Firefighters gather from around region at annual training sessions hosted by South Suburban Fire Investigation Task Force

Fire fighters gather from around region at annual training sessions hosted by South Suburban Fire Investigation Task Force

Orland Fire Protection District hosts events

By Ray Hanania
Special to the Orland Fire Protection District

The Orland Fire Protection District played host to the South Suburban Fire Investigation Task Force which was founded by Orland Firefighters a decade ago to provide hands-on training to firefighters from across the state.

About 115 firefighters and students attended the 4^th Annual SSFITF Workshops which was held at the OFPD Training Center at 163^rd Place and 108^th Avenue Monday March 5 through Friday March 9.

The five-day seminars and training exercises featured presentations by experts in the firefighting field as well as  trainers in specialty services from the ATF, FBI and regional police services.

“We live by the knowledge that in order to determine the cause of a fire, you have to find the origin of the fire. We spend a lot of time training to improve our skills,” said Bill Leddin, a lieutenant in the OFPD and the Task Force commander and founder.

“Our job is to fight fires and save lives. And we need to keep up with the most up-to-date techniques and hi-tech equipment in order to do that.”

Leddin said that training seminars began in one of the OFPD Fire Houses about four months after Sept. 11, 2001. It originally consisted of six fire departments including Alsip, Crestwood, East Joliet, Frankfort, Homer, and Orland, as well as two police agencies including Orland Hills and Palos Park police departments.

PHOTO CAPTION: (Left to right)  Fire Investigator Tom Rafferty, Commander Bill Leddin, Deputy Commander Mike Bacon, Fire Investigator Art Rauch, Fire Investigator Dan Riordan, and Harold Kummelehne of the Office of the Illinois Fire Marshal.

Leddin was appointed its Task Force commander a year later and continued to expand under his leadership to include support and training agencies such as ATF, Cook County States Attorney Arson Prosecution Unit as well as the Cook County Sheriff's Police.

“We didn’t start because of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001, but because we realized that fire fighting faced the same challenges, the failure of all the various agencies to share information,” Leddin said.

“We got everyone together and recognized that one major challenge we had was that no one was sharing information. We were really talking to each other. We didn’t start as a result of 9/11 but because of the same concerns that arose that day about the need to have all the available information we needed to fight fires, save lives and protect the people in our service districts.”

Leddin said that the effort began with the efforts of volunteers and in recent years they began to charge fire fighters a modest $75 registration fee to cover some of the costs.

“The Orland Fire Protection District provides the space and hosts the event but we cover everything as fire fighters ourselves,” Leddin said. Leddin said the fire fighters are dedicated to improving their skills and none were hesitant to invest their own money to participate.

Training sessions include speakers from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, specialists who are experienced in responding to car and vehicle fires, arson investigators with arson profiling, officials from ATF, the FBI and from the five MABAS divisions.

“We had the FBI here talking to us about things like cell phone training, record tracking and how to use technology to improve the work we do,” Leddin said.

The attendees come from 120 active fire departments around the Chicagoland region including from fire teams in Kankakee and Bolingbrook. Leddin said most of the attendees are fire and arson fire fighters who spend time building on their existing skills. They represent federal, state, county, municipal police and fire departments throughout the south suburbs. The Will County State’s Attorney’s office as well as the Will County Sheriff’s Department and the Cook County bomb squad are also all members of the task force.

“This is one of the most important events we can host to strengthen the knowledge and experience of our firefighters,” said Acting OFPD Chief Raymond Kay.

“They bring a lot of experience together and then help train and share experience and knowledge on how to do things better.”

Leddin said the needs of the various municipalities and fire districts vary.

“Orland investigates about 50 fires each year with about 15 arson investigations in the district’s MABAS divisions,” Leddin said. “In other communities, it may be more or it may be less. Oftentimes, fire districts ask the Task Force for assistance in not only fighting fire but investigating causes of fires.”

Last week’s 5-day event is held annually, but Leddin said the Task Force conducts monthly specialty sessions and help to provide the training that firefighters need to be certified and re-certified every four years by the State of Illinois.

“We provide that training so that the fire fighters receive the certification,” Leddin said.

Leddin said Task Force support requests follow specific criteria for “call outs” and include: Great Bodily Injury, significant or debilitating injury or fatalities involving firefighters, police or civilians; Multiple fatalities; Large Commercial Structures involving fire or explosion; Multiple working fires within the same jurisdiction or MABAS Division;  Large fire losses requiring additional investigators and equipment; Serial arsons occurring within a given jurisdiction or MABAS Division; and, Mutual Aid request from a non participating agency meeting the above criteria.

The call would be made to the Orland Central Dispatch at 708-349-3121.

“We’re here to help,” Leddin said. “We all share the same concerns and face the same challenges. Working together makes us more successful at doing our jobs and protecting our communities and citizens.”

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Driver rescued from flipped car at Orland Brook creek

Orland Fire Protection District Companies were called at 10:10 am hours for a car rolled over in a creek at 15829 Orland Brook Dr, upon arrival companies found a car had jumped a berm, nosed into the ground and flipped over in a creek.

