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

Here's a real classic story that goes along with this one.

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 actually lived in the building—two floors above where the fire started. I was still pretty into firefighting back then and 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.” I had spent so much time in different firehouses over the years that I knew how the “fan” got treated—jokes were part of the game. So I just smiled and said, “Yeah right.” But then he said, “No, I’m not kidding, it’s a bad fire in your building,” and I responded, “You think I was born yesterday?!” He shrugged and said, “Suit yourself,” and I went back to eating.

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, right up against my balcony! Holy cow! I almost choked on my pork chop. The guy who had told me earlier said, “I told you so, you stubborn German *&%*&$!!!” Lesson learned. The next morning, I went back home (you didn’t really think I’d miss a night at the station, did you?). My poor cat was completely shaken up, and the whole apartment was covered in soot. I even saw some boot prints on my door from the search team. In the end, we had a good cleanup, and everything turned out fine.

A few notes about the voices on the tape. Most of the time, the fire alarm operator was Al Andersen. We came on the job together, and he’s since retired. You’ll also hear Dick Hyland, a former boss and senior operator at the time—now gone. Phil McMahon, the assistant chief, is also heard briefly, and he passed away too. You can also catch the voice of Louis Galante, who later became fire commissioner. He was giving orders as 2112. Louis recently passed away as well.

This fire took place under the leadership of William Blair, a controversial “transplant” from Los Angeles. He was involved in an accident on his way to the scene, and I don’t think he or his driver ever made it there.

This was a nice memory to come across, but it makes me realize I’m getting too old for all this modern FD stuff these days.

Steve

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