September 5, 2002 Evanston Review:
Retiring Captain Jimmy Hayes recalls his harrowing final
day as a firefighter. 

City Firefighter, about to retire, risks his life
By Bob Seidenberg
City Editor 

    Evanston Fire Department Capt. Jimmy Hayes's career of 29 years in the fire service had come down to its final 15 hours last Thursday when a call came in shortly  before 2 p.m. of a house fire at 646 Forest Ave. 
    "We were all heading up to my retirement party, cake and coffee at 3 o'clock," he said.  "I was supposed to blow the candles out."
    Instead, Hayes and firefighter/paramedic Paul Polep lay on their stomachs in a near pitch-black attic as flames rolled over them like a giant orange fireball.
    Fifteen hours.
    "It was like being stuck underneath a giant flamethrower," Hayes said, water streaming down his face afterward.
    Hayes, 52, said the efforts of Polep, who grabbed him as they were thrown backward from the force, and Capts. Jeff McDermott and Randy Drott, in the next group behind, were key in the rescue at what had begun as an ordinary house fire.
    "It was like a conga line on our stomachs," he said.  "He (Paul) just hung on to me and pulled me and the other guys pulled Paul.
    "I remembered a few prayers."
    Emergency dispatchers received a call at about 1:55 p.m. of a fire in the 2 1/2 story Victorian-style home, where workers were busy constructing an addition to the roof.
    Upon arrival, firefighters found heavy smoke and fire coming from the roof area, said Division Chief Alan Berkowsky, the city's fire marshal.
    The first truck company on the scene advised Hayes that fire was coming from the attic area.  In such operations, firefighters proceed on the notion that someone might be still inside the building.
    Hayes and Polep were in the lead of the group, carrying fire hose and crawling on their stomachs up the narrow stairwell, making a turn in a hallway that led to the attic.
    McDermott and Drott were just behind.
    As they reached the top of the stairs, still on all fours, "you had to make a turn in the hallway and we went inside this room," said Hayes, who was in the lead.
    "It was really dark.  You couldn't tell where you were at," he said.  "A lot of time you put your face down, (but here) you couldn't see any orange (the base of the fire).  You tap your hand (on the floor) and everybody shuts up.
    "Over to the left there was some puffing and crackling.  Then all of a sudden the temperature got real hot, then just like 'Boom' - it was all over us.
    "It got orange real fast and everything was behind us.  I didn't know what was going on.  We couldn't turn over to go out.  If we turned over, by going up six to eight inches, we would have been cooked.
"We just stayed low and Paul just grabbed my legs.  He just hung on to me and he pulled me out and the other guys pulled Paul."
    Fifteen hours.
    "I wasn't worried about getting out," said Hayes.  "I knew the guys I was with.  When you go into something like that, you look around, you check faces, you check the companies you were with.  I looked at the guys I was with and I looked at the guys behind us.  I wasn't worried."
    The firefighters were able to regroup at that point, said Berkowsky.  A ladder company and engine were able to cool the fire from the outside.
    That in turn allowed the firefighters to re-enter the attic space and put out the fire.
    "Any fire, sometimes even the simplest of fires, can become very dramatic," Berkowsky said, "depending on where it is located, and the ability to access the fire."
    Officials estimate damage to the home at $200,000, said Berkowsky.  Investigators are still trying to determine a cause, he said this week.
    Following the incident, Hayes went back to Station 1 where old colleagues from his past, including former Fire Chief Sanders Hicks and James Whelan (former shift chief) and a number of other retirees as well as active members, were there to greet him.
    "Jim (Whelan) looked at me and he said, "Jimmy, what are you doing?  Didn't I teach you better?"
    Yeah, Hayes agreed, reciting the lesson: "Don't give up and go in there and do the right job."
    The fifteen hours were almost up.
Julie Fabiszak/Pioneer Press
Smoke billows from the attic area of
646 Forest Ave., where Capt. Jimmy
Hayes, in his last day of work, and 
fellow firefighters were temporarily
trapped last Thursday.  Investigators
this week were still working to determine
the cause.
    

For More Information Contact:

Evanston Fire Fighters Association Local 742
P.O. BOX 1275, Evanston IL, 60204
Tel:
FAX: (847) 519-9920
Internet: FyrEater21@AOL.com