chicagoareafire.com

25 Comments

• #1 by harry on September 2, 2025 - 3:48 PM

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  danny

  thank you for providing a break down well at least the towers are pretty well up to date could use 3 more for the 2016 towers a then they would have a decent reserve and frontline fleet of towers

• #2 by Danny on September 2, 2025 - 1:12 AM

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  Harry to answer your question… just engine truck and ambos from 2016 to.present is 235 units purchased..146 of which were ambos 49 engine and 40 Trucks and towers.

• #3 by Wayne on August 31, 2025 - 2:01 PM

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  Harry what do you think makes a slow vs. busy engine?

• #4 by harry on August 30, 2025 - 7:12 PM

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  local guy when was i trying to argue about richs rig if he is not in the 7th battalion the only other rig i mentioned was the old t20

• #5 by Tim on August 30, 2025 - 9:13 AM

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  500,000 miles on an FDNY rig? LOL They don’t keep rigs long enough to have that many miles.

• #6 by Rich S. on August 30, 2025 - 12:42 AM

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  Harry, I don’t know you, I’m sure you are well intentioned. But I must say I’m at a loss within the conversation. No, I’m not on an engine within the 7th battalion. I’m not giving the company number because it’s not important. I am referring to the fleet as a whole. I’ve worked northwest, west, downtown and south sides. Its all the same crap.

• #7 by harry on August 29, 2025 - 3:41 PM

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  rich ok 15-20 is definety a decent of runs per day and thats fine if you dont want to say the number because i dont go in chicago if i can help it but i know for sure u are not on engine 7106 91 because those are very slow engines

  back summer 2024 i went by e106 because they had my buddys old truck running as t13 it was the old t20 pierce in beutiful ond. for a 19 year old rig i went several days i talked to all 3 shifts and not one ff there had a bad thing to say about that rig she purred like a kitten and 20 is one of the the busiest trucks in the city and i wanted to sit in it in the officers seat because of lt leonard old truck

  also since 2016 how many rigs have they bought a lot i bet over 100 not counting things like 522 and ofi vehicles ofi gets new vehicles all the time air mask all the time

  but i am talking engines ambulance ladder towers and sqds i bet 100 plus

• #8 by Localguy on August 29, 2025 - 12:56 PM

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  Harry, were not on here discussing Louisville or Boston. Funny, when you get called out for being clueless, you change the subject and bring up other cities. You’re trying to argue with Rich about his OWN rig.

• #9 by Rich S. on August 29, 2025 - 8:14 AM

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  As I stated in my previous post, my company is a 15 to 20 run a day on average. The number doesn’t matter. What matters is the city of chicago is failing the members and the public by allowing the conditions of apparatus to be so poor. The firehouse is 100 years old and in 100 year old condition, the rigs are deplorable as a standard. We are at a point of non-recoverability as an organization. 4 years with no contract, dangerous rigs, disgusting living conditions. I’m not talking about rigs for calendar pictures, I’m talking about safe operations. Would you take a rig with gauges that don’t work or discharge ports that are duct taped closed? Aerial ladders that are rusted are leaking hydraulic fluid? We’ll we have to at times. 23 years old engine front line , 15-20+ runs a day . Third largest department in the country, class 1?????

• #10 by E. C. Darroll on August 29, 2025 - 1:07 AM

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  Please, please, please Harry…show me proof of a FDNY fire apparatus with half a million miles. I’m begging you, show us a picture of the odometer (if you took it upload it to Flickr or a similar website and comment with the URL). That is absolutely absurd, even by your standards, and not based in reality whatsoever.

• #11 by harry on August 28, 2025 - 10:54 PM

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  wayne well louisville was seen just a few weeeks runnig a spare older than most depts and its there while here in chicago ok they are running 23 yo if it works why fix it now the one rich said he is on he did not say busy or slow i have seen nyc rigs with 500,000 thousand miles and it still works

  but one thing is for sure chicago is better off than boston as far as towers go boston as a 2018 and 2019 frontline with no reserve and none on order but boston also leases they dont buy that make a differance its cheaper that way

• #12 by Wayne on August 28, 2025 - 7:49 PM

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  Harry, I normally don’t engage because you seem to enjoy the controversy, but you are way out of your depth discussing Chicago’s fleet. A 23 year old Chicago engine has no business being in service. On top of the fact that it’s against many professional recommendations a lot of them would be considered busy by suburban standards, even 106. They’re also poorly maintained which doesn’t help. I’ve worked on and driven well maintained 20+ year old rigs, and while they’ll still get the job done, it should only be done in places that can’t afford a proper replacement program.

