Fallen Chicago Firefighter will be missed!

This would be any firefighter's family's greatest fears. You just do not want to get that call. I am very thankful that my husband was attending our son's football banquet with us, and not out on this call. Praying for his family.. and his extended firefighting family. My husband knew him, Capt. Herbert Johnson, he was one of his instructors. "Great guy.." was his first response when he heard who he was. Followed by how sad it is, and what a great instructor he was when he taught as well.

Here is a link to the article. 

'Loved by everybody,' firefighter dies after South Side blaze

Feds Fault Dept in Deaths of Two Chicago Firefighters

My husband was there all day this horrible day for the department. I was at a show my daughter was in, and got a frantic call from him just saying, "Just so you know, I'm okay!" Then said, "I gotta go!" I was so thankful for that call, but it was a tough day watching the news and seeing this going on. They were there all day long, and reports were coming in about 2 fallen firefighters. Very sad. God bless those that run into harm's way for us!

Feds fault department in deaths of two Chicago firefighters

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Chicago firefighters watch as others dig to rescue their trapped comrades in a Dec. 22 fire in a vacant South Side building. Two firefighters died in the blaze. (E. Jason Wambsgans, Chicago Tribune / September 23, 2011)

By Ryan Haggerty, Liam Ford and William Lee, Tribune reporters

6:00 a.m. CDT, September 23, 2011

Poor communications and an insufficient number of radios were among shortcomings within the Chicago Fire Department that contributed to the deaths of two firefighters in a fire at an abandoned South Side laundry last December, according to a federal report.

The report by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health also pointed to the lack of a system to alert the Fire Department to hazardous buildings as among the "contributing factors" that cumulatively put firefighters at risk.

The report said few of the firefighters who were sent into the vacant, dilapidated building in the 1700 block of East 75th Street on Dec. 22 had radios and that supervisors outside the building had no idea what the firefighters inside were seeing: flames crawling up wooden beams to the ceiling.

As the firefighters fought the blaze from the inside, others were on the roof, spraying water and cutting holes to vent smoke right up until the roof collapsed. Two firefighters inside the building, Edward Stringer, 47, and Corey Ankum, 34, were killed, and 19 other firefighters were injured.

Tim Merinar, who led the federal agency's investigation, said Fire Department supervisors should have taken a more defensive approach and ordered more firefighters out of the building once it was clear that no one was trapped inside, as firefighters had feared when they arrived at the early morning blaze.

The Fire Department received the report in July and has already implemented some of the agency's recommendations, department spokesman Larry Langford said Thursday.

The Fire Department now requires that firefighters inside a building provide more details to commanders about the situation, Langford said.

The department has also begun hanging tags on each firetruck that identify every firefighter assigned to the vehicle, in response to the report's recommendation that the department improve its ability to account for all firefighters working at a specific incident.

But one major recommendation — putting radios in the hands of every firefighter — won't be implemented until sometime in 2012, when the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communication says a much-delayed digital radio system will be operational.

The department currently provides a radio to one member of each team of two or three firefighters, Langford said.

Only five of the 13 firefighters who were in the building when the roof collapsed had radios, and none of those firefighters provided supervisors outside the building with a description of the conditions inside, the report said.

(read more)

Our New Mayor

Chicago now has a new mayor,  Rahm Emanuel. Right now, this is all I can really say. Just sharing some thoughts.

City unions guarded about Emanuel's victory

Police officers, firefighters voice concerns about pensions

Martin Ramirez cleans the streets and sidewalks in downtown Chicago Wednesday. Ramirez, a Streets and Sanitation worker for 23 years, says he is uneasy about his job security. (Nancy Stone, Chicago Tribune / February 23, 2011)

Leaders of several unions representing city workers weren't ready to take on Rahm Emanuel a day after he was elected mayor, despite his campaign promise to press for benefit reductions because of the city's looming budget crisis.

"I don't think anybody really knows what to expect right now," said Chicago firefighters union president Tom Ryan, who left his congratulations to Emanuel in a voice mail Wednesday. "It's definitely going to be an adjustment period."

Both the firefighters and police unions backed the candidacy of second-place finisher Gery Chico. Ryan said he plans to "proceed with caution" as Emanuel prepares to take office in May, while police union president Mark Donahue promised to work with the new mayor "as diligently as possible."

Donahue said officers are worried they might have to pay more into the pension fund.

"The most important aspect is the integrity of the fund," he said. "We'll do all we can to maintain the integrity of the fund and benefits the officers have earned."

