This from Chi-Town Fire Photos:
Last night Battalion 19 got a run down for a working fire @ 5845 s Carpenter. Engine 116 arrived to find a 2 sty RED X grey stone with heavy fire showing from the 2nd floor. 116 deck gunned it on arrival, and lead out two 2.5’s along with Engines 84 and 50. Crews were defensive for a while and then made entry to mop up and hit hot spots. We were right down 59th street when it came in, and were able to get some outstanding pictures. The full gallery is on our site.
Chi-Town Fire Photos
#1 by Chicagoland fire photos on February 6, 2022 - 10:36 PM
Josh,
Aren’t the pierce aerials breakaways as well. I thought that they were standard issue.
#2 by Bill Post on February 6, 2022 - 9:32 PM
Danny you are correct. The 1996 HME Saulsbury was involved in a major accident and the cab had to be replaced so the rig was sent to the HME plant in MIchigan and a 1978 American La France former 2000 GPM Engine was modified by having the pump removed and more cabinets added and it had become a Spare Squad for Squad 1. After at least a year Squad 1 got their HME back. As early as 1993 several fomer Engines which included several Seagraves and a 1979 Ford Seagrave where also modified to operate as Second Pieces to the Squads as the 1987 E/One /Snorkels were getting too Top Heavy and they needed more equipment space. As I had previously mentioned Ray Orozco Senior had okayed the purchase of the 1996 HME Saulbury which had allowed them to reassigned Squad 1’s 1987 E/One Snorkel Squad to Squad 5 which had been using the 1975 Hendrickson Pierce Snorkel (former SS 1).
Fire Commissioner Edward Altman who had replaced Fire Commissioner Ray Orozco had decided on purchasing the 2000 HME two piece Snorkel Squads which had let Squad 1 start using a Snorkel again. Edward Altman had been a member of Snorkel Squad 1 and he wanted to bring back the Snorkel Squads otherwise I don’t know what would have happened had Ray Orozco senior remained the Fire Commissioner as he might have also eventually replaced the Snorkels at Squads 2 and 5 with a one Piece Heavy Rescue Squad as well. The fact that Chicago still runs with Snorkel Squads had alot to do with who the Fire Commissioners where.
Fire Commissioner Robert Quinn who put the first Snorkel in service in 1958 and also the first Snorkel Squad in service in 1962 was also responsible for keeping Snorkel Squad 1 in service after 1969. In 1969 Snorkel Squads 2 and 3 were taken out of service and SS 1 had also been recommended to be taken out of service by a hired fire protection consultant however Robert Quinn was’t going to eliminate his Snorkel Squad 1.
After the 1980 Chicago Firefighters strike SS 1 was eliminated as were the 7 Flying Manpower Squads which were replaced with 5 single piece Squad companies. In September of 1983 Fire Commissioner Louis Galante had decided to eliminate 3 of the 6 City based Squad companies and 3 of the 6 City based Snorkels and the remaiiing 3 Squad and 3 Snorkels he made into 3 2 piece Squad/Snorkels which was just a reiteration of the Snorkel Squads. Commissioner Galante had also been a former Snorkel Squad firefighter. Outside of Chicago ,Memphis Tennessee is the only other City the actually runs with Snorkel Squads however the Snorkel Squads in Memphis are one piece Snorkel Squads the last that I had heard.
#3 by Josh on February 6, 2022 - 8:35 PM
Bill to answer your questions about the ladder pipes. The Pierce Dash trucks, YES. The Spartan trucks, NO. The new E-Ones I’m not sure but I don’t think so. Reason being is that the Spartan Crimson trucks have break away tips and are not rated for a water pipe to be fastened to the tip like the older trucks.
And as for the 3 engines. During the colder temps and snow storms, CFD has been assigning a 3rd engine to every still alarm. Not a new thing, but is put in place for instances like the last couple weeks. I believe it’s on a day to day basis from what I know.
#4 by Chicagoland fire photos on February 6, 2022 - 7:25 PM
To answer the question of the ladder pipes yes, all truck companies are equipped with a ladder pipe and a roll of hose to run up the ladder.
to answer the question of the 3rd engine it could’ve been an extra engine due to frozen hydrants possibly?
#5 by danny on February 6, 2022 - 7:15 PM
bill, of note too past of that time when they were running squad 1 without a snorkel they had an accident and ran with a converted 70s ALF engine for lil bit of time as well if i remember the details correctly
#6 by Bill Post on February 6, 2022 - 6:12 PM
Those are definitely good shots of the second floor lighting up.
I have a question and that is even though they don’t use them very often do any of the Trucks still have portable ladders pipes on them so if needed a ladder pipe can be put into service? While it doesn’t look like the Spartan Erv Trucks have them, didn’t the Pierces initially come with Ladder Pipes? I’m not talking about the Aerial Towers which have the prepiped waterways like Aerial Tower 8 and Aerial Tower 1 used to have.
I know that some of the old Seagrave spares that were delivered in the 90’s at least initially had ladder pipes.
I have another question. I noticed that there were 3 Engines that were on the Still Alarm , was one of them special called or were all 3 Engines initially assigned to the Still. I recently heard that they are now supposedly assigning 3 Engines to Still Alarms. If thats the case do you know why?
I also noticed (like you did) that Squad 5 was running without their Snorkel or without a spare Snorkel also. It brings back memories of the Old Snorkel Squad 3 better known as SS3 which was in service for 4 years from May 1965 until May 1969 and of the 4 years that they were in service they had run without a Snorkel for over half of those 4 years. They only had a Snorkel for 20 months and for 28 months they ran without a Snorkel and they didn’t redesignate it as Rescue 3 until the last 5 months before being taken out of service, It seems that Squad 2 has been running with a spare Snorkel for a while already.
When Ray Orozco Senior was the Fire Commissioner Squad 1 was run intentionally without a Snorkel assigned for three and half years. The 1996 HME/Saulbury which is used both as a spare HazMat rig and a Spare Squad was originally purchased for Squad 1 to replace their 1987 E/One Snorkel Squad which then was reassigned to Squad 5 and Squad 1 ran without a Snorkel assigned from December 1996 until around August of 2000 which is when the HME Snorkels were put in service as part of the new 2 piece Snorkel Squads which are now the spares.
#7 by Chicagoland fire photos on February 2, 2022 - 2:17 PM
There are 2 hme snorkels still in service the ex-1a and the ex-2a
#8 by Marty Coyne on February 2, 2022 - 7:40 AM
As far as I know there is only one reserve snorkel, ex Squad 2a. The others were sold off.
#9 by Tim on February 2, 2022 - 6:48 AM
How are the Rosenbauer snorkels holding up? They were supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
#10 by crabbymilton on February 2, 2022 - 5:44 AM
Great pictures and yes, to be on scene taking pictures like that is a privilege. Given all of the crap that goes on up here in Milwaukee, I would think twice about going out to do that so hats off for doing that. Please confirm that the red X means that the building is condemned or repairs pending?
Interesting that I thought they got rid of that ALF a long time ago even after it was converted. Nice to see a few of those EAGLE’s still on the job.
#11 by Chicagoland fire photos on February 2, 2022 - 5:35 AM
If you go to the rest of the gallery you will realize that the alf is filling in for the snorkel meaning squad 5 doesn’t have a snorkel right now so I don’t if this is correct but there might only be one spare snorkel in service or none because I know squad 2 has the old 1a and the last time I was at Sqd 5 they were in the old 2a and that must of broke down
#12 by Eric Haak on February 2, 2022 - 5:26 AM
Awesome work boys! I’m very jealous of that first one especially. Fantastic image!