Posts Tagged North Riverside Fire Department

North Riverside Fire Department news

Jul 14

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

After a little more than seven months on the job, North Riverside’s fire chief and deputy fire chief are out after the Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr. informed them of a change in direction during a brief meeting in the mayor’s office at the village commons on July 13.

According to Hermanek, Chief Tom Gaertner and Deputy Chief Patrick Schey resigned, but Gaertner told the Landmark he was fired and that he hadn’t submitted a letter of resignation. Neither man was offered a severance package; neither had an employment contract with the village.

“I’m shocked and I’m upset about it,” said Gaertner in a telephone interview with the Landmark. “There was no reason for it, because we weren’t doing anything wrong.” Gaertner said he believed the cordial relationship he and Shey had with union firefighters was frowned upon by Hermanek.

Gaertner said Hermanek would not specify the reasons behind the change, and that the meeting in the mayor’s office lasted about 10 minutes. “It’s all political,” said Gaertner. “I didn’t fit their political agenda. I think politicians need to put their personal agendas aside and do what’s best for the people in this town.”

Asked by the Landmark about the move, Hermanek said he could not publicly talk about his reasons for making the change. While saying the two men resigned, Hermanek admitted that he’d been conducting a secret search for a new fire chief for the past month. While Hermanek wouldn’t state any specific reasons for the departures of Gaertner and Schey, there are clear indications that the administration didn’t like the rapport the two chiefs had built with rank-and-file union firefighters.

Shortly after informing Gaertner and Schey of the change, Scott Bowman was hired as the fire department’s interim chief. Bowman most recently served as assistant fire chief for the Oak Lawn Fire Department. Hermanek called Bowman eminently qualified, more than any chief in our village’s history. “I’m satisfied [Bowman] will do things that are in the best interest of the village,” said Hermanek.

Bowman, who will officially be sworn in at the village board’s August meeting, moved into his office at the North Riverside fire station shortly after Gaertner and Schey collected their belongings and left. Bowman reportedly met with on-duty firefighters after arriving at the fire station to inform them of the situation.

Deputy Police Chief Christian Ehrenberg and Commander Dion Bobo accompanied Gaertner and Schey as they packed boxes in their offices. Police then drove the two men home from North Riverside.

Firefighter Chris Kribales, president of North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714, called Gaertner one of the best chiefs in the department’s history. Union firefighters have been working without a contract since May 1, 2014. Both sides are scheduled to appear before a labor arbitrator on July 24 and July 31. Kribales said the chiefs’ ability to work with union firefighters could only have hurt them in the eyes of the village’s administration. “I believe the fact that these two worked with labor to move forward hindered them immensely,” Kribales said.

Asked if such an assessment of the situation was accurate, Hermanek responded, “That’s probably true. The chief and deputy chief work for the administration.”

For the past four years, the administration and the fire union have been engaged in a bitter battle over staffing, including a failed attempt by the village through the courts to privatize the fire department.

In the face of attempts to break the union, firefighters responded by publicly supporting rival candidates for mayor and trustee, including Village Trustee H. Bob Demopoulos, who has long championed union firefighters’ causes. During his 2015 run for mayor, Demopoulos dubbed his political committee “Save Our Firefighters.”

thanks Dan

Tags: Deputy Chief Patrick Schey, North Riverside deputy fire chief fired, North Riverside fire chief fired, North Riverside Fire Chief Tom Gaertner, North Riverside Fire Department

Box Alarm fire in North Riverside, 4-28-18

Apr 29

Posted by Admin in Fire Scene photos | Comments off

This from Jeff Braun, Jr.

Here are some photos of the Box Alarm fire in North Riverside (4/28/18). Initial calls came in for a fire alarm at the Big Corner Tavern (8405 Cermak Rd.) Engine 808 arrived on scene and reported a 2-story, mixed occupancy with heavy smoke and fire from the second floor. They immediately requested the box alarm assignment. Truck 904 set their aerial up to the roof in the alpha sector, while Berwyn Chief 900 assumed command of the scene. Forest Park Engine 401 was setup in the rear of the building and Broadview Engine 7 tapped the hydrant on the corner of 2nd and Cermak. Crews from North Riverside, Berwyn, Broadview, Forest Park, Lyons, Riverside, Oak Park, LaGrange Park, Stickney, and Cicero were on scene, and River Forest was due on the COQ. Companies were in the process of overhaul on my arrival. -Jeff Braun Jr. (COUNTY-WIDE FIRE PHOTOGRAPHY)

