Not to step on Steve's toes on this terrific thread, but thought I would add a video clip from the 1960's of a pin-in crash on the Dan Ryan at 18th Street. Sorry no specific date known.
Great shots Steve, I love the old stuff. I had the chance to ride with Squad 1 in 95 or 96. The guys were great but were upset that they didn't go to a fire the tour before. We went to 2 fires the night I rode but I will be damned if I can find them.
This was a 2-11 at 43rd and Lasalle, around 1978 or so...I shot this and developed it in my own darkroom...I rode engine 84 to this fire and we dropped 2 lines...the officer was Ray Orozco senior, later fire commissioner in the 90s...I believe this is engine 50 we are looking at, as their Pierce had the 2 888 lights on the cab...you can see snorkel 3 working in the background...In those days I wanted to be a Chicago fireman more than anything in the world...how different it all is now!!
I always loved the WLF ambassodor series...this was a fire from the mid 1970s, but I can't recall where....a nice front view taken with my old Canon GIII17...the first 35mm camera I ever owned...shot on kodacolor II print film....
1038 2365 5732-36 S. Halsted 2-11 1 114 Apart B 3 30 x 40 06 three buildings and garages June 1977
I rode with my dad, then 12th battalion chief in the buggy to this fire..that's him in the white helmet in the right side of the photo....as I recall a few lengths of hose were burned up in the alley while awaiting water
Chicago has always been one of my favorite cities to buff. In September of 1970 Duane Troxel and I visited Chicago to shoot the entire department. On the first Saturday in the Windy City we met up with fellow buff Chuck Bleck at the motel we were staying at on N. La Salle. Shortly after Chuck met us, the CFD struck a Still & Box in 1200 block of N. Clybourn. We jumped into Duane's car in a light rain and drove the fairly short distance to the fire scene. Here are Duane (left) and Chuck (right) running ahead of me into the fire scene. I believe it was a 2-11 about this time. It would go to a 3-11.
It was a warehouse that was really rolling. Here's another shot as we're approaching the scene. Note Big John on the scene already and I believe that was Truck 19's Pirsch aerial.
Chicago Snorkel operating and Big John being set up. The locals were not too happy with the firefighters as they began to knock down the fire. A warning came over the radio that locals were using axes to chop hose lines. Duane, Chuck and myself made a quick exit before things got out of hand. It was kind of scary!
Here's my last shot as we were leaving the area. It was raining pretty good as we exited. As you can see, the Chicago FD crews were getting a pretty good handle on the fire by this time, but would be on the scene for hours.
That was a young chuck bleck.....he doesn't look like that now anymore...come to think of it I don't look like I did back then either <img src='http://www.firepics.net/groupboards/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.png' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' />
Chicago has always been one of my favorite cities to buff. In September of 1970 Duane Troxel and I visited Chicago to shoot the entire department. On the first Saturday in the Windy City we met up with fellow buff Chuck Bleck at the motel we were staying at on N. La Salle. Shortly after Chuck met us, the CFD struck a Still & Box in 1200 block of N. Clybourn. We jumped into Duane's car in a light rain and drove the fairly short distance to the fire scene. Here are Duane (left) and Chuck (right) running ahead of me into the fire scene. I believe it was a 2-11 about this time. It would go to a 3-11.
- Photo by Steve Skaar
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Nice shots, Skaar. Maybe it has already been done, but do you have and have you posted Duane's apparatus shots from the Chicago visit? Knowing Duane's work, those have to be great.
Steve R.-great thread. But we kind of take that for granted from you. Just love these shots from back in the day.