Chicago, with its rich history and diverse culture, offers a wide range of opportunities for visitors to learn about the city and its notable past. With roots beginning in the early 1830s, the Chicago Fire Department is one of the oldest and largest in the United States and has played an integral role in the city makeup since its inception.

Retired Fire Captain George Rabiela served the fire department for 30 years and now carries on the tradition through O’Leary’s Fire Truck Tours, which allows visitors to take in the sights and historical points of interest in the Downtown Chicago area from a unique vantage point: atop a restored, antique fire truck. Available seasonally for outings of all types, O’Leary’s Fire Truck Tours offers a memorable group activity and a singular story to share.

We recently spoke with Captain George Rabiela to learn more about his company and his background as a firefighter. Here is his story…

Q: First, tell us about O'Leary's Fire Truck Tours.
A: It's a unique company. There's only one other company in the United States that does tours on a fire truck, and that's somewhere in California. We have a small fleet of trucks. They're antiques—1948 is my oldest truck, and then I have a ‘65 Mack. I'm a retired captain on the fire department, so that adds to the tour and the information we give to the tour guests.

Q: How did the name originate?
A: Back in 1871, Mrs. O'Leary went out to milk her cow, and she took a kerosene lantern with her. Legend has it she forgot it in the barn, and the cow kicked it over, which started the Chicago Fire. We're not sure that the cow was the one who kicked the lantern over, but they do know that the point of origin was in her barn. That's where the fire started. There are other legends about [Daniel] “Peg Leg” Sullivan, and we have Peg Leg on our logo. We have the cow kicking the lantern over and starting the fire, and Peg Leg is sitting on top of O'Leary's.

Q: What types of educational offerings does the tour provide?
A: I was the Coordinator of Public Education when I was active in the fire department… [and] when we have kids, we give them the basic tips. Don't play with matches, have an escape route, make sure there are smoke detectors in the house, don't hide if there's a fire, and, once you get out, have a meeting place… the basic things that they teach at the public education unit.

Q: Which sites are included on the tour?
A: We start off on Michigan and Illinois, and we take in two fire stations on the one-hour tour: Engine 13 on Columbus and Wacker, Engine 98 on Chicago. Then we take in all of the Magnificent Mile, the old part of Michigan Avenue to the Buckingham Fountain, then we go through the Grant Park area, over to the Museum Campus, down Lakeshore Drive. We see three harbors and a little bit of Navy Pier. It's the most scenic area of Downtown.

Q: Where did the trucks come from?
A: The Mack came from Long Island. The other one, I'm not too sure. I have some fire buffs who are trying to hunt the history down on both of these trucks. I bought them 10 years ago, and we have seats on them where the hose used to lie, called the hose bed.

Q: Tell us about your background as a firefighter.
A: I got on the fire department as a kid. I was 22 years old, and that's when I started my career. I'm 54 now; I retired after 30 years of service. I was assigned to Engine 18. When you first come on the job, they call you “candidate,” so I was a candidate there—you're on probation for a year—and it was the first station I went to. It's on Roosevelt and May.

When I got there, the very first fire I had was at Fontana's [Deli]. I had the opportunity to rescue two people, a lady and a kid, from the third floor. Fontana's is a famous sandwich shop in Chicago; it's in the old Italian neighborhood, which is maybe three or four blocks from the station. That's where I was assigned, and that's where I did my first rescue.

I used to live across the street from that firehouse when I was three or four. On a cold February day, we had no water in the house because the pipes froze in the basement. So [the landlord] went into the basement, and he took a blowtorch to the pipes to thaw them out, and he caught the whole building on fire. We smelled the fire, so we ran out of the house. When the fire department responded, it was Engine 18, which was right across the street. One of the firemen had me in his arms and put a blanket around me, and 20 years later, I was assigned to that firehouse.

Q: How did you become involved in the recovery efforts following 9/11?
A: I was the Coordinator of Public Education, [and] when I was headed to the office, I was listening on the radio, and I knew I had to go. I called Southwest Airlines, and they flew me and my shepherd out—I had a pretty big dog by the name of Moses. We landed at MacArthur Airport, and then the police drove us from MacArthur Airport to Ground Zero. We aided in the recovery there. We got there on September 15. The dog worked three days; I was there a total of five days.

On my ‘65 Mack, there are two seats that I have embroidered “in memory of.” I have [the names of] two firemen from the station where I slept [during the recovery]. It was Engine 4, Ladder 15, in lower Manhattan. There was Scott Larson; he died in the World Trade Center. His wife gave birth to a baby girl three days after the towers came down. The other name that I have is Andre Fletcher. He's another fireman who was killed in the towers, and I worked with his twin brother when I was down there.

Q: How did you go from fighting fires to providing fire truck tours?
A: A [planning] company called me. They were looking for firemen, and they asked me if I knew any that would help on a tour. I got a couple of firemen, and they worked for Global Management [Services, Inc.]. The guy was real happy with the firemen, and he told me, “Did you know the company is selling the fire trucks?” This was when the Chicago Trolley Company got bought out by Coach USA. I bought [the trucks] in the year 2000, and it's not even a job for me. It's just a lot of fun.

To learn more about O’Leary’s Fire Truck Tours, visit www.olearysfiretours.com.

Serenity J. Knutson is the Editor in Chief of PlannerWire.com, the News, Information and Community website for meeting and event planners. Contact her at Serenity@PlannerWire.com.

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