Historic Chicago audio from a 2-11 Alarm fire in 1981

Here's a real classic story that I came across recently, and it's one of those memories that still gives me a chuckle when I think about it.

The fire happened in January 1981 at the Pavilion Apartments, located at 5431 N East River Road. At the time, I had been on the job for less than a year, and I lived in the building—two floors above where the fire started. I was still pretty into the whole fire department culture back then, and I was riding with Schaumburg Truck 1 that day.

It was around dinner time when one of the guys asked me, “Hey, don’t you live in that big high-rise on East River Road? The city has a 2-11 going on, 5431, I think.” Now, I’ve spent years hanging out in firehouses, and I know how the “fan” gets treated—jokes are part of the game. So I just smiled and said, “Yeah, right.” Then he said, “No, I’m serious—it’s a bad fire in your building.” I responded with something like, “You think I was born yesterday?!” He said, “Okay, suit yourself,” and I went back to my meal, not giving it another thought.

We were all sitting around the table eating and watching the news when I saw it on TV: flames blowing out from two floors below my apartment and even hitting my balcony! Holy cow! I almost choked on my pork chop. The same guy who told me earlier said, “I told you so, stubborn German *&%*&$!!!” That was a lesson learned. The next morning, I returned home (you didn’t think I’d miss a night at the station, did you?). My poor cat was totally freaked out, and my whole apartment was covered in soot. I even saw some boot prints on my door from the search team. But in the end, we got everything cleaned up, and everything turned out okay.

A few notes about the voices on the recording. The fire alarm operator during most of the incident was Al Andersen. We started on the job together, and he's since retired. You'll also hear Dick Hyland, a former boss and senior operator at the time—sadly, he passed away. There's also a brief voice of Phil McMahon, the assistant chief, who's also no longer with us. And you can catch the voice of Louis Galante, who would later become fire commissioner—he was giving orders as 2112. Louis passed away not too long ago, too.

This fire took place under the leadership of William Blair, the controversial “transplant” from Los Angeles. He was involved in an accident on his way to the scene, and from what I remember, he and his driver never actually made it to the alarm.

It was nice to come across this memory, but it also made me realize just how old I'm getting—and how much things have changed in the fire department these days.

Steve

Potato Processing

potato cutting machine,potato washing peeling machine,potato fries cutter machine,potato fries machine,Potato grading machine

Guangzhou Shengtian Machinery Co. LTD , https://www.stfoodmachinery.com