The Prospect Heights Fire District Invites You to Attend Its Annual Open House Saturday, October 11th

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1 Fall 2014 IN THIS ISSUE: Fire District Open House Message from the Fire Chief Stop By and Visit Smokey One Lieutenant Leaves, Another Starts Prospect Heights and Wheeling Firefighters Train Together Employee Profile: Deputy Chief Timothy Jones Take Our Survey What is M.A.B.A.S.? Toys For Tots: Please drop your donations at the Fire Department by December 15 The Prospect Heights Fire District Invites You to Attend Its Annual Open House Saturday, October 11th The Fire District will host its annual open house on Saturday, October 11th 2014, from 10 am to 2 pm at the headquarters station located at 10 E Camp McDonald Rd. Open House for the Fire District coincides with Fire Prevention Week which commemorates the great Chicago Fire of That historic catastrophe killed more than 250 people and destroyed and burned more than 2,000 acres. The fire itself began October 8th and continued to burn until October 9th. This year s Open House theme as selected by the National Fire Protection Association is Working Smoke Alarms Save Lives. According to the National Fire Protection Association Almost three of five, or 60%, of reported home fire deaths from 2007 to 2011 resulted from fires in homes with no smoke alarms or no working smoke alarms. As the Fire District embraces this theme there will also be an opportunity for residents to meet its staff and firefighters, see its equipment, tour the facilities, and learn more about the importance of smoke alarms and fire safety. District personnel will also highlight the specialized training and equipment our firefighters maintain to handle those extremely technical and specialized response capabilities. Residents are encouraged to experience and learn about our membership within the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System Division III specialized response teams that handle all dive, technical rescue and hazardous material incidents. As always, a free hot dog lunch will be served from 11 am until 1 pm, so stop by, have some lunch and check out what the Fire District is all about. Oct. 11th Open House 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

2 Message from the Fire Chief As this summer comes to an end and the fall and winter begin, we look back on a summer that brought strong storms and rapidly changing weather that we are not accustomed to. Although the weather in the Chicago area is unpredictable and no one really knows what the changing seasons will bring, it is important for our residents to know that the Fire District is ready to meet the challenges that Mother Nature will send us this winter. The fall means it s time to prepare for our annual Fire Prevention Week Open House. Open House provides you, our residents, the opportunity to meet the members of your Fire District and also view firsthand the emergency equipment and all of the services that are provided to our community. This year the theme is Smoke Detectors Save Lives and the importance they play in safeguarding your home and family. This year the Fire Prevention Week Open House is scheduled for Saturday, October 11, 2014 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. at the fire station located on Camp McDonald Road and Elmhurst Road. I would personally like to invite all of the residents and families of our community to join us for a free hotdog lunch and to participate in the many Open House events. This summer, you may have noticed that the Fire District Firefighter / Paramedics have been responding to emergency calls in a new smaller Rescue Pumper Squad. The new Squad was placed in service and began responding to emergencies this May. The new Squad replaces our old 1996 Pumper Squad fondly known as Squadzilla by many school children and parents throughout the years. Squadzilla was removed from active service due to escalating mechanical issues. The members of the Fire District bid a fond farewell to Squadzilla for its 18 years of service to Prospect Heights. In 2014, the Prospect Heights Fire Protection District celebrates 70 years of providing emergency services to the residents of Prospect Heights. The Fire Protection District began serving our residents in 1944 and has established a strong foundation through strategic planning and community involvement. We meet the challenges of our goals and mission by taking a proactive approach to fire prevention and providing rapid emergency response to our community. The Fire District remains committed to providing a friendly, highly trained, and professional team of first responders for our residents. This is only made possible through the dedication of our support staff and career and part-time firefighter paramedics as well as effective automatic aid agreements with our neighboring agencies. Through these devoted men and women, we constantly strive to make the Prospect Heights Fire Protection District a safer place to live, work, visit, and raise your family. I would like to once again thank our residents for the numerous cards and letters recognizing our firefighters and paramedics for their assistance during emergency situations. Your thoughts and words are greatly appreciated by each member of the Fire District. On behalf of the entire staff and membership of the Prospect Heights Fire Protection District, we would like to thank the residents of our community for your continued support for the service we provide. Please know that we are proud to serve our community. Have a great fall and winter season! Stop By and Visit Smokey... Coming to our open house on October 11? Well, if you do, do not miss your chance to have your picture taken with SMOKEY BEAR. Smokey is a permanent fixture at the main fire station due to a generous donation of an anonymous Prospect Heights resident. Starting as an advertising mascot to educate people about the dangers of forest fires, he was born in 1944 with popular slogans such as only you can prevent forest fires. His official name is Smokey Bear, but, in 1954, a song writer added the word the to his name to improve the rhythm for a song that became quite popular. Now most people simply refer to Smokey the Bear. A black bear cub that escaped a forest fire in 1950 by climbing a tree in New Mexico was nursed back to health and later named Smokey. This story went national and Smokey Bear became a living mascot of the National Zoo in Washington D.C. continued on back page...

