department apparatus in January 1927, after the city service truck (Truck No. 2) had been nearly demolished in a traffic collision at Church & Ridge while responding to a plane crash on the canal bank near Noyes & Ashland on October 9, 1926. (The aircraft was a photographic observation plane flying over a Northwestern-Notre Dame football game at brand-new Dyche Stadium). The occupants of the downed aircraft escaped unharmed, but three Evanston fire fighters (Captain Tom McEnery and firemen John Lindberg and Anthony Steigelman) were injured in the collision.
For the three months that the city service truck was in the repair shop, Truck Co. 2 was deployed as a second engine company (“Engine Co. 4”) at Fire Station # 1, manning the old 1911 Robinson “Jumbo“ pumper. Chief Al Hofstetter apparently liked having a second engine company in service at Station # 1, because when the time came to place two additional companies into service in November 1927, the Chief made sure a second engine company at Station # 1 was one of them.
Pneumatic tires were installed on all EFD rigs (replacing the older hard rubber tires) after Engine No. 1’s front wheel, axle and drive-shaft were damaged in a collision with a “pot-hole” on Bridge Street in 1928. The Metropolitan Sanitary District (owner of the bridge) was sued for $4,000 to recover the cost of the repairs.
Major fires occurring during the 1920’s included one at the clubhouse of the Evanston Country Club at 1501 Oak Avenue in December 1922 ($80,000 loss), one at the Evanston Boot Shop ($30,000 damage) at 919 Chicago Avenue the SAME NIGHT (January 7, 1925) as another at the Swanson Brothers shoe store at 1904 Central Street ($50,000 loss at this second blaze , with the fire extinguished by Chicago F. D. engine companies 102 and 79), one at the Lynch-Clarisey Oil Company storage yards (involving 170,000 gallons of fuel) at Main Street & the C&NW RR Mayfair Division tracks in February 1925, one at the Flossy Dental Supply Company at 1851 Benson Avenue in November 1926 ($46,326 loss), one at Boltwood Intermediate School (the original Evanston Township High School) at Dempster & Elmwood in January 1927 ($308,500 loss, the highest-loss from a fire in Evanston’s history to that point in time), one at the Lee drug store at 901 Chicago Avenue in February 1927 ($50,397 loss), and one at Thompson’s Restaurant at 618 Davis Street in December 1929 ($57,274 loss).
A number of active members of the Evanston Fire Department died while off-duty during the 1920’s. Lt. Harry Schaeffer Sr. (Truck Co. 1), whose son Harry Jr. would later serve with the EFD (and retire as an Assistant Chief Fire Marshal), died of a cerebral hemorrhage in June 1923, Fireman (and chief’s chauffeur) Orville Wheeler, whose two sons, James and Chester, would later serve with the EFD (James retired as the Chief Fire Marshal in 1973), died of pneumonia in July 1924 (six weeks before he would have been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant), Fireman Clinton Claypool (Engine Co. 3) died of spinal meningitis in January 1925, Fireman Fred Michelau (Truck Co. 1 ) drowned while on vacation in Michigan in August 1928, and Lt. Walter Boekenhauer (Engine Co. 4) died of a heart attack suffered while on vacation in July 1929.
#1 by Phil Stenholm on October 5, 2020 - 11:11 PM
BILL: The ISO downgrade of the Evanston Fire Department in 1978 had nothing to do with water supply. In fact Evanston’s water supply & pumping station were so good that the City actually sold water it didn’t need to suburbs to the west of Evanston (transported via pipeline).
The ISO’s two main problems with the Evanston Fire Department were the reduction of manpower available to fight fires because of the elimination of the Police-Fire Cooperative Plan (which had been in effect the last time the EFD was inspected by the NBFU in 1959) and the implementation of the EFD’s Paramedic & Ambulance Service in 1976, and that the aggregate max GPM water-flow of front-line apparatus had been reduced from 6,000 GPM in 1959 (the last time the EFD was inspected) to 5,250 GPM. (This was because the Squad 21 of 1959 was a 1,000 GPM squad-pumper, and the Squad 21 of 1978 was a Chevrolet Versatile Van – AKA the “Pie Truck”). The EFD had to do this because by the mid-1970’s it had way too much specialized rescue gear to be carried on a squad-pumper.
So after the ISO downgrade, the City Council hurriedly approved an emergency appropriation and purchased a 1,250 GPM pumper from Pirsch to replace a 1,000 GPM pumper at Station #2 (the rig purchased from Pirsch was a no frills “spec” engine that Pirsch produced without a bid in hand when the factory was slow on work in 1978), and a 1,250 GPM / 100-ft aerial quint from Seagrave.
