Posts Tagged Peter Pirsch & Sons Co

The Mutual-Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) was established in 1968 to provide pre-planned mutual-aid responses to large fires involving north suburban fire departments and fire protection districts. The Evanston Fire Department was assigned to MABAS Division 3, along with the Glencoe, Glenview, Highland Park, Highwood, Morton Grove, Niles, Northbrook, Northfield, Park Ridge, Skokie, Wilmette, and Winnetka fire departments, the Deerfield-Bannockburn, Glenview Rural, Northbrook Rural, and North Maine fire protection districts, and the Glenview Naval Air Station.

The Glenview FD was the designated MABAS Division 3 dispatch center, and Niles FD was the back-up. The mutual-aid fire channel known as NIFERN (Northern Illinois Fire Emergency Radio Network – 154.265 Mhz) was used by MABAS. In the event of a major fire, the stricken fire department would contact the MABAS dispatcher via NIFERN and advise the box number, the physical location of the incident, and the alarm level being requested. The MABAS dispatcher would then transmit the alarm over the NIFERN radio frequency. Units responding to the box alarm were responsible for switching to NIFERN and contacting the MABAS dispatcher, advising the dispatcher that they were en route. Because all companies responding to a MABAS box alarm were required to be staffed by at least four firefighters, only EFD Station # 1 or Station # 2 companies responded to MABAS box alarms.

Most of the fire departments in Division 3 had more than one box card, with a different response depending on the box number’s location. Evanston, however, had just one box card (# 625), with Lake & Elmwood (Fire Station # 1) listed as the location of the box. A Wilmette engine and a Skokie truck were due to respond into Evanston on a box alarm, with a Skokie engine due on a second alarm, and a Winnetka engine (changed to a Winnetka Snorkel in 1983) and a Morton Grove engine due on a third alarm. A Glenview Naval Air Station ARFF was also listed on the card in the event it was needed. Otherwise, anything beyond a third alarm would be a “special call.” Also, there was no “dive box,” no “ambulance box,” no “fire investigation box,” et al in 1968. MABAS existed strictly for large fires at that time.

The EFD was not due to respond everywhere in MABAS Division 3, and where an Evanston engine, truck and/or squad was due to respond, the level of the alarm on which it was due varied based on the box number. In some cases, the Evanston company was just changing quarters to provide back-up coverage. An Evanston engine, truck, and squad were on the Morton Grove box card, an Evanston engine and truck were on Niles and Skokie cards, an Evanston engine was on the Glenview, Northbrook, North Maine, and Wilmette cards, an Evanston truck was on the Glencoe, Northfield, and Park Ridge cards, and an Evanston squad was on the Winnetka card. Although the Evanston Fire Department routinely responded to MABAS box alarms, the EFD almost never requested a MABAS box back in the day, even for a large fire. A call-back of off-duty firefighters was required before a chief could request a MABAS box, so when immediate mutual-aid was needed, EFD chiefs would just request assistance directly from Wilmette and/or Skokie.

The Evanston Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Bureau underwent several significant personnel changes in the years 1965-68. Long-time FPB inspector Capt. Harry Meginnis retired in 1965 after 23-years of service with the EFD, and 25-year veteran Assistant Chief Harry Schaeffer Jr – commander of the Fire Prevention Bureau – retired in 1967 after he was appointed Illinois State Fire Marshal by Illinois Gov. Otto Kerner,

FPB inspector Capt. Tom Hanson was promoted to assistant chief fire marshal and replaced Chief Schaeffer as commander of the FPB, but then Chief Hanson himself retired after twenty years of service in 1968 to take a high-paying job in the private sector. FPB inspector Capt. Robert Schumer was then promoted to assistant chief fire marshal and replaced Chief Hanson as FPB commander. Capt. William Lapworth and Capt. Joe Thill were transferred to the FPB in 1967-68, and they worked as FPB inspectors until they retired.

