Excerpts from abc7chicago.com:
Chicago Fire Department union officials are calling for city leaders to address a vehicle shortage as they say some fire stations are currently operating without proper equipment.
A large lot filled with city vehicles in need of repair takes up more than a city block on the South Side. It is filled with ambulances, trucks and fire engines.
While the repair lot is full, the fire station down the street in the heart of Englewood, one of the busiest stations in the city, has no ladder truck. The station only has an engine.
Union leaders said the city told them there are no spare trucks available.
There are several other stations in the 6th Ward, which also don’t have any trucks.
Union officials said the city is in violation of their contract by failing to have the minimum number of trucks in service, and they believe it is creating a dangerous situation for citizens and firefighters.
Truck 20 was already operating with a spare truck. The head of the union said they’ve been told it will be Tuesday or Wednesday before they can get a replacement.
thanks Max
#1 by Rich S. on October 11, 2024 - 4:02 PM
Quote
Guys, listen all the bright ideas on here don’t amount to anything because the city has a contract with a vendor for fire apparatus (E-One) and they will not deviate from that for any reason. The fleet department wants to have all the same manufacturer if possible for parts and maintenance. And they will not just go out and buy some off the wall rig there’s a complex and painful bidding process with the city and certain markers must be met to pass their sniff test. They need to open the purse and order a mass amount of engines, trucks, towers and squads to get back on track. But I guarantee that will NOT happen either. They don’t care period, PERIOD!!!! The Mayors office and the Finance department know what’s up, it’s not a priority for them. They are worried about CTU, and Migrants. PERIOD!!! And as for the mini pumpers thats a non starter as well. We have a contract that has minimum manning for our rigs and minimum numbers of said rigs (engines-trucks). The Union will not break that it would be stupid to.
#2 by Colton Latham on October 9, 2024 - 7:16 PM
Quote
Chuck, your 1/2 right on the separation between City and FAA. While the city would and had never been allowed. On the other hand, city spares have often been used to replace O’hare companies that don’t have enough spares. I have once seen an O’Hare Engine using a city engine in the regular colors. I have also on multiple occasions seen Squad 7 use city spares, usually G510 or or the Alf (Ex-Engine).
#3 by Wayne on October 9, 2024 - 4:59 PM
Quote
The FAA doesn’t dictate or control much of anything regarding the regular fire apparatus at O’Hare or Midway. They really only care about the crash trucks. The apparatus are maintained by the O’Hare maintenance division and might be at least partially funded by the FAA which is probably why you see them in lime green and never really out in the city.
The commissioner also has very little to say about the fleet any more.
#4 by Chuck on October 9, 2024 - 9:46 AM
Quote
John, The airport is the airport, and the City is the City, and never the two shall meet. The FAA has a very distinct say in O’Hare apparatus, since they pay for them. There will never be any intermixing of apparatus. As to using the minipumpers, that’s a non starter as well. Those were bought for a specific purpose (special events,) and are wholly unsuited for structural firefighting. I also think the notion of Fouts Brothers apparatus is a good one – the City had good luck with Spartan chassisied apparatus in the past, and I’d be willing to bet they have a few already built and ready to sell. They aren’t loaded up with a lot of bells and whistles which the City doesn’t spec anyway so they would be a good purchase. Somebody should have the top brass of the CFD in front of a City Council Committee holding their feet to the fire, and for once the Commissioner wouldn’t be able to wave her past family tragedy up to the media as to why this issue exists.
#5 by harry on October 8, 2024 - 7:56 PM
Quote
crabby milton yes
#6 by John Antkowski on October 8, 2024 - 3:44 PM
Quote
Could the Safer Act help the City of Chicago? I hear that it’s a God send for other places such as Milwaukee. But the catch is that hiring and manpower numbers are increased and maintained. I think it goes for replacement Apparatus too. I know Chicago has a bigger well to draw from. Local 2 needs to step up and fight for a competitive replacement program for the Fire Department. Something similar to what the FDNY has. I remember that someone mentioned how the airport is the cash cow for the City. The Local could start a series of Public Service Announcements to inform the public that their Fire Department might not be able to respond quickly to an incident to you or your loved ones because of the lack of reliable equipment for the Firefighters to respond with. I thought that closing the Fire Department shop and putting it in with other city departments was supposed to help with efficiency. I don’t know what the answer is, but it’s definitely going to get worse before it gets better. Finally, I wouldn’t offer the City any other options other than what you have now. They could turn it around by saying a quint or a mini pumper could provide the protection for half the price. Instead of 10 assigned daily to 5. They pulled that in Milwaukee. Just because Engine 108 is slower than Engine 54 doesn’t mean that the people in 108’s area should get reduced protection. Just saying. I have o
#7 by CrabbyMilton on October 8, 2024 - 12:51 PM
Quote
RJ, you are exactly on target on target with that. Then there are untold millions that gets absorbed into the government schools.
#8 by Rj on October 8, 2024 - 12:15 PM
Quote
Imagine what we could do with 100s of millions of dollars they had to piss away housing illegal immigrants.
