New engine for Calumet City FD (more)

updated production photos of the new engine for Calumet City FD

#chicagoareafire.com; #FireTruck; #EONE; #CalumetCityFD; #beingbuilt;

E-ONE photo

Tags: Calumet City Fire Department, chicagoareafire.com, Chicagoareafire.com/blog, E-ONE fire truck being built, fire truck being built, new engine for Calumet City FD

This entry was posted on February 19, 2024, 3:30 PM and is filed under Fire Department News, Fire truck being built. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

26 Comments

#1 by Anonymous on February 23, 2024 - 10:46 PM

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Suburbs buy E-One not just because Chicago does but also because they think it works for them based on their needs. It’s silly to hate on a brand just because it’s not working for one particular department.
#2 by Craig Mack on February 23, 2024 - 9:14 PM

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Anonymous- who said it was for us to decide? This is an online forum for fire fans to converse their thoughts and ideas. That’s literally the point of the site. My thoughts after seeing the amount of spares CFD is constantly running, coupled with conversations I’ve had with multiple CFD firemen is that EONE is crap.

Also none of this has anything to do with my original thought. That the suburbs buy e-one because the city does. But Bill brought up an excellent point- maybe they have a good relationship with their service center. That definitely makes a lot of sense.
#3 by Anonymous on February 23, 2024 - 6:53 PM

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Craig, ok so now I know. Again, it’s up to the upper echelons of FDs to decide how to spec their rigs and decide which brand works for them, not us. If they’re happy with what works for them, they’ll stick with it. If not, then they’ll switch to another brand and change how they spec their rigs.
#4 by Craig Mack on February 23, 2024 - 4:34 PM

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“Anonymous ” you clearly have no idea what you’re talking about. The Chicago fire dept does not have a rig committee comprised of its members that come up with the spec. The rigs are designed by Fleet, The dealer, and 1 liason from the Dept that is not a line personnel. They take zero input from the membership.

When it comes to bidding, the City doesn’t advertise its open for bids. They post on its website. But by that time they have already met with the manufacturer of choice. Then they purchase through HGAC so it really doesn’t matter about the bid process at all. It of course helps when the guy in charge of fleet and the e-one dealer are childhood friends though…sweet home Chicago!! Lol
#5 by Dennis on February 22, 2024 - 9:59 PM

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Bill Post, the current Chicago E-One contract was extended for another few years.
#6 by Dennis on February 22, 2024 - 9:58 PM

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Leroy that is completely false. Chicago buys whichever the lowest bidder is at the time hence why we have different manufacturers for our rigs. When you open up for bids on rigs it’s up to the manufactures to place the bids, if only one does then so be it. You can’t force them.
#7 by Anonymous on February 22, 2024 - 1:39 PM

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Craig, the reason CFD could be using spares is because the main rigs could be undergoing maintenance work or getting repaired from accidents or other problems. I genuinely don’t know what point are you trying to make, but my point is fire departments get to decide what brands they should stick with and how to spec their rigs, not us.
#8 by Tim on February 22, 2024 - 1:15 PM

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FDNY is not anything like Chicago when it comes to apparatus. Not only do they have a set replacement schedule, FDNY requires a bond for every rig in the order. So when they order 50 engines, there are 50 different bonds required.
Unlike most depts. that require a bond for the entire order. Seagrave is the only manufacturer that will agree to those terms. Ferrara did for a little while for trucks but then FDNY went back to Seagrave. It’s actually a PITA if anyone’s been through the process.
#9 by Leroy McKeever on February 22, 2024 - 12:35 PM

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The FDNY is like the CFD in that they have restricted themselves for various reasons to only one bidder. Years ago the FDNY had to have more than one bidder which caused delays and increased prices while it went out to bid again. I often wonder what would happen if no one bid on new rigs? It might happen someday!
#10 by crabbymilton on February 22, 2024 - 7:28 AM

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You have to wonder with so many builders now being part of the REV empire, will it be just a matter of time before one of them disappears due to overlap and duplication. From what I gather the E-ONE’s are on balance on good terms with the CFD but I could be wrong. I could imagine KMEONE? I think many of us can agree that it’s a good thing that FORD doesn’t build complete custom fire apparatus given the garbage they build now.
#11 by John Keller on February 21, 2024 - 8:49 PM

