The Stone Park Fire Department in MABAS Division 20 has been added to the site. Stone Park is a small town surrounded by Melrose Park and Northlake along North Avenue at Mannheim Road with a population just over 5,100 and an area of .3 square miles. They have three pieces of apparatus including an Osage Type III ambulance, one of the few Seagrave Flame engines, and an E-ONE Quest.
The second department in MABAS Division 27 has been added. South Chicago Heights, a single station department that covers 1.5 square miles operates two ambulances and two engines. Ambulances are from Wheeled Coach and Osage. Engines are from Crimson and American LaFrance (before it was bought by Freightliner). This is one of the few departments in the area operating a Type II style ambulance. Images were provided by Jack Connors.
The South Chicago Heights station at 2729 Jackson Avenue. Jack Connors photo
Nov 23
Karl Klotz has submitted photos and information for the Thornton Fire Department. This is another department in MABAS Division 24 which runs out of one station and covers 2.4 square miles. Aside from a full-time chief, Thornton relies on 30 part-time personnel to staff two Osage ambulances, two engines, one 50′ TeleSqurt, one rescue squad, and a brush rig.
They have a rather interesting mix of fire suppression vehicles. Of the four units, they have one each from Fire Max, Custom Fire, Hackney, and Pierreville (a Canadian builder). One engine is on an International chassis and the rescue has a Ford F800 chassis. The other engine features an early Spartan Gladiator cab and chassis, and the TeleSqurt has an HME 1871 cab and chassis. All the apparatus is red with the exception of Truck 747 which is painted a teal green. Karl tells us that there are several schools of thought as to the choice of color for this engine. One story apparently is that the color was the result of a contest with school children in the mid 1990s. We would be interested to know if this is the reason, or if there is another reason. Perhaps someone reading this blog has an answer. If so, please share it with us.
Another Lake County, MABAS Division 4 department has been added to the site. Formerly known as the Bonnie Brook Fire Protection District, The Beach Park Fire Department covers roughly 14 square miles in northeast Lake County which includes unincorporated areas of the county as well as Beach Park. They do not though currently provide coverage for the entire town of Beach Park as the Winthrop Harbor Fire Department has responsibility for a portion of the town.
According to the Beach Park Village Link Newsletter in the winter of 2003:
The New Beach Park Fire Department
In the last months of 2002, there were plenty of positive changes in the fire protection services for our village. Formerly known as the “Bonnie Brook Fire Protection District”, the name was officially changed to the “Beach Park Fire Department” (BPFD) last November to better define the department’s capabilities and service areas.
Beach Park has a mixture of apparatus in the fleet including Alexis, Pierce, Seagrave, Medtec, and Osage. The newest rig is Engine 1222 which is a 2008 Seagrave Maurauder II engine. Currently, Beach Park Engine 1212, a 2002 HME/Alexis engine is undergoing work at Alexis Fire Apparatus.
Engine 1211 prior to the creation of the Beach Park FD was lettered for the Bonnie Brook FPD. Larry Shapiro photo
Bonnie Brook FPD Engine 1211 shortly after being delivered by Pierce in 1993. Larry Shapiro collection
In recent Beach Park FD news, they have opened a second station at 13110 W. Major Avenue in Beach Park. This interesting station originated as an existing house with an attached garage. The garage was modified as a lobby and office area and a two-bay addition was then added for the apparatus. At the present time, this station has a crew of two or three which are a jump company, staffing either the engine or ambulance based on the nature of a request for service.
Beach Park Station 2 at 13110 W. Major Avenue opened in April of 2010. Larry Shapiro photo
Beach Park Fire Department Station 2
Oct 18
Another Lake County (Division 4) department has been added to the site. The Lake Villa Fire Department/Lake Villa Fire District/Lake Villa Rescue Squad is an interesting marriage of resources and organizations. Together, they currently occupy three fire stations in Lake Villa and Lindenhurst. The downtown station and most of the apparatus assigned there is owned by the Lake Villa Fire Department which is a private organization. They do their own fundraising in addition to being paid for contract services from the Lake Villa Fire District. The other two stations and the fire vehicles in them are owned by the Lake Villa Fire District. The ambulances in all three stations which are white and blue, are owned and staffed by the Lake Villa Rescue Squad.