The Pirsch engine went into service as Engine 22 in 1979 and the Seagrave quint went into service in 1980 as the new Truck 21 at Station #1, which satisfied the ISO (resulting in Evanston appealing its ISO downgrade and having its rating restored from a “four” to a “three”).
As far as the 26-man minimum/maximum shift staffing in Evanston is concerned, it is pretty much written in concrete.
It was part of a grand bargain made between Local 742 and the City Of Evanston about 40 years ago that gave firefighters 100% “time & a half” for working overtime instead of “time & a half” for the just the first eight hours only and then “straight time” for the remainder (which had been the case previously).
It also required the City to fund the equivalent of nine full-time slots in the Fire Department budget to be used to pay for an average of two firefighters working overtime (again, at “time & a half rate”) each shift to cover for firefighters out-sick or on injury rehab leave.
Also, the command officer at the scene of an incident was not allowed to request a MABAS box if the purpose of requesting he box was just to avoid calling in off-duty Evanston firefighters (because off-duty Evanston firefighters called-in would be paid at full “time & a half” rate instead of the City getting the use of “free” firefighters from Wilmette, Skokie, and Winnetka).
What’s kind of interesting is that from November 1927 through December 1932, the Evanston Fire Department had 84 members (41 on each platoon, plus the Chief and the Fire Prevention Inspector), with minimum staffing of 34 per shift (and that’s only if all seven companies were running the maximum-allowed one man short on a shift), but there could be as many as 41 men on duty at a time if nobody was on vacation, injured, or out-sick! That’s right. 41. Or how about even a minimum of 34? Can you imagine that? And the EFD did not even provide ambulance service back then, either.
However, because of the effects of the Great Depression, six positions (three on each platoon, one man each per shift on Engine Co. 1, Engine Co. 2, and Truck Co. 2) were cut from the Evanston Fire Department on January 1, 1933 (three open slots from retirements were not filled and the three men with the least seniority were laid-off, although all three were rehired within a couple of years). So minimum staffing was reduced from 34 to 31 in 1933 (if all seven companies ran one man short), with max staffing now at 38 men per shift
The first Kelly Days were introduced in 1942 as the average work week was reduced from 84 hours to 73 hours, and that resulted in Evanston firefighters getting an extra day off after working seven days…
EXAMPLE: MON-OFF-WED-OFF-FRI-OFF-SUN-OFF TUE- OFF-THU- OFF SAT-OFF-OFF-OFF-WED-OFF-THU-OFF, etc).
The “Kelly Day” was invented by Mayor Edward Kelly of chicago during the Great Depression, as a way to increase (or maintain) an employee’s average hourly pay when it wasn’t possible to give the employee a pay raise (or even when it was necessary to cut an employee’s salary, as was the case duringn the Great Depression), simply by reducing the number of hours the employee needed to worked for the same salary he was already receiving (or sometimes a pay cut accompanied by even more days off).
So with the first EFD Kelly Days in 1942, essentially eight men were needed to make seven. Four of the six slots cut in 1933 were restored in 1942 (EFD now had 82 members), but minimum staffing was cut from 31 to 28 (if all seven companies were running one man short), and on certain days because of how it was done, minimum staffing on Engine Co. 3 and/or Engine Co. 4 was three if the company was running the maximum-allowed one man short (this was the first time since 1892 that as few as three men could be on duty with an engine company at a given point in time).
An additional Kelly Day was added in 1947 as the average work-week was cut further, from 73 to 67 hours, as firefighters now got an extra day off after every four days worked. So now five were needed to make four.
Six firefighters were added to the EFD (now 88 members) in 1947, but the added Kelly Day still resulted in minimum staffing being cut from 28 to 26 if each company was running one man short (minimum four each on the four companies then at Station #1 – E1, E5, T1, and T2), and minimum three each on E2, E3, and E4, plus the Chief’s buggy-driver, with the fourth man minimum on E1 and E5 being cut-back to three when Squad 21 went into service with a two-man crew in October 1952).
Then the EFD was increased from 88 to 100 members and minimum shift staffing was actually increased (for the first time since 1933) in September 1955 from 26 to 29 when Truck Co. 23 was organized as a ten-man company at the new Station #3 (five men assigned to T23 each shift, but only four men actually on-duty each shift because one of the men was on a Kelly Day, and the company could run one man short, ergo making it a three-man minimum per shift).
Also, Truck Co. 22 was cut back from a four-man minimum per shift to three-man minimum per shift when it was relocated from Station #1 to the new Station #2 in March 1955, as the Platoon Chiefs (who had been the company officers of Truck Co. 21 and Truck Co. 22 on opposite platoons at Station #1 1928-1955) were relieved of company officer duties and assigned a station wagon in which to respond as the command officer (known as “F-2”) to fires and other incidents, with the Chief (“F-1”) now only responding to working fires.
