Chicago FD Administrative order A-14-19

Tags: Chicago FD Administrative order A-14-19, Chicago FD relocates Battalion Chief 4

This entry was posted on August 15, 2019, 2:00 PM and is filed under Fire Department News. You can follow any responses to this entry through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

16 Comments

#1 by rich s. on August 19, 2019 - 12:11 PM

Gentlemen,
Moving a Battalion chief is not that big a deal, its a room and some files. Moving district headquarters is a huge deal, you have to move the District chief as well as the Deputy District chief all the files, computers, meeting rooms etc. On top of that you need to have room for all the BC’s in the district for meetings etc. It is my understanding that it will be much more convenient to move companies out of 42 when construction begins than to leave them there. Yes the new house will be to the west a bit however there are 30 members a day working in 42 and you need room for 60 cars at shift change. there is no parking to do this when they dig up the parking lot. Squad 1, 2-7-1, 4-5-1 can all go to Engine 18, Truck 3, Engine 42, Ambulance 42 can all go to Engine 22. We will not put any companies out of service.
#2 by John Antkowski on August 19, 2019 - 10:29 AM

Gentlemen, once again, I thank you for the great conversations. I enjoy this website very much and I love the insight that the members have regarding fire departments within the state of Illinois. John
#3 by Marty Coyne on August 19, 2019 - 8:31 AM

John,

The new one will be west of the old one and the plan (last I’ve seen) i once the new one is ready and in service they will demo the present one.

https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/7/18/17576220/river-north-fire-station-office-tower-friedman
#4 by Bill Post on August 18, 2019 - 1:32 PM

John Antkowski, if they have to move companies out of Engine 42’s house during construction, the stations that I am suggesting as possible sites are Engine 1 on the south end the loop, and on the near north side 1044 N Orleans plus Engines 4 and 22.

However I think it would make more sense to have Deputy District 1 move from Engine 18 to Engine 5, and have Battalion 4 move into Engine 18’s house instead.

I mentioned that it would also be possible to temporarily take a company out of service. When Engine 124’s current station was being built it 196/1965, Engine 124 was doubled up with Engine 89. Truck 38 was temporarily taken out of service and their apparatus was given to Truck 56, also with Engine 89 for the year during construction. Engine 124’s current house which opened in August of 1965 was on the same site as their old house. Though I doubt it would happen, they could conceivably take Truck 3 out of service temporarily.
#5 by John Antkowski on August 18, 2019 - 12:36 PM

I thought that the high rise was going on the land Engine 42 is sitting on? I personally would not want to live 24 hours at a time in make shift living quarters. I agree with Bill Post that room can be found west of downtown. I forgot about the double engine companies at 1’s and 4’s. Thank you. John
#6 by Marty Coyne on August 18, 2019 - 12:21 AM

John, why does Engine 42 have to relocate at all. The new fire house will be built west of the current fire house. When it’s complete they’ll move over and demo the current house.
#7 by Bill Post on August 17, 2019 - 10:45 PM

John Antkowski you are asking a good question.
This is what the fire department can do if they need to start moving companies from Engine 42’s house. If the city goes ahead with the plans to turn over the air rights to a private developer and build a high-rise where at Engine 42’s house.
1.They can rent space in a garage or a parking lot for a temporary fire station and build temporary living quarters in or next to the garage.
2 They can do some creative relocations. For example if there is not any more room with Engine 13 or Engine 1, they could relocate a company to Engine 4 and Tower Ladder 10’s house and if necessary relocate some companies to Engine 22 which has a large station. They could even relocate Engine 4 and Tower Ladder 10 to Engine 22 and move Engine 42 and Truck 3 to Engine 4’s house. It might even be possible to move a company to 1044 N Orleans, the Mask Service Bureau. That was the original quarters of the Snorkel Squad 1 from October 1962 until June 1979.
3. If worse comes to worse they can temporarily take a company out of service, though I really don’t see that happening.

You might find it interesting that Engine 1’s current house was a double engine house twice in the past. From June 11 1949 (opening day) until September 13 1961, Engine 21 was with Engine 1. Engine 104 was also at Engine 1’s house from February 1985 until November 1986. Snorkel 1, which was called Water Tower 4 at the time was at Engine 1’s house from October 1958 until April 1959.

