Karl Klotz visited the University Park Fire Department this week to photograph their new tower ladder.
University Park Tower Ladder 85 is a 2011 E-ONE Cyclone II. Karl Klotz photo
The new University Park tower ladder was on display this year at the FDIC in Indianapolis. Larry Shapiro photo
Nov 3
Fire departments in Lake County, MABAS Division 4, continue to be added to the site. The Gurnee Fire Department is now the latest to be posted. They have two stations covering 33 square miles which includes the Six Flags Great America amusement park and Gurnee Mills, an enormous outlet mall. The Gurnee suppression fleet is made up entirely of E-ONE apparatus and currently all four of their ambulances are Type I models from Road Rescue on IHC 4700 or IHC 4300 series’ chassis. A new Type I ambulance is presently on order from Wheeled Coach.
Gurnee also houses some specialty MABAS assets. They store an interesting 1991 Mack/Volvo roll-off chassis which is used to transport metal storage containers which contain equipment and supplies for MABAS Divisions 4&5. One container is for the Technical Rescue Team (TRT) with tools and lumber and the other is for the Wildland Task Force which carries, among other things, an ATV.
Gurnee Fire Department headquarters Station 1 on Old Grand Avenue. Larry Shapiro photo
An interesting note about the E-ONE apparatus is the wide range of chassis and cab styles that are represented.
This engine features the newest version of the Cyclone II which is a tilt-cab.
This 1995 engine uses the early Cyclone chassis with a fixed cab.
Gurnee also has two engines with a Cyclone tilt-cab with a previous grille design. The tower ladder is built on a Hurricane chassis which has a fixed cab.
In 1998 when Gurnee received their new E-ONE tower ladder, they arranged to have the unit photographed with one of the main town attractions. At that time, Gurnee Mills was billed as the largest outlet mall in the country. Planet Hollywood was one of the anchor restaurants at the mall. Larry Shapiro collection
Gurnee Squad 1352 was ordered with a four-door Sentry cab and a vista roof. The Sentry is distinguishable by the straight, non-contoured door line of the driver's door. The vista roof was a raised roof that E-ONE offered without full height rear doors. This photo was taken inside Six Flags Great America when the squad was delivered. The graphics are no longer representative of how the squad looks today. Larry Shapiro collection
For the finest department portraits and composites contact Tim Olk or Larry Shapiro.