And that’s hows it was when the EFD went from a two-platoon system with lots of Kelly Days to a three-platoon system with no Kelly Days on April 1, 1957 (see my earlier post).
#2 by Jim on October 5, 2020 - 11:09 PM
Bill,
Thanks for your insight. It appears that both Evanston and Skokie handle their own calls because the staffing and apparatus they have. I believe the ALS fire companies are a tremendous help for EMS runs in Evanston. Is Squad 21 staffed or is it a jump company? You are right that many suburbs use automatic aid. In the southern suburbs, automatic aid is used by many as staffing has been reduced and call volume has increased. In some areas, automatic aid is used on every fire run. I believe that an operational consolidation should happen in many areas to provide better coverage while improving staffing. There are many fire stations separated by city boundaries that are well within a mile of another. If these boundaries didn’t exist, fire stations could be moved and double houses formed to better serve the community. This has always been a hard sell, but with existing automatic aid agreements, it’s as if many of these departments operate as the same department anyway.
#3 by Bill Post on October 5, 2020 - 10:39 PM
Jim I don’t know if the departments ever discussed the idea of Evanston paying Skokie for Ambulance 17 based on a percentage of a shared use. Ambulance 17 is the closest to Evanston in most instances. As a rule, if Evanston Engine 23 is not available (which is the company that jumps to Ambulance 23) they will usually send Skokie Ambulance 17 as the third or fourth due into most of Evanston. Wilmette Ambulance 26 is also used on the far north side of Evanston.
Actually it would make more sense if Skokie, Evanston, and Wilmette had an automatic aid agreement however Skokie doesn’t use auto aid. Mutual aid is a different story. It is not uncommon for Evanston to ask for a mutual aid ambulance. If the emergency is on the southwest side of Evanston, say between Dodge and Howard for example, they will get Evanston Engine 24. If Ambulances 22 and 21 are not available then Ambulance 23 is due even though Skokie Ambulance 17 is much closer. If they had an automatic aid agreement then Ambulance 17 would be the third due ambulance whether or not Ambulance 23 was available.
So far Skokie prefers not to use automatic aid even though if the incident is on the west end of town on the Edens Expressway, quite often several towns will be dispatched such as Morton Grove and Lincolnwood in addition to Skokie. The expressway is on the border of those towns. Automatic aid is being practiced by quite a few suburbs the further away from the city you get.
In the metro Phoenix in Arizona, over 95% of of the towns have been part of an area wide automatic aid system for a long time. The nearest companies will be dispatched to an incident even if the if they come from the next town. Apparatus is normally due from other towns on first alarms if the incident is near a border. They will be dispatched on extra alarms as well. The Phoenix Fire Department does the dispatching for most towns. Mesa now handles some of the dispatching for the east end of the Phoenix/Mesa metro area. Each department maintains their own identity however they all train together and are dispatched as if they were one large department.
#4 by Jim on October 5, 2020 - 3:45 PM
What a great and rich history lesson about the Evanston fire department. I find it interesting that even in the past, the idea of efficiency was thought of. Bill you bring up a great point about the similarities and differences between Evanston and Skokie. When looking at both cities on a map, it appears they are very similar in size but one city has 5 firehouses and the other has 3 firehouses. They both have the same amount of fire apparatus but Evanston has one less ambulance. I wonder if it has ever been discussed for both cities to share Skokie’s third ambulance and Evanston to pay a percentage to do so.
#5 by Bill Post on October 5, 2020 - 10:51 AM
Thanks again for the great history and early roster of the Evanston Fire Department, Phil.
You really hit it on the nail when you mentioned politics being involved in the fire station relocation process. The residents of the High Ridge area had a good point as they would have been beyond the 1 and 1/2 mile distance for the nearest engine company. In that case it was good that a new station wasn’t built at Noyes and Ashland. While averages might help in someways, specifics in the long run are more important if you happen to live beyond a three to four minute drive from the nearest fire station. While High Ridge didn’t get as many fires or EMS incidents as Church and McDaniel, it certainly makes a difference for those involved when they have a fire or a serious EMS incident. Church and McDaniel might have had the highest fire and EMS run rates at the time, but as you were saying, having three fire stations a mile and a half away would be considered enviable by quite a few people. A mile and a half is a three minute drive under ideal circumstances and they would have at least three or more fire companies arriving simultaneously. That is good emergency coverage by anyone’s standards. There is another wise axiom which is “if something isn’t broke don’t fix it”. I was wondering about the reasoning behind the downgrade of Evanston’s ISO rating in 1977? Something tells me that it had nothing to do with the firehouse locations as they were within the minimum recommended distances. Perhaps it had to do with the water supply or something else.