3 What is M.A.B.A.S.? Mutual Aid Box Alarm System, MABAS., was established in 1970 to provide a quick, standardized and effective method of mutual aid assistance for mass causality incidents or extra fire alarms. Communities use automatic first response where the closest station responds to an incident. These automatic aid responses ignore boundaries between the communities in order to serve the best interest of citizens in the most cost effective way. MABAS allows departments to effectively share the cost of specialized teams for hazardous material spill control, underwater rescue and recovery and specialized cave-in or high-angle rescues. MABAS services nearly every fire department in Illinois, as well as many in Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin. The Prospect Heights Fire District belongs to MABAS Division 3 which includes the north shore communities bounded by Highland Park to the north, Evanston and Skokie to the south, Des Plaines and Prospect Heights to the west, and Lake Michigan to the east. As a MABAS Division, specialized teams of highly trained personnel are formed from participating fire departments and districts to reduce costs. There are four main teams within the Division. also certified Sonar Technicians. At the third level of the tier is all the MABAS Division 3 divers; when there is a very specialized incident other members of the MABAS Division 3 team will be called upon to help. The Technical Rescue team or (TRT) team deals with specific special rescue situations such as trench collapse rescue, structural collapse rescue, confined space rescue and high and low angle rescues. The Prospect Heights Fire District has 4 members on the MABAS Division 3 TRT team which is made up of 20 members from 17 other local fire departments. To be a member of this team one must go to at least 8 classes in the areas of Rope Rescue, Trench Rescue, Confined Space Rescue and Structural Collapse Rescue. The MABAS Division 3 TRT team meets at least once a month for training in various areas. The Hazardous Materials Team responds to incidents that include spills, leaks or vehicle accidents, involving highway, rail, waterborne, air or pipeline transportation or those involving the storage of hazardous materials at fixed sites. These types of incidents could have the potential to release or involve a threatened release of toxic, flammable, or reactive substance in solid liquid or gaseous form. The Hazardous Materials Team within MABAS Division 3 has a drill every month. The Hazardous Material Team consists of 2 vehicles, 1 equipment truck; (HazMat 3) and 1 Decontamination Vehicle and 1 equipment trailer. In 2013 there were over 2,400 incidents in the entire Division that had the potential for a Hazardous Materials Team response. The Dive Team is trained to provide search-rescue-and recovery to victims of water, ice, and swift water related incidents. The Dive Team is comprised of nine divers, all of whom are part of the MABAS Division 3 dive team. Water rescue is provided through a tiered response The Fire Investigation Team has over 50 members from all system. All firefighters and officers at the district are trained member fire departments. The Fire Investigation Team was in basic water rescue and surface ice rescue the first tier. The developed to address two needs within the Division, first next tier includes divers who are more specialized. All nine having a predetermined system for a stricken community to divers in Prospect Heights are certified as search and recovery receive assistance from additional certified fire investigators divers, and most are also certified ice divers, a special certification for performing SCUBA diving under solid ice. Because involve the loss of life. The second issue within the Division in the investigation of large dollar fire loss or incidents that the Fire District covers several areas which flood due to the was the reduced number of fires and the opportunity Des Plaines River, all Water Rescue Team members are also for senior fire investigators to pass along knowledge and certified as Swift Water Rescue Technicians. Two members are experiences in real fire investigations.

4 As One Lieutenant Leaves, Another Starts On May 28th, 2014, fellow firefighters sent off one of their own after a dedicated 33 ½ years of service to the Prospect Heights Community. Lieutenant Jeffery Szczech s last duty day was celebrated with a luncheon and cake around the headquarters kitchen table. Jeff started with the Fire District as a paid-on-call member in December of In April of 1989 he was promoted to lieutenant and in July of 2000 served as a shift commander for 5 years. During his tenure at the Fire District Lt. Szczech took on many roles; firefighter, paramedic, paramedic coordinator, lieutenant, shift commander, assistant training officer, hazardous materials instructor and airport training instructor. Lieutenant Szczech, we wish you the best in your future endeavors and hope you come back to visit us from time to time. With the retirement of Lt. Szczech the Fire District needed a new leader to take over and fill the now vacant part-time lieutenant position which was filled by Jon Grossmann. Jon Grossmann began his career with the Prospect Heights Fire District in 2004 as a recruit firefighter. In 2014, after 10 years of service with Prospect Heights Fire District, Jon was promoted to lieutenant. He grew up in Arlington Heights and now currently resides in Lake Zurich. I chose to go into the fire service when I was in high school. I started attending fire science classes at Harper College while still in high school. Jon graduated from Hersey High School in 2003 and he immediately enrolled in Eastern Kentucky University and graduated with a Bachelor s Degree in Fire Science and Safety Engineering Technology, with an emphasis on Fire Investigation. In 2007, Jon was hired by the Village of Arlington Heights as a full-time Firefighter and also graduated from paramedic school at Northwest Community Hospital. Jon became a firefighter because, he says, I found the field exciting being that every day was different and that one could specialize and advance themselves on the department and also because you are helping people every day. Jon believes that: being promoted brings a rewarding challenge to the table. You are the leader and protector of your crew and that the knowledge you have obtained from your previous officers will now be shown. Also, you are getting a new perspective to what you see and do on emergency scenes and working with the community. Welcome Jon, and we wish you great luck in your new position. Prospect Heights & Wheeling Firefighters Train Together Last July the Prospect Heights and Wheeling firefighters joined forces for three days to train together on water supply procedures. Prospect Heights has several areas in the district where fire hydrants are more than 1,000 feet away. This requires firefighters to use the fire engine s long hose to supply water to these remote areas. During this training, the Wheeling fire engine added additional hose to what the Prospect Heights fire engine already had laid out and a pumper was then used to supply water over this 2,500 foot long distance. This type of technique would be used in the event of a fire in any area where a fire hydrant is a long distance away from the fire incident. This exact technique was recently used at a house fire located in an area where a hydrant was about 2,000 feet away. Most residents are probably not aware that the Prospect Heights Fire Protection District and Wheeling Fire Department have a joint response to any incident at the Chicago Executive Airport. In the past 20 years there have been 38 incidents on or near the airport which required the joint response of both fire protection units. Five of these incidents resulted in a total of 13 fatalities. Many of these crashes produced fires or large fuel spills in addition to casualties. Part of the Fire District s annual training includes running simulated aircraft emergencies with the Wheeling Fire Department. In mid-october Prospect Heights and Wheeling firefighters will also travel to O Hare International Airport to train on large-scale flammable liquids fires. Using the Chicago Fire Department s burn pit and mock aircraft, a variety of fires will be fought. These large scale drills provide invaluable experience in preparing for actual emergencies.

