Photos from Max Weingardt of the Box Alarm fire at 5 N. Skokie Valley Road in Lake Bluff this morning (2/24/19).
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Max Weingardt photo
Posts Tagged Lake Bluff Fire Department
The following departments have been added to the new site.
- Lake Forest
- Knollwood
- Lake Bluff
- Newport Township
- Long Grove
- Lincolnshire-Riverwoods
- Winthrop Harbor
There have been some updates of newer or current apparatus, but most likely they are not completely accurate. Any assistance would be appreciated with regards to missing photos and fact checking department specs etc.
Excerpts from the DailyNorthShore.com:
When Jerry Kluchka was honored during a Lake Bluff Village Board of Trustees meeting on Dec. 14 for 30 years of service to the Lake Bluff Fire Department, his three firefighter sons were there to share the honor with him.
Tim Kluchka, 30, is a member of the North Chicago Fire Department; Matt Kluchka, 25, works for the Lake Forest Fire Department; and Russell Kluchka, 23, fights fires in Highwood.
Lake Bluff’s department consists entirely of volunteers, and all four Kluchkas serve in their hometown. They said when a call goes out to multiple towns, they head to the blaze but not always from the same place.
“It’s definitely interesting,” Russell Kluchka said. “One time there was a fire in Lake Forest, I got there from Highwood and we all saw each other. People give us a hard time. They say ‘it’s you again.”
Jerry Kluchka, who has lived in Lake Bluff since elementary school, joined the department just before Tim was born.
“I had friends whose fathers were firemen,” Kluchka said. “We got to go inside the fire station when I was a little guy. In Lake Bluff they blew the siren to call the volunteers. We lived nearby and ran down to the station to see the fire trucks leave.”
Using his mechanical skills, Jerry started volunteering. He said he worked on the equipment and it was not long before he was a firefighter. As his family started to grow, the next generation of Kluchka men hung around the firehouse like their father did as a youth.
All four are paramedics. Tim, Matt and Russell said they all took EMT courses while in high school and were volunteering in their teens.
“There were times I ditched school to go on an ambulance call,” Tim Kluchka said. “I’d come in for the last periods (of the day) and got some looks.”
“My wife got some calls about that,” Jerry Kluchka added.
Though the younger generation of Kluchkas are full-time firemen, Jerry Kluchka is a volunteer.
thanks Dan
From the Highland Park Fire Dept.:
As part of our dispatch consolidation, the Lake Forest Fire Department in conjunction with the Lake Bluff Fire Department, Highland Park Fire Department, and Glenview Public Safety Dispatching Agency will be moving all radio traffic to the East Shore Fire Network effective Tuesday, January 27, 2015. The system is composed of 3 repeater sites and multiple receiver sites which communicate through T1 lines and microwave signals.
The Lake Bluff water tower site is scheduled to go online in early April but comprehensive testing has shown that the Lake Forest Water Tower site covers the Lake Bluff response area with no problem.
o Lake Forest Primary (Lake Forest water tower)
- 154.8825 MHz, PL 7A (192.8 Hz) Receive
- 155.910 MHz, PL 7A (192.8 Hz) Transmit
o Lake Bluff Primary (Lake Bluff water tower)
- 151.2125 MHz, PL 7A (192.8Hz) Receive- Pending FCC Approval
- 155.910 MHz, PL 7A (192.8Hz) Transmit
o Talk Around or Direct in case of voting system failure
- 154.8825 MHz PL 7A (192.8Hz) Transmit and Receive.
o Highland Park Fire south channel
- 154.160 MHz Receive, PL7A (192.8Hz) Receive
- 155.910 MHz Transmit, PL7A (192.8Hz) Transmit
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin announced today (July 2, 2014) that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has awarded $231,210 in grants to fire departments in the Chicagoland area. Today’s funding will support and improve the capability of each department to respond to fires and other types of emergencies.
Under this announcement, the following fire departments will receive funding for operations and safety:
- Streamwood Fire Department, (Streamwood, Illinois): $211,410 in funding;
- Park Forest Fire Department (Park Forest, Illinois): $19,800 in funding.
Lake Bluff Fire Department (Lake Bluff, Illinois): $42,513 in funding
The funding is provided through the DHS’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant (AFG) Program which seeks to strengthen the Nation’s overall level of preparedness and ability to respond to fire and fire related hazards.
Lake Forest firefighters responded to a reported basement fire Tuesday afternoon at 180 W. Laurel Avenue. The first arriving unit reported nothing showing from the outside, but found smoke upon entering the large house. Within roughly 9 minutes, the alarm was upgraded to a working still alarm, a MABAS Box Alarm, and then a 2nd Alarm as smoke began escaping from the eaves.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
There was a hydrant at the end of the long, curvy driveway. The first-due Lake Forest engine and the Knollwood quint both made the driveway … with some difficulty. Fire was located in the void space beneath the first floor and then in some walls on the second floor.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
The alarm was upgraded to a 3rd Alarm for additional companies to standby in the event that the fire got away from the companies working inside. The fire was contained before long without doing extensive damage to the structure of the house. Temperatures were hovering just above 0 with a negative windchill.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro and Tim Olk took it in.
