This message comes from Steve Redick:
This one's a true classic, and it comes with a great story behind it.The fire broke out in January 1981, at the Pavilion Apartments located at 5431 N East River Road. At the time, I had only been on the job for less than a year, and I actually lived two floors above where the fire happened. Back then, I was still deeply passionate about firefighting and was riding along with Schaumburg Truck 1 that day. It was around dinnertime when one of the firefighters asked me, "Hey, don't you live in that high-rise on River Road? The city has a 2-11 call going on—5431, I think." Having spent countless hours in various firehouses over the years, I knew that rookies were always fair game for jokes. So I just smirked and said, "Yeah, sure," to which the firefighter replied, "No, I'm serious, it's a bad fire in your building." Thinking it was another joke, I shot back something like, "Are you trying to tell me I was born yesterday?!" He shrugged it off, and I went back to my meal.We were all gathered around the table eating and watching the news when, out of nowhere, I saw it on TV: flames bursting out of two floors below my unit and licking at my balcony! My jaw dropped. Holy crap! I nearly choked on my pork chop. The same firefighter who'd warned me earlier said something along the lines of, "I told you so, you stubborn German *&%*&$!!!" Lesson learned. When I finally got home the next morning (you didn’t think I’d pass up a night at the firehouse, did you?), my poor cat was visibly traumatized, and my entire apartment was coated in soot. There were even boot prints on my door from the search team. Thankfully, everything was cleaned up, and life went back to normal.On the recording, you'll hear several familiar voices. Al Andersen, who manned the fire alarm for most of the incident, was a fellow rookie of mine; he’s long retired now. You’ll also recognize the deep, gravelly voice of Dick Hyland, a respected senior officer at the time—and unfortunately, someone who’s since passed away. Phil McMahon, the assistant chief at the time, can be heard briefly as well; he too has left us. And you can catch a snippet of Louis Galante, who would later become Fire Commissioner, issuing commands as 2112. Louis recently passed away as well.
This fire took place during the tenure of William Blair, a much-disliked "outsider" from Los Angeles. As you’ll hear on the recording, he was involved in an accident en route to the scene and never made it there. Not that it mattered much at that point.
It’s strange finding this memory again—it really makes me realize how old I’ve gotten. All this modern firefighting stuff seems so different now.
Steve
By the way, if anyone finds this story interesting, let me know. I’d love to share more from my time on the force. It’s crazy how things change, but some stories stay with you forever.
- Steve
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