Posts Tagged Mount Prospect FIre Deoartment

Mount Prospect Fire Department news

Dec 7

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Jadale Mitchell has a standing invitation from Mount Prospect firefighters to stop by the station. Firefighters even offered the irresistible enticement of station house cooking to encourage the 13-year-old to drop by.
Jadale, an eighth-grader at Holmes Junior High, first met the firefighters under very different circumstances in September. That’s when the teen who lives with a genetic mutation in his heart suffered cardiac arrest shortly after arriving home from school, and his friends and ~~first responders~~ firefighters teamed to save his life.
“I was playing with my friends, and my heart stopped,” Jadale said, recalling the Sept. 26 episode as he and firefighters reunited Tuesday night at Mount Prospect village hall.
A friend called 911 and performed CPR until ~~first responders~~ firefighters arrived. It took seven minutes to revive him.
He was airlifted to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, where he underwent surgery involving cutting a nerve to reduce the flow of adrenaline. He spent the next three weeks in the hospital recovering, some of it in an induced coma.
Now showing no signs of impairment, Jadale appeared before the village board Tuesday to thank the ~~first responders~~ firefighters who helped save him and watch as five were honored for their actions.
Lt. Mike Ghawaly and firefighter/paramedics Scott Slaasted, Phil Ellenbecker, Craig Rodewald, and Jon Schram received the Zoll Clinical Save Award for their efforts.

Tags: FF/PM Jon Schram, FF/PM Phil Ellenbecker, FF/PM Scott Slaasted, Firefighters receive award for cardiac save, Lt. Mike Ghawaly, Mount Prospect FIre Deoartment

New fire chief in Mount Prospect

Oct 2

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from the Journal-Topics.com:

Mount Prospect Deputy Fire Chief Brian Lambel will become the village’s next fire chief on an interim basis, effective Thursday, Oct. 1, after Fire Chief John Malcolm retires Oct. 9. Lambel, 46, who has been with the department for almost 16 years, was promoted to deputy chief at the beginning of June.

Malcolm is taking the chief’s job in Northwest suburban Lake Zurich.

According to Acting Village Manager David Strahl, Mount Prospect will evaluate Lambel’s performance as interim chief before deciding whether or not to make him the department’s day-to-day leader on a permanent basis.

With Lambel’s promotion, Lt. John Dolan will be promoted to deputy chief, which Strahl said could also be on an interim basis. Dolan, 53, has been with the department for 19 years. He will begin his duties as deputy the week of Oct. 5.

Lambel said he and Malcolm have begun working together to allow for a smooth transition.

According to Lambel, it will be a busy final three months of 2015 for himself and the department. The department is in the midst of hiring six firefighters as part of the Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response (SAFER) grant that will allow Engine 13 at the downtown station to be put back into service. The department is also going through a lieutenant promotional process.

Lambel said he and Dolan recently met and came up with new objectives or a new strategic plan for the fire department. “One of the big things we will emphasize is training and education as well as empowerment of all employees to give them more responsibilities and increase accountability,” Lambel said.

Another big thing, according to Lambel, is the department is evaluating its community risk reduction program. The program determines what the needs of the community are and how the department can provide support to reduce injuries and harm to residents and business owners.

Other objectives Lambel said the department will pursue include reevaluating operations, making sure there is a proper succession plan in place and preparing for the future in terms of short- and long-term goals to accommodate an ever-changing fire service.

A retirement party will be held for Malcolm on Oct. 9 at Fire Station 13 on Northwest Highway. A resolution is expected to be read in honor of Malcolm for his years of service at the Tuesday, Oct. 6 village board meeting.

Tags: Fire Chief John Malcolm, Lt. John Dolan, Mount Prospect Deputy Fire Chief Brian Lambel, Mount Prospect FIre Deoartment, new chief for Mount Prospect FD, Staffing for Adequate Fire & Emergency Response

Mount Prospect receives SAFER grant

Aug 21

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 1 Comment

Excerpts from the DailyHerald.com:

Now that Mount Prospect Fire Chief John Malcolm has accepted a $1.3 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security to restore staffing reduced in 2010 following the recession, he is moving ahead with hiring.

The grant will pay the salaries and benefits for six firefighters, and put the engine at Station 13 back into service. If the hires are veterans, the grant could extend an additional year for each one. Two are veterans, Malcolm said.

Reflecting on the cuts made in the wake of the recession, Trustee Paul Hoefert acknowledged they had to make hard decisions.

“To a person at that time, on the sitting board, it was said that when we could those would be the first staff positions that we would want to get back in place,” he said. And this SAFER (Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response) grant is helping us to do that.”

thanks Dan

Tags: Department of Homeland Security's Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program, Federal Emergency Management Agency, Fire Chief John Malcolm, Mount Prospect FD receives federal grant, Mount Prospect FIre Deoartment, Mount Prospect FIre Department, Mount Prospect receives SAFER grant, U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program

Mount Prospect looks at firefighter staffing

Nov 15

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | 15 Comments

The Daily Herald has an article about staffing considerations for the Mount Prospect Fire Department:

In 2006, Mount Prospect added an engine to its downtown fire station. But then the recession hit, and in 2011 the village slashed personnel by 10 percent across the board, losing six firefighters.

Fire Chief John Malcolm tried using a “jump” company downtown, switching firefighters between Engine 13 and Tower 13, the station’s ladder truck. That policy ended following a 2011 middle-of-the-night extra-alarm fire at the Colonial Greens complex, when firefighters were forced to rush back to the station to retrieve the ladder truck, which was sitting at the station unstaffed. From that point on, Malcolm decided to retire Engine 13 and run Tower 13 on all calls, including ambulance calls and car fires.

