“I have great respect for what these firefighters do” City Councilman Dick Haley said after the fire demonstration Saturday, May 21, at the city’s fire training center on Public Safety Way. “It was a graphic example of why they ask us to keep certain levels of manpower and why they need certain equipment.”

Fire Ops 101 – a demonstration that challenged city officials with tasks such as cutting into a damaged vehicle, climbing a four-story tower while wearing 80 pounds of turnout gear, finding a body inside a smoke-filled room and spraying a fire hose without losing grip – was held two days after the City Council agreed to spend $250,000 to pay for upgraded fire equipment.

Fire Chief David Duffy called the training a perfect opportunity for those making financial decisions affecting his department to see how equipment is used.

“I think it’s important for our city council and managers to understand the hands-on work that we do everyday, and the specialty tools we need to do that,” Duffy said.

Mayor Jason Scott hefted a 50-pound hydraulic cutter into the wedge of a car door, simulating the process firefighters go through to free crash victims. Within minutes, he was sweating and breathing heavily under the weight of the machine.

“To see what that tool is going through, how it manipulates you around, it gives you a new appreciation for (firefighters’) work,” Scott said.

In January, the department took stock of its assets to determine which gear had exceeded its useful life expectancy, according to the report used to request money from the City Council on Thursday, May 19.

OTSEGO COUNTY — The Otsego County Fire Department has been awarded $46,953 for personal protection equipment in a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant.

Dave Duffield, Otsego County Fire Department chief, said the grant is a serious help to the department.

“It will replace all of our current wildland fire gear, the coveralls, the helmets the boots, the gloves, and all that will all be replaced with this grant,” he said. “They all have a 10-year usable life on them, and they’re all expiring right now.”

He said the grant money was matched with a locally raised sum of $2,347 and will be used for 40 sets of wildland fire gear known as wildland turnout.

Firefighters wear wildland turnout for wildfires or brush fires and structure fire turnout for fires like house fires.

Last year was one of the busiest years for the department, according to Duffield, with firefighters making approximately 330 runs.

The truck will be bought through an intergovernmental cooperative purchasing agency known as the Houston-Galveston Council, of Houston,, a program that works to solicit competitive bids from manufactures of construction and lifesaving equipment and vehicles, according to the resolution approving the purchase.

The truck is needed to replace two vehicles on the Western Springs Fire Department fleet, said fire Chief Patrick Kenny.

"We have done our due diligence in doing the research on this vehicle," Kenny said. "We feel it is something that serves the needs of this department. We have downsized the size of the fleet by one vehicle, which will save us money on the maintenance side."

Village Trustee Shelia Hansen said the department has been approved a $350,000 loan from the State Fire Marshall's Office to pay for the new engine.

While the village will participate in the Texas-based cooperative bid program, the vehicle, described as a Saber Pumper fire truck, will be purchased from Pierce Manufacturing of Appleton, Wis., according to the agreement.

"I have a couple members, armed service retired, retired from the guard."

Firefighters and their supporters said it started last year when Fire District Chairman Fred Gralinski likened the flags on the trucks to what you see from terrorists.

"They look like a bunch of yahoos," Gralinski said at a board meeting. "Like in the paper, like ISIS is Syria going to take over a city. I don't think they need that big flag on the back of the truck. That's not America to me. Those are a bunch of terrorists. So, I'm going to ask you to take the flag off the truck."

Gralinski now said through a district spokesman he used a poor choice of words and apologizes for an perceived disrespect of the flag.

But he also said they're not telling firefighters to take the flags or decals off the trucks.

A fire truck that was no longer in service has been donated by the Orland Fire Protection District to the school in memory of Daniel Capuano, 42, who was living in the Chicago’s Mount Greenwood neighborhood at the time of his death. Capuano died when he fell from the second floor fighting the warehouse fire on Dec. 15, 2015.

In honor of Capuano, the Orland Fire Protection District presented the fire truck — a 1999 Pierce — to the Moraine Valley Community College Fire Science Academy for student training on May 19 before the regular Moraine Valley Board meeting. The truck was named in memory of Capuano.

Capuano was a 15-year veteran of the Chicago Fire Department, where he was assigned to Tower Ladder 34 in the city’s Southeast Side. Capuano also was as a part-time Evergreen Park firefighter for the last 16 years.

The Orland Fire Protection District recently retired the fire truck from its fleet and worked with Cook County Board Commissioner Sean Morrison (R-17th) to explore possible reuse opportunities that led to the arrangement with MVCC. The MVCC Fire Science Academy is designed for students who wish to become eligible for initial fire department hiring lists.

The truck will be used to further the MVCC Fire Science Academy’s ability to provide the very best training to prepare students entering the fire department field.

“As a son of a retired Chicago firefighter this story touched me. I never knew Danny Capuano personally, but like the tens of thousands of other people, I have heard through the media’s covering the tragedy of his death, I became informed, not of just the tragic circumstance surrounding his death, but of most importance, the magnificent life in which he lived and the love and dedication that he held for his family and his fellow brothers and sisters of the Chicago Fire Department,” said Morrison.