Some background on the Chicago snorkels :
"The Snorkel as a Fire apparatus has it's origins in Chicago in 1958. The Fire Commissioner Robert J. Quinn had been looking for something to replace the department's three antiquated water towers, which manufacturers were no longer making. Commissioner Quinn had watched in fascination, tree trimmers and electric-sign repairmen using trucks with two hydraulically operated elevating arms that lifted them in baskets high in the air. The workers quickly moved up and down, in and out, swung from side to side, and rotated 360 degrees.
Quinn described his ideas with the department's chief automotive engineer. "Suppose we mounted a nozzle in the basket and attached several lengths of hoseline to it. We could pump into it just as we do our water towers. These platforms will provide the maneuverability and versatility we lack in water towers that remain stationary. We'd be able to sweep the entire fire floors and at better angles, too. What's more, these same characteristics would make them ideal for rescuing people from upper floors. The Pitman Manufacturing Company, Grandview, Missouri, builder of aerial platforms, was contacted and agreed to cooperate in an experiment to test one for fire fighting.
The platforms had been invented in 1951 by Ted Thornton Trump of Oliver, British Columbia. Trump named his invention the Giraffe and built it primarily for orchards, where workers called it a cherry picker. About three years later, Firemen of New Westminster, British Columbia, lifted a hoseline in a Giraffe and used it to fight a store fire. But practical development of elevating platforms for fire fighting went no further until they sparked Quinn's innovative curiosity.
In September, 1958, Pitman delivered a 50 foot elevating platform mounted on a General Motors Corporation chassis, and the platforms was outfitted. In the Chicago Fire Department Shops. Tests showed that engines pumping into base mounted water inlets could produce a stream of 1,200 gallons per minute, through a 2" diameter nozzle, at a maximum pressure of 100 psi. The platform got its first test of fire at 1:00 am on the 18th of October, 1958. When it was called to a 4 alarm lumberyard fire on Chicago's south side. Fireman John Windle, operating the nozzle from the basket, helped to bring the blaze under control in a fraction of the time normally expected for a fire of equal magnitude. First Deputy Fire Marshal James A Bailey said "I can't believe how quickly and accurately it worked. It really plastered this fire in a hurry." Chief Fire Marshal Raymond J. Daley said "In 33 yrs of fire fighting I never saw anything as effective and maneuverable."
Our Lady of Angels fire
When reporters asked what this weird contraption was called, Windle said "It's Commissioner Quinn's Snorkel." ... From then on, the elevating platform was known as Quinn's Snorkel, and the commissioner soon became known as Snorkel Bob, for his pioneering development of one of the most versatile pieces of fire equipment ever devised.
The first CFD Squad Companies were organized on January 15, 1913. Squads 1,2 & 3 were formed. In 1969 six Squads were put into service with a seventh Squad being added later. They were given the name the "Flying Squads" and operated from 1969 to 1980. These vehicles were a "Squad only" with no Snorkel and spent a lot of time helping out short handed engine companies.
In the 60's Chicago added three stand alone Snorkel Companies called Snorkel Squads (SS1, SS2 & SS3). On October 18, 1962 Snorkel Squad 1 (SS1) was organized which was a Snorkel that also had a chase vehicle. SS1 was stationed at the Fire Academy until it moved into the old Fire Patrol station on N. Orleans. On June 4th, 1979 SS1 moved in with Engine 42 and a little over a year later was disbanded on October 6th, 1980. Snorkel Squad 2 (SS2) was organized on September 3rd, 1963 and was housed with Engine 60. SS2 was disbanded on May 16th, 1969. Snorkel Squad 3 (SS3) was organized and housed in the former firehouse of Engine 66 on May 16th, 1965 and moved to the former quarters of Engine 105 on September 2nd, 1967 where it stayed until May 1st, 1969 when it was disbanded.
In October of 1980 the CFD organized five Squad Companies with a sixth one coming two years later. Squad Companies 1, 2 & 5 still protect the city of Chicago today. A fourth Squad, Squad 7 protects O'Hare International Airport on the cities far northwest side." Squad History Written by Dan Myershttp://midwestfiredepts.smugmug.com/Other/Chicago-Fire-Department-Squads/4314141_CfTAj