My cousin sent me some photos of a job in downtown Chicago in the South Loop. He knew we would enjoy the irony of the sign.
He is an avid blogger, and actually got me started into blogging. He has two Chicago based blogs: Kiplog and FoodBlog. They are not fire oriented, but are definitely on my list of daily reads. My personal favorite entry on FoodBlog: The Northside Chicago Irish Pub Crawl, read through it and you’ll understand why.
Here is another awesome shot (from the B side):
Thanks again Paul! -Jimm-
Great pics from your cousin, Jimm. Good to see shots from other areas. Hmmm… I remember that pub crawl. No mention of the stouter, not so Irish fireman? Great stuff though.
Nice to see some Chicago pics. For such a large dept. you really don’t hear much about them.
Thanks Jimm. Excellent blog you have here.
Oops, sorry Dave. Memories are hazy, from both alcohol and age.
We’ve been having a string of very large fires (all 5-11’s) burning historic Louis Sullivan (one of our famous architects) designed buildings, a large church this summer, this Wirt Building (the steak place) and a large house on the north side this weekend. Two caused by careless workers (roofers torching tiles on the church and workers slavaging scrap metal with torches in the basement of the Wirt Building. No word yet on the cause of the house fire.
More pics of the fire here: http://kiplog.com/fire/
Here in NYC they banned using torches on the roof because there were so many fires started this way. Of course you’ll still find guys using them, and still starting fires with them. One thing you can count on when they do start them is an advanced fire on arrival.
By the time they realize that a fire is going, then try to rectify the situation, then drag there stuff off the roof to hide it, and then maybe they call 911 as they take off up the street. Our hope is that a passerby calls, but many times they see workers there so they figure “there working on the roof.” Propane flames and 100 year old wood, dust and cobwebs don’t mix.
Stay safe.