Lake Bluff squad. Larry Shapiro photo
Apparatus lined the narrow street. Larry Shapiro photo
Companies at the scene were:
- Lake Forest with two engines, an ambulance, a tower ladder, and chief officers
- Knollwood with a quint
- Highwood with a quint
- Mundelein with an engine
- Lake Bluff with an engine
- Libertyville with an engine
- Beach Park with an engine
- Highland Park with an engine
- Grayslake with an engine
- Lake Villa with an engine
- Wauconda with an engine
- Round Lake with an engine
- Countryside with a truck and a chief
- Gurnee with a truck
- Great Lakes with a truck
- Fox Lake with a squad
- Lincolnshire with an ambulance, squad and chief
- Northbrook with an ambulance
- Long Grove with an ambulance
- Barrington Countryside with an ambulance
- Quad 2 Mobile Command Post
- Deerfield chief
Beach Park Engine 1222. Larry Shapiro photo
Round Lake Engine 262. Larry Shapiro photo
Great Lakes Truck 1931. Larry Shapiro photo
The complete set of Larry’s images will be posted soon to his site.
Third posting about the 2nd Alarm Fire on Memorial Day at the Jamaican Gardens (north) in Libertyville. Here are images from larry Shapiro and a video.
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
Larry Shapiro photo
A gallery with more of Larry’s images is HERE.
The second article with images from Tim Olk is HERE.
The Libertyville Fire Department responded to a reported fire at the Jamaican Gardens North located at 14595 W. Rockland Road (Route 176). First companies found heavy smoke obscuring visibility on Route 176 and had a significant fire burning on the east end of the property near what was the retail store entrance. An attack was initiated and the fire was upgraded to a MABAS Box Alarm.
The business had closed to the public several years ago and was reportedly vacant. Libertyville Tower 461 and Engine 463 were deployed on the eastern side of the property. The fast moving fire quickly spread to additional buildings on the west side, where access was limited. Lake Forest Tower Ladder 421 was positioned on the northern driveway and Countryside Engine 412 was at the northwest corner. As the fire grew in intensity, the alarm was upgraded to a 2nd Alarm bringing additional units to the scene.
A special request was made for the Division 1 MVU out of Wheeling, but the unit was not deployed and subsequently released before the box was struck out.
The two tower ladders deployed master streams in addition to multiple hand lines and two multi-versals. Along with Libertyville Engine 463 and the Countryside engine, Lake Bluff Engine 517 and Knollwood Engine 44 were also pumping. The fire was struck out after roughly three hours.
Other fire departments with companies at the scene were Mundelein, North Chicago, and Lake Zurich with ambulances, Lincolnshire-Riverwoods and Gurnee with rescue squads, Highland Park with a truck, plus Waukegan, Deerfield, and Newport Township with engines. Chief officers came from Countryside, Grayslake, Gurnee, Lake Bluff, and Lake Forest.
Tim Olk, Jeff Rudolph, and Larry Shapiro were at the scene.
This is the first in a three part series covering this fire.
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
Jeff Rudolph photo
The Chicago Tribune has an article about a study to investigate a consolidation of fire and EMS services of the Highwood, Highland Park, Lake Forest, and Lake Bluff fire departments.
Lake Forest, Highland Park, Lake Bluff and Highwood are expected to form a task force in early 2013 to study ways to save money through collaboration — including the consolidation of fire protection and emergency medical services for their 60,000 residents.
Going with the national trend of consolidation could save the four communities between $1 million and $1.8 million annually, according to a study by the International City/County Management Association.
Lake Forest dispatches its own fire/EMS and police, and on contract dispatches Lake Bluff’s 100-year old volunteer fire department, as well as providing ambulance service to Lake Bluff.
Highwood contracts with Lake Forest for police dispatch and goes through Regional Emergency Dispatch (RED) in Northbrook for fire/EMS. Highland Park, with nearly 2,000 fire/EMS calls annually, dispatches all of its public safety calls.
Another option would be to contract with an existing universal dispatch center, such as Northbrook’s Regional Emergency Dispatch, and a third option would be housing dispatch for fire, EMS and police under one roof, Irvin said.
Leonard Matarese, director of research and project development at the ICMA Center for Public Safety Management, analyzed the four jurisdictions’ fire and EMS needs.
“The longtime premise nationally has been to have same level staffing, 24/7, for fire and EMS, but the realization over the last five years (globally) is that workloads and service demands have peaks and valleys,” he said. “Analyzing services workloads and calls convinced fire prevention officials in England over a decade ago to allocate staff based on time of day and days of the week. Typically, fires and EMS calls occur during the day and slow down by 9 or 10 at night.”
The ICMA study suggests there are three alternatives related to firefighting and emergency medical services:
“Functional consolidation,” which involves cooperation across jurisdictions for a common service, but the four departments remain separate entities.
“Operational consolidation” maintains a legal separation, but the four departments join operations and administration to function as a single agency.
“Full consolidation” merges four fire departments into a single entity, in which jurisdictional boundaries “become invisible” and all service demands become single functions of the department.
The ICMA projects the functional and operational alternatives could save members between $950,000 and $1.5 million annually; with full consolidation savings between $1.4 million and $1.95 million.
“It’s typically political, financial, labor contracts and retirement systems that are major issues,” said Matarese. “But these four cities are already at a certain level of sharing, cooperation and functional consolidation. Also, they do some joint purchasing and standardizing of equipment.”
The entire article can be viewed HERE.
This from Chuck Mankin:
Full still for the fire in the basement at 427 Pine Ct in Lake Bluff. Dispatched at approx 1700, units arrived with smoke showing. 1 subject transported for minor burns. Not sure on all the companies, I saw Lake Bluff, Knollwood, Libertyville, Great Lakes, Lake Forest, Mundelin and Countryside.
Chuck Mankin photo
Chuck Mankin photo
Chuck Mankin photo
Chuck Mankin photo
Chuck Mankin photo
Chuck has more photos HERE.
