Patch Portrait

Community Firefighter Preps for Action

This week's series of Patch Portraits also include a benevolent banker from Glenview and Niles' "Uncle Pete."

This week's series of Patch Portraits also include a benevolent banker from Glenview and Niles' "Uncle Pete." Fire Chief Alan Berkowsky knows a thing or two about what it means to be a firefighter. After serving in Evanston for nearly three decades, he became Winentka's fire chief in April. You can read that story on Patch here. Throughout this week, the station's firefighters use totaled cars to practice rescue protocol after car crashes. Check out the photo gallery here. Ever wonder what it means to be a firefighter, wearing 20 pounds of protective gear on a hot July day, and practicing rescue drills? Check out this week's Patch Portrait.

•  1 Comment
• Videos (3)

Woman Returns to Burning Mobile Home to Save Cats, Neighbors Rescue Her

Undersized hydrants and poor water pressure delay fire extinguishment in weekend blaze.

A 52-year-old Glenview woman suffered burns and smoke inhalation after she fell asleep while smoking cigarettes in the bedroom of her mobile home Friday afternoon, fire officials said. The woman woke up to find the rear half of her Sunset Park mobile home, 41 South Branch, on fire, Glenview Fire Chief Wayne Globerger told Patch. A nearby neighbor had called 911, and fire department units found heavy fire and smoke when they arrived around 2:25 p.m., according to fire reports. Despite extensive burns to her head and neck, the woman, a sufferer of emphazima according to one neighbor, exited the burning trailer and then reentered with a garden hose in search of her cats, Golberger added. “She was basically standing in the doorway on fire and …

• Photos (4)

UPDATE: Overnight Fire Destroys Park Services Center

Around midnight, the Glenview Park District's Park Services Center was taken by an intense fire – More than 75 firefighters were at the scene.

Additional reporting by Samantha Liss Update, Nov. 24 at 4:05 p.m. The fire that destroyed the Glenview Park District Services Center building around midnight nearly three weeks ago, injured five firefighters and is still under investigation. More than 75 firefighters were on the scene, battling flames reported to be 40 feet high at 1110 Roosevelt Ave. The intense fire sent four firefighters from Glenview and one from Northbrook to Glenbrook Hospital after sustaining injuries. The firefighters were released from the hospital later that morning, Nov. 7, and all have been back to work, according to Glenview Fire Chief, Wayne Globerger. The Services Center housed park district offices and at the time of the fire no one was working in the …

• Photos (9)