Engine 4’s house was also a double engine house as Engine 27 was there from February 1960 until January 1965.
#8 by Bill Post on August 17, 2019 - 9:32 PM

Rich S, I understand that the CFD brass doesn’t want to have more then one chief assigned to a house which probably is why Battalion 4 was moved to Engine 5 instead of Engine 18. Since they are not changing or revising the battalion running districts, Battalion 4’s new quarters once again puts them less than a block from the boundary with Battalion 3 and not more than 3 blocks west of the boundary with Battalion 1.

Since Battalions 4 and 3’s districts weren’t changed to reflect their relocations, it seems to me that a wiser move would be to relocate Deputy District 1 to Engine 5, and move Battalion 4 to Engine 18. It makes more sense to have the battalion chiefs located in the center of their districts.
#9 by John Antkowski on August 17, 2019 - 9:12 PM

You guys got me thinking? If the new house goes up for 42 where’s the companies going to re-locate? Everybody around them is full. Engine 1 is full 13’s too. Engine 98 is small and Engine 5 is full. I’m guessing everybody will move west into other Battalions. Just saying. John
#10 by rich s. on August 17, 2019 - 8:15 PM

Chuck,
3510 is doing pretty good for the members compared to the last group. The moves are made for specific reasons and yes 5-1-5 was moved to 14 because there are special operations companies there and because the X-ways are easily accessible from there. You may see several other moves coming down the pipeline. If the construction begins on 42 they will need to move several companies around.
#11 by Chuck on August 17, 2019 - 3:41 AM

Why they didn’t leave the 3rd Battalion at Engine 14 and just move 5-1-5 to Engine 4 is beyond me. They probably wanted it at 14 for the expressway access. Seems like there’s a room at 3510 full of six figure Chiefs in charge of doing nothing but moving units around the City for their own entertainment.
#12 by John Antkowski on August 16, 2019 - 9:41 PM

Fascinating comments gentlemen! I thank you very much for your insight regarding the Chicago Fire Department. I look forward to hearing more from you as things change and evolve within the department. And I’m also looking forward to seeing more pictures of new apparatus as they appear and are placed in service. John Antkowski
#13 by Bill Post on August 16, 2019 - 9:10 PM

John Antkowski I believe Battalion 4 was moved simply because it really didn’t make sense on the far south tip of their district. While Engine 18 is probably the most centrally located station in the 4th battalion, Engine 5 is still more centrally located than Engine 28 if you have seen a current map of the battalion.

Rich S thanks for mentioning the operational plan of the current fire commissioner and his staff. It would be interesting to see what it is? Also thanks for bring up the previous movement which I assume is when some of the districts were relocated as well as some of the battalions which included renumbering in 2015. So like you were saying, if those moves weren’t operational then they must have been political.
#14 by rich s. on August 16, 2019 - 5:35 PM

The CFD is not going to reduce the number of chiefs nor are they going to double up chiefs in the same house. The moves are made for reasons according to a larger plan for the CFD as seen fit by the commissioner and his command staff other moves could be forthcoming, or not. The previous movement was made for reasons outside of operational need.
#15 by John Antkowski on August 16, 2019 - 3:04 PM

Engine 18 would be a good spot because of the size and location. I don’t understand why they are re-locating the chiefs? Are they considering reducing the number of Battalions? Or what?
#16 by Bill Post on August 16, 2019 - 12:58 AM

I read the three relocation orders. Moving Battalions 3 and 4 is not a bad idea. Having Battalion 4 at Engine 28’s house had them just over a mile northeast of Battalion 15 with Engine 39. They were a little too close to each other. Battalion 4 was also on the far south end of the district instead to being closer to the center. Relocating Battalion 4 to Engine 5 and Battalion 3 to Engine 4 does make some sense.

What doesn’t make sense to me is since those battalions are being relocated, why don’t they revise the districts to conform with their new locations? It is ironic that Battalion 3 is being relocated to Engine 4’s house where they were located in the mid 1960s and 70’s before they were relocated and renumbered in 1982. Battalion 4 will only be a few blocks west of their eastern border with Battalion 1. They really should change the borders of those districts.

Since Battalion 4 is moving to Engine 5 they had to move Battalion 3 from Engine 14 to Engine 4. In my opinion the real problem is that the Chicago refuses to have more than one chief in the same house. The most centrally located house in the 4th Battalion is Engine 18’s. Deputy District 1 was relocated there a few years ago so they moved Battalion 4 out. The relocation of Battalion 3 and 515 is also because they didn’t want 515 and Battalion 4 in the same house. If they eliminated the policy of having one chief to a station, then Battalion 4 could move back to Engine 18.