The Lake Villa Fire Department station which has been expanded three times since the original building was constructed. Photo by Hank Sajovic
The Lake Villa Fire Department station in downtown Lake Villa is an interesting building which has had three separate additions built over the years. The building now has eight bays. Each two bay addition has an engraved stone with the year of that particular addition.
All of the fire suppression equipment with the exception of a 1973 CF-Mack/Welch was made by Pierce. This includes four engines, a pumper/squad, a 105′ ladder, and two tankers of which all but one are on Dash chassis. The newest piece is a 2009, Arrow XT engine at station 1.
The rescue squad currently has five Ford/Osage Type III ambulances which are painted in the traditional rescue squad color scheme of blue and white. As mentioned in a previous post HERE, there are two new ambulances on order and they will be red, and lettered for the Lake Villa Fire District as are the current units.
The Mack/Pierce engine shortly after it was purchased. It was Engine 2420 at the time, was purchased by the FIre Department and did not have the Wil-Burt Nightscan mounted on the roof. Lake Villa had been a Mack customer for many years. When Mack stopped building fire trucks, many of its customers continued to buy the CF chassis with other companies completing the unit. Lake Villa's transition to Pierce began with this unit. By the time they were ready to purchase their next vehicle, Mack was no longer offering the CF chassis. Photo by Larry Shapiro
This engine from Annandale, NJ is an example of a four-door fabricated by Mack. The rear doors are recessed, flat, and cover the step. The engine was originally built in 1981 and was updated and refurbished in 1996 by The Swab Wagon Company. Larry Shapiro photo
There are three rather uniquely interesting units on the roster in Lake Villa. One is a 1933 Pirsch antique that’s in great shape. The other two units are a throw back to a time when all of the Lake Villa engines were built by Mack on CF chassis. They have a 1973 CF-Mack that was refurbished with a new body complete with high-side compartments by Welch, and the other is a 1989/1990 CF-Mack/Pierce combination. One trait which makes this unit especially nice is the four-door conversion which was fabricated by Pierce. When Mack enclosed the CF cab with four doors, the rear doors were flat, straight, and set in from the contour of the body by several inches. Pierce fabricated the enclosure using a set of front doors for the rear of the cab which kept the same contours and body lines of the cab from the front to the rear.
This is one of the CF Mack engines that preceded the Pierce units in Lake Villa. Engine 621 as shown here was built in 1969 and carried 750 gallons of water with a 1,000-GPM pump. Larry Shapiro photo
Oct 15
Here are a few recent area updates:
Limestone Squad 3 is a 2010, Ferrara, inferno pumper/squad with a 2,000-GPM pump, and 500 gallons of water. Photo by Karl Klotz
Bellwood's new GMC/Osage ambulance before lettering. Osage photo
Interior view of Bellwood's new Osage ambulance. Osage photo
Oct 14
We received the following information:
Franklin Park's new ambulance is in service. It's a 2010 Ford/Osage. Different color scheme than usual for them (Franklin Park). It's all white with decals applied to it. ... looks like a demo unit. It's also not numbered as Ambulance 1, it's numbered 482. Rick Armentano Jr Elmwood Park FD
A new Ford E450/Osage Type III ambulance is awaiting striping in Franklin Park before it goes into service. The demo unit is currently solid white.
The Lansing Fire Department with three stations in Division 24 has been added to the site thanks to Karl Klotz. Lansing has stations 2,3, and 4. They no longer actively use their station 1 which is currently being utilized for storage. Lansing recently took delivery of a Pierce 100′ aerial platform (PAP) on a Velocity chassis which was previously mentioned HERE. Their fleet is a mixture of apparatus from Pierce, 3D, KME, Osage, Horton and a large squad built on a KME chassis that is painted white and black.
Photo by Karl Klotz
For the finest department portraits and composites contact Tim Olk or Larry Shapiro.
