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Crash At Western and Sauk Trail; Fire Department Greets Potential Candidates


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Potential candidates in attendance at the Firefighter/Paramedic orientation session of August 29. The orientation is the first step in the testing process for Park Forest’s Firefighter/Paramedic eligibility list. (Photo: PFFD)

Park Forest, IL-(ENEWSPF)- The fire department was especially busy last week. A crash at Western Avenue and Sauk Trail resulted in five people being sent to local hospitals. The PFFD also held an orientation at Rich East High School for potential candidates for the position of firefighter/paramedic.

Last week, there were 66 total responses. Of these, 14 were for fire and/or service, 52 were EMS calls.

Response Activity

On Wednesday, August 23, units responded to report of an accident at Sauk Trail and Western Avenue. This multiple vehicle crash with five victims required the extrication of some patients and assistance from the South Chicago Heights Fire Department to assist in treating and transporting the patients.

On Friday, August 25, units responded to multiple locations in the 100 block of Westwood Drive for vehicle accidents where a drive struck another vehicle and then down the block ran the auto into the side of a home under renovation. All parties involved signed medical refusals and the damage to the home under renovation was minimal.

Training Activities

On Monday, August 21, shift members completed pre-plan training.

Tuesday, August 22 thru Thursday, August 24, shift members completed horizontal ventilation training. In these sessions, members demonstrated the role of the advanced firefighter in ventilation operations using horizontal ventilation, hydraulic ventilation using a Fog Steam and mechanical pressurization/Positive Pressure Ventilation techniques.

On Friday, August 25, career and POC members completed a combined training session. This drill was a live fire scenario completed at our training tower.

Do you know what’s happening in Park Forest this week?

Fire Prevention Bureau Activities

Other Activities: On Friday, the Fire Chief and Fire Prevention Captain attended a meeting along with numerous representative from Village Hall to discuss the Unified Development Ordinance being created to replace much of the Village’s older zoning and subdivision related ordinances. Key areas of concern for the fire department are road design and turning radius, vehicle sight lines, building set-backs, water main locations and sizes, and the placement of fire hydrants on properties and along roadways. There was so much to review and clarify, and additional meeting is scheduled for Monday afternoon to hopefully wrap-up these discussions.

On Saturday, members of the Fire and Police departments participated in a friendly competition called “Bench & Burgers” held at the Police Department. Representatives from each department benched pressed a specific weight counting the number of repetitions achieved with the top five lifters from each department being counted for the competition. The event, designed by Deputy Chiefs Natyshok and Mannino to promote physical fitness and comradery within and between the departments, was an unqualified success with the fire department coming out on top. After the competition those in attendance and their families enjoyed hamburgers and hot dogs while interacting with one another in this fun, family-friendly event.


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