evilmedic13
Well-known member
A good guy too, can't talk or write too much, sorry. Think about this next time you feel the world is out to get you on the feej, they don't stop for us either! Happens way more than it should, this time somebody died.
chicagotribune.com >> Local news
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Chicago firefighters mourn loss of 'one of our own'
Tribune staff report
Published March 23, 2007, 3:41 PM CDT
A third-generation Chicago firefighter killed in a traffic crash while responding to an emergency call this morning was being remembered as a dedicated family man whose service with the department was a "labor of love."
The accident occurred shortly before 8 a.m. at 59th and Wells Streets, and involved fire Truck No. 51 and an Alltown school bus.
William Grant (Undated photo courtesy of the Chicago Fire Department)
March 23, 2007
Photo gallery
Fire truck crash
Graphic
Map: Crash site
March 23, 2007
William Grant, 44, was part of a crew of four firefighters on the truck, which had its lights and sirens activated en route to a report of a fire in the 5600 block of South May Street that turned out to be a false alarm. Grant was pinned inside the truck and killed when it flipped onto its side.
The other firefighters and the bus driver suffered non-life threatening injuries, authorities said.
"This is a sad day for the Chicago Fire Department," fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco said. "We've lost one of our own this morning."
Grant, known as "Bill" or "Billy" to family and friends, was the second-youngest of eight children, his brother, Tom Grant, 42, said this afternoon. They grew up in Beverly on the city's South Side, and Billy and his older brother Kevin, 49, followed in the footsteps of their father and joined the Chicago Fire Department, he said.
"It was pretty awful when we found out," said Tom Grant, who is the youngest of the siblings. "We're a very, very close family and Billy was the linchpin of our family. It's very difficult.''
Tom Grant said his brother was a devoted husband to his wife, Sharon, and loving father to their three children: A son, 3, and two daughters, 7 and 6. He said his brother was looking forward to leaving on a family trip to visit in-laws in Florida in the next few weeks.
He said Bill became a firefighter in 1986 and Kevin joined a short time later. Their father, John Grant, 74, retired after 20 years on the job and was on vacation with their mother Elizabeth in New Mexico when they heard the news.
"My dad didn't encourage them to join, but that's what Billy really wanted to do, he loved the job," Tom Grant said. Tom said that he and other family members tried to get him to transfer out of the Englewood post, which is one of the busiest in the city, but Bill refused.
"He said, 'I don't want to go sit and atrophy… waiting for a building not to burn,''' Tom Grant said. "He actively chose to be in that house."
When the station was recently moved to a new building, Tom Grant said, his brother, a part-time wood refinisher, handcrafted a wooden mess table that had a Chicago Fire Department logo inlaid in the middle.
"He was very proud of that table,'' Tom Grant said. "He was very proud to be a fireman, he loved it and the table was a symbol for him. … He put his personal passion into it and did it on his own time. It was a labor of love."
Fire department spokesman Larry Langford said Grant was the first Chicago firefighter to be killed in a vehicular accident since April 2000. Officials this afternoon were still trying to piece together what led to the crash.
Chicago Public Schools spokesman Mike Vaughn said the bus had just dropped off students at Sheridan Elementary School, about four miles north of the accident scene. There were no passengers on the bus, he said.
Grant was in a back covered portion of the truck when the front of the bus collided with the right rear side of the truck at the intersection, causing the truck to spin and flip onto its left side, Langford said.
"Despite the best efforts of our firefighters who rushed to the scene, and our paramedics who did all they could, Firefighter William Grant did not survive the injuries sustained in the collision," Orozco said at a news conference at Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers, Evergreen Park.
The three other firefighters were taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County and Mt. Sinai Hospital, both in Chicago, and Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Langford said their conditions ranged from serious to "stable," and all were expected to survive.
"They are all alert, and they should make a recovery," Langford said.
The school bus driver was taken in stable condition to St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center and later released, Vaughn said.
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Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
chicagotribune.com >> Local news
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chicago firefighters mourn loss of 'one of our own'
Tribune staff report
Published March 23, 2007, 3:41 PM CDT
A third-generation Chicago firefighter killed in a traffic crash while responding to an emergency call this morning was being remembered as a dedicated family man whose service with the department was a "labor of love."
The accident occurred shortly before 8 a.m. at 59th and Wells Streets, and involved fire Truck No. 51 and an Alltown school bus.
William Grant (Undated photo courtesy of the Chicago Fire Department)
March 23, 2007
Photo gallery
Fire truck crash
Graphic
Map: Crash site
March 23, 2007
William Grant, 44, was part of a crew of four firefighters on the truck, which had its lights and sirens activated en route to a report of a fire in the 5600 block of South May Street that turned out to be a false alarm. Grant was pinned inside the truck and killed when it flipped onto its side.
The other firefighters and the bus driver suffered non-life threatening injuries, authorities said.
"This is a sad day for the Chicago Fire Department," fire Commissioner Raymond Orozco said. "We've lost one of our own this morning."
Grant, known as "Bill" or "Billy" to family and friends, was the second-youngest of eight children, his brother, Tom Grant, 42, said this afternoon. They grew up in Beverly on the city's South Side, and Billy and his older brother Kevin, 49, followed in the footsteps of their father and joined the Chicago Fire Department, he said.
"It was pretty awful when we found out," said Tom Grant, who is the youngest of the siblings. "We're a very, very close family and Billy was the linchpin of our family. It's very difficult.''
Tom Grant said his brother was a devoted husband to his wife, Sharon, and loving father to their three children: A son, 3, and two daughters, 7 and 6. He said his brother was looking forward to leaving on a family trip to visit in-laws in Florida in the next few weeks.
He said Bill became a firefighter in 1986 and Kevin joined a short time later. Their father, John Grant, 74, retired after 20 years on the job and was on vacation with their mother Elizabeth in New Mexico when they heard the news.
"My dad didn't encourage them to join, but that's what Billy really wanted to do, he loved the job," Tom Grant said. Tom said that he and other family members tried to get him to transfer out of the Englewood post, which is one of the busiest in the city, but Bill refused.
"He said, 'I don't want to go sit and atrophy… waiting for a building not to burn,''' Tom Grant said. "He actively chose to be in that house."
When the station was recently moved to a new building, Tom Grant said, his brother, a part-time wood refinisher, handcrafted a wooden mess table that had a Chicago Fire Department logo inlaid in the middle.
"He was very proud of that table,'' Tom Grant said. "He was very proud to be a fireman, he loved it and the table was a symbol for him. … He put his personal passion into it and did it on his own time. It was a labor of love."
Fire department spokesman Larry Langford said Grant was the first Chicago firefighter to be killed in a vehicular accident since April 2000. Officials this afternoon were still trying to piece together what led to the crash.
Chicago Public Schools spokesman Mike Vaughn said the bus had just dropped off students at Sheridan Elementary School, about four miles north of the accident scene. There were no passengers on the bus, he said.
Grant was in a back covered portion of the truck when the front of the bus collided with the right rear side of the truck at the intersection, causing the truck to spin and flip onto its left side, Langford said.
"Despite the best efforts of our firefighters who rushed to the scene, and our paramedics who did all they could, Firefighter William Grant did not survive the injuries sustained in the collision," Orozco said at a news conference at Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers, Evergreen Park.
The three other firefighters were taken to Stroger Hospital of Cook County and Mt. Sinai Hospital, both in Chicago, and Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn. Langford said their conditions ranged from serious to "stable," and all were expected to survive.
"They are all alert, and they should make a recovery," Langford said.
The school bus driver was taken in stable condition to St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center and later released, Vaughn said.
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Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
