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Orland Firefighter reflects on 29 years of service after retirement

Orland Park, IL – From the time he was a young child, Robert Winkelman always wanted to be a firefighter.

Last week, he retired after 35 years of total fire service, including 29 years with the Orland Fire Protection District, most recently as a Battalion Chief.

The OFPD is one of the highest rated fire departments in the country and boasts a unique achievement of a 71 percent save rate for cardiac patients.

Saluted last week, Winkelman, 62, looked back at his career with the OFPD and the reasons for the district’s celebrated successes responding to fires and emergencies.

“I was born in Chicago and raised on 33rd and Paulina. There was a firehouse, Engine 39, nearby, a single engine firehouse on 33rd and Ashland. It was directly across from the playground that as kids, my friends and I would play at,” Winkelman recalled.

“I was 10 years old, and we would all play and have fun at the park that was right across the street from the firehouse. And when the fire house bay doors opened and the fire truck and firefighters came out, sometimes with all the lights flashing and siren blaring, and sometimes just to move the equipment, all the kids would just stop and stare. It was something to see.”

Winkelman said he would stop in his tracks and stare with excitement, a feeling that forever nurtured in him a desire to become a fireman.

“When the truck rushed lights flashing and siren blaring onto Ashland Avenue, which was a very busy street in Chicago, I would always say to myself, ‘They are a lot of heroes. I wanted to be one of them one day,” Winkelman sighed.

For Winkelman, it was a memory and impression that never left.

Winkelman remembered how the firefighters would sometimes invite the kids to the front of the firehouse where they had a bench and check out the fire equipment and trucks.

“They let us come in the firehouse and they gave us a tour. We got to know them on a first name basis. I would know them as Fireman Frank or Fireman Bill,” Winkelman recalled.

“They were always encouraging us to succeed, telling us, ‘Stay out of trouble,’ or ‘Make sure you go to school,’ and ‘Get good grades.’ They would tell us ‘You could be one of us someday. We would love to have you young guys take our jobs when we retire.’ That’s what they always would say.”

Winkelman graduated from Kelly High School in Chicago in 1981, and became a runner at the Board of Trade. He later entered the construction trade, working with marble as a stone setter in 1987. He worked with marble on projects around the city, including on the NBC Tower and Stouffers Hotel.

But he never forgot his passion about being a firefighter, and in between working, getting married, and raising a family. He moved to Plainfield and started researching how to get hired as a firefighter.

He applied and was hired for a “Paid on Call” position as a firefighter EMT with the Village of Crestwood in 1991.

“My first actual fire department job was in Crestwood as a POC. The fire department. Where I lived, they didn’t have a program like that. They were all full-time. But in order to get my foot in the door, the neighboring town of Crestwood let me come in as a POC,” Winkelman said.

“I basically had a pager, and I would work as a stone setter with marble, providing for my family. In my spare time from the job, I would respond to emergency calls.”

“When the pager went off, you didn’t know what situation you would be in, but I would rush there and participate in the call,” Winkelman said, noting that Crestwood put him through in their Firefighter 2 Program.

“The Firefighter 2 program was being run out of the District 2 Fire Academy at the Palos Fire District. I had to achieve my state certification in Firefighter 2, which was sponsored by Crestwood. They sent me to this six-month training course which was studying, reading books, taking classes, and even getting hands-on experience.”

Winkelman also went to Paramedic School in 1993 at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, attending classes at night twice a week and sometimes on the weekend. He trained as a “Practical,” helping the nurses with medical treatment.

Winkelman said he left the stone business to take a full-time position as a paramedic with the Berwyn Fire Department in 1994.

But to obtain your paramedic certification, Winkelman said you also had to have ambulance “ride time” (or field time) training with a fire department in a program called ALS.

