From Facebook,
- This was posted by Bernard Hamlin
- This was posted by Greater Midwest fire & rescue photography ;
Truck 7 will be down a while it appears. The driver was in the rig when it was struck and had to be transported to the hospital. You can see the damage to the striking vehicle is substantial meaning the driver was definitely going too fast through a crash scene. Slow down!
- Posted by second battalion CFD
thanks Martin
#1 by Bill Post on February 19, 2025 - 11:15 PM
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Chuck, your point is well taken and I agree with you that is pretty difficult to see the Chicago Fire Department using the much needed manpower just to drive these “Scorpion blocker devices on fire department owned and operated vehicles, however I can see these “Scorpion” equipped vehicles being used and operated by the IDOT on the Expressway system just like the IDOT operates the “Minutemen” Tow Trucks. So if the IDOT would have a few of them assigned to patrol some of expressways that would be a more realistic scenario and opportunity.
Your mentioning of the daytime driver of the Light Wagon brings back memories of the the CFD would assign drivers to some of the Special Purpose apparatus, I remember when the Light Wagons, the Smoke Ejectors and the Deluge Wagons would all have drivers assigned to them. Up until the late 70s before the fire fighters went on strike Engine 42 house both Big John (673) and Big Moe(672) in addition to Light Wagon 1 and Dry Chemical 6 and they all had drivers assigned to them.
When the “Big Water” Deluge Wagons were running out of Engine 42 during the 1970’s Big John (673) would be due automatically on 2-11 alarms citywide and Big Moe (672) would usually go on the 3-11s and they were so common that there could sometime be more than one extra alarm going on in Chicago simultaneously so that Big John would take in the first extra alarm and Big Moe would take in the 2nd extra alarm.
For a short period of time the CFD also ran with 675 the third Super Deluge Wagon which was build on the Mack MB model chassis which later became Chicago’s 671 and last ran out of Engine 23’s house when they were retired and gotten rid of which in my opinion they should have never gotten rid of as they only ran it occasionally on big fires during the early 2000’s.
#2 by Chuck on February 19, 2025 - 9:15 AM
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Bill, you will never see those devices in use by the Chicago Fire Department. That’s one of those fantasy assignments like the hydrant man on the fireboat, driving the mobile stairs at the airport or the day driver on the light wagon.
That being said, part of the problem is is that there is no consistency in how the CFD operates at accident scenes. You have companies that operate on the expressways every single day and they do it the same way every time without fail – creating a safe scene for themselves, the victims and the IDOT personnel that respond. But I have also seen instances where engines pull behind trucks – making themselves the blocker. I have seen other instances where the engines place themselves alongside the crash in an active traffic lane without protection behind them. Another complaint I have been made aware of recently is companies leaving the scene while the ambulance still doing patient care leaving the ambulance unprotected. I don’t know if there is any active Department order that governs expressway operations or if it’s just a quickie mention during any driver training, but we’re going to have another Scot Gillen level incident if everybody doesn’t get on the same page.
#3 by Bill Post on February 18, 2025 - 6:25 PM
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Unfortunately the phenomena of reckless drivers hitting fire apparatus has been a serious problem for quite a few years now.
I am sure that some people on this site remember when newly promoted Fire Lieutenant Scott Gillen of Truck 27 was fatally hit by a reckless driver on the Calumet expressway on December 23rd 2000 when the driver speeded up to pass a semitrailer truck and hit the truck and then hit Lieutenant Gillen as he was retrieving equipment from Truck 27 to be used on the scene of an accident that Truck 27 had responded to.
A law known as “Scotts Law” was passed that was specifically aimed at punishing and fining drivers who hit emergency vehicles and first responders on the scene of accidents on expressways.
Since 2016 the Dallas Texas fire department started using older out of service Engines designated as ‘blockers” which would respond on expressway accidents and were equipped with extra warning lights and signs to warn drivers of an approaching accident. The blocker Engines were also placed on the scene as bumping posts in case the driver didn’t slow down. Dallas had 3 designated blocker Engines however since then a company has been building “Scorpion Devices” which are reenforced bumper devices designed to absorb the force of automobile crashing into them instead of the auto crashing into a a regular fire apparatus.
These shock absorbing Scorpion devices are being put on flatbed trucks that several fire departments in Texas ,Colorado and probably other states and are being dispatched to expressway accidents as bumping posts for these reckless drivers.
So here are some videos of the latest emergency apparatus called the “Scorpion” .
Unfortunately I am sure the Chicago Fire Department can also use a few of them.
https://youtu.be/hKfpjDJA_UU?si=4_Ggv8eYIu3-k0e3
https://youtu.be/8MDFnURUCso?si=MZbh99VBSAhowPu5