Part 3 of a commentary by Bill Post on the history of the Chicago Fire Department: Part 1 can be found HERE and Part 2 can be found HERE.
•The machine is specialized in folding and gluing PVC ,PET ,PETG,OPS shrinkage film to shrink sleeve label roll .
•The label is widely used in packing beverage, food , batteries, cap , chemical industry, cosmetics, etc.
•The machine works more stably and efficiently because of excellent tension control system ,intelligent gluing system and reasonable design of mechanical structure .
•It is necessary equipment in shrink sleeve label production.
Center Seaming Machine,Center Seaming Machine With Plate,Moldless Center Seaming Machine,Glue Seaming Machine Ruian Tiancheng Packing Machinery Co., Ltd. , https://www.tinchinmachine.comWhile Fire Commissioner Quinn did put the six Flying Manpower Squads into service, he (understandably) decided to keep Snorkel Squad 1 active. Instead, Snorkel 2 was taken out of service, and just under a year before the Maatman Report recommendations were implemented, five additional salvage squads were introduced. When the Flying Manpower Squads began operations in 1969, Salvage Squad 1—what the consultant had recommended to stay in service—was taken out of action on May 1, 1969. That same day, Flying Manpower Squad 4 was activated, using the 1954 AutoCar Squad that had previously belonged to Salvage Squad 1.
Rescue 3, which was the remnants of Snorkel Squad 3, also went out of service on that day. Although the 1968 Maatman Report was released in November 1968 and the six recommended Flying Manpower Squads were all operational by November 1969, Fire Commissioner Bob Quinn hadn’t yet removed Snorkel 6 from service, nor had he moved Snorkel 4 from Engine 25 to Engine 67. The south side still had more than one Snorkel assigned, even though Snorkel 2 had been decommissioned in February 1969.
On March 9, 1970, Truck 31 was moved from Engine 104’s station on the south loop to a new location on the far southwest side. On the same day, Snorkel 4 was relocated from Engine 25 to Engine 104. Then, on July 7, 1970, a brick wall from a multi-story vacant factory collapsed on Snorkel 7 as they were spraying water on smoldering ruins from a previous 5-11 alarm fire. Snorkel 7 was completely destroyed, and Firefighter Jack Walsh later died from injuries sustained during the collapse. Snorkel 7 was never replaced, leaving Snorkel 5 as the only Snorkel on the north side of Chicago.
Several months later, in early 1971, the fire department’s consultant, Gerald Maatman, issued a follow-up report assessing the department’s compliance with the 1968 recommendations. While many of the original suggestions had been followed, some key items had not been addressed. Since Quinn had kept Snorkel Squad 1 active and had instead taken Snorkel 2 and Salvage Squad 1 out of service, Maatman recommended that Snorkel Squad 1 be moved to Engine 5’s station.
Snorkel Squad 1 was not relocated, however, and remained at 1044 N. Orleans for as long as Quinn was in charge. In addition to keeping the squad in its original location, the 1971 Maatman report also suggested that a seventh Flying Manpower Squad be established at Engine 108’s station on the far northwest side. This new unit, known as Flying Manpower Squad 5, was intended to cover the area from Engine 7 and Truck 58’s station. But instead of being stationed there, it ended up at Engine 114’s old station near Fullerton and Central Park—too far southeast to effectively serve the northwest side.
Chicago’s Flying Manpower Squads were operating with aging pumpers from the 1940s and 1950s and lacked much of the specialized equipment recommended in the 1968 report. Maatman had provided detailed specifications on the types and quantities of gear each squad should carry, including specific apparatus requirements.
There were still six active Salvage Squads, and the consultant had advised that Salvage Squads 6 and 7 be retired since their areas were already covered by the Flying Squads, making them redundant. Additionally, two truck companies—Trucks 43 and 46—recommended for removal in earlier reports were still active. Their locations had been earmarked for Snorkel units, and the report again urged their deactivation.