• #13 by harry on August 28, 2025 - 5:32 PM

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  rich what rig are u on thats 23 years old while thats old but if its e106 thats a slow engine and 7 is also slow but quite honestly chicago now will have all frontline towers will under 10 years old so if they get 3 b4 2028 they will have a very decent fleet of towers however i know engines are the backbone of the dept because of the water supply

• #14 by Rich S. on August 28, 2025 - 3:59 PM

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  Here’s the deal. The days of hand me down rigs is gone. That program didn’t serve the department well. We are dangerously low on reliable spare rigs. Not to mention there are several factors that go into rig replacement, not only age and definitely not run volume. Clearly there are individuals on here who are not understanding the true situation we are dealing with as CFD end users of apparatus. My rig is 23 years old as a front line company doing 15-20 runs a day. The last few administrations did not keep up with a responsible replacement program and moving one old used rig to another part of the city just expands these issues. Its infuriating to read your take on our problems with rigs. TL39’s rig should be a spare soon not Frontline in another neighborhood.

• #15 by Mike hellmuth on August 28, 2025 - 3:55 PM

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  Why would tower 23 going to 108s house??? maybe you should talk to the firefighters on tower 23 the you would know first hand if there’s a problem

• #16 by harry on August 28, 2025 - 3:21 PM

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  danny also why do u think 23 should get this new one when they are a slow c verses 39 getting the new one and 39 old going to 23 explain better

  while that is not up to me or u its up to fleet

• #17 by harry on August 28, 2025 - 3:19 PM

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  danny i looked online i see photos of tower 39 1985 and the 1996 hme and the 2016 eone but u stated they had a 2002 what was that because the 2002 i remember being 10 14 34

• #18 by danny on August 28, 2025 - 12:30 PM

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  also i know the tower will fit at 108’s cause its the same height as TL 14 and TL 21 and TL 10 all of which have been in the bay on change of quarters for one reason or another over the last few years

• #19 by danny on August 28, 2025 - 12:27 PM

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  mike there is video of t 42 responding from quarters on YouTube in the new rig and it doesn’t look like there is any issue with the height of the rig

• #20 by Chuck on August 28, 2025 - 10:53 AM

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  How is the Tower too tall? 108’s house is a new (relatively speaking,) house – There is no WAY that rig is too tall. If it is, there isn’t a firehouse it will fit in then. NONE. Who did the measuring, Harry?

• #21 by Mike hellmuth on August 28, 2025 - 8:37 AM

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  Update wrong info it’s the tower that’s too tall

• #22 by Mike hellmuth on August 28, 2025 - 8:30 AM

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  I heard that truck 42 for some reason is too tall to fit in the door?

• #23 by Danny on August 27, 2025 - 8:49 PM

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  Harry they are replacing old rigs trying to get spares… nkt the way it used to be…39 hag an 85 a 96 and then as 2002 then a 2016…. tower 23 had a 85 and 88(in the early 2000s) and then a 2005. They aren’t gonna give a 10-year-old. Hand me Downton, rigged to a company that’s running a 20-year-old rig? That’s, I’ve been in and out of the shops more frequently in the past. Three years

• #24 by harry on August 27, 2025 - 2:47 AM

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  and fdny even has some pretty old towers maybe not as old as chicago but close they still have at least 1 or 2 2006

• #25 by harry on August 27, 2025 - 2:45 AM

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  i saw on a facebook page called second battalion its about chicago rigs and it stated that tower 23 is the slowest city tower and 39 is the busier in terms of fires if thats true tower 39 should have got the new tower and 23 get tower 39 old but either way like i had said on another facebook group several years back that b4 2026 all the frontline towers would be 10yo or under and i was right and if the city was right they would get 3 new towers b4 2028 then they would be in good shape

  now cfd is in better shape than boston in one catagory tower ladder boston has a 218 and 2019 tower and no reserve