In addition to the changes in the FPB circa 1965-69, veteran firemen Nicholas Jung (24 years of service), George M. Harrison (23 years of service), and John Boho (22 years of service) retired in 1966, Capt. Ervin Lindeman retired after 31 years of service in 1967, firemen Stan Broslovik (22 years of service) and James Liozzo (20 years of service) retired in 1968, and Capt. Lou Peters retired after 27 years of service in 1969. Also, Capt. Richard Zrazik and Fireman Frank Sherry Jr retired on disability pensions, Capt. Zrazik in 1966, and firefighter Sherry in 1967.

Also, firemen Don Searles (1965), Joe Planos (1966), Bill Moore (1967), Henry Harloff and Pat Morrison (1968), and Tom Linkowski (1969) were promoted to captain during this period of time. New firemen hired were Vincent McEnaney (1965), Darold Olson, Ray Cottini, Jim McLaughlin, Nick Waldron, and Anthony Broz (1966), John Wright, Max Sheaffer, Pat Lynn, Albert Lesiak, William Beckley, and John Wilkinson (1967), Dave Franzen, Randy Drott, Michael Bunyon, and Jerry McDermott (1968), and John Graber, John Fisher, Neal Smithweck, and Robert Mulherin (1969).

It had been a sore spot in Evanston for many years that Northwestern University was tax exempt and therefore received fire protection from the city without paying for it. Then on November 18, 1968, Northwestern University unexpectedly donated the $29,602 needed to pay for a new Pirsch pumper for the Evanston Fire Department. It wasn’t totally altruistic, however, as the donation was a “thank you” from Northwestern after the Evanston City Council agreed to re-zone the square-block northeast of Emerson & Maple from single-family to high-rise / multi-family. This allowed N.U. to build the 10-story Engelhart residence hall for graduate students at 1915 Maple Avenue. It was the second-tallest building in Evanston after it was completed in 1971.

Since the pumper was donated by Northwestern University, one of the aldermen suggested that it should be painted either purple or white with purple stripes, with a “Willie the Wildcat” sticker on the doors, but that didn’t happen. it was presumed at the time of the donation that the new pumper would go into service at Fire Station # 3 since Engine 23 was first-due to the Northwestern University campus, with Engine 23’s 1958 Seagrave moving to Station # 5 to replace Engine 25’s 1952 Pirsch.

The new Pirsch pumper arrived in May 1970, and it was placed in service at Station # 2 — not at Station # 3, as had been expected. Engine 22 — the 1952 Pirsch 1000 / 100 TCP ex-S21 that had been rebuilt as a TCP in 1966 — relocated to Station # 5, where it became the new Engine 25. The 1952 Pirsch 1000 / 100 TCP that had been Engine 25 1952-70 was then placed into reserve at Station # 5 as Engine 27. The 1968 Pirsch (Engine 21) and the 1970 Pirsch (Engine 22) were nearly identical rigs, the primary difference being Engine 21 had a 1250-GPM pump, while Engine 22 had a 1000-GPM pump.

Because the donation of the 1970 Pirsch pumper was unexpected and had not been part of the EFD’s master plan for apparatus replacement, the 1949 Seagrave 1000 / 80 TCP (Engine 26 – ex-E22) was no longer needed as a reserve pumper once the new Pirsch pumper arrived and the 1952 Pirsch pumper at Station # 5 was placed into reserve, and so it was sold at auction to a private collector for use as a parade and party vehicle. It was mainstay in the North Evanston Fourth of July Parade for many years.