Jeff Braun Jr. COUNTY-WIDE FIRE PHOTOGRAPHY

Jeff Braun Jr. COUNTY-WIDE FIRE PHOTOGRAPHY

Firefighters on building roof with aerial ladder

Jeff Braun Jr. COUNTY-WIDE FIRE PHOTOGRAPHY

Jeff Braun Jr. COUNTY-WIDE FIRE PHOTOGRAPHY

Jeff Braun Jr. COUNTY-WIDE FIRE PHOTOGRAPHY

Jeff Braun Jr. COUNTY-WIDE FIRE PHOTOGRAPHY

Jeff Braun Jr. COUNTY-WIDE FIRE PHOTOGRAPHY

Tags: Berwyn FD Truck 904, Broadview FD Engine 7, Cicero FD Truck 2, County-Wide Fire Photography, fire scene photos, Jeff Braun Jr., North Riverside Fire Department, Oak Park FD Engine 603

North Riverside Fire Department news

Oct 7

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from the rblandmark.com

North Riverside Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr. said the village will drop its pursuit of privatizing firefighting services through the courts after the Illinois Court of Appeals on Sept. 29 upheld a ruling by the Illinois Labor Relations Board that the village engaged in an unfair labor practice by seeking to unilaterally terminate its contract with union firefighters while that contract was subject to arbitration.

The appeal was effectively North Riverside’s last resort in the courts, which for the past three-plus years have systematically ruled against the village’s contention that it could terminate the union contract because the two sides had reached an impasse.

“It finally closes the door on this experiment to argue that our contract is null and void,” said Chris Kribales, the president of North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714, which represents the village’s 12 union firefighters. “It finally puts us back on a level field.”

In March, the appellate court had affirmed that the Illinois Labor Relations Board was the proper venue to play out the contract dispute. In 2014, the village had filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court, asking a judge to declare the village could unilaterally terminate the union contract. Judge Diane Larsen ruled she didn’t have jurisdiction to make such a ruling.

Now the matter will go before Illinois Labor Relations Board arbitrator, something North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714 had demanded in 2014, shortly after the village had filed its suit in circuit court.

“We’re not going to appeal this,” Hermanek said of the Sept. 29 appellate court ruling. “It’s done. This was the last shoe to drop.”

An arbitrator selected to hear the North Riverside matter put the hearing on hold back in January 2015, because of the pending litigation. Now that the litigation has concluded, the arbitrator will resume his role.

Hermanek was philosophical about the failure of the lawsuit, saying, “You don’t know ’til you try. Now we’ll just move in a different direction.” He is holding out the slim hope that a labor arbitrator might rule that it can terminate its contract because, if it doesn’t, the village would face a devastating financial future.

The appellate court ruling noted that “while the goal of arbitration is to reach an agreement, [the Illinois Labor Relations Act] does not prevent an arbitrator from determining that the circumstances presented justify an award permitting an employer to sever any contractual relationship with the union” and that “the categorical elimination of employment, a [collective bargaining agreement] and every condition thereof falls within the purview of the arbitrator’s decision.”

While it would seem unlikely that an arbitrator would go to such lengths as to allow the village to terminate its union contract, it’s at least possible, the three-judge panel ruled.

The most recent union contract expired on April 30, 2014. Both sides have met during the past year to see if there are areas of common ground as they pursue a new deal. The union wants its staffing levels brought up to pre-2009 numbers, when minimum staffing was set at six firefighters per shift, according to Kribales.

Right now, the department is working three four-firefighter minimum shifts, but only has 11 firefighters to staff them (the 12th firefighter is a day-shift lieutenant). That means even if every shift is fully staffed (and no one takes a day off or calls in sick) the village is paying someone 24 hours of overtime one out of every three shifts, said Kribales.

Hermanek said the village will hire a firefighter to fill a vacancy created by the recent retirement of Firefighter Rick Urbinati. But there’s been no promise to add any additional firefighters after that.

Kribales said hiring just the one firefighter to replace Urbinati, while not enough, will still help.

It’s been an expensive detour for the administration, which announced the lawsuit as a way for the village to ultimately save money by eliminating future union pension obligations. It’s unclear exactly how much the village has spent to have its law firm pursue privatization through the courts and in matters before the Illinois Labor Relations Board. The firefighters union estimates the village has spent more than $1 million, while the village has claimed the court action has cost roughly $100,000.