Now, as the village board works out its 2015 budget, trustees are once again talking about the eventual restoration of those six positions. The head of the village’s firefighters union addressed the board this week, calling for trustees to restore the six positions and get Engine 13 back into the rotation.

Later in the meeting, Trustee Paul Hoefert asked Deputy Fire Chief Henry Dawson if the department’s response time is still within safe parameters. Dawson said it is, saying he thinks the average response time is 4 minutes and 17 seconds. Hoefert emphasized, “The fact is, the way we’re manned today, we’re safe. The citizens are safe.”

During his department’s budget presentation, Dawson said the department is asking for $13.1 million, up 1.56 percent. He also provided information on use of Tower 13. Dawson said Tower 13 tripled its responses with the elimination of Engine 13 and is the department’s busiest vehicle, with 1,947 responses in 2014. “In fact in a national survey, out of 202 fire departments reporting, Tower 13 is the 63rd busiest tower ladder in the country,” he said.

He brought up what he called an ironic statistic, pointing out that half the time the department receives a call for service, it gets another call almost simultaneously.

“That adds to the need to keep the tower on the street,” he said.

Board members expressed a willingness to examine the issue.

Chief Malcolm said that the department has by far the lowest staffing of surrounding departments of comparable size. “We’re obviously more efficient having that engine downtown,” he said. “Every day, because we only have two engines in town, when one goes out of town for mutual aid … that means I only have one engine left in this town.”

Thanks Dan

Tags: Deputy Fire Chief Henry Dawson, Mount Prospect Fire Chief John Malcolm, Mount Prospect FIre Deoartment

Mount Prospect/Des Plaines train accident 5-13-11

May 13

Posted by bgshap in Apparatus on-scene, Fire, Fire Department News, Fire Service News, Reader submission | Comments off

Mount Prospect Des Plaines Metra train accident 5-13-11

The lead car of the commuter train jumped the tracks and listed heavily. Tim Olk photo

Mount Prospect and Des Plaines Fire Departments were notified of a Metra Train colliding with a dump truck this morning at the Mt. Prospect Road crossing at Northwest Highway. The collision occurred in Mt. Prospect and the ensuing partial derailment and fire was 1/4 mile further down the line in Des Plaines. Both departments setup a unified command to coordinate the emergency response to the incident. The truck driver was killed at the scene and multiple train passengers were transported to area hospitals with varying degrees of injuries though none were critical. An EMS Box Alarm was requested and as the number of passengers with medical complaints grew, the alarm was upgraded to a 3rd Alarm and then to a 5th Alarm. In addition, a PACE bus was called to the scene to assist with transporting a group of patients that were triaged with a status of ‘green‘. Ambulances from Divisions 1, 3, and 20 responded to assist at the scene.

Fuel which splashed along the exterior of the train ignited along the first two cars. Tim Olk photo

The Chicago Tribune has an article HERE which states;

All the train cars remained upright but at least 29 passengers were taken to hospitals and 10 others were treated on the scene. Officials said none of the injuries aboard the train appeared life-threatening, though the engineer was listed in critical condition.

The train, No. 636, was headed inbound from Harvard when it hit the truck on the crossing at about 8:40 a.m. at Seger near the Cumberland station in Mount Prospect, said Michael Gillis, a spokesman for Metra.

The truck driver was identified as Kazimierz Karasek, 59, from Prospect Heights. Karasek, had been cited for more than 50 traffic violations, including a DUI, since 1986.

The truck was carrying load of concrete and was headed northwest on Northwest Highway, police said. It turned left onto Mount Prospect Road and through the crossing, Wagner said, adding that the gates were down and the signals were working.

The front train car came to rest roughly 200 yards east of Mount Prospect road, a gash slicing the metal above the lower row of windows.

Union Pacific spokesman Wes Lujan said the gates at the crossing were “operating as designed.”

“We believe that he drove around the gates,” Lujan said at a news conference.

He said crossing design is an “issue” because of Northwest Highway’s diagonal slant, but he added, “There’s no reason to go around (the gates).”

A similar accident involving the same kind of truck happened almost 10 years ago at the Mount Prospect Road and Northwest Highway intersection, according to Des Plaines fire officials.

In today’s accident, Wagner said the driver would have disregarded a “No Left Turn” sign, in addition to the gates and crossing lights. The driver had to cross into the northbound lanes of Mount Prospect Road to get around the northern gate, he said. That left the cab squarely on the tracks as the train blew through the intersection, and the trailer and cab bent like a jacknife, with the trailer hitting the train cars.

Tim Olk and Larry Shapiro were at the scene and submitted several images.

Looking southeast from Mt. Prospect Road shows the derailment of the first car. Tim Olk photo

Another perspective looking northwest along the tracks shows the entire train as it came to rest after the collision. Tim Olk photo

A view from the relative point of impact shows the devastation to the dump truck and the scattering of the concrete load it was carrying. Tim Olk photo

An overview of the intersection of Northwest Highway and Mt Prospect Road shows the accident scene. Larry Shapiro photo

The truck's cab was sheared off and thrown roughly 50 feet from the rest of the truck. Larry Shapiro photo

A view of the destroyed truck as scene from the north side of the accident scene. Larry Shapiro photo

The train came to rest 1/4 of a mile further down the tracks. Larry Shapiro photo

Paramedics attend to train passengers assembled on the opposite side of Northwest Highway. Larry Shapiro photo

Damage to the lead car from striking the truck. Larry Shapiro photo

Windows are damaged by the fire but protected the passengers inside. Larry Shapiro photo

Damage to the second car from fuel which ignited outside the train. One of the truck's fuel tanks was lodged beneath the first car of the train. Larry Shapiro photo