Day 0 & 1 - Intro & Minneapolis to Chicago

Day 1 – Thursday, August 26, 2004

I left the Twin Cities around 7AM, stopping at my sister’s home on St. Paul’s far east-side to drop off some photos of a recent family event. I got onto nearby Interstate 94 and headed east.

I had pre-programmed my Pro-96 scanner with frequencies in one band for: the Eau Claire area; another for the Madison, Janesville and Beloit area, one that covered the area from Rockford to Chicago O’hare; a North Suburban bank; a West Suburban bank; and Southern and Gary, Indiana bank; and three banks for the CFD (one for Main, one for Englewood and another bank for CFD fire-ground, Administration etc). I kept Main and Englewood channels alone in a bank so that I could have uninterupted CFD radio traffic when I wanted. I heard radio traffic along the route in all the places that I had programmed, but heard no fires.

I’m still working on visiting all the Chicago Fire Department stations (in service or not) that are still standing and capturing both digital and slide images. Back in 1971, when Duane Troxel and myself visited the entire department, I was only taking black and white photos- and very few slides.

I arrived in the Chicago area around 2pm, getting off the Tollway at CFD Station 11 in the far northwest corner of Chicago. I got station photos of Sta 11, Sta 119 (and Truck 55 also as they retuned from driver training), 79, old Sta108, Sta 108, Sta 69, Sta 7, Sta 125 (and Engine 125), Sta 86 (the ambulance took a run when I was there) and Sta 94- all in the northwest corner of the city. I arrived at the Van Vorst home around 5:30. Paige and Donna had both just returned from work and we went out to dinner to the Old Country Buffet near CFD Station 125.

When we returned to the Van Vorst home, we spent most of the evening catching up on each other’s activities since Paige and Donna had visited the Twin Cities in July (for Paige and my 40th high school reunion). I was surprised to hear that the CFD had not opened new Station 38 yet (it looked ready when I was here in June). CFD plans are to close nearby Engine 77 and use the manpower to create Truck 12 at Station 110 on the north side.

I talked with Chuck Bleck and we made plans to do some Friday daytime buffing together as Paige had to work. Paige and I talked about plans to attend Saturday’s 125th Anniversary muster and parade in Blue Island, a southern suburb.

It was great to be with Paige and Donna in the Windy City again. I look forward to seeing Chuck Bleck, Jack Connors and other area buffs on Saturday at the muster. Take care.

The Roving Reporter

Day 2 - In Chicago

August 27, 2004

Chuck Bleck met me at Paige and Donna’s home around 9:30AM. We hit the streets with no itinerary in mind other than stopping by the temporary home of the CFD Museum on the south side.

We weren’t two miles from Paige’s when we heard CFD Engine 76 report they were at 3801 Grand Avenue and had a fire. We made our way down there as best we could (Chicago traffic seems to be at rush hour levels all day long). We drove by CFD Station 91 while in route and saw Squad 2 in the station. A few blocks later we heard dispatchers hold up Squad 2 and the RIT company (they must have just dispatched them after we went by the station and then cancelled them immediately).

When we got to the fire, there was little to see. Engine 76 was picking up their line and the trucks were overhauling a minor fire. We got rig photos before heading back to the car. We drove by a few stations as we headed towards the training area. When we went by Station 26, Truck 7 was parked outside. We stopped, got photos of it and 2-7-1 (one of the Command Vans) and the departments only Palm tree. Yes- they have a planted Palm tree in the front of Station 26. Firefighters told us they have fun with area residents by tying bananas on it and as residents look at the bananas they tell the residents they aren’t ripe enough yet to be picked. When the rigs return from the next run, they usually find that the bananas are gone! We laughed.

We came across Engine 26 drilling near the United Center and got photos as they provided a private hosing down for four area youngsters that enjoyed the cool water spray. We went by the Mario’s lemonade stand for a quick pick-me-up. As we were driving by Chicago’s oldest station (Station 18 built in 1873) Chicago sent out a still to 4521 S Honore on the south side. Arriving companies reported smoke showing. We decided to take it in and got on the nearby Dan Ryan Freeway and took it to the 47th Street exit (43rd Street was closed).

We didn’t see any smoke or fire in the large 2-1/2 story frame home (which they said had burned before) by the time we got there, we were able to get photos of all the rigs still there working on the still alarm. As we left we drove by nearby and got photos of old CFD Ladder 33’s house.

