This message comes from Steve Redick:
Here's a great story from way back, and it’s one I’ll never forget. It happened in January 1981, and it was 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 guess what? I actually lived in the building—two floors above where the fire broke out! Back then, I was really into fire fandom, and I was riding along with Schaumburg Truck 1 that day. Around dinnertime, one of the guys in the station turned to me and said, "Hey, don't you live in that big high-rise on River Road? The city has a 2-11 going on—5431, I think." Now, anyone who’s been around fire stations knows that firefighters love to rib each other, so when he mentioned it, I just smirked and replied, "Yeah, right!" But the firefighter insisted, "No, I’m serious—it’s a serious fire in your building." Still skeptical, I jokingly shot back, "Do you think I was born yesterday?" He just shrugged and let it go. So, I went back to my pork chop, laughing it off.Fast forward a bit, and we were all sitting around the table eating and watching the local news. And guess what I saw on TV? Flames shooting out two floors below my unit and licking at my own balcony! I nearly choked on my food. One of the firefighters called out, "Told you so, you stubborn German *&%*&$!!!" Lesson learned: never dismiss a firefighter’s warning! When I finally got home the next morning (you didn’t think I’d skip out on a night at the firehouse, did you?), my poor cat looked absolutely traumatized, and my entire apartment was coated in soot. There were even boot prints on my door from the search team. Luckily, everything got cleaned up afterward, and life went back to normal.While listening to the recording, you'll notice a few familiar voices. Al Andersen, who manned the fire alarm for most of the incident, was one of my fellow rookies. He’s long retired now. You’ll also hear the deep, gravelly voice of Dick Hyland, a respected senior operator at the time—but he passed away years ago. Phil McMahon, the assistant chief at the time, makes a brief appearance as well—he too has since passed. And you’ll recognize the commanding voice of Louis Galante, who later became Fire Commissioner. Louis recently passed away too.
By the way, this fire happened under the watch of William Blair, the controversial chief who transferred in from Los Angeles. As you’ll hear on the recording, he was involved in an accident on his way to the scene, and I don’t think he ever made it there.
This story always brings back some good memories, but it also reminds me how much older I’ve gotten. These days, firefighting feels like a different world compared to what it used to be.
-Steve
And here's the link to the video footage of the incident:
Just thinking about this fire still gives me chills. It was such a close call, and it taught me to always take emergency warnings seriously—even if they seem far-fetched at first. These days, I look back on stories like this with a mix of nostalgia and relief that I’m still around to tell them!
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