Tags: chicagoareafire.com, Chicagoareafire.com/blog, Evanston FD FPB inspector Capt. Harry Meginnis, Evanston FD FPB inspector Capt. Tom Hanson, Evanston Fire Department history, History of Evanston Fire Department, Illinois State Fire Marshal, Mutual-Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS), Peter Pirsch & Sons Co, Phil Stenholm, Pirsch fire engine

Evanston Fire Department history Part 66

Mar 18

Posted by Admin in Fire Department History | 2 Comments

From Phil Stenholm:

Another installment about History of Evanston Fire Department

THE CHANGING FACE OF DOWNTOWN EVANSTON

In 1962, the Evanston City Council and the Chamber of Commerce came to the unhappy realization that Evanston’s once-thriving downtown business district was dying a slow death. A master plan was developed to transition downtown Evanston from an upscale retail center to a banking, service, and hospitality mecca. The centerpiece of the plan was State Bank Plaza, a 22-story office building to be located on ground formerly home to Lord’s department store, the State National Bank, and Cooley’s Cupboard malt shop. Once erected, State Bank Plaza would be the tallest building between Chicago and Milwaukee.

With a 22-story high-rise under construction in the downtown “high-value district,” the city council appropriated funds in 1966 to purchase a 1250-GPM / 300 gallon triple-combination pumper and a 100-foot tractor-drawn aerial ladder truck. Peter Pirsch & Sons was awarded the contracts for both rigs, with the TCP costing $24,690 and the TDA costing $60,000. The initial plan was for the 1951 Pirsch 85-foot TDA (Truck 21 since 1951) to be moved from Station # 1 to Station # 3 once the new 100-foot TDA was placed into service as the new Truck 21, allowing the EFD to once again run three truck companies, as had been the case 1955-62. Also, new tractors were to be purchased for the 1951 and 1952 Pirsch TDAs.

Placing the third truck into service would have required transferring the fourth man assigned each shift to Truck Co. 21 and Squad 21 and the chief’s driver / administrative assistant to the third truck, leaving all nine companies – five engines, three trucks, and Squad 21 — staffed by three men each shift (plus the platoon commander), with three additional men assigned to each shift who would cover for absences due to vacation, illness, or injury incurred on duty. Like Evanston Police Chief Bert Giddens, EFD Chief Lester Breitzman would get a “take home” car, and a civilian secretary would be hired to be the chief’s new administrative assistant.

The new Pirsch 1250 / 300 TCP arrived in February 1968 and was placed into service at that time as the new Engine 21, with the former Engine 21 (1952 Pirsch 1000 / 80 TCP) becoming a reserve engine (Engine 28) at Station # 4. The new Engine 21 was baptized under fire the day it was placed into service, at an extra-alarm fire in the service department of the Holiday Lincoln-Mercury automobile dealership at 535 Chicago Avenue. The service department was gutted before the flames were extinguished. The estimated loss from this fire was $160,000.
On April 5, 1968, Engine Co. 24 along with the fourth men from Squad 21 and Truck 21 responded as a five-man crew on an unusual mutual-aid assignment. The west side of Chicago was in flames in the aftermath of the assassination of Dr, Martin Luther King Jr the night before in Memphis, and most of the Chicago Fire Department was engaged in fighting the fires. As a result, a number of suburban fire departments were requested to staff empty CFD firehouses in the outlying battalions,

EFD Engine 24 was assigned to CFD Engine Co. 70 at 1545 W. Rosemont Avenue in the 27th Battalion. Engine 24 was at Engine 70 for about 12 hours, before returning to Evanston. This was the second time an EFD engine company had been sent to a CFD firehouse, the first time being in May 1934 when Engine Co. 1 temporarily moved into Engine Co. 71’s quarters at 6239 N. California Avenue during the Union Stockyards conflagration.

Several months later, Engine 24 sustained extensive front-end damage in a traffic collision, and was sent to the Seagrave factory body shop in Clintonville, Wisconsin. After repairs were completed, Engine 24 was driven the 200 miles back to Evanston rather being shipped via flatbed trailer, as probably would have been the case if Seagrave was still based in Ohio. Because the pumper was being driven back to Evanston, Seagrave placed a canvas canopy over the open cab to protect the driver from the weather.

Once Engine 24 arrived in Evanston and was placed back into service at Station # 4, firefighters assigned to the company found out they really liked the canvas canopy, so it would remain on Engine 24 going forward. Also, as a result of the repairs, the pumper now sported dual front headlights, replacing the single-beam headlights that were originally on the rig. At least as far as cosmetic appearance goes, the EFD’s two 1958 Seagrave pumpers (Engine 23 and Engine 24) were no longer “twins.”

