The Chicago Tribune has an article about the Deerfield-Bannockburn FPD celebrating their centennial:
One hundred years ago, volunteer firefighters in Deerfield had two ways of hauling their “fire cart” to a blaze. They could attach the two-wheeled cart to a horse-drawn buggy — or to a car, if available.
The cart carried a single coil of hose, which unrolled and attached to an onboard water tank, to be replenished at the scene by bucket brigades.
Ambulances from converted hearses would come later. And much later came mobile intensive-care units, literally rolling emergency rooms, linked to hospital ER staffs and central dispatchers, performing EKGs, defibrillation and other life-saving procedures to stricken patients while en route.
May is the centennial month of the formation of the Deerfield volunteer department, which in 1942 became the Deerfield-Bannockburn Fire Protection District, now with 42 sworn firefighter/paramedics in stations at 500 Waukegan Road in Deerfield and on Illinois Route 22 in Bannockburn.
The two-wheeled cart from the last century has been replaced by a fleet of modern rolling stock, including three pumpers, one aerial ladder truck, two squad trucks, three paramedic ambulances, one command vehicle and five administrative/support vehicles.
The largest vehicle, a 2005 truck, is nearly 13 feet high, 8 feet wide and about 41 feet long. The truck, which can run with as few as two firefighters, cost more than $500,000, with $425,000 coming from a FEMA grant. The replacement cost today would be $1 million.
“Just like all fire departments up here, we are an all-hazards response department,” Fire Chief Ian Kazian said. “So we are cross-staffed with ambulances, paramedics and firefighters. We respond to all calls, so from an operational standpoint, EMS, fire, special rescue, high-angle trench rescue and hazardous materials are daily challenges everybody faces.”
In 2012, medical rescue calls were 56 percent of the total, with fires 3 percent. False alarms accounted for 25 percent of calls.
The entire article is HERE.
