Anyone have any updates on Chicago squads.

[firepost]

Given all that goes on in that city as it pertains to fire and ems response one would think they would be far more supported by the city. I understand they have fiscal issues . Show me any urban American city with fiscal issues and I'll show you a dept. that's probably woefully supported fiscally . That being said , if anything ever makes sense , rarely will it ever be applied to an agency that would make the most of it.

One of the things that is quite positive here in Chicago is that the fire department has been very lucky in many ways. Chicago is one of  the few big cities that normally run with 5 man Engines and Truck companies.The Union (Local 2) also fared pretty well in the negotiations with the City and it's relatively new mayor a few years ago and manpower reductions weren't made as the city was talking about reducing the manpower at double company (Engine and Truck) stations by taking the 5th man off of the Engines in stations were Engines and Trucks were located together. Chicago  also didn't reduce companies in service in recent years either and we never had to deal with rolling brownouts  that some other fire departments had to deal with. In the previous union contract which was in effect during the early and mid 2000's fire suppression companies couldn't be reduced so while 3 Engine companies had been taken out of service during the mid 2000's they were replaced by 2 new Truck companies and a second Hazardous Materials company. Two years ago Chicago's 15 BLS (basic life support) Ambulances were converted into ALS (Advanced Life Support) units which had increased  the fleet from 60 to 75 ALS ambulances and also had eliminated the BLS ambulance program which was begun in June of 2000.