Chuck Bleck and myself then visited the temporary quarters of the CFD Museum, which is temporarily located on the third floor of the Saint Gabriel Catholic School building on the near south side. The minute I walked in the doors of the school it brought back memories of the Our Lady of Angel’s School Fire of December 1, 1958 in which 92 pupils and 3 nuns perished. The two school buildings were very, very similar in style and construction, being built only five years apart. Both have two wings (one older than the other) that are connected at one end and are spaced about 12-foot apart with an open atrium between the two buildings (with a wrought-iron fence at the open end).

This past winter I had discovered a web site featuring the Our Lady of Angels school fire and read the many reports and photos of the tragedy. I was shocked to read all the detailed first-person reports of the fire and the follow-ups that were done on the surviving school children. Suprisingly, many surviving males went into the fire service, a few becoming Chiefs of suburban departments. The OL of A fire was the first really sensational national-interest fire around the time I began my avocation of fire buffing. It was also the first time that a major city used a snorkel to fight a fire.

The Saint Gabriel school building was sprinklered two years following the OL of A fire and had metal fire doors placed at the tops of the open wooden stairwell landings. It seemed kind of spooky walking down the hallways of this very, very similar school building after I’d read the many available reports and saw the many photos of the nearly identical OL of A school building online. What really kind of spooked me out was seeing a few innocent looking, uniformed school kids walking down the wooden hallways of the old school building (school started the day before in many Catholic Schools in this area). I immediately thought of all those innocent school children on December 1, 1958.

While the Our Lady of Angels fire was a terrible tragedy, it caused rapid changes in school safety across the nation and saved hundreds (probably more like thousands) of children’s lives by preventing similar situations from ever happening again. For more information, photos on the Our Lady of Angels School Fire see:

http://www.olafire.com/ or http://www.wttw.com/angels/

View a .PDF copy of the responce of companies to the Our Lady fire.

Click the "Get Acrobat Reader" icon and get the reader for free too! While your there, you can get a plug-in for your browser to read Acrobat files.

The CFD Fire Museum has a wonderful and very extensive collection and is being organized into an unbelievably comprehensive and organized exhibit. There are three entire isles of rows of notebooks, one for each CFD company ( a notebook for each company ever organized), one for every suburban fire department and also a notebook for every manufacturer of fire apparatus and/or fire fighting equipment and gear.

We headed to lunch and stopped by new Station 88, still under construction. When Chuck went to take a photo, he realized he’d left his camera at the museum. We ate lunch at nearby Midway Field and then headed back to the museum to get Chuck’s camera. I bought a copy of the first three editions of the CFD History book for my collection when Chuck mentioned that they had the books available in the office.

We went by soon-to-be-vacated Station 84 (a real classic) and got photos. We also stopped by Station 50 and caught photos of Truck 18 returning from a run. We then got photos of old Station 59 located in the old stockyards (it’s for sale by the way). On the way back north, we decided to stop by the old CFD Shops where our good friend (and buff) Battalion Chief Jack Connors is assigned. We caught Jack just as he was going off duty. Jack kindly stayed an extra hour so that we could chat.

We headed back to the Van Vorst home, running into terrible traffic, coming across Engine 38 (on a medical run) and Engine 43 (also on another medical). We didn’t get back to the Van Vorst home until 5:30.

We had a very nice time. I’m glad I had the chance to see the temporary fire museum. Hopes are that when Station 18’s new house is built, the old station will become the home of the museum. It is not far from the CFD Fire Academy and only blocks from Mario’s.

That’s all from the Windy City for this report

The Roving Reporter

Day 3 - In Chicago and Suburbs

August 28, 2004

I woke up around 2:15 AM this morning to the crash of many nearby lightening strikes. The CFD radio was going nuts. It seems that in the upper Midwest, fire departments are often their busiest when ol’ Mother Nature comes through with a pounding electrical storm.

After I woke up last night I often heard two or more CFD rigs talking at the same time on both the Main and Englewood fire channels. The dispatchers must have been pulling the hair out by the roots. Finally, the dispatchers got some semblance of order by getting the companies to call for permission to speak first before rattling off their numerous reports of power lines down, flooding, traffic lights out etc. I listened for a short time and then drifted off again. There were a few reports on the news that homes caught fire during the night from lightening strikes- mostly in the suburbs.

