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For 60 Years, This Company Has Sold Products No One Wants to Use

By Kyla Gardner | May 25, 2015 7:41am | Updated on May 26, 2015 8:43am
 Accurate Fire Equipment Co. in Montclare was started in 1955 by Edward Walczyk (left) and his wife Jeannette (right). Jeannette, now 85, still works for the company that is now run by her daughter Mary.
Accurate Fire Equipment Co. in Montclare was started in 1955 by Edward Walczyk (left) and his wife Jeannette (right). Jeannette, now 85, still works for the company that is now run by her daughter Mary.
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Courtesy/Accurate Fire Equipment Co.

MONTCLARE — Mary Olivo has a successful business selling a product no one wants to use.

Accurate Fire Equipment Co., at 6750 W. Diversey Ave. in Montclare, sells, services and provides training on fire extinguishers.

"It's mandatory [to have them], but hopefully they don't have to use our product," the Belmont Cragin resident said.

The company is celebrating 60 years of business this year. Chicagoans Edward Walczyk and his wife Jeannette, Olivo's parents, started the business in 1955 out of their garage and a van.

Today, the generational business supplies fire extinguishers to some of the largest buildings in Chicago.

"We're a little family business, but we're out there," Olivo said.

The company sells and services all the extinguishers in Lurie Children's Hospital, Shriners Hospitals for Children, the Wrigley Building, NBC building and several tall lakefront condos, Olivo said.

The extinguishers have even gotten their 15 seconds of fame, appearing in episodes of "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago PD," Olivo said.

Accurate Fire Equipment Co. at 6750 W. Diversey Ave. is celebrating 60 years of business. [DNAinfo/Kyla Gardner]

Olivo grew up in West Humboldt Park and graduated from Chicago Madonna Catholic High School. She studied nursing in college and worked in emergency rooms for 15 years before taking over the family business.

Edward Walczyk died in 1986, but Jeannette, now 85, still helps with paperwork for the business from her Belmont Cragin home.

"We did a lot of work," Jeannette Walczyk said. "We're lucky we got where we are."

Mary's daughter Marlisa also contributes, doing online marketing for the company, so the business spans three generations of the Chicago family.

"We're a small business, and we're family-oriented, and I think that's what kept us going for so long," Olivo said.


A collection of old fire extinguishers lines the window of Accurate Fire Equipment Co., 6750 W. Diversey Ave. [DNAinfo/Kyla Gardner]

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