The new Pirsch Senior 100-foot TDA arrived in time for Christmas 1968, but it was not placed into service for several weeks because firefighters needed time to become familiar with the new truck, and the brutal winter weather postponed some of the testing and training that was required before the truck could be formally accepted by the city. The new Truck 21 was finally placed into service in February 1969.

The former Truck 21 temporarily replaced Truck 22 at Station # 2, because the city council redirected the $20,000 that would have been spent on two new tractors to an extensive “modernization” of Truck 22. The modernization of Truck 22 was a special deal offered by Pirsch, and it involved gutting the inside of the 1952 tractor and replacing just about everything, including the engine, transmission, axles, wheels, drive-train, electrical system, even new fenders with dual front headlights. The trailer also was extensively refurbished, with a new aerial-ladder control box, a new tiller system, and cabinets to provide water-tight storage space for equipment. It also received a new paint job. Pirsch called it “good as new, for half the price.”

Once the modernization / refurbishment of Truck 22 was completed, the former Truck 21 that had been running temporarily as Truck 22 was transferred to Station # 3 and became the EFD’s reserve truck. As a result, there would be no third truck company. Truck 21 and Squad 21 would continue to run as four-man companies each shift, and one fireman each shift would serve as Chief Breitzman’s driver and administrative assistant.

Both the 1937 Seagrave 65-foot aerial truck (Truck 23) and the 1937 Seagrave 750 / 80 TCP (Engine 27) were removed from the fleet in 1969. This left the EFD with two reserve pumpers – the 1949 Seagrave 1000 / 80 TCP (Engine 26) at Station # 5 and the 1952 Pirsch 1000 / 80 TCP (Engine 28) at Station # 4 – and the reserve 1951 Pirsch 85-foot TDA (Truck 23) at Station # 3. As of 1969, all pumpers including the two reserve engines had a minimum 1000-GPM pump, all trucks had a minimum 85-foot aerial ladder, the oldest front-line rig was 17 years old, and no reserve rig was more than twenty years old.

Tags: chicagoareafire.com, Chicagoareafire.com/blog, Evanston FD Fire Chief Lester Breitzman, Evanston Fire Department history, Evanston Police Chief Bert Giddens, History of Evanston Fire Department, Peter Pirsch & Sons Co, Phil Stenholm, Pirsch fire engine, Pirsch Senior 100-foot TDA

Evanston Fire Department history Part 65

Mar 11

Posted by Admin in Fire Department History | 1 Comment

From Phil Stenholm:

Another installment about History of Evanston Fire Department

THE GARBAGE TRUCK

Chief Lester Breitzman and the platoon commanders were equipped with Motorola HT-200 portable two-way radios in 1965. Because he now had a hand-held radio he could carry around the fireground, It was decided that the platoon commander no longer needed a driver / radio operator, so the firemen formerly assigned to drive F-2 were transferred to Squad 21, and became the squad’s fourth man each shift. When transmitting via handie-talkie, the chief used the radio call-sign “F-1-X,” and the platoon commander was “F-2-X.” Company officers were also eventually assigned handie-talkies, and were identified as “Engine 23-X,” “Squad 21-X,” “Truck 22-X,” etc, when operating on a portable radio.

Wayne Anderson became Evanston’s new city manager in 1963, and with Squad 21 back in front-line service and responding with four men to all fire calls, Bert Johnson’s Police-Fire Cooperative Plan was quietly phased out in 1965. However, the three police station-wagon patrol-ambulances remained in service and continued to respond to inhalator calls and ambulance runs, and while police officers were no longer expected to work as firefighters (except in extraordinary circumstances), police recruits did receive some training in basic firefighting.