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Big Moe,
From what I’ve been told by department members the rig is being replaced because of its reliability issues specifically.
#12 by Bill Post on February 21, 2024 - 2:20 PM

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Local guy you made an excellent point that if the dealer and the manufacturer actually back up the products that they are selling and give you good customer service that can make a big difference. Of course sometimes there are politics involved as well.
When it comes to Aerial Ladders, yes the CFD have used E/One, Seagrave , Spartan Crimsons and Pierces in recent years,yet when it comes to Engine companies we haven’t been using as many brands. Chicago was purchasing Spartan/Crimson/ERV and its predecessor “Luverne” almost exclusively for 20 years. Even those several HME rigs that the Chicago Purchased in the mid and late 1990s using Luverne bodies on HME Chassis. With the exception of the 2 1998 model Pierce Airport pumpers at Engines 9 and 10 which was purchased by the Federal Aviation Administration for OHare Field the Chicago Fire Department really hasn’t tried any Pierce Custom Chassied Engines. When Chicago purchased many of it’s Engines on Ford Commercial C cab Chassis during the 70’s through early 80s we purchased quite a few Pierces, Seagraves, Ward La Frances and plenty of E/Ones of course on the Ford Chassis. Those were also the last Seagrave Engines that Chicago purchased which were in 1979 on Ford C Model Chassis.
When it comes to Seagrave Customed Chassied Engines the last ones we purchased were in 1976 and 1975.
Chicago actually helped put both E/One and Spartan/Luverne Crimson on the map.When the CFD purchased it’s first 5 Ford/E/One Engines in 1976 E/One was a new company that had only been in business for 2 years and since then Chicago purchased many E/One products including 2 135 Aerial Ladders and at least a dozen 110 foot Aerial Ladders.
I remember when Engine 70 was one of the first companies to get an E/One/Ford Engine assigned to it in 1976.

Alot can also be said about E/Ones Aerial Ladders and the height of their hand grips on the side of their Aerials seem to be little higher then on other brands.
Boston was also an early E/One customer and after trying Pierce and KME rigs in the early 2000s and the 2010’s they are back to being an E/One customer.
Chicago stopped purchasing E/Products in the 90s as Fire Commissioner Galante was accused by the press of having a favored relationship with E/One Chicago Salesman at the time however the most important thing is how the users “fire fighters” like the rigs and are they reliable and safe.
In my opinion Commissioner Galante was One of the best Commissioners in Chicago and he deserves alot of credit for how he improved the CFD. Under him the CFD put the first Tower Ladders in service and he also put the Snorkel/Squads (as we know them) back in service after Snorkel Squad 1 being out of service for 3 years he had put 3 Squad/Snorkel companies back in service. Chicagos Snorkel Squads 2 and 3 had been taken out of service in early 1969 . I wish that he had stayed on. Had he stayed on Chicago would have had several new stations built in the 22nd and 24th Battalion after he had Commissioned An In house study under his research and planning department had recommended a new station for Engine 97, Engine 75 at 130th street near Indiana (not with Engine 115) and a new Station for Engine 93 and a new Truck company at 103rd and State street. Truck 16 would have also been relocated to Engine 81 which in my opinion makes more sense then were it is now (just over mile east of Truck 30 and not far from 3 other Truck companies).
#13 by crabbymilton on February 21, 2024 - 1:00 PM

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TT Guy: For the money that’s why. If CFD is happy with E-ONE, why change what apparently is working? I still can’t help but think with all of those builders being part of the REV empire, that one of them will disappear over time.
I think many of us will agree that it’s a good thing that FORD doesn’t build complete custom fire apparatus. What a disaster that would be with their never ending quality problems.
#14 by Big Moe on February 21, 2024 - 9:57 AM

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Maybe the spare is in rough shape and they want a newer rig in that roll. seems to me they are in service most of the time. The Pierce truck, on the other hand, not so much. They do run like crazy, too.
#15 by Craig Mack on February 21, 2024 - 9:34 AM

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“Anonymous”- judging by the amount of spares we see in pictures of CFD fires, one could reasonably say they are not working out for them lmao