This morning, Paige and I went left for the Blue Island FD’s 125th Anniversary Parade and Muster. It was still very overcast, but the rain had stopped. The inclement looking weather probably greatly cut down the number of rigs that showed up for the celebration. I counted about 25 rigs in all for the red light and siren parade through old town Blue Island.

The rigs all ended up in a large parking lot, which had a number of vendor tables with firematic items for sale and a food vending trailer. It wasn’t as big a turn out as they had at the June Fire Academy Muster, but very enjoyable none-the-less.

We left there around noon and started to visit suburban stations on the way back north. We stopped at the nearby Alsip FD, just west of Blue Island. While there, Engine 2023 got a run and we got photos as they responded. Firefighters pulled Ladder 2014 out so we could get photos. Before we left, Chicago had a working fire at 96th and Wallace. When it went to a Still and Box, we started that way. They reported a large garage in the rear with communication problems. By the time we arrived, it had been struck out. We got photos of a number of rigs still on the scene.

It started to drizzle slightly as we left the scene and we started looking for a place to have lunch. We ate at a nearby Applebee’s Restaurant. On the way back north we went through the south side and caught photos of CFD Stations 82, 54, 61, 45, 19 (got photos of Engine 19 out front), 16, 29 and 28- pretty much completing the south third of the city.

We stopped at Mario’s on the way back to the northwest side. Considering it was overcast most of the day, we certainly had a productive and rewarding day.

The Roving Reporter

Day 4 - In Chicago and Suburbs

August 29, 2004- More from the Windy City

We took our time getting out on the street this morning. We didn’t leave the Van Vorst home until 11AM. As it was Sunday, we decided to focus on getting photos of the remaining downtown stations we needed. It was a gorgeous sunny day with few clouds and temperatures in the mid 70s. We just had to stop by Mario’s Italian Lemonade Stand (extraordinaire) on the way into downtown. We got photos of Station 8, Old Station 104, Station 5, Station 42 and Station 98, all in the downtown area.

Just as we pulled up in front of Station 98 (just after noon), Berwyn reported a working fire at 6240 Cermak Road in the “World’s Largest Laundry” (which boasts that they have 250+ laundry machines). We were going to try and get photos of old Snorkel Squad 1’s quarters and a few others, but the Berwyn alarm quickly went to a Still and Box.

We headed towards the freeway, and just as were getting on the freeway, they struck a 2-11 alarm for the fire. Berwyn is in MABAS District 11 (Mutual Aid Box Alarm System) and the apparatus on the extra alarms were mostly MABAS District 11 companies. We could see a good loom-up from downtown Chicago as we entered the freeway ramp. We easily transitioned to the Eisenhower Freeway and headed west. Traffic was light and we made it out to Berwyn in less than ten minutes. We took side streets into the fire scene to avoid all the backed up traffic on the main thoroughfares in the area. We found a great place to park a block away and quickly walked into the north side (rear) of the fire building. I brought my video camera along with the digital and slide cameras.

The fire building was a one-story, approximately 100 x 125with thick black smoke pushing through the roof and billowing hundreds of feet in the air. Cicero Engine 2 had a deck gun going in the rear and truck companies were already setting up water towers on the back side as we arrived in the rear of the building. Smoke was drifting south across Cermak Road. The only exposure was a two-story apartments over commercial building that adjoined the laundry on the east side.

The thick billowing smoke had already attracted hundreds of spectators lining the streets all around the fire. Police tried their best to keep everyone back (including Paige and I). We took a number of photos on the backside (north side) of the building before we headed around front. The smoke was billowing south across Cermak Road and at times it was very difficult to see on the south side of the fire building. Firefighters did a great job of keeping the fire from extending to the adjacent east exposure building. There were least two small collapses on the front side (south) of the fire building while we were on this side. Berwyn Ladder 1 (using Quint 1’s apparatus) had an aerial stream going on Cermak Road.

We counted ten engines and four trucks at the scene along with a Squad, Air Truck, Command Van and various chief’s vehicles. Because of the police fire lines, we were not able to get photos of all the rigs at the scene. I took a number of fire photos from various angles and also videotaped the fire as best I could between digital and slide photos.