Speaking of minimum on duty manning, you mentioned that because Evanston won’t increase their staffing beyond 26 people that they have to run their third ambulance as a jump company. Skokie runs with a 28 man minimum which allows them to staff a third ambulance. If Evanston would hire six or seven more people, they could staff a third ambulance. It is interesting to note that both Evanston and Skokie run seven staffed fire suppression companies. Both have two truck companies and while Skokie has four engines and a squad, it is a pumper/squad so they essentially have a fifth engine.
#6 by Phil Stenholm on October 5, 2020 - 2:04 AM
BILL: First some background…
The “Fire Department Modernization Plan” proposed by Chief Henry Dorband (and approved by Evanston voters in 1951 and 1953) led to the construction of three new fire stations (each completed in 1955).
With the completion of the three new fire stations, Evanston had (at long last) finally met the recommendations offered by the National Board of Fire Underwriters way back in 1935.
1. New Fire Station #5 (a two bay one-story firehouse) at 2830 Central Street was completed on January 25, 1955, and Engine Co. 23 and the reserve truck (Truck 23) were temporarily relocated there from the old Station #3 at 2504 Green Bay Road (which was immediately closed and sold to a private party).
2. New Fire Station #2 (“Fire Department Headquarters” – a three bay two-story firehouse) at 702 Madison Street was completed on March 12, 1955, at which time Engine Co. 22 and the Fire Prevention Bureau (an Assistant Chief, two inspectors, and one staff car — a 1946 Ford sedan replaced by a Chevrolet station wagon in 1956) relocated there from the old Station #2 around the corner at 750 Chicago Avenue (which was immediately closed and sold to a private party), and Truck Co. 22 was relocated there from Station #1 (where it had been since it was organized in September 1924). The Fire Chief (“F-1”) & his “buggy driver” (administrative assistant/chauffeur/photographer) and the chief’s staff car (a 1951 Mercury sedan, replaced by a Ford station wagon equipped with a stretcher and first-aid gear in 1957) also relocated to the new Station #2 from Station #1 at this time.
3. The new Station #3 opened on September 3, 1955, at which point Engine Co. 23 and the newly-organized Truck Co. 23 (manning what had been the EFD’s reserve aerial ladder truck) relocated there from their temporary quarters at the new Station #5, and Engine Co. 25 was relocated to Station #5 from Station #1 (where it had been since it was organized in November 1927).
So as of September 1955 (when the new Fire Station #3 was completed), all insured structures within the corporate city limits of Evanston were within 1-1/2 miles of a fire station (and engine company), with five engine companies (minimum staffing three men) — one at each of the five stations, three truck companies (minimum staffing of four men for Truck Co. 21 and three men for the other two trucks) — one at Station #1, one at Station #2, and one at Station #3, one squad (with a two-man crew) that responded to inhalator calls (about a 100 per year back then), working fires (about one or two a week), and special rescues (once or twice a month) at Station #1, a platoon chief (shift chief) and his 1955 Chevrolet station-wagon at Station #1, and the chief’s buggy-driver (and the chief’s staff car) at Station #2 on duty each shift.
EFD APPARATUS IN 1955
ENGINE 21 – 1952 Pirsch Model 44-S 1000-GPM w/80-gal booster tank & red-line hose-reel
NOTE: Reserve in 1968 & scrapped in 1984
ENGINE 22 – 1949 Seagrave 1000-GPM w/80 gal booster tank & red=line hose-reel
NOTE: Reserve in 1966 & then sold to a private party as a “parade piece” in 1971
ENGINE 23 – 1937 Seagrave Model “G” 750-GPM w/50 gal booster tank & red-line hose-reel
NOTE: Reserve in 1958… motor from the other ’37 Seagrave “G” (E-24) was transferred to this rig in 1966, then rig was scrapped in 1970
ENGINE 24 – 1937 Seagrave 750-GPM Model “G” w/50 gal booster tank & red-line hose-reel
NOTE: Gutted/salvaged for parts for its twin “G” (E23) before being Junked in 1966
ENGINE 25 – 1952 Pirsch Model “44-S” 1000-GPM w/ 100-gal booster tank & red-line hose-reel
NOTE: Reserve in 1970, scrapped in 1984
TRUCK 21 – 1951 Pirsch 85-ft TDA
NOTE: Reserve in 1969, scrapped in 1980
TRUCK 22 – 1952 Pirsch 85-ft TDA
NOTE: Was heavily refurbished/modernized in 1969 and got a 1968 Pirsch/GMC tractor (ex-Aurora, Colorado F.D.) in 1982 soon after it went into reserve… was scrapped in 1990
TRUCK 23:- 1937 Seagrave “Service Aerial” 65-ft MMA w/80-gal booster tank & red-line hose-reel
NOTE: Reserve in 1963, scrapped in 1970
SQUAD 21 – 1952 Pirsch 1000-GPM squad-pumper w/100-gal booster tank & red-line hose reel but no hose bed and four top-mounted searchlights) –
NOTE: Squad body was removed & was replaced by a conventional pumper body in 1966, and it was assigned to Engine Co. 22 1966-70 and then to Engine Co. 25 1970-76 – then reserve in 1977-79 before becoming playground equipment in park at Asbury & South Blvd.
