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Evanston Fire Department history Part 49
From Phil Stenholm:
Another chapter in the history of the Evanston Fire Department (EFD).
THE MODERNIZATION PLAN
When Chief Hofstetter stepped down, he was succeeded by 52-year-old Henry Dorband, a 31-year veteran of the department who had been a company officer at Truck Company 1 and a platoon commander since becoming an assistant chief fire marshal in 1948. Captain Michael Garrity was promoted to assistant chief fire marshal when Dorband became chief, joining Assistant Chief Jim Geishecker as one of the EFD's two platoon commanders.
Capt. John Schmidt initially took over the Fire Prevention Bureau after the passing of Assistant Chief J.E. Mersch in 1951, followed by Capt. William Murphy in 1952 after Schmidt retired to join the Federal Civil Defense Administration.
This sudden shift in leadership brought fresh energy to the EFD. Chiefs Dorband, Geishecker, and Garrity joined the EFD between 1918 and 1920, so they weren't newcomers. They had waited over three decades each for this opportunity to lead.
Alongside these changes, Lts. Jim Mersch, Lincoln Dickinson, Ronald Ford, and Lester Breitzman were promoted to captains between 1950 and 1952. Mersch was assigned to Engine Co. 1, Breitzman to Engine Co. 2, Dickinson to Engine Co. 3, and Ford to Engine Co. 4. Capt. Ed Fahrbach moved from Engine Co. 4 to Engine Co. 5 after veteran Capt. Frank Sherry retired in 1951.
Assistant Chiefs Geishecker and Garrity managed opposite platoons while also serving as truck company officers at Station #1. The two captains acting as company officers at Station #1—Jim Mersch for Engine Co. 1 and Ed Fahrbach for Engine Co. 5—were the most senior captains in the department. They handled drillmaster duties in addition to their regular responsibilities.
Following the deaths of Chief Hofstetter and Assistant Chief Mersch in 1950, the retirements of Capt. Sherry in 1951 and Capt. Schmidt in 1952, and subsequent promotions, Lts. William Rohrer (after 27 years), Charles Novak (after 24 years), and Fred Schumacher (after 25 years) retired in 1950, 1951, and 1952 respectively.
Ed Burczak joined Francis “Marvin†Hofstetter as one of the EFD's two fire equipment mechanics in 1950. To fill the vacancies left by those promoted or retiring, firefighters Leonard Bach, Herb Claussen, Knud Hanson, George “Bud†Hofstetter, George Jasper, Erv Lindeman, and Willard Thiel were promoted to lieutenant between 1951 and 1952.
Soon after becoming chief fire marshal, Henry Dorband introduced an ambitious "Fire Department Modernization Plan." This plan aimed to implement all remaining recommendations from the 1935 NFBU inspection and address the current and future needs of the EFD.
Evanston voters approved a $160,000 bond issue in April 1951 (88% support) for new equipment and another $775,000 bond issue in April 1953 (60% approval) for three new fire stations. Together, these bonds totaled $935,000 and led to significant modernization efforts within the EFD.
The first bond allowed the city to buy five new firefighting vehicles from Peter Pirsch & Sons of Kenosha, Wisconsin. For around $135,000, the purchase included two tractor-drawn 85-foot aerial-ladder trucks, two 1000-GPM triple-combination pumpers, and one 1000-GPM combination pumper/rescue squad. To secure the deal, Pirsch had to outbid competitors like Seagrave, American LaFrance, and Mack.
The TDA bought from Pirsch in 1950 and delivered in 1951 (Truck No. 1) was retrospectively added to the bond issue as one of the two tractor-drawn aerial-ladder trucks, with the $35,000 returned to the city treasury. Additionally, a new chief's car—a 1951 Mercury sedan with an Evanston Police FM two-way radio—was purchased using bond funds.
Chief Dorband stationed all five new Pirsch rigs at Station #1 upon their September 1952 deployment, ordering them parked outside whenever possible so residents could see the city's shiny new fire apparatus. These rigs stayed together at Station #1 until 1955.