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Archive for May, 2025
From Foster Coach on Facebook:
Foster Coach Sales photo
Foster Coach Sales photo
Foster Coach Sales photo
Foster Coach Sales photo
thanks Martin
Excerpts from patch.com:
The Clarendon Hills Fire Department has a new policy largely keeping off-duty members out of the station.
The village manager said that Fire Chief Dave Godek sets policy and has determined that off-duty members were a distraction for the on-duty crew and was causing more infighting than it was worth. The chief considered it distracting when training classes were being held in the station and people were coming and going.
The friction has been described as petty in-house stuff like arguing over stealing food from the shift and taking up recliners in the dayroom.
The village is issuing many policies for the fire department, as it did a few years ago for the police, being about 65% through implementation, with a ton of new policies.
Under the new policy, off-duty members can only come in for legitimate operational purposes such as callbacks, training, meetings, and extra work. Other types of visits must have the chief’s permission. Off-duty members must maintain a respectful presence, not use the dayroom unless authorized by those on duty, and not enter the rear living quarters. Additionally, off-duty members cannot consume meals, snacks and beverages prepared or bought by on-duty crew unless invited to do so.
Things have been changing at the fire department since the village last year entered a severance agreement for the resignation of longtime Chief Brian Leahy, who took the helm nearly four decades earlier.
The village is moving away from the paid-on-call model in favor of contracted paramedics.
thanks Dan
The Wauconda Fire District responded to a fire reported on an outside deck of a townhouse unit at 1106 Piccolo Lane in Volo. Wauconda Station 3 is less than a mile from the address. The fire communicated up the outside wall extending into the floor above. When companies encountered some extension into the adjacent unit, the alarm was upgraded to a MABAS Box Alarm for additional resources. The loss was stopped quickly and several of the mutual aid companies were released from the staging area.
Some of the departments assisting Wauconda included Round Lake, Fox Lake, Grayslake, Mundelein, Lake Zurich, and the McHenry Township, Nunda Rural, Countryside, and Long Grove fire districts.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Excerpts from the Dailyherald.com:
Since 1931, there’s always been a Herrmann with the fire department in Hampshire.
John Herrmann Sr. helped found the volunteer fire department in Hampshire in 1931 and served for 45 years. His son John Jr. spent 25 years there, but the streak ends May 16 when Chief Trevor Herrmann retires after 36 years with the Hampshire Fire Protection District.
John Herrmann Sr., right, helped found a volunteer fire department in Hampshire in 1931 with Sev Dumoulin and Walter Carlson. Courtesy of Trevor Herrmann
When you add the five years Trevor’s mom, Diane, worked as an EMT, the four have put in 111 years of service. And that’s not counting two uncles and a cousin who put in more than 50 years combined.
“There’s been a Herrmann here since day one,” Trevor Herrmann said. “I’m very proud of my family and the history we’ve had here.”
Trevor Herrmann joined the fire service near the end of his dad’s career in 1989, when it was still all volunteers.
John Herrmann Sr., left, and his son John Jr. served a combined 70 years in the Hampshire fire service. Courtesy of Trevor Herrmann
In 1995, they started having problems finding enough volunteers for the growing community and went to a hybrid paid/volunteer model. He became the first full-time firefighter/paramedic. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1993, then deputy chief in 2012 and appointed chief in 2020.
His father had been battling cancer when Trevor was sworn in as chief on Jan. 7. He died two weeks later.
When he became chief in 2020, they had just seven full-timers. When he leaves, they’ll have 15 full-timers and 25 part-timers. They also opened a second station last May and remodeled Station 1.
The Hampshire Fire Protection District covers 42 square miles of area and roughly nine miles of I-90. Call volume has gone up more than 60% in the last five years. They’re already well above the pace from last year.
Dave Schmidt will be sworn in to replace him on May 14. Schmidt was most recently assistant chief with the South Elgin Fire Department. He previously spent 31 years at the Elgin Fire Department. His dad was a longtime Rolling Meadows firefighter.