There was also an unmanned “ready-reserve” Chicago F. D. – style high-pressure wagon (equipped with a mounted turret nozzle, other high-pressure nozzles of various types and sizes, an extensive quantity of large-diameter hose, and the reserve inhalator) known as “Squad 22” (a 1924 Seagrave tractor formerly used to pull Truck 1’s aerial ladder trailer 1924-51 and now fitted with a body salvaged from a 1917 Seagrave pumper that was junked in 1952) at Station #1, and two reserve engines, both 1927 Seagrave “Standard” 1000 GPM w/50-gal booster tanks and red-line hose reels, Reserve Engine 27 (ex-E25) at Station #4 and Reserve Engine 26 (ex-E22) at Station #5.
NOTE: The EFD had no reserve aerial-ladder truck for more than seven years, until Truck Co. 23 was taken out of service and its manpower was transferred to Squad 21 (as Squad 21 became as fully-staffed four-man minimum company in January 1963).
And the five stations, apparatus, and 100 firefighters (at any one time) served Evanston well for many years, providing average response times in the 2-to-3 minute range, with no response time (normally) longer than four minutes.
Then in 1984, the City Council staff (kind of out of the blue) floated a plan to replace the city’s five fire stations with three new ones. (I have it on good authority that it was actually the Fire Department’s idea).
The plan was to consolidate the ambulance crews, engine companies, and truck companies (with at least eight fire fighters and/or fire fighter/paramedics at each station), to provide more manpower for “first responders” arriving at the scene of a fire or medical emergency, and to improve response times to areas of the city that incurred the most incidents (although unfortunately also having the collateral damage of increasing response times to some parts of the city that had much fewer incidents).
But what was the genesis of this plan? Why demolish five fire stations (three of which were less than 30 years old and another just 35 years old) and replace them with three new ones (you might ask)?:
Well, it was kind of political.
See, the extreme west side of the 5th Ward (the census tracts surrounding Church & McDaniel) was 1-1/2 miles from Stations #1, #4, and #5, the furthest distance from a fire station of any intersection/neighborhood in the city (at that time). Certainly within NBFU (ISO) standards, but still furthest away.
And it wasn’t like the the EFD did not respond to that area very often. It was a high-volume fire & medical activity area (both in terms of working residential structure fires and EMS calls), and having the nearest fire station (albeit three of them) 1-1/2 miles away jacked up the average response times for the EFD as a whole, which was a problem for the Evanston Fire Department (it had seen its ISO rating dropped from three to four in 1977) as well as for the people who lived there (about 100% African-Americans) and their alderman.
So the Rand Corporation was hired by the Evanston City Councin 1986 to conduct an analysis of the Evanston Fire Department’s response times, and Rand determined (by advanced statistical analysis) that the EFD’s – AVERAGE – response time would be decreased if its – WORST – response times (which were to the heavy fire & EMS traffic area around Church & McDaniel) were decreased, and to do that the five existing fire stations should be replaced by three new stations to be located up & down the central spine of Evanston (one to be built at Willard D. Kamen Park at Asbury & South Boulevard in South Evanston, another to be located on vacant land at Lake & Ashland in central-west Evanston, and a third to be constructed on the site of the abandoned Municipal Testing Lane at Noyes & Ashland in north-central Evanston).
Each of the three new stations were to be either three-bay (#1 & #2) or four-bay (#3) “drive-thru” stations with modern state-of-the art ventilation & electrical systems. With all reserve apparatus to be stored at the old Station #1 at 909 Lake Street, only staffed front-line in-service apparatus would be located in the three fire stations.
Engine Co, 21, Engine Co. 24, and Ambulance 21 (eight firefighters) would be relocated to the new Station #1 at Lake & Ashland, Engine Co. 22, Truck Co. 22,. and Ambulance 22 (eight firefighters) would be relocated to the new Station #2 at Asbury & South Blvd, and Engine Co. 23, Truck Co. 23, Ambulance 23, Squad 21 (with a dedicated driver), and Shift Chief F-2 (ten firefighters) would be relocated to the new Station #3 at Ashland & Noyes.