Ryan and other union leaders said Chicago's pension shortfall is the biggest issue facing city employees. Growing pension obligations account for about half of the $1 billion-plus budget hole expected next year.

Emanuel was the only major mayoral candidate who did not rule out cutting pension benefits for existing employees.

Michael Shields, a police pension board member who is also running for union president, said retired officers are concerned their pensions could be "diminished or impaired."

"What I don't like is that retirees are calling and saying, 'Mike, what's going to happen to my fixed income here?'" Shields said.

"We knew when we took this job we weren't going to be rich," one police officer said. "But don't make us poor."

(read the rest of the article here) 

Sad day for the Chicago Fire Department

2 firefighters dead, 17 hurt in extra-alarm blaze

December 22, 2010 2:44 PM | No Comments | UPDATED STORY

Chicago fire personnel evacuate an injured firefighter at a extra-alarm fire at 1700 East 75th Street. (E. Jason Wambsgans/ Chicago Tribune) | MORE PHOTOS
Corey Ankum and Edward Stringer were among a dozen firefighters putting out a blaze in an abandoned building at daybreak today when suddenly the roof gave way.
Steven Ellerson, a 20-year veteran, and others swarmed inside to rescue them. "He heard someone calling for help and he looked for him," Ellerson's brother Maurice Matthews said.
Ellerson found Ankum on the floor, gasping.

Firefighters dig through rubble as they search for trapped colleagues after a brick wall collapsed at a South Side fire in a vacant commercial building. (WGN-TV)
"He found him and knew he was struggling to breathe so he took off his mask to give him some oxygen," Matthews said. "Corey's head was stuck somehow and they couldn't get him out. So my brother went to give him his coat but they came and got my brother out of there. My brother didn't want to leave him, but there was no choice.
"It was a chaotic scene," Matthews said. "These guys put their lives on the line every day."
Stringer and another trapped firefighter was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, police closing ramps and clearing the way for the ambulances. Ankum was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn.
Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford said both firefighters died of trauma. Ankum had been with the department less than two years, Stringer about 12 years.
The other trapped firefighter taken to Northwestern was "stable," according to Chicago Fire Cmsr. Robert Hoff. In all, 19 firefighters suffered injuries, Hoff said at an afternoon news conference. He said the injuries of those who survived were not considered life-threatening.
This is the worst fire for the department since February 1998, when two firefighters died in a blaze. A roof collapsed at 10611 S. Western Avenue, killing Patrick King, 40, and Anthony Lockhart, 40. They were among the first to enter the building. In August, Christopher Wheatley died when he fell about 35 feet off a ladder while battling a fire at a West Loop restaurant.
The deaths came on the 100th anniversary of a huge fire at the Union Stockyards that claimed the life of 21 Chicago firefighters, the single greatest loss in U.S. history of professional big-city firefighters until Sept. 11, 2001.
Late this morning, dozens of firefighters stood at attention, removing their caps and saluting, as Ankum's body was taken from the hospital and put in an ambulance.  A police escort led the ambulance to the medical examiner's office.
A similar procession with a dozen department vehicles left Northwestern just after noon with Stringer's body.
A little before 1 p.m., a member of the Fire Department walked out of the Cook County morgue carrying a folded City of Chicago flag and a red plastic bag and clothing that one of the fallen firefighters was wearing when he died.
The firefighter said about 50 members of the department gathered inside the medical examiner's office to honor their dead comrades' bravery and service.
"Bravery, honor, valor, and a commitment to duty. It's just paying tribute," he said. "We're all devastated."
He described the dead as "excellent men and excellent firemen."
The firefighter's job was keeping track of the fallen firefighter's belongings. "It's an honorable task," he said.
Hoff said firefighters were in the building and on the roof, searching for hot spots and whether anyone was inside, when the roof collapsed. The two who died were inside the building, he said.
"The search effort was aggressive, two members were found immediately," Hoff said at a news conference. "Every firefighter that was there did the best they could to save their brothers.
"We had to use some extrication devices to get at a couple of them. The structure was a flat roof in the front and a bow-string truss in the back. The roof was made of heavy timber. We're investigating what caused that heavy roof to collapse.
"We can only put a theory out there that, because the fire wasn't that well involved in that area. . .that maybe the snow and ice (were a factor). Maybe the age of the building contributed?"
Hoff said officials decided to search inside the building because "people in this kind of weather seek refuge and we take no building as being vacant. We do it cautiously, but we go in for people who may try to get out of the cold."
Hoff said there was "no indication to the chief officers and company officers at the scene that (the roof) was in danger of collapse. That's when we make our decision to go in and do a search."
Hoff would not speculate on what caused the fire.
Firefighters -- their faces and uniforms covered in soot -- shook their heads as they embraced one another after the search was called off.
At Northwestern, about half a dozen police cars and several fire vehicles were parked in front of the emergency room after two ambulances arrived from the fire. Truck 122 pulled up and three firefighters walked in, including a lieutenant. One  firefighter from Truck 122 was on a cell phone and wiped away tears with his jacket.
Robert Smart, owner of the Smart Bros. Car Wash and Detailing next door to the burned building, said he arrived at his business at 7 a.m. to find the block swarming with firefighters.
He saw two people being brought out on stretchers, followed by two firefighters. He got a good look at one fireman. "He looked pretty bad," said Smart, adding the firefighter did not appear conscious.
Rescuers appeared to be trying to revive the injured firefighter in the middle of the street as they waited for an ambulance to arrive.
Jorico Smart, who with his father Robert has owned the car wash for 16 years, said he has called police at least a dozen times in recent years to report people trespassing in the abandoned building next door.
Smart characterized the trespassers as squatters. Last month, Smart's brother called police to report a break-in.
Chuck Dai, who co-owns the building with a younger brother, said he has been struggling to keep squatters from entering ever since his laundry business at the site failed about six years ago and he stopped paying property taxes on the site.
"It's been a tiresome battle just to keep it buttoned up and everything," said Dai, 61, speaking from another laundromat he owns nearby.
Though the property has been boarded up several times,  he said, "somehow they managed to break in."
Dai said he had no idea how the fire started. He learned about the dramatic rescue attempt and the death of two city firefighters while watching the morning news in horror, he said.
"I'm pretty down right now," Dai said, his voice growing hoarse with emotion. "I'm at a loss for words about the whole situation. I feel bad about the firemen getting hurt."
The fire broke out about 6:54 a.m. in the abandoned one-story brick building in the 1700 block of East 75th Street.
The fire was raised to two and then three alarms to save the trapped firefighters; Hoff said that there was no indication that the fire was in the truss roof at the time the roof collapsed. A "mayday" was called. Firefighters also reported having problems with frozen hydrants, but Hoff said only one hydrant was frozen and it was not hampering firefighting efforts when the collapse happened.
-- Pat Curry, Cynthia Dizikes, Carlos Sadovi, Will Lee, Serena Maria Daniels, Jeremy Gorner, Antonio Olivo and Noreen Ahmed-Ullah