The EFD added three new station wagons to the fleet in the years 1964-66, including a 1964 Plymouth station wagon (the new F-3) that was assigned to a Fire Prevention Bureau inspector during business hours and garaged at Fire Station # 5 at night and on weekends and holidays, a 1965 Dodge station wagon (F-5) assigned to the Training Officer at Station # 1, and a 1966 Ford station wagon (the new F-1) assigned to Chief Breitzman at Station # 2. All three of the station wagons were equipped with stretchers and first-aid kits and served as auxiliary ambulances, backing-up the three police station wagon patrol ambulances.

F-2 (the platoon commander’s 1963 Plymouth station wagon) no longer served as an auxiliary ambulance after the platoon commander’s driver was transferred to Squad 21 in 1965, but F-1 always had a driver, and (if in quarters) F-3 was staffed by Engine 25 personnel and F-5 was manned by the fourth man from Squad 21 or Truck 21 when needed. In addition, Squad 21 and station wagons F-1 and F-3 were equipped with a wooden back-board known in EFD parlance as a “fracture board,” and so Squad 21, F-1, or F-3 would be dispatched to any incident involving a significant back or neck injury.

Reserve Engine 26 (ex-E2 – 1927 Seagrave Standard 1000 / 50 TCP) – the EFD’s oldest rig – was taken out of service in 1965, and was converted to playground equipment by EFD mechanics. The conversion involved removing the engine, pump, transmission, drive-train, etc, and then welding everything shut, with sheet metal covering the under-carriage. Once the job was completed, the vintage pumper was installed in the middle of brand new Firemen’s Park at the southwest corner of Simpson & Maple. The previous spring, the EFD had used a vacant former church located on the site for ”live burn” practice drills.

In 1964, EFD Chief Breitzman requested that the city purchase a new “more useful” squad rig, and convert the existing 1952 Pirsch squad to a triple-combination pumper by replacing the squad body with a standard pumper body. The Pirsch squad had been in & out of front-line service over the course of its twelve years of service, and so it had relatively low mileage compared to the other 1952 Pirsch pumpers. Also, it had no hose bed, so the 1000 GPM pump had rarely been used and was in virtually pristine condition. Once converted to a TCP, the Pirsch rig would go into service as the new Engine 22.

The new squad would be equipped with an electric winch on the front bumper capable of pulling 18,000 pounds, a reconditioned auxiliary pump, a 300-gallon water tank, new extrication tools, and a top-mounted deluge nozzle salvaged from the recently decommissioned high pressure / hose truck. Modern precision quartz lights would replace the military-style “night sun” searchlights that were on the Pirsch squad. Most importantly, the new squad would have a hose bed with room for two 250-foot leads of 1-1/2 inch hose pre-connected to two rear discharge ports that could be used for a rapid fire attack.

A new factory-built Pirsch pumper-squad purchased by Skokie in 1965 cost $25,000, so City Manager Anderson was looking for a “creative” (cheaper) alternative. The City of Evanston purchased four new garbage trucks in 1965 — International-Harvester R-190 cab & chassis with a Leach Packmaster body — giving Anderson the idea to add an additional cab & chassis to the garbage truck order, purchase a custom-built squad body, a winch, an auxiliary pump, a water tank, and a quartz lighting system separately, and then have EFD mechanics piece it all together in the repair shop at Station # 1.

The city council thought it was a swell plan, and appropriated $13,000 for the project. The International cab & chassis ended up costing $4,474, the auxiliary pump, tank, plumbing, quartz lights, and fabrication and installation of the squad body combined cost $4,974, and the Braden winch cost $725. The pumper body for the 1952 Pirsch squad cost $4,000. EFD mechanics were able to install the winch, pump, tank, and plumbing on the new squad without difficulty, but the squad body was fabricated and installed by the General Body Co.

Located at 5838 N. Pulaski Road in Chicago, General Body was best-known for fabricating the world-famous Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, but GBC also built many other unusual commercial vehicles, including the Autocar squads used by the Chicago Fire Department, and the salvage trucks used by the Chicago Fire Insurance Patrol. GBC had previously built a squad for the Niles Fire Department by combining a commercial (GMC) cab & chassis with one of its own fabricated squad bodies, and the body on the Niles squad was the one Evanston wanted GBC to duplicate (albeit with a few modifications).