We left the scene around 2PM and when we returned to the Van Vorst home around 2:30, Donna had prepared a wonderful pot roast dinner. Devon (their visiting grandson) told Paige “PaPa, you smell.” We were both pretty smoky from being on the south side of the fire. Vehicles parked in that area had been covered with soot and embers. As best I can account from the reports on Paige’s pager and from what we heard, the following was the approximate response (times approximate):

12:40	Still Alarm		Berwyn Eng’s 901-902-903		Berwyn Lad (using Qnt 901)

12:48	Still and Box	Cicero Eng 2, Stickney E2       Stickney Lad 1204

12:58   2-11 Alarm		Forest Pk E401, River Forest E222	Oak Park L631	Lyons Sqd 1316

12:59   3-11 Alarm            Broadview E, Brookfield E411    River Forest L

13:01   4-11 Alarm            Bridgeview E, Westchester E

The Roving Reporter

Day 5 - In Chicago and Suburbs

August 30, 2004

We woke up to a beautiful morning, plenty of sunshine and temperatures in the upper 50s. We headed to Gary, Indiana to visit at least a few of their stations and maybe a few in Hammond, Indiana. Paige, Chuck Bleck and myself tried to do this back in the mid-seventies, but we were interrupted by a 3-11 on Chicago’s south side (great fire, by the way).

We headed in the Kennedy and stopped at the CFD Academy to see if any CFD rigs were there for training. We got photos of Engines 80 and 81, Truck 58 and a training engine. A police wrecker was picking up two old smashed up CPD squad cars that had been used for extrication drills. I told the driver they needed a little repair and he quickly quipped, “Oh, I’m just taking them in for grease and oil and bringing them back!” Paige and I howled with laughter.

We got back on the freeway (Dan Ryan at this point) and headed towards Indiana. We stopped briefly at the Chicago White Sox stadium (US Cellular Field) to see if any rigs were doing driver training in their huge lots (they normally do on a regular basis). But this morning, the lot was empty.

We took the “Skyway Toll Road” all the way into Gary (toll $2.00). We got off downtown at their headquarters station and got photos of Engine 1 and Ladder 1. It was a beautiful 75 degrees and sunny. Our next stop was Station 6, recently closed and now used for training. We met the Chief of Department and his Assistant Chief (a 5-11 Club member) at the station. We heard talk of a drill on the radio and asked them where it was. They told us how to get there and we were off to the drill.

The Gary FD has been buying Ferrara fire trucks exclusively since 1999 and all pumpers have been Ferrara Inferno since then . They also have a few older Seagrave and Pierce pumpers still left in first-line service. They still feature that strange, but kinda neat (it really grows on you), blue over red paint scheme.

We drove by Station 3 on the way down to the drill area and got a photo. The GFD drill area is in an out-of-the-way compound that was a former Civil Defense Base. We found Squad 2, Engine 3, and Engine 7 were still picking up and got photos. We went to nearby Station 5 and got photos of their engine (parked out front) and station. Engine 4 and Ladder 4 were dispatched to a bad accident at 25th and Grant. On the way to the accident we took quick photos of Stations 10 and 4 before arriving at the accident where got photos of Engine 4, still at the scene.

As we were heading to Station 2, we got a quick photo of Ladder 4 as they headed in the opposite direction. Station 2 was empty as Squad 2 is its only remaining in-service company (Engine 2 and Ladder 2 have also been taken out of service). We went by and got a station photo of Station 12 as we headed out to the northeast corner of the city- a very nice area.

Station 7 (one of the cities newest), is home to Engine 7 and Ladder 7 and is in a very up-scale area of the city. The city embarrassingly had to recently buy back the station from a third party who had paid the delinquent taxes and bought the station at auction. Talk about a mix-up and/or oversight! We got photos of the tower ladder and old (no so old really) Engine 2 (now a reserve piece).

We were told by a firefighter that nearby Station 11 had been closed two weeks ago due to budget cuts. It was by far the slowest station in the city and is the far northeast corner of the city in a neighborhood of very expensive homes. It leaves that far northeast corner of the city with only an engine and ladder, with second-due units coming all the way from downtown Gary. We also took photos of closed Station 11.