Fallen Chicago firefighters remembered

Fallen Chicago firefighters remembered in memorial service

September 26, 2010 5:15 PM | No Comments

Kimberley Skubic, center, remembers her brother, Chicago Firefighter Christopher Wheatley who died in August battling a blaze at Avec restaurant downtown during the Chicago Fire Department Local second annual Memorial Ceremony at Rosehill Cemetery, honoring fallen firefighters today. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)
Every year, they come to pay their respect to fellow firefighters who went before them.

Today, the 28th annual memorial service at Rosehill Cemetery was more somber than usual. Firefighters clad in blue uniforms with white gloves and others in black leather and blue jeans paid special tribute to Christopher Wheatley, the first member of the Chicago Fire Department to die battling a blaze in more than a decade.

"It's one of the toughest things for a family to go through," fire Commissioner Robert Hoff said to Wheatley's family. "We're sorry for your loss. It's our loss also."

Wheatley, 31, answered the call to a grease-chute fire at a West Loop restaurant on Aug. 9. He was climbing a fire-escape ladder, weighed down with 40 pounds of gear, when he slipped and fell to his death.

"We just went through this tragedy with Wheatley. It's so new and fresh," said Kenny Taylor, a 22-year department veteran who routinely attends the Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local No. 2 memorial service. "It's just about respecting all these guys."

It was Wheatley's lifelong dream to become a firefighter, his family said. With hard work and diligence, he achieved that goal in 2008 after eight years as a paramedic. Wheatley was passionate about fighting fires, and he never hesitated to run into a burning building while others were running out.

"As hard as it is to go through these events, we continue to come to honor our son," his mother, Mary Wheatley, said after the ceremony. "Our family never has to worry about what should have been said. We always knew he loved us, and he always knew we loved him. We said it to each other every day."

--Kristen Mack