The Central Stickney FPD (IL) had a worker the other night @ 4830 s Lockwood in an unincorporated area of Chicago. Engine 905 arrived to find fire showing in the rear with heavy smoke showing from the front. They had two lines lead out and Summit Engine 954 laddered the roof and did some vertical ventilation.
This fire happened the evening of April 30 about 48th Place just west of Kedzie in Chicago. Companies initially reported an auto fire adjacent to the building but shortly declared a working fire. This was, from what I could tell, a fire resistive structure with concrete floors. The fire involved mattresses and foam padding in a large area of the first floor. Weather conditions were poor … rainfall kept the smoke low and visibility to a minimum. Flash photos were pretty much impossible and both my camera and I got a thorough soaking. The new TL 39 and TL54 were both utilized with the buckets low to the ground to work their streams deep into the first floor. Multiversals and numerous handlines were also utilized. The attack lasted a few hours and cautious interior asessments were conducted in the later stages using TIC and search ropes.
Chicago firefighters battled a 3-11 Alarm fire in a three-story, 100×300 warehouse with mattresses on the first floor on the evening of April 30 during a downpour.
Wheeling (IL) firefighters were called to 298 Tilbury Lane in the Whippletree Village just before 3AM on Monday, 4-18-16. When units arrived they reported fire in a mobile home and upgraded to the Code 4 for the working fire. The flames were knocked down within 10 minutes and they were on the scene doing overhaul for another hour. Mutual aid units came from Buffalo Grove, Arlington Heights, and Northbrook. I arrived just after the 10-minute time stamp.
While on “patrol” in Detroit, we found a job at Gratiot and Seminole. We arrived to find a rapidly spreading fire involving two dwellings and it had not been reported. We were with the Detroit photo guy so he was able to report it directly to Central immediately by radio. We observed all the operations from pre-arrival to collapse. They pretty much considered this a let-it-burn job but there were several occupied exposures nearby that were well covered. The tower ladder was primarily a water curtain for radiant heat until the buildings collapsed, then used for overhaul. This was a spectacular event to witness and I was able to get an assortment of some nice images.