We heard more companies on the radio headed to training. We started back that way, but dropped by Station 9 (Engine 9 was out front) and Station 8 (Engine 8 was on the way to training). When we got to training, Engine 4, Engine 8 and Ladder 4 were all there. We took photos and headed to the last station in the city, Station 13. Quint 13, using old Engine 11, and Tanker 13 were parked out front. Quint 13 normally uses an identical rig to Ladder 4, but it was in the shop getting new tires.

Gary Station 14 is actually the newest in the department and has a crash rig at the little-used Gary Airport. We didn’t even try getting onto the airport property. As it was 3:00 and we were a long ways from the Van Vorst homestead, we dead-headed back on nearvy I-80/I-94 to Chicago. We’ll have to try and catch Hammond some other time.

We made really good time on the Dan Ryan into downtown Chicago. Just as we were about to get off the freeway, my cell phone rang and Peter VonBergen was calling from nearby LaPorte, Indiana. We explained to him how to get to Paige’s home so he could join us for dinner.

We stopped by the CFD Academy to see if any rigs were still there and then headed to near-by Mario’s Italian Lemonade stan- for the most refreshing drink known to mankind. On the way back through the city, we stopped at CFD Station 57 (one of the few I had left to get digital and slide photos of).

Peter arrived around 5:15 at the Van Vorst home and when Donna returned home from work around 5:30 we headed to dinner at a nearby Polish buffet restaurant. We had a great meal and returned to the Van Vorst home. We asked Peter if he wanted to check out Mario’s Lemonade Stand, explaining to him that it was one of a kind. Peter said he was up for heading down to Mario’s for an after dinner treat. We purposely drove in through city streets so we could go by a number of CFD stations.

As we were heading down Pulaski Road, CFD Engine 76 reported they were at 3908 Grand Avenue and reported they “had a fire”. We were very close to CFD Station 91 (home of Squad 2) at the time. Before we got to Station 91, the RIT Chief (Battalion 7) passed us Code 3 in response to the fire and Squad 2 was dispatched and responded to the fire- we could see them ahead. Battalion 8 arrived on the scene and reported he had a fire on the first floor with two lines working.

We arrived on the scene and light smoke was still coming from the building. Ladder 35 had raised its aerial to the roof and companies were busy overhauling. Engine 76, Engine 95, Truck 35, Truck 26 and Truck 36 were on the scene along with Squad 2, 2-7-1 (Communications Van) and Battalions 7 and 8. Engine 117 drove by the fire on their return from another nearby run.

We took a few photos and then left the scene, driving by a few more CFD houses on the way to Mario’s. While standing out front of Mario’s consuming our Italian Lemonades, we had the distinct pleasure of meeting Mario in person! His father (Mario Sr.) had started the business in 1954 and the family now owns a huge number of buildings in the adjacent area- all from profits of his famous little Italian Lemonade stand.

Paige, Peter and myself stood out front of his stand talking to Mario for almost 45 minutes. When we finished our drinks, he offered us samples of his Peach Italian Lemonade (just now in season). The Peach, we were told, is Jesse Jackson’s favorite. We talked about the reason they never changed the size of stand or opened other shops. He explained the reasons why and said that it was strictly a family operation and would probably always be that way. He talked of the politics in the area and the fight he was having with an area activist that wants to shut his business down. It was quite an interesting conversation. Mario is a very interesting person and obviously a very hard worker- setting up the stand every morning and then opening it at 10AM.

I told Mario what an honor it was to meet him as I’d been visiting his stand religiously on each and every trip to Chicago since the early 70s. I told Peter and Paige that it was probably a greater honor meeting Mario than meeting Mayor Daley. Then I thought again to myself- heck, it was even better than meeting the President of the United States! What a great guy- that Mario!

We finally headed back to the Van Vorst home where we sat outside on the back porch under the full moon and visited for another hour or so before Peter had to take off for a motel. What another great day for Paige and myself. We had a great day buffing, two visits to Mario’s, a very nice dinner and visit with Peter VonBergen, caught a CFD working fire, and then met Mario in person- you’d think I’d died and gone to heaven.

Hope your day was as enjoyable as ours was!

The Roving Reporter

Day 6 - In Chicago and Suburbs

August 31, 2004

Our mission today was to finish photographing CFD Stations, both those in operation and old vacated stations. We started out by going by the Training Academy and got shots of Engine 81 and Engine 82. We stopped by Mario’s for a morning Italian Lemonade and decided to eat an early lunch across the street at Al’s Roast Beef (often times winner of Chicago’s Best Roast Beef). Hmmmmm, good!

