The Chicago Fire Department issued an order today which relocates Haz Mat 5-1-2 from Engine 60’s house to Rescue 1 at O’Hare Airport effective January 13th 2011.
Posts Tagged American LaFrance
Karl Klotz took in a Still and Box Alarm fire this morning at 1315 S. Wabash in a commercial occupancy. He posted a few images HERE.
Smoke escapes from the front windows of the Gastro Smokehouse Restaurant on Wabash Avenue this morning. Karl Klotz photo
Squad 1's Snorkel is parked near the Still and Box on Wabash. The fire was knocked down with hand lines and an interior attack. Karl Klotz photo
Tower Ladder 5 was located in Sector 1 in the event that the fire extended to the upper floors. Karl Klotz photo
Firefighters remove a ground ladder from the scene and return it to the truck. Karl Klotz photo
Chicago 2-11 on 12/7
Dec 8
Chicago had a 2-11 alarm fire yesterday on the near south side prior to the Leyden fire. Jeff Rudolph was at that scene which was over rather quickly. Before he went to the Leyden fire, he took several photos and submitted these. The fire was at 1500 33rd st.
Engine 39 on-scene at the 2-11 alarm yesterday. This is a 1999 HME Luverne engine. Jeff Rudolph photo
Squad 1 is shutting down their master stream as the fire is knocked on 33rd Street yesterday, In the background, a reserve tower ladder 's master stream is still in operation. Jeff Rudolph photo
Engine 8 was pumping at the fire as well. Their unit is a 2002 Spartan Luverne. Jeff Rudolph photo
Squad 1 uses their Snorkel unit for an elevated master stream. The 55' Snorkels have been a fixture with the Squad companies in Chicago for many years. Their fate is unknown as American LaFrance, the owner/manufacturer of the Snorkel, no longer offers the product. Jeff Rudolph photo
Of the 96 engine companies in Chicago, roughly 15 still still run with these HME SFO/Luverne engines that have a much shorter wheelbase. Here, Engines 39 (1999) and 28 (1997) are pumping side by side at the 2-11, which is somewhat of a rarity. Jeff Rudolph photo
Fire broke out in a three-story apartment building this afternoon around 1PM in Rogers Park. First arriving units reported flames through the roof. Shortly thereafter the 9th Battalion requested a Box Alarm and then a 2-11 as fire involved units on the second and third floors of the building at the corner of Newgard Avenue and Northshore Avenue. Tower 21, Truck 47, and Truck 25 had their aerials deployed in addition to multiple ground ladders. Engines 59, 70, 71, and 102 (running with a spare #D546) were all pumping.
Tower 21 in sector 1 had to fight with some trees to reach the building. Larry Shapiro photo
Truck 47 was setup on the corner of sectors 1 and 2. This is one of the oldest Pierce ladder trucks in the city. It was purchased along with Truck 52, and both were delivered in 2000. There were no orders for additional Pierce units at the time. Chicago also received nine E-ONE ladders and an American LaFrance/LTI tower ladder that year. Trucks 47 and 52 have the only Pierce ladders that were painted white. All of the subsequent purchases including the tower ladders were painted gray. Larry Shapiro photo
Engine 59 was also in sector 1. They run with a 1998 HME SFO/Luverne engine. This series of engines are unique to Chicago in that their water tanks actually hold 535 gallons instead of the customary 500 gallons. Larry Shapiro photo
The north side of the fire building (sector 2) runs along Northshore Avenue. This access made it easier for companies to through multiple ground ladders without having to navigate a courtyard or gangway between two buildings. Larry Shapiro photo
One of the CFD chaplains is Rabbi Moshe Wolf. Rabbi Wolf is known throughout the CFD for having pockets full of candy which he hands out at fire scenes. Here he is performing his signature service. Larry Shapiro photo
A small gallery of images that were taken after the 2-11 was struck out can be seen HERE.
Another extra alarm fire this week occurred on the border where Lake Zurich’s Fire Protection District meets with Barrington’s Fire Protection District. The house at 24506 W. Scott Road, with a Barrington mailing address, sustained major damage. If the house was on the other side of the street it would evidently have been in Barrington’s district.
Just after 11PM the resident reported a fire on the second floor of the house. First arriving companies reported fire showing and thick black smoke venting from the attic. The house is located right along the roadway which is a very long, narrow, dead end street. Second due companies were ordered to back in and lay a large diameter supply line out to Route 59 for tanker ops. After Engine 3214 setup, Barrington’s tanker backed in to supply additional water until the tanker shuttle could be initiated. Companies laid over 2,100 feet of 5-inch large diameter hose (LDH) from the house to Route 59 where Lake Zurich Engine 3211 setup to draft from a portable tank. Within minutes of arriving, a 2nd Alarm MABAS Box was requested. Until crews were available to move the LDH out of the road, firefighters had to walk almost a half mile to the scene. Once the road was open, additional rigs including Palatine’s quint, Deerfield’s squad, a Countryside ambulance for rehab, and one of the MESS Support rigs were able to advance to the scene. A short time later, a MABAS Polaris ATV assigned to MABAS Division 4, was brought to the scene to shuttle additional companies from staging to the scene.