With 8-10 firefighters at each station There would no longer be any three-man fire stations (three-man firehouses were a concern to some of the EFD brass at that time), – AVERAGE – response times would decrease (VERY important to the EFD brass), and the actual typical response times to the 5rh ward (especially to the areas around Church & McDaniel) would improve significantly.
However, political opposition quickly torpedoed the proposed station in South Evanston (where residents did not want to lose park land), as well as the one in North Evanston (where residents in the “High Ridge” area of northwest Evanston — the neighborhood north & west of Crawford Avenue & Gross Point Road — did not wish to suffer a minimum 5-1/2-to-six minute response time to fire and medical emergencies in their neighborhood, which was sure to be the case if the closest fire station was located at Noyes & Ashland).
But political opposition to the proposal to rebuild & relocate Fire Stations #2 and #3 really didn’t matter to the City Council, because the most-important political issue behind the plan was improving EFD response times to fire & EMS calls in the area of the 5th Ward surrounding Church & McDaniel (as well as to other parts of the 5th Ward in general).
So somewhat surprisingly (or maybe not), the City Council agreed to tear down and rebuild the city’s oldest firehouse (dilapidated Fire Station #4) at 1817 Washington Street, and tabled any further discussion of building new fire stations indefinitely. The new Station #4 was rebuilt on the site of the original Station #4 during 1989, at a cost of $643,000.
Although rebuilding Fire Station #4 was not recommended by the Rand Corporation, two of the study’s other recommendations were implemented.
First, a third ambulance was placed into front-line service in 1989 (although it only occurred as part of the controversial “jump company” plan), and then Truck Co. 21 was relocated from Fire Station # 1 to Fire Station # 3 in 1990 (becoming the reborn “Truck Co. 23”).
With a rebuilt firehouse in service in southwest Evanston, and Truck Co. 21 relocated to Station #3, new Evanston Fire Chief James Hunt (who had come to Evanston from out-of-state) proposed in March 1993 that instead of rebuilding Fire Station #1 at Lake & Ashland (which would be less than a mile north of rebuilt Fire Station #4 on Washington Street) as has been recommended in the Rand Corporation study, that it should be relocated & rebuilt a half-mile further north, on Emerson Street (sufficiently north of Fire Station #4 to justify the relocation, but also just as close to Church & McDaniel as a new fire station at Lake & Ashland would have been), and that the former Fire Station #1 at 909 Lake Street be (as had been planned back in 1984) ) converted into a “headquarters” facility (housing the Fire Prevention Bureau, training classrooms, administrative offices, and equipment & apparatus storage).
But no other fire stations were to be relocated. Only Fire Station #1. And there would be only one (not two) engine companies assigned to the proposed new Fire Station #1 (not two, as has been recommended by Rand).
Chief Hunt was hailed as a “political genius” by community leaders in the 5th ward when he made this proposal. “Where was he five years ago?!!” one leader said, amazed.
There was some initial push-back from business owners in downtown Evanston as well as from powerful & wealthy residents of the east part of the 1st Ward (near the lakefront) because relocating Station #1 from Lake & Elmwood to Emerson & Wesley in the 5th Ward would mean somewhat longer response times to fire and medical emergencies in their neighborhood, but (apparently) not wanting to be labeled as racists or uncaring business people, they acquiesced.
So with political opposition no longer a roadblock, the plan was readily accepted by the City Council.
However, the new three-bay Fire Station #1 (constructed on the site of a former gas station at 1332 Emerson Street) was not actually completed for almost five years (February 1998), after unexpectedly high construction costs nearly doubled the project’s price-tag (from $1.2 to $2.2 million).
Plans to convert the old Fire Station #1 to the Fire Department’s new headquarters met similar delays, so the EFD’s administrative offices were located in a cramped second-floor office in leased commercial space on Dodge Avenue for several years in the 1990’s.
Meanwhile, Fire Station # 2 underwent a major renovation (but was not rebuilt or relocated), and both Fire Station #3 and Fire Station #5 (which was expanded from two to three apparatus bays) were rebuilt on the same site as the previous firehouses, and the plan to store all reserve apparatus (truck, engines, and ambulances) at the former Fire Station #1 was dropped and the apparatus bay doors were bricked-up.
So needless to say, the new Fire Station #1 (maybe not in terms of size, but at least WHERE it was built) as well as the other four rebuilt or renovated fire stations were not recommended by the Rand Corporation study.
The decisions were mostly (if not entirely) political.
#7 by Bill Post on October 4, 2020 - 1:04 AM
Phil, one thing that I don’t understand is why the City of Evanston replaced Fire Station 1 at 909 Lake Street with the smaller house at 1332 Emerson. 909 Lake was a large, beautiful, and very functional fire station with a better, more centralized location within two blocks of downtown and less then a mile from the lakefront.