The Landmark’s analysis of village financial records showed that North Riverside spent more than $800,000 on total legal fees between 2013 and 2016. The privatization effort started in the summer of 2014.

For the three years prior to the 2013-14 fiscal year, the village had never spent more than $76,000 annually for legal services

thanks Dan

Tags: court rules against North Riverside village management, Firefighter Rick Urbinati, North Riverside considers privatizing the fire department, North Riverside Fire Department, North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714, talk of privatizing municipal fire department, village drops its pursuit of privatizing fire department

As seen around … North Riverside

Sep 13

Posted by Admin in Fire Truck photos | 5 Comments

From Josh Boyajian:

Josh Boyajian photo

Tags: CF Mack Pierce fire engine, fire engine photo, Josh Boyajian, Mack CF Pierce fire engine, North Riverside FD Engine 809, North Riverside Fire Department

Fatal Box Alarm in Berwyn, 5-5-17 (part 1)

May 5

Posted by Admin in Apparatus on-scene, Fire Scene photos | 2 Comments

This from Jeff Braun, Jr.

Here are some photos of the Box Alarm for the house fire in Berwyn at 3310 S Home Ave. The fire started at approx. 11:45 hours. Companies arrived on scene and reported heavy smoke and fire showing from the roof. The Box Alarm was initiated about 10 minutes into the incident. One victim was found deceased. Thanks. -Jeff Braun Jr.

firefighters with hose line at fire scene

Jeff Braun, Jr. County-Wide Photography

Jeff Braun, Jr. County-Wide Photography

North Riverside FD Piere PUC fire engine on a hydrant

Jeff Braun, Jr. County-Wide Photography

Oak park E-ONE tower ladder at fire scene

Jeff Braun, Jr. County-Wide Photography

Tags: Asst. Chief Rick Moravecek, Berwyn Fire Department, Cicero Fire Department, County-Wide Fire Photography, fire engine connected to hydrant, fire scene photos, house fire in Berwyn, Jeff Boyajian, Jeff Braun Jr., North Riverside Fire Department, Stickney Fire Department

North Riverside Fire Department news

Mar 23

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from the rblandmark.com:

The president of North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714 announced a vote of no confidence in Fire Chief Brian Basek during a blistering and, at times, personal denouncement at the end of the village board’s March 20 meeting, and which appeared timed to inflict maximum political damage and embarrassment to Mayor Hubert Hermanek just two weeks before the April 4 election.

In a council chamber packed to overflowing with supporters of both union firefighters and the village’s administration, union President Chris Kribales said members cast unanimous no confidence votes and read a two-page prepared statement blasting Basek’s “inability to provide sound leadership and effectively manage the affairs of this fire department.”

Basek, a full-time North Riverside firefighter for 32 years and chief since 2013, announced his retirement last year and intended on walking away from the job at the end of November 2016.

He agreed to stay on through the election as a favor to Hermanek, since candidates for the job were leery of taking a new job with a mayoral election just over the horizon.

The chief sat silently through Kribales three-minute statement, during which the union president criticized him for “flagrant apathy for public safety,” “orders to use antiquated apparatus and equipment” while new equipment sat idle, “intentionally misinterpret[ing] the labor agreement, and “micromanag[ing] the day-to-day operations of his command staff.”

“This undereducated, underqualified mayoral appointee conveys an arrogance and ignorance dangerous to his position by not allowing positive, proactive decisions necessary for this department to move confidently forward,” said Kribales to the applause of his supporters.

In a phone interview after the meeting, Basek told the Landmark, “I don’t want to dignify Mr. Kribales’ remarks with a response.”

Hermanek responded at the meeting to the no-confidence announcement by rattling off a list of accomplishments, from setting department policies to securing a grant for a new fire engine, that lasted six minutes. At the conclusion of Hermanek’s remarks, many in the audience along with all of the members of the village board, responded with a standing ovation in support of the fire chief.

While the fire chief didn’t want to respond to the vote of no confidence, Hermanek called the union president’s statement “embarrassing, disgusting and uncalled for.”

The mayor also said it was an election stunt near the climax of a campaign where administration three-year effort to privatize the fire department have drawn clear battle lines.

Kribales told the Landmark that firefighters took the no-confidence vote about a month ago. Basek and Hermanek said no one from the fire department mentioned anything to them about the vote in the past month.

