Excerpts from bookclubchicago.com:
Proposed policy changes announced June 18 in a Chicago Fire Department memo concerning the strategies firefighters should use when they arrive on the scene of a fire have drawn concern from some rank-and-file members of the department and the head of the city’s firefighter union, who say that they could delay response time and endanger civilians.
According to firefighters and the head of Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2, current department policy allows the first-arriving firefighting company to assess the fire, set up operations, and then attack a fire inside a building, if needed.
But the new proposed policy would change that, instructing the initial company arriving on scene to stay out of a building until a battalion chief or other commander arrives. It directs that initial company to name an incident commander, who should give radio directions and set up defensive operations, a fire strategy that seeks to confine a fire to the building or area of origin to protect firefighter safety.
According to the new policy, the first firefighters on scene can only go inside the building if there are “clearly visible victims who are in imminent danger,” or if they receive information on the scene that victims are trapped inside.
The union claims the policy change would hinder the city’s four-man rigs because it requires one person to assume the role of incident commander, requiring them to stay outside the building. With a second firefighter handling the pump and third handling the hydrant, it only leaves one firefighter to enter the building. In most circumstances, the department requires at least two people to enter a building.
Although most of the department’s engines and trucks have five-person crews, up to 35 per day only have four-person crews.
The newly proposed policies come after an Illinois Occupational Safety and Health Agency investigation into the death of firefighter Kevin Ward in 2023. The agency cited the department for five repeated, serious violations and required a variety of workplace safety improvements to prevent firefighters from operating alone in a building and to better coordinate radio communications.
But more than 18 months after the original report, documents show that the fire department hasn’t addressed the majority of the violations, and the delays have prompted the Illinois Department of Labor to open up a “failure to abate” investigation.
Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said the proposed policy changes in the June 18 order were still under review. Although the original order stated that the changes would go into effect June 28, he said that date was not accurate, and the policy changes have been delayed until field training is completed and a revised order is issued.
But the department is under significant financial pressure to institute changes, according to letters sent to the fire department by Illinois OSHA, saying the fire department will have to enact a version of the proposed policy changes to comply with the Illinois OSHA violations and avoid further fines. Documents show the department has already paid $30,000 in fines connected to the death of Ward, and it could face thousands more if it continues to delay making changes, and could face mandatory, random follow-up inspections and heightened monetary penalties if Illinois OSHA determines it needs to implement a Severe Violator Enforcement Program against the department.
“Based on recent violation history, it is likely that [the Chicago Fire Department] will meet criterion for inclusion in [Severe Violator Enforcement Program] if a future inspection results in repeat or willful violations,” Illinois OSHA Chief Erik Kambarian wrote in a Jan. 26, 2024, letter to the Mayor’s Office.
The past half-decade has proven particularly dangerous — and deadly — for the Chicago Fire Department. Between 2021 and 2023, the department saw 20 injuries that have involved hospitalization or amputation and at least five firefighter deaths in the line of duty, including four in 2023 — the most in any year since 1998, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Compared with similar city departments, Chicago has seen a disproportionate number of firefighter deaths in recent years. It is the only municipality in the state that experienced firefighter fatalities between 2021 and 2023. And while the 10 most populous U.S. cities had a combined seven firefighters die in the line of duty between 2021 and 2023, five of them were in Chicago, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.
In a letter sent to the city in January 2024, Illinois OSHA outlined the danger firefighters faced in Chicago. “The safety issues within [the fire department] appear to stem from deficient standard operating procedures and training, inadequate supervision of firefighters during emergencies, lack of enforcement when a policy is violated at an incident scene, lack of active firefighter health and wellness measures, lack of permanently assigned personnel dedicated to safety and training, and a resistance to cultural change,” the agency wrote in the letter.
In a letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson, Illinois OSHA said the deaths of Ward and Lt. Jan Tchoryk, who also died in 2023 after suffering a medical emergency while responding to a fire, had prompted a “hazard alert notification” and the city would have to correct 10 workplace safety measures to avoid fines.
The report provided a number of ways the department could remediate the issues, including ensuring the first arriving fire officer assumes “incident command” on the outside, prior to offensive, interior operations, and remains in command until a battalion chief or other commander arrives — similar to the recently proposed general order. It also stated the department should elevate a standard operating procedure that states “members must enter together, stay together and exit together,” to an “inviolable cardinal rule” in the department.
According to documents received from Illinois OSHA, the fire department and oversight agency agreed on a partial settlement May 9, 2024, that eliminated two of the infractions. The city paid $30,000 in fines on June 17, 2024, and according to documents, made the two-man entry rule policy. The settlement also required the fire department to submit progress reports every 30 days until the issues had been remediated.
But in the 18 months since the release of the citations, the department has failed to fully abate the other violations. While the progress reports show the fire department did make changes to its radio policy, its efforts to improve the command structure for interior firefighters stagnated around the beginning of 2025.
In a letter dated May 9, District Chief Jonathan Zaentz requested a 90-day extension to abate the violations, saying there had been unexpected turnover in leadership and low staffing, preventing the department from focusing on making changes.
A June 5 letter shows Illinois OSHA denied Zaentz’s extension request and has subsequently opened a failure to abate investigation against the department. The oversight agency has the authority to penalize the department up to $1,000 per day per infraction for the three infractions it has failed to remediate through policy changes. The investigation can be reopened every 30 days, assuming the department fails to institute new policy, meaning the department could face tens of thousands of dollars in fines.
While current firefighters and the head of the union recognized that the new policies arose out of a concern for firefighter safety, they felt the investigations had put pressure on the department to change policy and avoid liability rather than instituting better training and proper staffing.
thanks Scott
