Mike, I too felt that it was ridiculous for the Chicago Fire Department to have a 'Snorkel Squad 3' operating for over two years without a snorkel assigned to it. It wasn't until just a few months before it was finally taken out of service that they correctly re-designated Snorkel Squads 2 and 3 as Rescue 2 and Rescue 3. There was a reason behind this, though. The simple answer is that it was recommended in the Maatman Report, but that only tells part of the story. Ultimately, the city didn’t want to spend the money needed to keep fire companies running properly or maintain adequate staffing levels.

The City of Chicago had hired Gerald Maatman, who was the head of the Fire Science program at Illinois Institute of Technology and also led the National Loss Control Service Corporation. The city first brought him in during 1963 to conduct a comprehensive study of the Chicago Fire Department. This included an evaluation of fire stations, their locations, and the distribution of fire companies across the city. The goal was partly to help raise the AIA fire insurance rating to Class 2, which the city achieved the following year. For your information, the AIA has since evolved into ISO, originally known as the National Board of Fire Underwriters. The 1963/64 Maatman report was actually quite thorough and well-researched.

The report suggested building new fire stations and relocating some central city fire companies to areas with poor coverage. While it did recommend some companies be taken out of service, it also suggested moving others into new stations. Importantly, it didn’t call for reducing manpower on existing companies, and even recommended adding a sixth member to a few select units. The report proposed removing 16 engines from service out of 120 total, and adding three new truck companies to the existing 60. No snorkels, snorkel squads, or squad companies were recommended for removal. However, five years later, in 1968, another Maatman Report was commissioned, and its recommendations were significantly different from the first.

Let me explain what had changed. In 1967, the Chicago Fire Department gave firefighters an extra day off, effectively reducing their working hours. But the city refused to hire more personnel or increase the number of firefighter positions to compensate. By 1967, two squad companies had already been out of service for several years. Squad 12 was disbanded in 1964 to form Truck 62, and Squad 7 was taken out of service in 1965 to become Snorkel Squad 3. In December 1966 and February 1967, Squads 1 and 2 were converted into Salvage Squads 1 and 2—still based at the same stations, with the same apparatus, but now responding to salvage calls citywide. In April 1967, Squad 3 was involved in a serious accident, and the unit was declared a total loss. Squad 3 was officially disbanded on April 17th. Just three months later, Squads 6 and 13 were also taken out of service. On the same day, Squads 8 and 10 were downgraded to one-man companies, responding only to Still and Box Alarms with just the driver. A little over a month later, Squad 10 was removed from service, and Squad 5 became a one-man company as well.

By the end of the summer, only Salvage Squads 1 and 2, and Squads 4, 9, and 11 remained fully manned. By early 1968, all other squads (except Salvage Squads 1 and 2, and Squads 4 and 9) were out of service. I’m not including the Snorkel Squads 1, 2, and 3 that were still active in 1968, even though SS3 had been running without a snorkel for over a year by then. Due to reduced hours and poor staffing, by 1968, it was unclear whether an engine or truck would run with five or only four people. This instability prompted the city to bring back Gerald Maatman for a new study.

The 1968 Maatman Report recommended that about two-thirds of engine and truck companies operate with only four firefighters. It also suggested creating six Flying Manpower Squads, each with six firefighters, to respond to still alarms and support the smaller crews. The remaining engines and trucks, located downtown, near the lakefront, and in busy parts of the city, would continue with five-person crews, typically without the Flying Manpower Squads accompanying them.

The report had more recommendations. It suggested disbanding all three Snorkel Squads, leaving only Salvage Squad 1 as the "downtown" squad. Maatman argued that the specialized equipment on the snorkel units could be redistributed to the new Flying Manpower Squads and the remaining Salvage Squad. He also proposed assigning some of the gear to regular engine and truck companies. That turned out to be accurate, as the CFD began equipping most engine companies with multi-versals previously only found on snorkel units.

The department also started giving every truck a K-12 rotary saw, which had previously been exclusive to snorkel units. In the same report, Maatman recommended taking one regular snorkel company (Snorkel 6) out of service. He also suggested moving Snorkel 3 from Engine 84’s station to Engine 60, which was easier after Snorkel Squad 2 was disbanded. Snorkel 2 was supposed to stay at Engine 28’s house, but instead was given the new Mack MB 55-foot snorkel delivered in 1967. Snorkel 4 was to move from Engine 25 (near the Loop) to Engine 67 (on the far west side), and Snorkel 7 from Engine 55 to Engine 110. Snorkel 5 would remain at Engine 43 on the northwest side. The plan was to position the five remaining snorkels in or near high-fire areas. At the time, these areas were mostly limited to the south side up to around 79th or 83rd Street, east to Jeffrey (2000 East), and west to Ashland (1600 West).

Additionally, the consultant recommended installing ladder pipes on every truck company. At the time, there were fewer than 25 ladder pipes in use. Equipping trucks with these allowed them to deploy elevated streams quickly without waiting for a snorkel to arrive.

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