Snorkel 4 was supposed to move to Engine 67 (formerly Truck 46), and Snorkel 7 was to relocate to Engine 110 (formerly Truck 43) along with Flying Squad 6. However, this couldn’t happen while those trucks were still in service. Finally, on November 16, 1971, Trucks 46 and 43 were taken out of service, and Snorkel 6 was moved from Engine 46 on the southeast side to Engine 110 on the north side. Originally, Snorkel 6 had been recommended for retirement, but since Snorkel 7 had been destroyed in July 1970, it was instead relocated.
Snorkel 4 wasn’t moved to Engine 67 until June 1972. After that, not only was Snorkel 3 the only Snorkel left on the south side, but Snorkel 4, which had previously served as second-due on the south side, was now located on the far west side. It was ironic that now there were two Snorkels on the north side, one on the west, and only one on the south. There were no Snorkels downtown, unless you counted Snorkel Squad 1 with its 50-foot Snorkel on the near north side. To be fair, Snorkel 5 was in a high-fire area back then, and Snorkel 6 was just west of another high-risk zone.
Because the south side was so far from a second Snorkel company, Snorkel 5 would automatically respond to Still and Box Alarms when Snorkel 3 was dispatched. Snorkel 5 wasn’t relocated to Engine 5 (from Engine 57) until about two and a half years later, in January 1975. This brought them closer to the south side by placing them in the west loop. Two years later, in 1977, Snorkel 5 was once again moved, this time to Engine 23 on the west side. It wasn’t until April 1981 that the south side regained a second Snorkel. A new Snorkel 4, using a 55-foot Hendrickson Pierce from Snorkel Squad 1, was activated at Engine 123’s station.
A month later, Snorkel 3 was renumbered as Snorkel 5 to match its new fire district and was relocated to Engine 72’s station. In May 1981, each Snorkel was renumbered and reassigned to match the five new fire districts, which had replaced the seven old divisions on April 11, 1981. Snorkel 5 became Snorkel 1, Snorkel 4 became Snorkel 2, Snorkel 6 became Snorkel 3, and Snorkel 3 became Snorkel 5. Snorkel Squad 1 was finally taken out of service on October 3, 1980.
So, Mike, Commissioner Quinn had literally saved Snorkel Squad 1 from being disbanded in 1969 and delayed relocating some of the other Snorkels. But after Snorkel 7 was destroyed, he had to move Snorkel 6 to the north side. Once again, the city avoided hiring more firefighters after 1967, so Maatman was tasked with finding ways to run the department on the same budget without adding more staff.
Some of his recommendations were good, such as adding useful tools like K-12 saws, ladder pipes, and multi-versals to trucks and engines. He also suggested equipping engines and trucks with air masks, something the CFD was slow to implement. These changes didn’t really take off until the late 1970s and early 1980s. At times, the CFD was significantly behind other departments in adopting basic safety practices.
Many of the new fire stations built in the 1970s were a direct result of the Maatman Report. For example, the new station for Engine 70 and Truck 47 was recommended in 1968. If the city had been willing to hire more firefighters, the report wouldn’t have had to propose four-man company districts or recommend cutting special units. By the way, did you know that in 1968—the last full year that Snorkel Squad 3 and Snorkel Squad 2 were active—they were the busiest companies in Chicago? Snorkel Squad 3 responded to 5,952 incidents, and Snorkel Squad 2 had gone out on 5,117 calls.
This wasn’t bad considering that Snorkel Squad 3 hadn’t used a Snorkel since January 1967, and Snorkel Squad 2 had stopped using one by mid-1968. During those years, all the different types of squads were automatically dispatched to still alarms, without waiting for confirmation of an actual fire. This led to a lot of “hold the squad†messages and unnecessary turnbacks.
As the Snorkel Squads were the only ones equipped with K-12 saws, multi-versals, and back-mounted air masks, they would often respond together on 2-11 alarms across the city. In 1967 and 1968, power saws were first added to truck companies, and multi-versals to engines, reducing the need for the Snorkel Squads. Air masks weren’t installed on engines and trucks until the latter half of the 1970s.