5 Employee Profile: Deputy Chief Timothy Jones At the end of the day, Deputy Chief Timothy Jones wants to give back to his community in whatever way he can. First and foremost, by working for the Prospect Heights Fire Protection District for the last 32 years. Prior to becoming a full-time firefighter in Prospect Heights, he also worked for the Lincolnwood Fire Department from 1990 until Jones, who has lived in Prospect Heights since 1998, also enjoys serving as a volunteer member of multiple community boards. In 2006, he was named Prospect Heights Citizen of the Year. When I started at Prospect Heights, you were given a uniform and protective gear and were told to listen to the senior firemen. Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open, Jones said. Once the officers found you had learned enough to operate safely, you were awarded your official fire helmet and no longer considered a probie. Now, the Fire District has very formalized training and documented evaluations. It is the best job in the world and many of these firefighters have become my closest friends, Jones said. I would trust them with my life as a friend and more importantly as a firefighter. In 2001, he was promoted to serve as a deputy chief alongside Drew Smith. Both Jones and Smith report directly to Fire Chief Donald Gould and were two of the first full-time firefighters hired by the district. Jones handles the administrative side of the Fire District, which includes setting a budget, keeping a close eye on that checkbook, maintaining the facilities and communication systems and any day-to-day projects or conflicts that may arise. His duties also include being the director of the Fire Prevention Bureau. Additionally, he coordinates the MABAS Division 3 Fire Investigation team. This is a team of fire investigators from all 13 fire departments in the division that pool resources and experience to handle larger complex fire investigations or those involving the loss of life or serious injuries. Jones was named Fire Investigator of the Year in As the Fire Marshal for the District, Jones also works closely with the city of Prospect Heights on new commercial projects, which includes fire inspections and making sure projects conform to the fire code. He has served as a member on the city s Planning and Zoning Board of Appeals since 2003 and also as a commissioner of the Prospect Heights Park District board since One of Jones special projects involves a group of local organizations teaming together to provide holiday gifts and financial support for needy families. The families are recommended by social workers in Prospect Heights, including Elementary School District 23 and Wheeling-based Elementary School District 21. I am involved in a lot of different things in Prospect Heights and I love them all, yet none of this would be possible without my wife Susan and my daughter Megan being supportive, Jones said. They put up with a lot of evening meetings, missed dinners and emergency call outs in the middle of the night. Take our Survey! It is important for the Fire District to serve it s residents as best as possible. We take pride in offering the highest level of quality care in the most cost effective manner. Has your organization visited the Fire District lately? Have we held a public education event or visited your school to teach the children about fire safety? Have you had contact with our firefighters/ paramedics on a service or medical call? If so, we would appreciate your feedback. Your opinions are important and will help us provide the best possible service. Visit us online at and give us your feedback!

6 Prospect Heights Fire District 10 East Camp McDonald Road Prospect Heights, IL Non-Emergency Phone: Fax: PRSRT STD U.S. Postage PAID Mt. Prospect IL Permit No. 33 ECRWSS POSTAL CUSTOMER Board of Trustees James A. Cagney Alfred C. Kotlarz Jon C. Tammen Shawn C. Clisham Richard K. Sullivan Commissioners Joanne Twomey Marty Kennelly Bob McLoughlin Stop By and Visit Smokey (Continued from page 2) Now our Smokey Bear sits in the lounge area of the fire station and watches over our firefighters. He has even been used as part of a joke or two with members finding him sleeping in their beds at night. Stop by during our Open House and say hello to this unique piece of Americana history.