The water was about 1 foot deep and we gained access through the driver’s door.

The driver was sitting on the inside roof in the upside-down vehicle leaning up against the passenger door.

The motorist was removed from the car and transported to the hospital where he is reported in good condition. After the patient was removed, companies observed that the car was leaking fuel and oil into the creek. A level 1 hazmat response was called and companies placed booms across the creek downstream to catch the fuel and oil. 

Companies that responded; Truck1,Ambulance 4, Engine 2, Battalion 3, 6101, Squad 1, and hazmat advisors.

Photos attached courtesy of the OFPD

OFPD 4 Vehicle accident 148th Wolf Road Wed Feb. 22, 2012

OFPD Accident Response Report

Wednesday Feb. 22, 2012 6:30 pm

148^th and Wolf Road

Four vehicles involved,

On Wednesday night at about 6:30 pm, Orland Fire Protection District companies responded to the 14800 block of Wolf road for an auto accident involving four vehicles, one vehicle rolled onto its side.  The driver of the rolled vehicle was extricated by removing the front windshield and part of the roof.  Two patients were transported to Silver Cross Hospital and two other drivers refused treatment at the scene.  (The condition of the two taken to Silver Cross Hospital is not known at this time.)

A total of two ambulances, two engines, one truck company and three Chief Officers responded to the scene.  Basic extrication equipment is carried by engine companies and heavier extrication equipment is carried on truck companies.  An extra engine responded supplying manpower to the scene.  During an extrication event, additional chief officers respond to help maintain control of potentially complicated scenes.

(Photos below courtesy of the OFPD)

WMAQ TV Report on Chief Raymond Kay

WMAQ TV gives Orland Fire Protection District Acting Chief Raymond Kay a "Hi 5" for helping a person in need who was in a car crash. Wed. Jan. 25, 2012.

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Orland Fire Protection District presents Battalion Chief William Bonnar Sr. Citizen Lifesavers Awards

Orland Fire Protection District presents five with 

the Battalion Chief William Bonnar Sr. Citizen Lifesavers Awards 

The Orland Fire Protection District board Tuesday recognized five individuals men who saved the life of an off-duty Glenview firefighter who suffered a cardiac arrest on Dec. 7, 2011 while playing racquetball.

Acting Fire Chief Raymond Kay presented awards to:

Orland Park resident David Beveridge

Palos Heights residents Dan Brennan, Tim Murney and Drew Richards

Lockport resident Robert Woycheese

The citizens responded to the emergency for Brian Stokes, the Glenview Firefighter, by immediately calling 911 and then applying CPR. They used an Automated External Defibrillator on Stokes at the Silver Lake Country Club in Orland Park. Kay said that OFPD first responders arrived on the scene within four minutes of the call and that Stokes was treated and then taken to the hospital emergency room within 25 minutes. 

"Time makes a difference and having the AED at the center gave the victim more time. Those first few minutes are critical and the AED and individuals trained in CPR like David Beveridge, Dan Brennan, Tim Murney and Drew Richards and Robert Woycheese helped make this a successful outcome," Kay said.

"The Orland Fire Protection District provides CPR training to members of the public and I think it is so important that everyone have that training. You don't know when it will be needed, but when it is needed, it can make the crucial difference. The AED also is important and it is something that I think every public establishment should have access too."

Glenview Fire Department Lt. Mike Carnes, who attended the presentation, said that Stokes was a dedicated fire fighter who has saved many lives while serving with the north suburban fire department.

“This has a special meaning to us,” Carnes told the Chicago Tribune. “We’re glad we still have him and appreciate everything you guys did.”

In presenting the district’s "Battalion Chief William Bonnar Sr. Citizen Life Saver Award" to the five, Kay termed Stokes’ subsequent recovery “the best outcome we could have.”

(Photos below courtesy of the OFPD)

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Profile: Nancy Mulvihill: Putting 110 percent

Profile: Nancy Mulvihill: Putting 110 percent

Nancy Mulvihill has been a firefighter nearly all her life.

The Fire & Life Safety Educator for the Orland Fire Protection District (OFPD), Mulvihill began as a part-time 911 operator in 1996 while also working as a part-time firefighter in south suburban Posen.

In the past two decades, Mulvihill, 42, has accumulated an assortment of firsthand fire fighting experience working at eight different fire departments in the south suburbs over the past two decades.

“I love being a firefighter,” says Mulvihill, who is a single Tinley Park resident who is hoping one day to be able to move into Orland Park.

Mulvihill was studying Criminal Justice to be a police officer in college when a fire in her dorm shook her up.


“I remember we had this fire in our dorm. Some students were firing bottle rockets under doors in some rooms and it started a fire. There was so much smoke. It made me think. It was an eye opener. I decided I wanted to help save lives,” Mulvihill says.

After leaving school and moving back in with her parents, she immediately applied as a volunteer for the Midlothian Fire Department.

“I remember bumping in to a friend who I knew who was a fireman and he said the department needed volunteers and he convinced me to apply there,” Mulvihill said.