Trustee H. Bob Demopoulos, who stood to applaud after the mayor’s March 20 remarks, is running against Hermanek for mayor and has made the fire department his number one issue for the past two municipal elections.

In 2015, Demopoulos was re-elected trustee, leading a slate of candidates calling itself Save Our Firefighters.

Since 2013, he has supported the fire union’s proposal for the village to drop its longtime private paramedic service and use part-timers to man ambulances while union firefighters, most of whom are not cross-trained, get paramedic certification. Demopoulos and the union want the department to be staffed only by union firefighter/paramedics and Demopoulos has embraced the union’s call for additional staffing.

Paramedic Services of Illinois, the village’s paramedic service for more than three decades, has contributed $8,885 to the VIP Party, of which Hermanek and every village trustee with the exception of Demopoulos is a member. Their last contribution was for $1,500 on Feb. 14.

While state campaign contribution records don’t indicate any large donors to Demopoulos’ campaign to be from individuals or groups associated with firefighters, past Demopoulos campaigns drew financial support from local and out-of-town firefighters.

In 2015, the biggest contributors to Save Our Firefighters were a pair of Berwyn firefighters, which each gave $1,000. The campaign also received donations from the Berwyn Firefighters Union ($250), the Cicero Firefighters Union ($250) and a veteran North Riverside firefighter ($200).

thanks Dan

Tags: Chris Kribales, Fire Chief Brian Basek, firefighter union votes no confidence in chief, North Riverside Fire Department, North Riverside Firefighters Union Local 2714

North Riverside considers privatizing the fire department (more)

Mar 18

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from the rblandmark.com:

A 2014 bid to have a Cook County Circuit Court judge declare that the Village of North Riverside had a right to unilaterally terminate its contract with union firefighters fizzled on March 15 when the Illinois Court of Appeals upheld the circuit court’s ruling that it had no jurisdiction over the matter.

In an eight-page ruling handed down by a panel of three appellate court judges, Justice Terrence J. Lavin wrote that the village’s argument that it was merely raising a legal question about its right to end a collectively bargained contract with firefighters was patently disingenuous.

Rather, the appellate court ruled, the circuit court properly dismissed the village’s complaint. As exclusive jurisdiction lies with the [Illinois Labor Relations] Board.

It’s not clear exactly whether or when the matter will end up as the subject of binding arbitration in front of the Illinois Labor Relations Board.

But, North Riverside Mayor Hubert Hermanek Jr. told the Landmark in a phone interview that the March 15 decision would not be appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court and that the suit filed in Cook County Circuit Court is now dead.

The village is now pinning its hopes on another case in front of the Illinois Court of Appeals. In July 2016, the Illinois Labor Relations Board voted 4 to 1 in favor of the firefighter union’s unfair labor practice complaint, arguing the village had no right to unilaterally terminate its contract with firefighters.

North Riverside appealed that decision and the matter is pending in the Illinois Court of Appeals. It’s unclear when a ruling will be handed down, but the case has been fully briefed and both sides are simply awaiting a decision.

If that ruling comes down in favor of the firefighters, the union would ask the labor board to set a date for arbitration, which has been on hold since January 2015.

The union demanded arbitration in September 2015, shortly after the village filed its lawsuit in circuit court. The Illinois Labor Relations Board agreed to the demand, and ground rules for the arbitration process were set at a meeting in January 2015. But the arbitrator assigned to the case held the arbitration in abeyance until all matters before the courts were cleared up.

Hermanek said he’d prefer hammering out a new union agreement with firefighters to arbitration.

Hermanek wants to limit the number of union firefighter positions because of the pension obligations that were the primary argument for the 2014 fire privatization bid. The department is short three firefighters, but the situation has led to high overtime costs, with union firefighters filling in whenever a shift is short-staffed.

The mayor would like the union to agree to allow the village to hire paid-on-call or contract firefighters to fill the gaps when shifts are short of personnel in order to reduce the overtime burden. The union reportedly has rejected the proposal.

Chris Kribales, president of North Riverside Firefighters Union 2714, said firefighters would agree to allowing paid-on-call or contract firefighters to fill out shifts in return for replacing the village’s contract paramedic service with part-timers culled from the department’s hiring list.

Kribales said the part-time ambulance staffing model has been employed by the Bensenville Fire Protection District. According to a help wanted ad from that department last November, part-timers’ starting pay is $12.50 per hour.