Just as we finished our meal, we heard nearby Engine 8 and Truck 4 take a run somewhere nearby (we missed the address) and headed towards Station 8. When they were cancelled, we parked near the station and got photos as they returned. We headed out Archer Avenue to Station 65 (the Back Draft fire station) and got a photo of it with its new doors (they recently replaced the classic rounded with wider square doors). We stopped at nearby Station 34 and got an indoor photo of Tower Ladder 54.

We had a great time at our next destination- Station 64. The guys out there were very friendly and very entertaining. The Fire Motor Operators of Engine 64 and Truck 31 have a combined total of 73 years on the job. They pulled the rigs out for us and then we took photos of them next to their rigs (to send back to them). They invited us in for lunch, but we explained that we already had lunch.

As we were heading to Station 32, Engine 127 was sent on a medical assist just as we were headed towards that area. We stopped and got a photo of their rig at the scene. CFD Station 32, on the west side of Chicago Midway Airport was our next stop. We got a few photos there and had only CFD Station 113 left on our agenda.

We headed out through Berwyn on the way back to visit their three stations (a quint, two engines and a truck company). We stopped by Station 1 to find the crew out. At Station 2 we ran into a crew that was headed back to the scene of Sunday’s 4-11. They invited us to stop by and take some photos. We drove by the fire scene and the remains of the fire building about to be demolished. The building was actually 125 x 100-feet in size and you could see where there had been a little extension to a neighboring building. We took photos and then went by Berwyn’s other station and got photos of it.

She related to him that the occupants smelled smoke in the laundry for a period of time, but could not figure out where it was coming from. Then suddenly, someone looked up into the ceiling area and saw flames up in the ceiling tiles. Someone in the laundry yelled “fire” and everybody abandoned their wash and ran towards the front doors. The secretary said that as she looked back while she exited the front door, all she could see was thick black smoke. The fire was already roaring- before the fire department had been called. The secretary, by the way, lost her two loads of wash.

We visited the other two Cicero Stations, the headquarters station being built right next to their old turn-of-the-century station. The old station is still being used for vehicle and equipment storage. Engine 2 and the offices are quartered in the new facility. The old station had been deemed a historical landmark. The southern station is their newest and houses Engine 3, Ladder 1 and the MABAS District 11 Communications truck.

We went to nearby CFD Station 113 and got a station photo. Then on our return to the Van Vorst home, we took in a nearby “Level 1 Hazmat Incident.” We got photos of Engine 125, Ladder 53, Squad 2, Squad 2A and CFD Haz Mat rig 5-1-1 on the scene. There were two 55-gallon drums of some unknown substance left on the boulevard next to a parked car. It wasn’t long before the Haz Mat incident was struck out.

We got back to the Van Vorst home around 5:00 and Paige and Donna took me to a wonderful dinner at a restaurant- “The Blue Angel”. It was great! We were all more than satisfied, as we almost had to crawl out of the place. They serve great portions of very good food.

There was only one Still and Box fire in Chicago all day, an early morning fire in a grocery/liquor store at 3201 West 63rd Street (in Engine 88’s still district) around 4AM. Paige’s fire pager hadn’t even go off once all day (Peter- you didn’t miss a thing).

That’s all for now from the Windy City today.

The Roving Reporter

Day 7 - Chicago to Minneapolis (last day)

September 1, 2004

We had hoped to get Chuck Bleck to accompany us on my last day in town, but Chuck and Roz already had plans for the day. Paige and I left his home and decided to finish off getting photos of the remaining former stations still standing.

We got photos of old CFD Stations 86, 128 and 79 on the far north side before going by nearby CFD Station 83 (which I missed in June). Then it was on to old Stations 91 (actually lettered “92” and another whole story in itself), 114, 85, 67, and 95. As we were shooting old 95’s, Engine 95 came down Madison Avenue Code 3 on the way to a medical. We got photos of Engine 95 at the scene.

Then it was on to old Stations 115 (for a time home of CFD Snorkel Squad 3), and 26 (just recently refurbished and gorgeous). We stopped at the nearby CFD Academy and got a few photos before heading to Mario’s for a quick pick-me-up. We found old Station 34 still standing. As we were leaving, CFD Truck 19 was sent to a medical run just four blocks north. We stopped by and got photos of Truck 19.