Mulvihill said the testing process is a very difficult. She tested for more than 140 departments to qualify for a fulltime position and volunteered until a position finally opened for her.

“Once I got into the fire department in Midlothian, one of my first calls was to respond to an accident at a carnival,” she remembers.

“One of the rides had a problem and when I got there I discovered my brother had been on the ride. I took that as a sign I was doing the right thing. It just became a part of me. I can’t stop doing it.”

Mulvihill says the public doesn’t realize how much training firefighters must take.

“I never realized how much firefighters must do to be qualified to be firefighters, and that being a firefighter also meant not just fighting fires but saving lives in all sorts of circumstances,” says Mulvihill who moved to the Richton Park Fire Department as a part time firefighter in 2002 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 2010.

The former 911 Emergency Tele-Communicator says she has also trained in many areas including emergency medical dispatching. She also has training in CPR, and as a paramedic in order to provide medical direction over the phone in emergency situations, or give directions to the public to leave a property that might be on fire.

“We have to talk to people in crisis situations all the time and we need to make sure they not only understand what we are telling them but also that they are able to follow our directions to save their lives,” Mulvihill says.

Over the years, she has watched the role of fire fighters expand.

“Back 1997, we might have only one call where you had to actually give someone directions on how to do the Heimlich Maneuver to save someone’s life over the phone,” she notes. “Today, it is very common.”

That year, Mulvihill received a 911 call from a man who was reporting that his wife was choking and he didn’t know what to do.

“Unless you took a CPR class back in those days, not everyone just knew how to perform the Heimlich Maneuver correctly. Today it is more common and understood,” she says.

Mulvihill received a citation for walking the husband through the steps by telephone that eventually saved his wife’s life.

“I remember the husband wrote the fire department a letter to thank me. He said without our help, it might have ended in a different and terrible way for his wife,” Mulvihill recalls.

In addition to her work in Orland and in Richton Park, Mulvihill works as a part-time adjunct faculty college professor teaching psychology at National Louis University.

Mulvihill earned a Bachelors Degree from Southern Illinois University in Fire Science Management, and a Masters Degree from Lewis University in Criminal Social Justice. She also has a Masters in Forensic Psychology from the Chicago School of Psychology and a doctorate in Community Psychology from National Louis University. She also trained at the National Fire Academy three times in Maryland.

She says the biggest obstacle in her life has been the burden she faces from the student loans she had to take in order to continue her education.

“It is difficult and it makes me want to work even that much harder to be successful,” she says.

“Fighting fires and saving lives is something that we have to continue to strive to be better at. We still have fires. We have people who make mistakes. It can make a difference if the public is educated, too, about how to respond, so I spend a lot of my time working with the public. There are common sense steps the public can take to prevent accidents and fires, such as cleaning the dryer pipes regularly.”

As a part of her duties, she also teaches fire prevention programs at the 27 schools in Orland Park.

“If we start early to educate our children, we can be more effective in preventing fires,” she says. She speaks at kindergarten, pre-school and 1st Grade classes regularly. She also participates in career talks and career nights sponsored by local organizations and community groups.

“We don’t just reach out to the young people. We also work very closely with our senior community with many senior programs. And I am working to help try to expand our education programs to reach everyone in between,” she says.

Mulvihill has two dogs, a Golden Retriever and a German Shepherd, and when she is not working at her fire department positions in Orland and Richton Park, she is volunteering one night each week at PAWS.

“I think people who love and care for animals also love and care for people,” she says.

Orland Fire rescues dog from iced pond

Orland Fire rescues dog from iced pond

Media/Television coverage:

WGN TV Video

WBBM TV Video
WLS TV Video
WMAQ TV Video
Chicago Tribune Story

Orland Park – A small dog was rescued from a pond at 156^th and Lakeside Thursday morning.

Acting Fire Chief Raymond Kay said that the mid-sized animal was stuck in the middle of a pond in mud and about one foot of water, surrounded by ice.

“Chances are the animal walked onto the iced pond and then it broke and got stuck,” Chief Kay said.

“Neighbors called the Fire department to ask us to help rescue the dog. It was a very serious situation for the animal. We don’t want members of the public wading out into the ponds or walking on ice.”

Wearing an ice rescue suit, Fire Fighter Tom Panzica had to break through the inch thick ice to make his way to the stranded animal.

“We do a lot more than just respond to fires. For the majority of the public, we are the only option they have in many emergency rescue situations, besides the police,” Chief Kay said.

Kay said that Fire fighters are trained for EMS, water diving rescues in the district’s many water areas, and to extricate people in accidents.

Kay also said that the fire department is also prepared for other emergencies from accidents to flooding.

“We have to be ready. We have had to rescue homeowners from flooding situations in their homes. There are gas and oil pipelines throughout and we are trained to respond to that possibility,” Kay said.

“We’re there whenever there is a safety or rescue need, for individuals and also to save the pets of families. We will do that.”

Kay said that people should never take a situation for granted. A foot of water may not seem dangerous but it can be. Fire fighters described the rescued dog as small family lap-dog.

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