Lake Zurich Engine 3214, a 1997 Pierce Saber, was the first engine to arrive at the fire. This company pulled a line and had 1,000 gallons of water to work with until the Barrington tanker could back up the street providing an additional 3,000 gallons. Larry Shapiro photo
Barrington Tanker 3668 is a 1981/1990 3D/US Tank, 3,000-gallon tanker on an IHC F3674 chassis. This was used to nurse Lake Zurich Engine 3214 until the tanker ops could be initiated from Route 59. Larry Shapiro photo
Lake Zurich Engine 3212 is one of four Pierce Saber pumpers in the fleet. After laying out all 750-feet of LDH, it is positioned out of the way to make room for tenders to fill the portable tanks. Larry Shapiro photo
Surrounded by mansions on this isolated block, this farmhouse sits right on the roadway. As fire vents out of the second floor, Grayslake firefighters bring a ground ladder around to the 'C' side of the structure. Larry Shapiro photo
Deerfield's squad moved up to the scene and filled air bottles. They were able to deploy thier Wil-Burt light tower to illuminate the street and an area setup for rehab. This shot shows just how narrow the road was with the LDH deployed. Larry Shapiro photo
Fox River Grove Engine 641 is a 2004, American LaFrance on an Eagle chassis. Positioned as one of the first arriving mutual aid companies, it was well poised to illuminate the tanker ops with a telescoping light tower. Larry Shapiro photo
One of the MABAS Polaris ATV units which is housed in Lake County was brought to the scene and was utilized to ferry companies from the staging area to the scene when they were needed. Here the Lake Forest company, which arrived on the 3rd alarm, is moving up to the scene to relieve another company. Larry Shapiro photo
Grayslake's new Seagrave engine sits in staging on Route 59. Larry Shapiro photo
A large gallery of images from this fire can be viewed HERE.
Winnetka is due to place their new Smeal quint in service next week. Yesterday, the current Truck 28, which is a 1990, Pierce Arrow, 75′ quint, responded to a box alarm in Glencoe. Though the aerial wasn’t put to work, this may very well have been the last working fire response for this unit. A small gallery of scene images can be seen HERE.
Truck 28 on-scene in Glencoe on 11-5-10 at a box alarm for a basement fire in a new home. This may be the last real fire for this 1990 workhorse which is scheduled for replacement in roughly a week. Larry Shapiro photo
Truck 28 was delivered with the Winnetka Fire Department decal design which was designed from their patch featuring the rising sun on the lake. Larry Shapiro photo
Winnetka Truck 28 is the first-due truck into neighboring Glencoe. Over the years, Glencoe has had a number of fires where Truck 28 went to work. It is seen here at an extra alarm in December of 2000. The door decal shows the current emblem which replaced the sun rising over the lake. Larry Shapiro collection
Winnetka provides fire and EMS services to Kenilworth in addition to Winnetka. Several years ago they added the Kenilworth name to each piece of apparatus. In this image, Truck 28 is setup in the driveway of a large house in Kenilworth at a fire around the time of halloween. If you look closely, you will see a skeleton hanging by the front door. Larry Shapiro collection
Three homes burned on the night of September 25th in 1996 on Edgewood Lane, which is on the border between Glencoe and Winnetka. One house was under construction at the time and was totally destroyed. Winnetka Truck 28 went to work here as part of this defensive attack with an elevated master stream. At the time of this fire, the old decal was still in use. Larry Shapiro collection
In 1990 when Truck 28 went into service, it replaced this 900 Series 100' mid-ship American LaFrance Ladder Chief. Prior to the creation of RED Center (Regional Emergency Dispatch) which was originally out of Niles' headquarters station, Winnetka's apparatus carried numbers in the 70s. This was Truck 70. Then with RED Center, all of the fire departments in MABAS Division 3 were renumbered consecutively in an attempt to create a more standardized cohesive system. Larry Shapiro collection
The sequence of photos depict three different types of graphics packages on the Winnetka trucks over the years. Originally, as seen on the 900 Series, American LaFrance Ladder Chief, the only name on the trucks was Winnetka and the unit number was in a decorative emblem of gold leaf. Later they took the patch design with the rising sun over the lake, which was followed by a new patch and decal incorporating a traditional shield shape. Within the seal they incorporated a design that was created for their centennial which features a maltese cross with a steamer. The new 2010 Spartan/Smeal unit will feature different graphics again. The work has not yet been completed, but is rumored to have a return to a more traditional way of featuring the rig number along with the decal.