Herrmann will be honored with a walk-out ceremony at 4 p.m. May 16, at Station 1. He expects to become emotional when he walks past a line of firefighters, receives a flag and hears the final “tone out” over the radio.
Hermann family history commemorated at the fire station
thanks Rob
This from Cal Spencer:
Today I went to Forest View’s HAZMAT Box at an oil refinery, caused by some sort of explosion. It was a large, fixed-roof oil storage tank. Units were on scene for about five hours. The Forest View IC made a special request for a Chicago FD foam task force.
From Fire Service Inc on Facebook:
New Wheeled Coach Ambulance delivery for the Village of Lansing Fire Department
- Type I F-550 4×2
- Liquid Spring Rear Suspension
- 170” Module w/72” Headroom
- LED Interior Lighting
- Whelen LED Warning Lights
- 50” wide aisle space
- Zorg BU Camera System
- Stryker Power Load
Fire Service Inc photo
Fire Service Inc photo
Fire Service Inc photo
Excerpts from the ChicagoSuntmes.com:
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says firefighters and paramedics have waited four years for a new contract and the pay raise that comes with it because he’s trying to reshape the Chicago Fire Department to handle emergency medical assistance demands that comprise two-thirds of all calls for service.
With a $1.12 billion shortfall and $3 billion more in federal funds on the chopping block, the mayor is determined to confront a cost-cutting challenge his predecessors avoided.
“Not just in Chicago, but around the country, there’s a … greater need for ambulatory care than there is for traditional fire trucks,” he said.
Johnson wouldn’t say whether he is attempting to close fire stations or eliminate the minimum staffing requirement that mandates five employees on every piece of fire apparatus, with the exception of daily “variances.” He would only say the “infrastructure within our city has been around for so long, it’s not as nimble and flexible as it needs to be.
“One of the challenges that we’re having with all of our contracts is that the type of systems that we need moving forward — they just don’t exist,” he said.
Chicago firefighters and paramedics haven’t had a pay raise in four years. They’re still working under terms of a contract that expired on June 30, 2023. That contract includes 35 daily “variances” or exceptions that allow the city to operate with four employees on an engine or truck instead of five.
Firefighters Union President Pat Cleary said the Johnson administration wants to double the number of daily variances to at least 70. The union wants five fewer variances.
In 2013 and 2015, investigations by Chicago’s inspector general showed CFD response times did not meet state and federal standards. More recent audits showed that CFD data collection is so inadequate that it’s difficult to accurately measure response times. The department has failed to fill those gaps.
Cleary has said he won’t settle for less than 20 more ambulances — in addition to the 80 currently on the street — and the paramedics to staff them. Local 2 is also demanding a cycle of annual equipment purchases, including at least 10 engines, seven trucks and six to eight ambulances.
Johnson was asked whether the city can afford to purchase, staff and equip 20 additional ambulances at a cost of roughly $10 million for the vehicles alone. He would only say that there is “a reason why…there are still some challenges” in negotiating a new firefighters contract when the police contract was rather easily extended and sweetened 19 months ago.
Former mayors talked about eliminating the minimum staffing requirement and reconciling the number of firehouses with the fact that CFD now spends two-thirds of its time responding to medical emergencies. Neither ultimately made those cuts.
On May 21, a process known as “interest arbitration” will begin. A mediator will bring the two sides together and attempt to find middle ground on unresolved issues. It that doesn’t work, binding arbitration is next. Both sides would submit their best and last offers, and the mediator would then decide between the two proposals.
thanks Dan
From the Rockford FD on Facebook;
Rockford Fire took delivery of two new ambulances. Theses units will replace some older units.
Rockford FD photo
thanks Martin
As seen around … Elgin
May 9
From Michael Kavallierakis:
Here are some photos and a video of Elgin’s new Ambulance 2. It’s been in service for around 6ish months now. It’s a 2024 or 2025 Ford F450 XLT
Michael Kavallieraki photo
Michael Kavallieraki photo
Michael Kavallieraki photo
