Saturday, June 18, 2005
There were a couple of fires during the night. One fire involved a couple of alley garages in the 13th Battalion and the other was way out south after I went to bed and I’m not sure what was involved in fire.
Shortly after 0800 hours, we left for the 5-11 Club/Fire Buffs of Illinois “Chicago Fire Muster: at the Chicago Fire Department Academy. The weather forecast was for near perfect 70-degree sunny weather. It was about as perfect as you can get. By the way, so far, it has never rained on the Chicago Fire Muster.
When we arrived at the Academy there were already six antique rigs on display along with the CFD’s newest unit, the High Pressure Ventilation unit (9-2-3). The many vendors had already set up their tables on the south side of the CFD Academy.
There were not a lot on antique rigs on display this year. The Chicago Fire Museum arrived after a while with their 1928 Seagrave 65-foot CFD Water Tower 3. Another fantastic rig, a fully restored 1925 Seagrave engine arrived on a trailer towed by a former Mack CF tractor (a former pumper with the apparatus body removed). Later, a mid-60’s Dodge pumper also showed up. There was also a 1948 Pirsch (former quad) giving rides to those that were interested and wanted to pay $2 for Children and $4 for Adults. The quad had a number of bus seats installed in the old apparatus body and made a great rig for giving rides to nearby CFD Station 18, built in 1873.
The Chicago Fire Department had a number of companies stop by during the 8am to 2pm event. CFD Engines 5 & 18, Trucks 2, 4, & 6, Command Van 6-7-1, the Collapse Rig (5-2-1), Special Operations rig (5-6-5), and the Diving Truck (6-8-7) all showed up at different times.
The best part of the entire event was getting to visit with the many Chicago area buffs, retired and active firefighters, and other buffs and fire enthusiasts from around the country. My old friend Dick Adelman and his son Jim Adelman (both from Memphis) had a vendor table at this years muster. Dick retired from the Memphis FD in 1982 and his son Jim is still on the department. There were buffs from as far away as Boston who attended this year’s muster. I got a chance to visit with long-time good friend Chuck Bleck, who I first met some 40 years ago.
CFD Captain Jack Connors, who helps coordinate the muster each year, is retiring this coming Thursday after 38 plus years on the Chicago Fire Department. I wish Jack the very best in his retirement. It was so nice to see retired Chief Fire Alarm Operator Kenny Little at the muster again. We had a number of interesting conversations during the event, some with a couple of his retired firefighting buddies who told some great stories.
The best story I heard was about a firefighter who was detailed to drive a battalion chief’s buggy on the cities west side sometime back in the late 50s. Apparently he hated driving the buggy in the first place and disliked immensely the chief he was assigned to drive that night. They were using a spare chiefs buggy, which was only equipped with a wig-wag light mounted in the grill (with no rotating beacon on top). The buggy was painted the traditional CFD black over red color.
The battalion chief was assigned a run, substituting for another battalion chief already on another run. It was a fairly long run from where they were. While on the run, they picked up a Chicago Police Department squad car, which followed them for quite a ways with his rotating beacon flashing. They assumed he was following to see where the fire was. The battalion buggy got almost to the scene before being cancelled from the run. The buggy driver decided to pull over to the side to let the police officer know that they had been cancelled from the run.
When the driver approached the police officer, he noticed the police office had his revolver out. When the officer saw the firefighter’s uniform, the officer seemed stunned to realize the driver was with the fire department. The officer said that he’d been “chasing them for miles” as he thought they might have committed a serious crime and were trying to escape, driving as fast as they were. The police officer told the firefighter that he had shot his revolver at them three different times while he was chasing them, trying to get them to stop. Luckily, the police officer’s aim was not very accurate. After that episode, the firefighter refused to ever again take the wheel of a chief’s buggy.
There were a lot of model fire trucks, t-shirts, patches, videotapes and other firematic items for sale at this years muster. I was very disappointed at the lack of firefighting and/or fire apparatus books available for sale. One of the hottest items in the toy market this year was a collection that included the three two-piece units of CFD Squads 1, 2 and 5- just recently made available. The collection of the six rigs and a display case, was selling for about $320.00.
Near the end of the muster, Paige introduced me to William “Bill” Post, a fascinating local Chicago buff who has not only a tremendous memory of CFD history, but is exceptionally knowledgeable about fire departments across the country. I thought I knew a lot about what was going on, but Bill knows a lot more than I do. We had a long and very interesting visit. I have been reading Bill’s very interesting and informative posts on the CPFD2003 Yahoo website over the past year or more.
We stopped at Mario’s Italian Lemonade Stand on the way back for the some awesome refreshment. It was nice to see that the city has now named that block of Taylor Street (where Mario's small business is located) after he and/or his father. When we got back to the Van Vorst home, Donna had prepared a very nice dinner for us. Following dinner, we had a very nice walk over to and through nearby Portage Park and back. It was another gorgeous evening in The Windy City. I was definently not looking forward to leaving Chicago the following morning.
As it turned out, around 1600 hours on Sunday, Chicago had a 4-11 Alarm fire in the 3000 block of N Broadway, about six miles from the Van Vorst home. The fire involved a large Dominick’s Supermarket that was open when the fire broke out. The news footage on WGN-TV that night looked like the place was really goin. Oh well, that’s the way it goes sometimes. I had a great time, even without the 4-11, thanks to Paige and Donna Van Vorst.
Your Roving Reporter
