chicagoareafire.com

9 Comments

• #1 by Phil Stenholm on September 3, 2017 - 4:07 PM

  

  JOHN A: The U. S. Public Works Administration (PWA) paid 44% of the cost of eleven new Chicago firehouses built by the U. S. Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1936:

  1. E8/T4 at 212W. Cermak Road (built on site of old single-bay T4, with E8 relocated from 1931 S. Archer)
  2. E20 at 1320 W. Concord Place (built next-door to old E20)
  3. E48 at 4005 S. Dearborn (built on site of old E48)
  4. E54/T20 at 7101 S. Parnell (E54 relocated from 8023 S. Vincinnes and T20 relocated from 446 W. 69th Street)
  5. E56 at 2214 W. Barry (built on site of old E56)
  6. E67/T46 at 4666 W. Fulton (built on site of old E67/T46)
  7. E68 at 1642 N. Kostner (built on site of old E68)
  8. E69 at 4012 N. Tripp (built on site of old E69)
  9. E81 at 10458 S. Hoxie (built on site of old E81)
  10. E89 at 4456 N. Knox (built on site of iold E89)
  11. E128 at 2100 W. Eastwood (built on site of old E128)

  Most of the eleven CFD firehouses built by the WPA in 1936 replaced old 19th century wood-frame firehouses (which were actually just glorified barns). The last two wood-frame CFD firehouses to go out of service were the houses of Engine 54 and Truck 20 in December 1936.

  Of the eleven CFD firehouses built by the WPA in 1936, five (E8/T4, E54/T20, E56, E69, and E81) are still in service today, some 80+ years later.

  A two-bay annex was built on the north side of Engine 81 in 1961 to accommodate a second engine company and a truck company).

  Engine 89’s house at Knox & Sunnyside (occupied by Squad 11-only after February 1954) was demolished in 1956 (after only 20 years of service) to make way for construction of the Edens Expressway.

• #2 by John Antkowski on September 2, 2017 - 12:19 PM

  

  Thanks Phil. I believe that it also was a WPA project firehouse. Thanks John

• #3 by Phil Stenholm on September 2, 2017 - 4:11 AM

  

  JOHN A: Engine Co. 20 was disbanded and the firehouse at 1320 W. Concord Place (built in 1936) was closed on January 1, 1992, the same day that Truck Co. 2 was relocated to Engine 5 from Engine 18, Squad 1 was relocated to Engine 13 from Engine 5, and Truck Co. 12 was disbanded at Engine 13.

• #4 by Big Moe on September 2, 2017 - 2:26 AM

  

  I love hearing the Chaplin, 411, calling in a still for a fire with people in the windows and then boxing it. And the Office gave it to him. Awesome.

• #5 by CrabbyMilton on September 1, 2017 - 6:16 AM

  

  I do like the ability that I have now to hear MFD fire ground on the scanner thru the MCTRS where as it was simplex before. So you lose some and gain some. I plan on getting anew scanner next year since Milwaukee County is moving toward that new digital system and it’s a matter of time before the old system is shut down. OPEN SKY is still out of reach but it’s still better than nothing in terms of monitoring the rest of the county.

• #6 by John Antkowski on August 31, 2017 - 6:07 PM

  

  Yes MFD has updated to open sky and a couple of years ago we got into the mabas system. I’m not a fan of open sky because of dead zones within the city. And the shared services that dispatchers have to patch in to put other communities on joint responses. I wish that Milwaukee would dispatch like Chicago. The dispatcher has more input into the situations. Open sky also takes away the ability for people to follow fire department activities. Milwaukee still puts out a car 300 but for crews only. I don’t know what the right answer is. John

• #7 by CrabbyMilton on August 31, 2017 - 3:00 PM

  

  John, I have lived in Milwaukee all of my life. As long as I remember MFD has dispatched via landline then later computer based never over the air via tones like most of the suburbs. I monitored MFD since I got my first scanner in 1980 and MFD joined OPEN SKY in 2011.
  Please explain if you would.

• #8 by John Antkowski on August 31, 2017 - 1:49 PM

  

  What year did they close Engine 20? I heard them on the audio clip. I want to say mid-90’s I took the test in 1995 and I believe that they were gone. I used to take the Chicago fire tours presented by Ken Little. Is he still around. I learned so much about the department from him. I his 4 volumes of the history of Chicago fire houses. John

• #9 by John Antkowski on August 31, 2017 - 1:41 PM

  

  Thanks Steve for sharing that audio clip. I always liked listening to Chicago fire department dispatch. I love the clear text. We have had it in Milwaukee for only a few years. Once again thank you. John

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