Fire Nuggets mourns the loss of a legend, a gentleman, friend, mentor and true class act who passed away July 4, 2009.

Bennie L. Crane began his career with the Chicago Fire Department in 1961. After 34 years of service, he retired as a district chief, where he supervised the 650 members and 27 fire companies assigned to the 4th District. As the assistant director of training, Chief Crane developed and delivered a workshop on interpersonal relationships, resulting in reduced tensions in the areas of management/labor and race relations. He also developed testing procedures designed to assist company officers in their training efforts. As a lieutenant, he organized and led a bipartisan and biracial coalition of community, labor, and public officials that affected the peaceful solution to the 23-day Chicago firefighters strike. As a firefighter/instructor, he served as course director and lead instructor of a program that certified over 3,000 members in CPR. The Chicago City Council awarded an honorable-mention certificate and cash for assistance in rescuing four people. As a firefighter, he was assigned to Ladder Company 15, the city’s busiest ladder company during the 1960s. Author of Humanity Our Common Ground: A Guide to Thriving in a Diverse Society, and Personal Empowerment, Achieving Individual and Departmental Excellence, Chief Crane served the fire service presenting workshops on leadership, diversity, personal and organizational empowerment, and conflict resolution. Included among his clients were the Chicago Fire Department; the Village of Schaumburg, Illinois; the Lisle-Woodridge Fire Department, the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association, and the Fire Department Instructors Conference. He was a field instructor with the University of Illinois Fire Service Institute and an adjunct instructor with the Traffic Institute of Northwestern University. 

To the Crane Family and his many friends across the nation, we share your grief and extend to you our heartfelt sympathy. Bennie was larger than life and would light up a room with his warmth, infectious smile and laughter. A kind, compassionate and loving person, he touched many people over the years and his loss is especially difficult to comprehend. 

God bless you, Bennie. We love you and miss you.

Until we meet again,

Ted Corporandy and Paul Schuller
Publishers, Fire Nuggets

“The Legend of Hook and Ladder 15…”

The streets and alleys of the south-side echo with the ratcheting of wooden ladders,
the chopping of axes and of heavy brass striking upon cobblestone
…and a young man becomes a Fireman.
As the fires continue to rage in project and storefront and the telegraph clatters once again,
the doors at 46th and Cottage Grove swing open, the truck roars through
…as the fireman becomes a tillerman.
And, as the years pass, the telegraph fades away, the radio cracks
and, with a thousand roofs behind him
…the Tillerman becomes an officer.
The wooden ladders now steel, the whine of saws replace the chop of axe
and the hose now rings and falls upon streets of asphalt
…but the officer has become a leader.
The sirens still ring on these cold city streets as
wood and brick give way to glass and steel
and for the men of this city
…the leader has become a Chief.
No longer opening roofs but opening minds,
not forcing through doors but breaking down barriers
…the Chief has become a mentor.
And now, as warm winds blow past alley and “L”
and fireworks fade from the summer sky,
students from sea to sea bid a tearful good-bye
to a man who brought honor to a profession
…to a mentor who became a legend.

To my mentor and friend
Chief Bennie Crane
July 4, 2009

Battalion Chief Michael Veseling
City of Naperville Fire Department