It was in 1993 that the fire Chief in Crestwood, Ambrose “Jerry” Kolasinski, called the Fire Chief in Orland, Chief Robert Buhs, to see if Winkelman could get the 200 hours of “ride time” he needed to qualify. When his “ride time” requirement was completed, he took the state test with the Illinois Department of Public Health and earned his Paramedic certification.

After receiving his certification, he tested at several other fire departments.

“I remember testing at the Orland Fire Protection District, where 1,300 applicants came out testing for 10 spots,” Winkelman said, noting how competitive it was.

He noted that the state’s two most respected Fire Departments were Orland and Oak Lawn.

In 1995, he was hired on probation as a firefighter/paramedic in Alsip.

“Shortly after beginning my career in Alsip, Chief Terry Hyland called me from the Orland Fire Protection District and asked me if I wanted the job,” Winkelman said.

“I was ecstatic. I was hired on August 26, 1996, and I entered the six-week fire training academy. My probation year was 1996-1997, and I was sworn in in 1997.”

He said the Orland Fire Protection District was the perfect place to work because firefighters there are both professionally trained and certified paramedics and firefighters.

Winkelman said the training was rigorous, and he learned much.

“After, you do your station rotation for a whole year, and then after that, they swear you in. Once you’re sworn in, you are now a union employee, and you’re considered full-time, and then you’re placed according to seniority where you’re most needed,” Winkelman said, noting during his first year he worked at all six fire stations. He said it was all “listen, take direction and learn.”

Winkelman said the success of the OFPD is driven by teamwork, training, and coordination.

“It was like NASCAR. Each person has their job, and they do it in sync and together. All coordinated. We have set positions for each person. We know what the ambulance driver is going to do. We know what the ambulance officer is going do. We know what the engineer on the truck is going to do. We know what the fireman is doing. We all have set positions when we jump out, so it’s almost like a pit crew. That’s why I believe we’re so successful,” Winkelman said.

Winkelman said the schedule was clear and intense but allowed him time to continue his business.

“In responding to an emergency or fire, you go from ‘slight to flight’ right away; from standing to going 100 miles an hour. You’re flying out the door because someone needs you now.”

Winkelman recalled one of his proudest moments, saving the life of a woman who had a heart attack while swimming at Lifetime Fitness.

“The seniors usually swim there in the morning as a part of their routine. It was about 9 in the morning, and we got a call for someone not breathing by the pool area. So when we get there, and I’m the first one through the door, because now I’m a fireman, I see all the seniors were screaming, pointing to her in the water, floating face down,” Winkelman recalled.

“I just decided to jump in the pool with my full uniform and get her. I didn’t want to wait for anybody to tell me to do it. I took it upon myself to jump in the pool, get her to the side of the pool as a couple of other companies were pulling up. She wasn’t breathing, so we started CPR. We went the whole nine yards. It was successful, and we resuscitated her and then brought her to the hospital.”

The senior made a full recovery.

Several weeks later, after she recovered, Winkelman said he was on duty at the fire station when she visited.

“She wanted to know who the firefighter was who jumped in the pool and rescued her. She thanked me. She thanked all the other guys. And she brought us homemade pies that she made herself. I remember her giving me the pie, and I was like, wow. It brought tears to my eyes. Here is this lady who was there because I had something to do with saving her,” he said.

Winkelman said that every day, firefighters put their lives on the line, not knowing the exact circumstances of each emergency call until they get there.

The most dangerous situation, he said, is the “backdraft” when fire appears to die from lack of oxygen but suddenly erupts in an explosion when oxygen is reintroduced to the room.

He also expressed gratitude and praise for the support firefighters receive from the Orland Police Department.

“They come on every call with us. They have our backs. If the scene is violent, we will not go in, but they do. We will not interact with anybody when we feel it is not safe. And that’s when the police create the scene to say it’s okay and safe,” Winkelman said.

Winkelman said he is proud of his service and proud of all the firefighters and first responders who not only put out fires but also save lives.

“I am so proud that I was a part of that,” Winkelman said.

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