It can’t be said that the current station at Emerson and Wesley was in an area with poor coverage. The former Station 1 was less than a mile from there, Station 3 is less then a mile and half away, and Stations 4 and 5 are less then two miles from there. As you know ISO recommends that the nearest engine be no more then 1 and 1/2 miles from any built upon area in it’s district. So there were two stations less then 1 and 1/2 miles away. I know that they converted 909 Lake into offices but it seemed to be a waste of time and money to build a new station 1 in the late 1990s. I believe that it was built after the proposal to replace the five stations with only three had already been dropped.
#8 by Phil Stenholm on October 3, 2020 - 8:28 AM
BILL: On April 1, 1957, a 56-hour work-week (mandated by a new state law) was implemented for Evanston fire fighters, so three platoons (instead of two) were now be needed to staff the EFD.
For the first year of the 56-hour work-week, Evanston firemen worked a schedule of two 10-hour shifts (8 AM to 6 PM), followed by two 14-hour shifts (6 PM to 8 AM), followed by two days off, but beginning in 1958 the “10-10-14-14” schedule was replaced with the “24-48” schedule (24 hours on duty, followed by 48 hours off duty) that still remains in effect today. Each fireman would also now receive a three-week annual paid vacation (previously was two weeks paid vacation).
There was no accompanying increase in the fire fighting force as the 56-hour work-week was implemented, however, so a “Police-Fire Cooperative Plan” was concocted by the City Manager to cross-train police officers as “auxiliary fire fighters.” Cross-trained Evanston police officers would patrol in three station-wagon ambulances (known as “Car 31,” “Car 32,” and “Car 33”), responding to inhalator calls, ambulance runs, and fires in addition to their crime-fighting duties. EFD Chief Henry Dorband hated the plan so much he refused to implement it, so he was sacked and replaced by James Geishecker (a 38-year veteran of the EFD) on March 31, 1958. (And you can be sure Chief Geishecker DID implement the plan!). Chief Geishecker suffered a disabling stroke in late 1963, which led to his retirement in February 1964 after 44 years of service with the EFD.
So 31 or 32 men were assigned to each of the three platoons (shifts), with a minimum of 29 men on duty at all times.
The companies themselves were staffed just as they were in the two=-platoon system. Ten men were assigned to each engine company and to Truck Co.; 22 and to Truck Co. 23, and 13 men were assigned to Truck Co. 21, except the manpower was now spread out over three shifts instead of over two.
But you have to remember that prior to 1957, while the EFD operated with a two-platoon system with ten man companies and five men on each shift, the firefighters had an extra “Kelly Day” off after every four work days, so although they were technically ten man companies with five men assigned to each shift, only four of the five men were ever actually scheduled to work any one shift because one of the five always had a Kelly Day off. And Evanston firefighters no longer got extra Kelly Days off once the three-platoon schedule was implemented (at least not until after the firefighters strike in 1974).
So two of the three shifts for each of the five engine companies and for Truck Co. 22 and Truck Co. 23 had three men assigned and the third shift had a fourth man (the “floater”) and two of the three shifts for Truck Co. 21 had four men assigned and the third shift had a fifth man (a “floater”), the floater covering for vacations and (when possible) for illnesses within that company, and of course get jerked around and moved back & forth from shift to shift depending upon where he was needed. Needless to say the floater was usually the firefighter with least seniority!
And a company’s “heavy day” was not the same day for all of the companies. For example, Tuesday might be when there is a fourth man on Engine 22, Truck 23, and Engine 25, and the next day the fourth man is on Engine 24, Engine 21, and Truck 22, and then the next day its Engine 23 and Truck 21.
If a shift was operating at “minimum” (because of absences due to vacations and/or illness), seven of the eight companies (all five engine companies and two of the three truck companies) could run (if necessary) with three men.
Only Truck Co. 21 (because it was the “first-due” truck company to the downtown “high-value district”) was required to be staffed at all times with four men. (Beginning in January 1963, when Truck Co. 23 was taken out of service and its manpower was transferred to Squad 21 and Squad 21 became a fully-staffed company, Squad 21 also became a minimum four-man company).
Also, an Assistant Chief (the Platoon Commander — known as “F-2”) was assigned to Station #1, and the Chief’s buggy-driver (driving “F-1″‘s station wagon) was assigned to Station #2. (“F-3” was the Fire Prevention Inspector’s station wagon which was kept at Station #5, “F-4” was the Assistant Chief in charge of the Fire Prevention Bureau at Station #2, and “F-5” was the Training Officer — also an Assistant Chief — at Station #1, and they all drove station wagons, and three of the wagons (F-1 at Station #2, F-3 at Station #5, and F-5 at Station #1) had stretchers and first-aid gear and could respond as back-up ambulances if the three police patrol-ambulances we unavailable.
