Village Manager Mark Fitzgerald said there have been equipment issues.  

Last fall, a pumper truck was hit and is waiting for insurance to fix it. In January, another truck had a part break. And most recently, the brakes went out

But the Menomonee Falls Professional Firefighters Local 3879 President Kevin Myers said this is not surprising when equipment repairs and replacements are delayed.

Des Plaines motorcycle police officer Mike Banner was stationed at Lee Street and Fargo Avenue across from Lake Park on Friday afternoon, May 25, 1979. He was using a police radar gun to clock the speed of passing cars. Anyone over the 25 mph limit could be ticketed. Banner was facing directly west.  

“I saw the black smoke go up,” said Banner referring to a scene he thought unusual because it was not coming from the normal spot where O’Hare firefighting drills were staged. He immediately radioed police headquarters to report a possible plane crash.

“I was kind of the first responder on the scene,” explained Banner, mainly because he was stationed only about a mile from the crash site. A Des Plaines fire truck, on a call near Lake Park at the time, raced past Lee Street and Banner in a westbound direction heading for the plume of thick, black smoke.

“I got there seconds before they did,” Banner remembered explaining that he overtook the fire rig. “They were the first fire crew on the scene, but they never got the credit."

The motorcyclist was transported to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries and two firefighters were transported with non-life threatening injuries.  

The crash closed eastbound Collins Avenue at Wanda Road and northbound Prospect Street at Bond Avenue.