It would be nice to see another big manufacturer like Pierce or Seagrave toss their hat in the ring and the city give it a go.
#16 by ttguy on February 21, 2024 - 9:16 AM

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Tell me again why any apparatus manufacturer would want to do business with the City of Chicago. Seems like it is a complete PITA.
#17 by John Keller on February 21, 2024 - 8:15 AM

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I was of the understanding that the last time CFD put out a bid they had no other bidders besides E-One, so if they had any grievances they wouldn’t have any other manufactures left. They’re stuck because they’ve slowly cut ties with every manufacturer.
#18 by Mike C on February 21, 2024 - 6:37 AM

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From my experience, E-One and Seagrave are the top two builders. I’ve worked on all brands of trucks and the E-One and Seagrave are some of the easier trucks to maintain. In addition, they perform well. I see E-One’s and Seagraves come in with thousands of hours and well over 100k miles and they’re still pretty solid. One of the biggest issues we have with today’s apparatus is the corrosion and water. E-One and Seagrave seem to be the most resilient to these issues in our climate.

If E-One is so bad in your opinion, what do you feel is better?
#19 by Bill Post on February 21, 2024 - 3:43 AM

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Correction on my wording for the CFD order of Spartan/Crimson/ERV Aerial Ladders was spread out over a few years so it was more than one “batch” however when the order or contract was completed it was never renewed.
#20 by Bill Post on February 21, 2024 - 3:14 AM

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Well since the subject of Chicago Fire Department Rigs was brought up as of the last few days the current contract between the City of Chicago and E/One has expired. It was for 5 years and while it doesn’t seem like it time flies. The few Vehicles that are still under construction will be all until the City puts out a new request for bids for fire apparatus.
I would guess that the likely hood is that City will find a way to continue buying E/One apparatus unless they have any major grievances which doesn’t appear to be the case. I would imagine that Chicago would be required to put out a request for bids even if it just a formality. I remember that not very long ago in around 2009 the City had put out a request for bids and because they weren’t happy with the bids that had to put out the request about 3 to 4 times within that year until they were finally happy. It had gotten the to point where some of the manufacturers who were initially bidding had stopped bidding. This is when Chicago was still purchasing it’s Engines from Spartan/ERV and they ended up purchasing its first and only batch of Spartan Erv Trucks.
Chicago is still running with several Engines and Trucks that are between 20 and 22 years old, in frontline service. I haven’t heard about new Haz Mat Rigs but I know that we should be ordering them also.
We should have 36 E/One Cyclone Engines when the last one gets delivered however the first dozen of them were actually ordered before the current (expiring) contract was signed as they were 2016,2017 and 2018 models. The contract was signed in 2019.
#21 by Anonymous on February 20, 2024 - 10:00 PM

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Craig, I don’t know what your problem is with REV, but it’s childish to not like the Chicago FD sticking with what works for them.
#22 by Craig mack on February 20, 2024 - 4:07 PM

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Ah yes…the ole using federal e-one’s from 30 years ago to justify a reason to buy REV group trash.
#23 by Localguy on February 20, 2024 - 11:51 AM

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We’ve had pierce, spartan, and now our two newest engines are eone. Hands down, without a doubt, the eones have been the best of the three. Least amount of down time. Best support from the dealer. Absolute tanks. To make the comment brand X is junk, is crap. They all have issues. And don’t forget, it’s about how you spec your rig.
#24 by Dennis on February 20, 2024 - 10:42 AM

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I don’t believe the majority of CFD members think the E-Ones are junk, in fact some of the best rigs we had were E-Ones. Most of the rigs the city has in the shops are because of accidents, not the fault of the manufacturer. No apparatus is perfect, and some rigs can be lemons but if Cal City wants to buy another E-One who are we to tell them they are wrong.
#25 by Craig Mack on February 20, 2024 - 9:00 AM

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I’m convinced that any suburban dept that buys an e-one is only doing it solely because that’s what Chicago buys. And if they would take the time to ask CFD members what they think of their e-ones, they overwhelmly would tell them they’re junk.
#26 by John Keller on February 20, 2024 - 7:54 AM

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Buying another E-One when the rig you are replacing is a 5 year old E-One with terrible maintenance problems, interesting.