#9 by crabbymilton on October 8, 2024 - 9:46 AM
Quote
Thank You Harry for that info. I thought that was just a dealer. I would imagine that has been thought of but would create headaches having something different in the fleet. You must mean less volume of calls vs. the top speed of the apparatus?
#10 by harry on October 8, 2024 - 9:04 AM
Quote
crabby milton
well a fouts is a fouts brothers engine
and the slower is is like engine 106 versue engine 54
#11 by crabbymilton on October 8, 2024 - 5:51 AM
Quote
Harry, I need to ask. What exactly is a fouts? Slower engines? I think they all have powerful enough engines in them even the one’s built 20 years ago so they are pretty quick.
#12 by harry on October 8, 2024 - 12:21 AM
Quote
i have said it b4 they need to buy about 4 dozen fouts engines for at least the slower engines
#13 by Cmk420 on October 7, 2024 - 9:50 PM
Quote
No spare boxes for squads
No spare snorkels at all anymore.
No spare trucks or engines.
Absolutely pathetic.
I saw the ABC7 story & just seeing all the ladders jthat were just sitting there ust kinda made me cringe. While not a Chicago resident, I am a firefighter & seeing this just makes me wonder . . .
#14 by Colton Latham on October 7, 2024 - 9:34 PM
Quote
It pains me greatly to see this goin on. Today alone, Engines 7, 69, and 108 went extended periods of time (man I bet TL23 was running off the walls) and Truck 20 is still totally OOS. This goes back to less then a year ago, and sense then we have seen a time where no spare towers were available, no spare squads were available, and now where no spare engines, trucks, towers, or squads are available because they are being used or broke , much like to many frontlines. At the moment, I believe TL24 is utilizing a truck (unconfirmed) because of the 3 spare towers, 1 is being used, one is broken at fleet, and one was recently wrecked by TL24. Also at the moment, Squad 7A is utilizing Ambulance F105 as its spare because none but one of the city spare squads work except the one being used by squad 1 and Squad 7S is either also broken or being used elsewhere on the airfield. It is sad to see a city and FD of this size, and one that I hold near to my heart crumbling because they refuse to put adequate funds toward public safety, anyways that’s just my rant of today.
#15 by Bill on October 7, 2024 - 9:16 PM
Quote
Why can’t they use the brand new mini pumper as spares?
#16 by Michael m on October 7, 2024 - 4:13 PM
Quote
Stupid, public safety should always be a top priority! Hopefully they have extended the E-One contract. What they need to do is build 20 engines a year for the next 4 years and build 10 trucks a year for the next 4 years and maybe then the city will have a decent frontline and spare fleet!
Local 2 needed to make that part of their next contract with the city.
#17 by Chuck on October 7, 2024 - 3:18 PM
Quote
First house that burns or first person that dies as a result of the closest company being unavailable because of this situation should own this Fire Department, its idiot Commissioner and the City.
#18 by Bill Post on October 7, 2024 - 3:02 PM
Quote
This is a scandal and it tells me there is something very wrong with the City of Chicago Management. Chicago has plenty of spare rigs but if they are still inoperable it really needs to be investigated. And even though the contract with E/One expired in February I understand that it had been extended and apparently we are still getting rigs delivered and some are still under construction so there is no apparent reason for this except gross mismanagement.
What makes this even worse is that after relocating the department of Fleet Management into a new building just a few years ago the City is not adequately supervising or managing the work that they a supposed to be doing and of all things the department of fleet management is Engine 54s and Truck 20s still district so if any station should have access to serviceable apparatus it should be Engine 54s quarters.
This should be made into an election issue by showing how far down the drain Chicago’s leadership is going.
Chicago’s Woke Joke of a Mayor has been letting the Police, the Fire Department and the Board of Education go down the Drain while the City Budget is going into hock and Chicago will be going the way of Detroit and St Louis.
#19 by as11 on October 7, 2024 - 2:45 PM
Quote
Eric,
That feels accurate. Here is a perfect example. T44 frontline has a cracked windshield that needs replacing. In theory that shouldn’t take very long (compared to other rigs that need more sophisticated parts). They have been in E292 going on a month now, which by all means still runs pretty damn good. Not saying that one spare truck makes a difference normally but we’ve reached the point where it clearly does.
#20 by Eric Haak on October 7, 2024 - 2:02 PM
Quote
It was mentioned on other forums that the shops are very, very slow repairing and performing maintenance in order to protect their positions. No idea how true it is.
#21 by Mike on October 7, 2024 - 1:51 PM
Quote
This has finally come to a head. No usable spares ata ll. Engine 108 and 69 are out of service with no spares. This has been brewing for a few decades now due to the CFD not having a dedicated repair shop anymore, lack of an apparatus replacement program and a massive increase in apparatus accidents. So I guess we will all see what happens now.
#22 by crabbymilton on October 7, 2024 - 12:52 PM
Quote
I saw that this morning on ABC7 too. Very misguided priorities in the city. We go thru that up here in Milwaukee too where public safety is downplayed when it comes to spending.