Despite setback after setback in the courts, Hermanek defended the village’s decision to file the suit seeking termination of the union contract, saying that someone had to take on the unions in order to control pension obligations. During the 2016-17 fiscal year, police and fire pensions account for about 12 percent of the village’s annual operating budget.

thanks Dan

Tags: Chris Kribales, North Riverside considers privatizing the fire department, North Riverside Fire Department, North Riverside Fire Department tower ladder, North Riverside Firefighters Union 2714, North Riverside negotiating with firefighter's union

2-Alarm fire in Berwyn, 12-18-16

Dec 18

Posted by Admin in Apparatus on-scene, Fire Service Photos | 5 Comments

Photos from Steve Redick of the 2-Alarm fire in Berwyn Sunday (12/18/16)

Steve Redick photo

Steve Redick photo

Steve Redick photo

Steve Redick photo

Steve Redick photo

Steve Redick photo

Steve Redick photo

Steve Redick photo

firefighters working in frigid temperatures

Steve Redick photo

This from County-Wide Fire Photography:

Here are some shots of the 2nd Alarm fire in Berwyn at 1411 Highland Ave. These photos are from about 45 minutes into the incident. Thanks.

County-Wide Fire Photography

County-Wide Fire Photography

County-Wide Fire Photography

County-Wide Fire Photography

aftermath of apartment fire in Berwyn IL

County-Wide Fire Photography

County-Wide Fire Photography

County-Wide Fire Photography

Tags: 2-Alarm fire in Berwyn, Berwyn Fire Department, Bridgeview Fire Department, Cicero FD Engine 2, fire scene photos, fire trucks at fire scene, firefighters battle building fire in frigid temperatures, house fire in Berwyn, North Riverside Fire Department, Oak Park FD tower ladder at work, Oak Park Fire Department, Stickney Fire Department

North Riverside Fire Department news

Dec 2

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News | Comments off

Excerpts from the rblandmark.com:

It’s been seven years since H. Bob Demopoulos first ran as a political candidate in North Riverside. He ran as an independent for mayor, and lost by a whopping 71 percent to 21 percent margin.

A lot has happened in the village since that time. The village struggled through the economic recession that hit as voters cast their ballots in 2009, and Demopoulos later emerged as a competitive candidate, winning two elections that followed.

In 2011, he ran again as an independent and was elected a trustee. He won re-election to the job in 2013 at the top of a slate of candidates, calling themselves Save Our Firefighters, which nearly pulled off an upset against the VIP Party.

He’s seeking the mayoral post again in 2017.

“Our main focus is fiscal responsibility,” said Demopoulos, who is calling for any year-end budget surpluses to go toward paying long-term liabilities such as pensions and post-retirement health insurance obligations.

“A certain faction of the budget needs to be earmarked toward paying off our debt,” Demopoulos said.

The village has earmarked certain funds toward such purposes. Red-light camera revenue in recent years has gone toward paying police and fire pension obligations. Meanwhile, sales taxes have been pledged to pay off debt issued to finalize a deal that brought Costco to North Riverside and more recently have been pledged to finance bonds sold this fall to fund road improvements.

But the village doesn’t have a dedicated stream of revenue other than general operating funds to pay for post-retirement health insurance costs, for which the village will be on the hook for many years at an estimated total cost of more than $35 million, according to the village’s most recent financial audit.

Demopoulos also said he wants to end the infighting between village government and the North Riverside firefighters union, which have been locked in a more than two-year-long court battle over privatizing firefighting services.

It’s unclear exactly how much the battle has cost the village, but records indicate the village, by the end of the 2016-17 fiscal year, expected to spend more than $500,000 in legal fees since 2014 on matters pertaining to the fire department.

“The legal stuff with the fire department has to end,” Demopoulos said. “It’s a losing battle.”

thanks Dan

Tags: candidate for mayor wants to stop fighting with firefighters, H. Bob Demopoulos, North Riverside Fire Department, Save Our Firefighters

New tower ladder for North Riverside (more)

Nov 28

Posted by Admin in Fire Department News, Fire Truck photos, New Delivery | 12 Comments

This from Drew Gresik:

Here is a shot of the new North Riverside tower ladder, a 2016 Pierce Velocity 2000/300/100′ RM. It was a demo, and it is not in service yet. Pierce serial number #28875.