Retiring fire commissioner grilled about 'downgrades' in emergency medical response

Hours after a town house fire killed a family of four in Rogers Park, questions about Chicago Fire Department equipment, training and paramedic shortages that "downgrade" the city's emergency response capability took center stage at City Hall.Chicago Fire Department Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt wraps up a 37-year career May 26, when she hits the mandatory retirement age of 63. She was on the hot seat Thursday at what will be her final round of City Council budget hearings.It started when Erik Steinmetz, president of Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2, complained about a shortage of ambulances, aging equipment and inadequate training that he said has led to Chicago having more line-of-duty deaths “than any other city in the country by far.”“We don’t provide our firefighters with the continuing training they deserve, yet we expect them to confront some of the most dangerous environments imaginable. Too often, we have buried those very people we’ve asked to take those risks,” Steinm