The TribLocal is reporting that Tinley Park may add live-ins

The idea of staffing a fire station full-time may have been unthinkable when Tinley Park’s 13-member volunteer fire department took shape in 1901.

But 11 decades and 120 firefighters later, round-the-clock staffing is already a reality at the four fire stations, with live-in arrangements already in place at Station 1, located at 17355 S. 68th Court, and Station 4, at 7801 W. 191st St., south of Interstate Highway 80.

Now village officials are preparing to upgrade Station 2, at 7825 W. 167th St., and Station 3, at 9191 W. 175th St., for live-in staffing in 2013 or 2014.

The project, tentatively estimated at $1 million, calls for improving exercise areas, expanding living and kitchen areas, establishing separate sleeping-washroom-shower areas for men and women, and developing adequate office space at both stations.

Trustee Brian Maher, who chairs the Village Board’s Public Safety Committee, said the improvements, patterned after Station 4, would accommodate the 24-hour staffing schedule, with four firefighters per shift.

Maher said stations 2 and 3 would meet “minimal standards” for residential staffing once “bare-bones upgrades” are completed. “It’s hardly an ideal situation, but we want to get them (the two stations) in shape sooner, rather than later,” he said.

The entire article is HERE.

Former Tinley Park Truck 276, a 1976 Seagrave 100′ rear mount aerial ladder. Bill Friedich photo

Another TribLocal article looks into the possible future for Tinley Park’s retired Seagrave aerial with a fire department in Indiana.

A Village Board committee is recommending that Tinley Park donate the Fire Department’s outdated ladder truck to a small rural Indiana community near Turkey Run State Park.

There’s just one hitch: The volunteer firefighting force in Marshall, Ind., would have to find a way to pay the insurance on the vehicle, which allows access to multistory buildings and structures set back from paved areas.

The three-trustee Public Safety Committee unanimously endorsed last week donating Truck No. 276 after Assistant Fire Chief Steve Klotz said the 37-year-old vehicle “doesn’t have any use to us anymore.”

Klotz, chief of fire department operations, said the Marshall Volunteer Fire Department, whose equipment is limited to an engine, tanker, brush truck and crew cab, “is interested if they can come up with the insurance money.”

Committee member Tom Staunton supported the donation.

“If it benefits them, I think it’s a great thing,” he said.

Committee Chairman Brian Maher said the village has an informal policy of helping less fortunate communities.

Maher characterized the community of 324 about 75 miles southeast of Champaign as “a really rural small town that just doesn’t have any money” for firefighting equipment.

“When we have old equipment that has little value, we always consider if it’s something we can do to help somebody else in the region,” he said.

In 2002, Tinley Park donated several squad cars to the city of Iron Mountain in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which had no money budgeted for vehicles. Each car had more than 100,000 miles on the road, substantially limiting potential resale value.

Maher said village officials took the ladder truck, purchased in 1975, and a pumper truck, purchased in 1994, out of service after learning the state insurance office might deduct points from Tinley Park’s fire-safety rating because the vehicles failed to meet current standards.

They were replaced in May by a new 100-foot ladder truck.

Maher said Chicago Heights purchased the pumper, which had some mechanical problems, for $50,000 this year.

“It’s a step up from what they already have and will complement their fleet,” he said.

Village Manager Scott Niehaus said “scrapping” was the main option for the ladder truck, but if Marshall’s fire department can use it, “the value is much more than $8,000” — the estimated salvage value.

Assuming the Village Board approves the donation, Niehaus said Tinley Park would charge a “nominal” fee of $1 to $10 and obtain standard legal protection against any problems.

Maher credited Fire Chief Ken Dunn with finding the volunteer fire department.

“The fire service is an interesting fraternity of people,” Maher said. “They tend to help each other out. Hopefully, (Marshall) can find the money they need to insure the truck.”

Klotz said the village wouldn’t deliver the vehicle, which has a top speed of 45 to 50 mph.

It would be up to the volunteer firefighters “to come get it,” Klotz said, “maybe on a trailer.”

This article can be found HERE.

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