by Janelle Walker for The Courier-News May 12, 2012 3:34PM
Fire officials recogize a moment of silence during the Firefighters Memorial Service Saturday at Elgin Fire Barn No. 5 Museum. Mary Beth Nolan~For Sun-Times Media
ARTICLE EXTRAS
Updated: May 12, 2012 5:34PM
ELGIN — The Elgin Fire Department hasn’t lost a firefighter in active duty since 1974, but that hasn’t stopped the department from honoring those men, and others, that have died since.
The Elgin Fire Barn Museum #5 has honored firefighters from around the state since 1993 — the same year the old fire barn on St. Charles Street was turned into a museum and just two years after the building was decommissioned as a working Elgin fire station. On Saturday, officials from 10 area fire departments joined the museum in honoring those who have been lost on active duty in the past, those that died this year, and those firefighters who died for a reason other than in the line of duty.
It was a very personal memorial service for Huntley Fire Chief James Saletta. One of his firefighters, Capt. John Winkelman, died April 12 when a car pulled in front of his motorcycle on Route 176 in Crystal Lake. Winkelman, Saletta said, was coming back from a assigned meeting at the communications center when the crash occurred.
“It was a hard blow for our department, and it knocked us off of our feet,” Saletta said. In the aftermath — helping the family with the visitation and funeral service and other duties the department took on in the wake of Winkelman’s death “pulled us together in a way that I have never seen,” Saletta said.
One firefighter stayed with Winkelman’s body from the time his body was released to internment. Firefighters from other area departments came in and “covered quarters” filling in at Huntley fire stations, allowing firefighters to attend the visitation and funeral, he said.
“It was like a mutual aid box alarm for a grief-stricken department,” Saletta said.
Also remembered Saturday was Al Vogt, 83, a retired Elgin fire captain who died on Dec. 15, and Herman “Red” Naatz Jr., 85, a former Algonquin firefighter who passed away on May 18, 2011.
Another six firefighters from across Illinois who died on the job in the past year were also honored.
Firefighter deaths, although rarer nowadays, are still very much on the minds of local fire officials. While smoke detectors and sprinkler systems help save lives, officials said, the concern for many departments are the new houses built with lighter construction techniques. Those homes, made with engineered wood products, are far more likely to collapse in a fire. In fact, said Elgin Fire Chief John Fahy, Elgin saw a new-construction house collapse last December.
“I don’t think we are safer,” than in years past, even with advanced equipment and new construction, Saletta added. He’s heard of new construction collapsing just 10 minutes after a fire was reported. “Older buildings were better constructed for fire resistance,” because they used thicker building materials and wood that took longer to burn through.
That is one of the reasons he and other fire department officials are pushing for sprinkler systems in single family homes, Saletta added.
There are fewer fires than in years past, for a variety of reasons. But, death from fires still happen.
“I want to see it. I want to attend one of these (memorials) when everyone can say there was no loss of life,” at their department, said Tom Willis, vice president of the Associated Firefighters of Illinois, Fourth District
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