Christmas Day gets the 'Gold Shift'

Station 16 firefighter Pat McGahan will never forget his experience working one Christmas day.

“I delivered a kid on the station ramp,” McGahan said. He added that the couple wasn’t “going to make it” to the hospital so they came to the station instead.

“We got her in back of the ambulance and she delivered.”

McGahan is part of Station 16’s “gold shift,” which draws holiday duty this year. The 24-hour shift starts at 8 a.m. Christmas day.

“You’re going to have to work holidays, weekends and spend holidays away from your family – which on some holidays isn’t necessarily the worst thing,” Lt. Kurt Harms said with a grin.

While most firefighters prefer to be with their families during the holidays a select few actually prefer the Christmas duty.

“We had one lieutenant years ago who would trade (with other firefighters) all the time. He was a 20, 30-year man who could have any day off he could. He always worked the holidays," Harms added.

“It’s enjoyable to sit around and talk to your friends,” said firefighter Chuck Demes. “Cops are driving around in a car where we’re here in a house environment (while not on calls). It’s like our home away from home.”

If there were any perks to working Christmas day, it would have to be the fire station's advantage over their police counterparts. The fire station is semi-open to the public and their families often can stop in for a few hours on Christmas, either bringing food along or joining in the station holiday meal. Demes is an exception. His wife and 11-year-old daughter live more than 35 miles away.

“In our family Christmas Eve has always been the big one,” Demes said.

Blue on Christmas day

Unlike neighboring Morton Grove, which makes out its police schedules more than a year in advance, Skokie’s police department offers more flexibility when it asks its officers to rank their holiday day-off preferences one through five, said Police Chief Anthony Scarpelli.

“That ensures everyone regardless of seniority gets (some) holidays off,” Scarpelli said.

Most police and firemen are sensitive to colleagues needs for off-time, and plenty of trading of shifts ensues.

Police families will send home-cooked food to Skokie’s new police headquarters, just a block south of Station 16. But due to the security of a police station, they cannot visit.

“It could be going slow, then something happens,” said Commander Paul Weinman, a veteran who has worked Christmas day before. “You don’t have the administration around, records people around, civilians around. It will be like working Saturdays or Sundays.”

Given good weather that eliminates ice- or snow-induced traffic accidents, the pattern on Christmas Eve is handling the hustle and bustle of last-minute shoppers until about 6 p.m. “Then it gets quiet,” said Scarpelli.

Public-safety and hospital workers in Skokie know they’ll eventually work holidays like Christmas while being away from families. Enduring tougher times may be the employees of the small number of private businesses, like gas stations and scattered fast-food outlets, who comprise skeleton staffs and sometimes work alone on the quietest night of the year.

Regular police patrols ensure the businesses that stay open are regularly surveyed to avoid being targeted by robbers, who have few alternatives for crimes.

One such open business is the Starbucks at the Yellow Line terminal on Dempster Street. Most outlets in the popular coffee chain are closed on Christmas, but the Skokie outlet will be open part of the day.

“We chose to open if we could find enough workers,” said shift supervisor Ryan Boughner. “It’s completely volunteer. A few people of different religions are working. Others need the money or are away from family. This is such a busy area with the station it’s worth staying open.”

Across the street, will not be open for walk-in business, but owner Andy Kalish and  a couple of assistants will be on duty handling catering orders. Meanwhile, the new Papa John’s Pizza just down the street will be closed after an experimental Thanksgiving opening netted little business.

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