This from Mike Summa:
This is the Evergreen Park Truck 32, a 1956 Pirsch 750/250 65′ midmount aerial truck. Please enjoy and comment.Mike Summa

Mike Summa photo
May 21
Posted by Admin in Fire Department History, Fire Truck photos, Historic fire apparatus | 3 Comments
This from Mike Summa:
This is the Evergreen Park Truck 32, a 1956 Pirsch 750/250 65′ midmount aerial truck. Please enjoy and comment.Mike Summa
Mike Summa photo
Tags: 1956 Pirsch 750/250 65' mid-mount quint, Evergreen Park Fire Department history, historic fire truck photo, Mike Summa, Pirsch mid-mount aerial ladder truck, Pirsch mid-ship quint, vintage fire truck photo
Jul 28
Posted by Admin in Fire Department History, Fire Truck photos, Historic fire apparatus | 24 Comments
From Steve Redick:
Some Morton Grove rigs … the old squad and the Pirsch quint … followed those rigs when they were brand new on my 2 wheeler bike … those were the days … Morton Grove Engine 5 Hendrickson E1 …
Summit’s old squad … I loved those old Gerstenschlager type units …
CFD H&L2 just after being vacated … no longer standing …
I kinda like looking at these old shots … if you enjoy these photos, why not share some memories with the rest of us ….
Steve
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Steve Redick photo
Tags: Chicago Fire Department history, Chicago firehouse no longer standing, fire engine photos, Gerstenschlager fire truck, Hendrickson 1871-S cab and chassis, Hendrickson fire engine, Morton Grove Fire Department history, old fire department squad truck, pictures of fire trucks, Pirsch mid-mount aerial ladder truck, Pirsch mid-ship quint, Steve Redick, Summit Fire Department history
Jul 30
Posted by bgshap in Fire Department News, New Listing, Patch | 4 Comments
Bloomingdale Fire Station 1 on Bloomingdale Road houses the fire department headquarters and the emergency dispatch center. Larry Shapiro photo
The Bloomingdale Fire Protection District No 1 in MABAS Division 12 has been added to the site. Bloomingdale has three stations though one is strictly used for storage. Station 2 at 6N480 Keeney Road (which has a Roselle address) was originally part of the Keeneyville Fire District. This station has two spare engines and an out-of-service ambulance which may be converted to a dive unit.
This out-of-service ambulance might be converted into a newer dive unit to replace Dive 9 which is assigned a 1997 Freightliner FL50/Medtec. Larry Shapiro photo
Bloomingdale has their own dispatch center in the basement of Station 1 which serves Bloomingdale in addition to the Elk Grove Township Fire Protection District and theItasca Fire Protection District.
Bloomingdale runs a fleet of Pierce apparatus which includes a tower ladder and three engines on a Lance chassis, one engine on an Enforcer chassis, and an engine on a Quantum chassis. They have on order a 2,000-gallon pumper/tanker on a Velocity chassis which is due this year. The two in-service ambulances as well as the Dive Squad all feature boxes built by Horton.
The newest engine in Bloomingdale is this 2005 Pierce Quantum assigned to Engine 1. John Tulipano photo
Prior to becoming a Pierce customer, Bloomingdale was exclusively a Pirsch customer for many years. In 1981, they received the last engine on a custom Pirsch chassis that matched two engines and a 1972 85′ mid-ship quint.
In 1981, Bloomingdale Engine 2 featured the last custom cab built by hand at the Pirsch factory in Kenosha. From this point forward, Pirsch purchased stock cabs from Truck Cab Manufacturers (TCM) and applied a trim package to make their appearance unique to Pirsch products. Larry Shapiro collection
Bloomingdale Truck 4 was built in 1972 to match one Pirsch engine already in the Bloomingdale fleet complete with the edge warning lights. They would later have a total of four matching custom Pirsch units. Larry Shapiro collection
Tags: Bill Friedrich, Bloomingdale 9-1-1 Dispatch Center, Bloomingdale FPD patch, Bloomingdlae Fire Protection District, Elk Grove Township Fire Protection District, fire company patches, fire department patch, Horton ambulance, Itasca Fire Protection District, Keeneyville Fire Protection District, Larry Shapiro, MABAS Division 12, Peter Pirsch & Sons, Pierce Enforcer, Pierce Lance, Pierce Manufacturing, Pierce Quantum, Pierce tower ladder, Pirsch custom engine, Pirsch mid-ship quint
Jun 13
Posted by bgshap in Fire Department History, Fire Department News | 2 Comments
Firegeezer.com occasionally posts an entry entitled “Looking Back” where he displays a magazine ad from Fire Engineering Magazine which appeared in the 1950s. Recently, the ad from April of 1957, represented the Peter Pirsch & Sons of Kenosha, WI. In the ad was a drawing showing a mid-ship quint from Evergreen Park.
An article about the Pirsch in 1981, several years before the company shut down, can be found HERE.
Bill Friedrich supplied us with an image of the unit as deployed in Evergreen Park matching their yellow rigs. This 1965 mid-ship quint had a 750-GPM pump, 250 gallons of water, and a 65' ladder. This 'modern' photo of Truck 32 features a Federal Q siren and two 888 warning lights on the fenders in addition to a roof beacon.
Another image from Bill Freidrich after the truck was painted black over red by a local shop. The Q siren has been moved from the fender to the bumper.
Tags: Bill Friedrich, Evergreen Park Fire Department, Fire Engineering Magazine, Firegeezer.com, Peter Pirsch & Sons, Pirsch mid-ship quint
For the finest department portraits and composites contact Tim Olk or Larry Shapiro.
Arclite theme by digitalnature | powered by WordPress