We returned to the Academy as we heard on the scanner that Squad 2 and a couple Battalion Chiefs report that they were headed there. When we arrived at the Academy we got photos of a number of rigs that showed up for afternoon classes. We heard Truck 52 say they were going to training at 39th and Damen and headed out to see what was going on. We arrived to see Engine 65 and Truck 52 (using a reserve piece) flowing water for a drill in the park. We got photos before heading back towards the loop.

We only had a few old CFD stations left. We got photos of old SS-1’s quarters (a former fire insurance patrol station). I spent many a day and night riding with Snorkel Squad 1 back in the 70s from this old house. We finished up the old stations by visiting old Stations 27, 42,Truck 3, 35 and 106. As we were leaving old 106’s (which was closed because of building of the adjacent Kennedy Expressway), I noticed a thumping in my right rear tire. Paige got out and found a large bolt imbedded in my tire. Luckily, we were not that far from the service station that Paige trades at and we made it to the station before the tire lost much air. They quickly repaired the hole in the tire and we returned to the Van Vorst home.

We went out to dinner at the Old Country Buffet near CFD Station 125. As we were leaving for home, the Melrose Park FD declared a working fire in the 1900 block of Ruby. The fire was in the second suburb west of where we were (near the western city limits of Chicago). We headed out Grand Avenue through Elmwood Park. We cancelled when they put the fire under control and we were still about three good miles away and traffic was very slow going. We stopped at a local Dairy Queen on our return, one of only two in the city of Chicago. To Chicago’s credit however, there are a number of very similar Tasty Freeze outlets in the city.

I was really sad when I realized this was my last night in the Windy City. Paige and Donna were wonderful hosts and made me feel so very at home on my visit. I had a wonderful visit and was able to complete my quest of photographing all the CFD stations- including the closed stations that are still standing.

The Gary, Indiana visit was a real adventure for Paige and I. We were in Gary in the 70s, but only got to see one station before Chicago struck a 3-11. I was surprised to find so many nice areas in Gary. Sadly, like so many other US cities, Gary has been recently forced to close a number of companies and a couple of stations due to budget limitations.

I hope to get back to spend more time at the CFD temporary museum with Chuck Bleck and the many volunteers there. It was very hot and uncomfortable on the day we were there. I’d sure like to have more time to view the great collection of material during more comfortable conditions. The amount of work that museum members have put into the project is astounding. It would be wonderful if they could acquire CFD Station 18 for a permanent home when new Station 18 opens.

The many trips to Mario’s Italian Lemonade stand are always something I look forward to. Actually meeting Mario, were very, very special. I tried a couple new flavors- the peach was pretty darn good, the chocolate wasn’t. The small stand has been a fixture in the same neighborhood for over 50 years. To me (and a lot of other returning customers) it’s as much a fixture of Chicago like Wrigley Field, the Merchandise Mart and the old Water Tower. I congratulate Mario for keeping up the great tradition his father started- still the World’s Greatest Italian Lemonade. Mario for Mayor! Heck- Mario for President!!!!

It was great when EAA member Peter Von Bergen joined us for one evening. I’ll bet it will be hard for Peter to stay away from Chicago in the future. I was great to see my old friend Jack Connors twice. It was also great to get to the Muster and 125th Anniversary Parade in Blue Island.

I was able to take in three CFD working stills, a CFD Still & Box Alarm and really lucked out being in town for the Berwyn 4-11. By the way, newspaper reports say that the owner of the “Worlds Largest Laundry” will rebuild- and the is saying the new laundry will be even bigger and better. I wonder if that means it will be a 5-11 next time? Just kidding of course.

All that taken into account, I’d say I had a great visit to the Windy City. I can’t wait to visit Chicago and the Van Vorsts again. Again, Paige and Donna, thank you for the wonderful hospitality.

I’ll be spending many enjoyable hours at home reading the first three volumes of the “History of Chicago Fire Houses” by Ken Little and John Mc Nalis, which I purchased at the CFD Fire Museum while visiting there with Chuck Bleck.

My thanks also go to Dave Freedman, the Extra Alarm Association Webmaster, for taking all the time to post these reports and photos.

The Roving Reporter