In addition, two men (one of which was the shift mechanic) were detailed to Squad 21 (which responded to inhalator calls city-wide 1952-59 — about 100 a year or two per week) as well as to working fires or to any other incident where its specialized equipment might be needed. Inhalators were assigned to each of the five engine companies beginning in 1959, at which point Squad 21 had just a driver (the shift mechanic) and it responded just to working fires (and NOT to inhalator calls) or by special call to any incident where its specialized equipment was needed.
In 1962 EFD Chief Geishecker requested the City Council purchase a new 100-ft aerial-ladder truck for Truck Co. 21, so that Truck 21’s rig (a 1951 Pirsch 85-ft TDA) could be assigned to Truck Co. 23, which was running at that time with a 25 year old 1937 Seagrave 65-ft Service aerial-ladder. The City Council refused to purchase the 100-ft TDA (although they finally did purchase one about five years later), so Geishecker took Truck Co. 23 out of service on January 1, 1963, and transferred the manpower to Squad 21, making Squad 21 the EFD’s version of the CFD’s SS-1, as it became a fully-manned company that responded to all fires anywhere in the city, as well as to inhalator calls, car fires, trash fires, and miscellaneous engine details in Station #1’s district (keeping Engine Co. 21 available for structure fires), and to any specialized rescue call. It was (by far) the busiest company in the EFD 1963-1977. All of the new firefighters were initially assigned to Squad 21 so that they could get as much experience as possible as fast as possible.
Squad 21 personnel also manned the DUKW (known as “F-7”) that was in service at Station #1 1964-74 and responded to incidents in Lake Michigan during the boating season. The EFD’s DUKW (it was painted yellow) was equipped with a portable pump, a couple of leads of inch & a half hose & a nozzle, hard rubber supply line to draw water from the lake, axes, pike poles, buckets, all different types of fire extinguishers, a stoke basket, and a heavy-duty winch used to tow disabled boats to shore. It was dispatched like this: “Duck Call! Duck Call! Church Street Boat Ramp! Duck Call! Duck Call! — Squad 21 is 10-7.”
So F-2 (Assistant Chief) was the shift chief or platoon chief (like a Battalion Chief in the CFD in that he responded to all fires and other significant incidents as the command officer), but whenever there was a working fire the Chief (F-1) would respond. If it was after hours or on weekends the Chief’s buggy driver would pick him up at his house and drive him to the fire (the Chief had to live in Evanston). F-2 (or actually usually “F-2-X,” which was F-2 on a portable) would notify the Chief’s buggy driver via radio if it was working fire (called a “Code 1” if one line was let out or a “Code 2” if multiple lines were let out).
The Chief’s buggy-driver would remain at the desk at Station #2 (known as “KSC733”) and monitor radio traffic until the fire was either reported “10-5” (meaning fire is under control / no further help needed) or a working structure fire was reported (“Code 1” or “Code-2”).
#9 by Bill Post on October 1, 2020 - 11:28 PM
Thanks Phil for the interesting history, once again, of the Evanston Fire Department.
So minus the 7th man on Truck 1 who was really the chiefs driver, it was really at minimum a 5 or a 6 man company depending on whether or not anyone was on vacation or out sick. The same could be said for Engines 1 and 2.
When the third platoon was started did Trucks 1 and 2 and Engines 1 and 2 remain 5 and 6 man companies or was the staffing reduced? As you know the NBFU and it’s first successor the American Insurance Association (AIA) once had more detailed and exact standards manning fire companies and for the maximum recommended distance for them based upon the type and density of the area where they were located. That in turn was based on the required fire (water) flow. Up until at least the 1970s the minimum manning recommendations were 5 men to an engine and 6 to a truck. While it really couldn’t be achieved in lower density suburban areas during the 60s and 70s, it was difficult enough to get that kind of manning on the big city departments by the 1980s with the exception of New York and Chicago. Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and San Francisco had 4 man engines by then and now run with 5 man trucks.
Nowadays you can’t find any suburban departments with 4 man engines and trucks which is today’s minimum manning recommendation. In Cook County there still are many departments with 3 man companies. If they get what looks to be a working fire they will get a third engine and they can always ask for a 2nd truck before requesting a MABAS box alarm. Evanston is fortunate compared to some departments that run with 2 man engines plus trucks that are often jump companies. I don’t expect that any of the suburbs can afford 4 man companies.
When Evanston instituted the third platoon did they go to 3 man companies quickly or was it done gradually? What year did that occur?