When the new aerial goes into service, the 1990 Pierce will be moving on to another life with a fire department in southern Illinois.
In other Winnetka news…
…Engine 28, a 2000, Pierce, Saber, top-mount, is currently under going repairs and refurbishing. When it returns, it will have a black roof to match the new truck.
Just when we thought we had a large enough project to undertake … listing each department, each station and every piece of rolling stock in 19 MABAS Divisions … Karl Klotz begins submitting department profiles from a 20th Division, MABAS Division 7 in Kankakee County!
So, we welcome the departments of Division 7 and have posted three of them to get things started.
- The Grant Park Fire Protection District covers 62 square miles from two stations with 32 paid-on-call firefighters and officers. They have three E-ONE rigs, an engine from American LaFrance, plus ambulances from Horton and Road Rescue. They recently opened a new headquarters station which we mentioned HERE.
The Limestone Township Fire Protection District covers a mere 36 square miles from one station with 40 part-time firefighters and officers. They are running with Pierce, Quality, and Ferrara apparatus and Road Rescue ambulances. Their newest piece is a Ferrara Inferno pumper squad that was mentioned HERE.The Limestone Township Fire Protection District station houses two ambulances, two engines, a pumper squad, a tanker, a brush unit and a pickup. Karl Klotz photo
- In Momence, the fire department covers a whopping 92 square miles with a roster of 35 paid-on-call personnel from one station. They have three engines, a brush rig, two tankers, and a rescue squad. The apparatus was built by E-ONE, Pierce, and 4-Guys, plus one tanker that was built in 1964 by W.S.Darley and re-chassisied in 1989 on a Ford C8000 by Quality Manufacturing. Quality was purchased in 2003 by Spartan and now (with what was Luverne Fire Apparatus) have become what is known as Crimson.
Skokie updates
Oct 22
Skokie firefighter Jeff Rudolph has submitted several update photos of Skokie apparatus.
- Station 16: Engine 16, Engine 16R
- Station 17: Ambulance 17, Ambulance 17R, Rescue 17 and the 1948 American LaFrance 700 series antique pumper
North Maine FPD Engine 1
Oct 1
North Maine District Chief Mike Fox has updated us again on the progression of Engine 1R into Engine 1. The 1992 Pierce Arrow reserve engine has been undergoing rehab and upgrades at Alexis Fire Equipment for several months. As mentioned in a previous post, when it is completed, it will move up as the front line engine replacing the 2003 American LaFrance Eagle. General body work, the addition of high sides on the officer’s side, air conditioning, and an extended chrome bumper with front intake represent several areas being worked on in addition to the changeover from a white cab roof to black. Previous posts can be seen HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE (or simply enter North Maine into the search field at the right)
The unit recently came out of the paint shop and the folks at Alexis took some photos which are shown below.
Driver's side view of Engine 1 with the new color scheme. Alexis photo
Rear view of the driver's side after coming out of the paint shop. Alexis photo
Officer's side of Engine 1 showing the completed high side compartments, Alexis photo
Pumping into the antique water tower. Larry Shapiro photo
The water tower getting supplied to flow all three guns. Larry Shapiro photo
Feeding the water tower from this beautifully restored American LaFrance Century engine. Larry Shapiro photo
Nothing beats getting wet on a hot day! Larry Shapiro photo
Classic Pirsch pumper formally from Kenosha, WI. Larry Shapiro photo
Another shot of the Pirsch, this time feeding the water tower. Larry Shapiro photo
A Pirsch Quad from Chicago Ridge. Larry Shapiro photo
The water tower with the skyline. Larry Shapiro photo
The highlight for many was the appearance of this FDNY Seagrave engine that was 'in-cognito' while traveling to NYC for delivery. Larry Shapiro photo
Beautifully restored Dodge Monaco for Battalion 7. Larry Shapiro photo
A view of the water tower from inside the drill yard. Larry Shapiro photo
The water tower going full force down Taylor Street. Larry Shapiro photo
Another view looking east on Taylor. Larry Shapiro photo
The only way to enjoy the very hot day was to get wet. Larry Shapiro photo
When the wind shifted, it wasn't just the young ones that got wet, everyone ran for cover. Larry Shapiro photo
At the day's end, the apparatus was positioned for photos. Larry Shapiro photo
Several buffs waited for the opportunity to photograph the apparatus that was on display. Larry Shapiro photo
This beautiful American LaFrance Century pumper was a favorite for many of the visitors. Larry Shapiro
