CHICAGO! (Part 4) Chicago Fire Department

You had to know this was coming.  I mean really, did you think we could get out of Chicago, who's fire department has been in existance since 1837 without taking my fire truck obsessed little boy to a real Chicago Fire Station?

We checked with the concierge at our hotel for the nearest firestation and thought - yeah, we can walk that.  So we hiked the 18 blocks on over to 444 Dearborn - the home of Chicago's Squad 1 and Chicago Fire Prevention Bureau.  We turned the corner onto Dearborn and all of the big doors were closed.  My first thought was "Oh Shit!  We walked all this way for NOTHING!"  But, my son and his eagle eyes spotted a firefighter and asked him if he could show us the trucks and we were in!

The chief even popped out and said "now that's a real team to root for" regarding Jeremy's St. Louis Cardinals hat.

My little boy had the run of the station.  They let him check out anything he wanted and he did.  He even met his first female firefighter, Ms. Nora.  I think she was as tall as Jeremy!

Jacob in back of the CFD command center with our tour guide.  They work a 24 on 48 off rotation and there are 28 firefighters stationed here.

And got to play basketball in their gym.

I think this was one of the best parts of our trip.  These folks were so warm and welcoming.  They treated us as if we were old friends rather than people off the street.  They answered all of our questions and showed us anything we wanted to see.  We were allowed to take all of the pictures we wanted and we left with a Squad 1 t-shirt, 2 fire hats, a coloring book, and a wristband.  The perfect end to our trip.

Thank you, CFD Squad 1.  Thank you for your hospitality, thank you for your time and thank you for your service,