Fabrication and installation was completed by GBC within four months, and the new Squad 21 went into service in April 1966. Although it was sometimes called the “garbage truck” (for obvious reasons), and firefighters riding on the tailboard were sometimes called “garbagemen,” Squad 21 was the busiest company in the Evanston Fire Department — the SS-1 of the EFD — responding to inhalator calls, minor fires, and miscellaneous details in Station # 1’s district, as well as to all fires and rescue-extrication calls city-wide. The crew assigned to Squad 21 also manned the DUKW amphibious vehicle (F-7) whenever it was needed.

Converted to a 1000 / 100 TCP, the former Squad 21 went back into service as the new Engine 22 in August 1966, replacing the 1949 Seagrave 1000 / 80 TCP, which was then placed into reserve at Station # 5 as Engine 26. The Pirsch pumper’s hose-bed featured two 250-foot leads of 1-1/2 inch hose pre-connected to the two rear discharge ports, as well as 1,500 feet of 2-1/2 inch hose and 300 feet of three-inch hose. A section of soft-sleeve suction hose was pre-connected to an intake port above the rear step. It was the first EFD pumper to not carry lengths of hard suction hose.

Both the new Squad 21 and Engine 22 featured the EFD repair shop’s generic military style graphics of the day (black tape with “EVANSTON” in gold) affixed to the sides of the hoods, the same style of graphics that were applied to EFD station wagons and the DUKW 1964-1971. Squad 21 and Engine 22 also had custom designed gold shields with black lettering affixed on the cab doors, replaced by black shields with gold lettering in 1970. Also, the Mars FL-8 and DX-40 (“football”) warning lights on the older front-line engines and trucks were replaced with the more-visible white / red beacon-type emergency lights at about this same time.

Reserve Engine 28 (ex-E24 – 1937 Seagrave 750 / 80 TCP) at Station # 4 did not pass its annual pump test in 1966, and the other reserve 1937 Seagrave 750 / 80 TCP (Engine 27 at Station # 3) had a blown engine, so once the rebuilt Pirsch TCP went into service at Station # 2 and the 1949 Seagrave pumper was placed into reserve at Station # 5, EFD mechanics transplanted the motor from Engine 28 into Engine 27 to keep it running for a while longer. Engine 28 was then dismantled for spare parts and scrapped.

Tags: Chicago FD Autocar squad, Chicago Fire Insurance Patrol, chicagoareafire.com, Chicagoareafire.com/blog, Evanston FD Fire Chief Lester Breitzman, Evanston Fire Department history, General Body Company, History of Evanston Fire Department, Niles Fire Department, Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, Peter Pirsch & Sons Co, Phil Stenholm, Pirsch fire engine, U.S. government surplus WWII-era GMC 6 x 6 DUKW amphibious vehicle

Fire service history … Peter Pirsch & Sons (more)

Nov 28

Posted by Admin in Historic fire apparatus, throwbackthursday | 2 Comments

This for #TBT from Mike Summa:

For TBT – Part 2, Pirsch aerials, I am sure everyone has a story about Pirsch aerials. Enjoy and comment.

Mike Summa

classic Pirsch fire truck aerial literature

click to download a larger file

link to part 1

Tags: #TBT, chicagoareafire.com, classic Pirsch fire truck literature, Peter Pirsch & Sons, Peter Pirsch & Sons Co, throw back thursday, throwbackthursday, vintage Pirsch sales literature

Fire service history … Peter Pirsch & Sons

Nov 21

Posted by Admin in Historic fire apparatus, throwbackthursday | 22 Comments

This from Mike Summa for #TBT:

For TBT- Pirsch fire trucks were a big part of the American fire service. Many city and suburban fire departments utilized this type of apparatus. Many years ago I mailed a letter to Pirsch asking for literature. These are a sample of what was sent.

Mike Summa