(Updated 8:47 PM, Sunday)
Special legislation to get late firefighter’s son hired causes Boston controversy
His efforts to become a Boston firefighter, and carry on a family tradition of almost 100 years, seemed to fall apart when Will Hayhurst III “received relatively dismal scores on the civil service exam all three times he took it”. But the Sunday Boston Globe reports Hayhurst has moved from 623rd on the hiring list to the top thanks to a law tailor made for him and his two brothers. The law specifically gives the Hayhursts preference based on his firefighter dad’s death from eye cancer.
Critics call it “an example of the patronage and favoritism lingering in Massachusetts government”. Read the story.
4-11 in suburban Chicago
A Saturday night apartment fire that left 3 people dead and many homeless in Oak Forest, IL is considered arson. Two men are being questioned. Watch WBBM-TV’s story.
Baltimore driver and officer suspended
The Baltimore Sun reports the driver and officer of Truck 27 have been suspended without pay after the triple fatal wreck on Park Heights Avenue:
The driver of a city firetruck that hit a sport utility vehicle this month, killing its three occupants, and an officer on the truck at the time of the accident were both suspended without pay yesterday, fire officials said.
The driver, Nathaniel D. Moore, and the officer, Lt. Thomas Moore, were suspended pending a hearing on administrative charges that will be held in the “very near future,” said Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman. The two men are not related.
Truck 27 was the third of four fire vehicles traveling north on Park Heights Avenue on Dec. 9 on their way to a reported fire. The truck collided with the SUV as it came through the Clarks Lane intersection.
Cartwright said the administrative charges were brought by the battalion chief and signed off on by the deputy chief of operations. He would not divulge the charges, noting that it is a personnel matter, but said they deal with driving an emergency vehicle in an unsafe manner.
“In this case, it is much more serious,” he said. “Lives were lost.”
Stephan G. Fugate, head of the Baltimore Fire Officers Union, said he believed it was “a bit harsh” to suspend the men without pay before the investigation or charges have run their course.
“Quite frankly, the reason they call them accidents is because it’s not on purpose,” Fugate said. “I think our members should be treated the same way as any other city employees.”
Tiger attack response questioned
The San Francisco Chronicle has the minute by minute account of the tiger attack that killed one person on Tuesday. With both police and fire dispatch logs, the paper brings up some key questions about the response to the San Francisco Zoo and the reaction of zoo officials. I imagine after reading this, emergency crews everywhere might want to look at their own plans for a disaster at the local zoo. Below is the lead to the story that you can read in its entirety here:
The initial report of a Christmas Day tiger attack was downplayed by San Francisco Zoo employees as the ravings of a mentally unstable person, triggering a slower police response, and officials later forced fire crews to wait outside the gates until enough police could arrive to escort them into the zoo, dispatch logs show.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sousa Jr. lay bleeding at the tiger exhibit for several minutes amid the confusion. It may have taken fire crews and zoo officials as long as 13 minutes from the first 911 call before crews found his body.
The police dispatch logs released Friday and fire dispatch records obtained by The Chronicle reflect a chaotic scene as zoo officials seemed ill-equipped to deal with a dire emergency.
Emergency responders and zoo officials, for example, spotted the cat moving about freely but waited for zoo employees with tranquilizer guns, according to the logs. Just minutes later, the tiger was viciously biting and clawing one of its victims at a cafe located 300 yards away from the tiger grotto. At the restaurant, police shot and killed the cat.
NJ LODD
From Billy Goldfeder at FirefighterCloseCalls.com:
It is with deep regret that we advise you that a Firefighter with East Greenwich Township (N.J.) died in the Line of Duty this morning while responding to a fire call. Companies were dispatched to a reported dwelling fire where a neighbor was seeing flames in the window. Police arrived on location and advised that it was just a salamander (a unit used for heating a house under construction) in the residence-and was a good intent call. While en-route, the Engine Company pulled over, calling Gloucester County Fire Radio requesting a medic and BLS, to their current location for an unresponsive Firefighter. With a BLS unit on the way to the fire call, they were with the FF in less than a minute and, along with the FF’s, began early defib and CPR. EMS transported the Firefighter, reported to be in his 40’s, to the hospital where he never recovered and passed away.
PhillyFireNews.com is on the story and reports the firefighter is with the Mt. Royal Fire Company in East Greenwich Township.
Nice end to a firefighting career
Before we get to some more tragic news, here is one of those stories that reminds you why firefighters do what they do. In Danvers, MA, Lt. David Deluca is retiring after a long career. It will be 28-years-ago next Tuesday that Deluca, then a rookie, pulled an 8-year-old boy out from under his bed in a smoke filled apartment. The boy was in cardiac arrest. That boy is now the 36-year-old father of two. On the eve of his retirement, David Deluca and Michael Bouzianis meet again. Read the story.
Tragedy strikes family for second time under very familiar circumstances
Fifteen years ago, one-year-old Gabriel Rogers died in a fire in New York, after being left home alone with two siblings, ages 7 and 9. On Thursday night, 4-year-old Gabriela Rogers, named for her dead sister, along with a 3-year-old sister, were left in their Brooklyn home in the care of their 14-year-old brother, Lamel. Gabriela has burns over 75% of her body “after she set her family’s home ablaze with a butane lighter, relatives said”.
More from an article in the New York Daily News:
“My mom told me about it. It’s starting over again,” said 14-year-old Lamel Rogers, who was watching Gabriela and her sister Thursday. Lamel and a friend managed to get his youngest sister, 3-year-old Cailila, safely out of the smoky, second-floor bedroom.
But Gabriela ran back inside the Stuyvesant Heights home to hunt for her beloved German shepherd, Nyla, relatives said.
Gabriela’s parents, Herbie Garner and Camile Rogers, told investigators they left Lamel in charge for less than 15 minutes when they went to the store.
The city Administration for Children’s Services was investigating whether Gabriela’s parents were negligent for leaving the children in the care of a 14-year-old.
As firefighters pulled Gabriela from Thursday’s blaze, all the little girl wanted to know was that everyone else was safe, relatives said. “The first thing she asked for in the ambulance was her sister and her dog,” said Gabriela’s sister Camilla Rogers, 22, who spent nine months in the hospital after the 1992 fire.
“All we can do [is] keep the faith. She’s a fighter. She’s a remarkable kid.”
Baltimore City fire deaths worst in a decade
In so many ways it has been a horrible and tragic year for the Baltimore City Fire Department. Here is one more reason that many would like to get past 2007: 34 fire deaths.
It is the highest number of fire fatalities in Baltimore since 1998. Here are excerpts from a Baltimore Sun article:
Thirty-four people died, and the lack of working smoke detectors was a common denominator in 10 of the 24 fatal blazes reported as of yesterday, said Baltimore City Fire Marshal Bob Doedderlein. Without an early warning to escape, he and state fire officials said, individual fires are becoming more deadly, killing three or more people at a time.
High-casualty fires are part of a troubling pattern emerging across the nation and Maryland, which recorded 91 deaths this year, the most since 2001, said state Fire Marshal William E. Barnard. The numbers have prompted Barnard to get involved in two national fire safety summits, one in January and another in the spring at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg.
“How and why is one fire killing so many people at once?” he asked. “Is this about needing more smoke alarms? Does this trend say something about the way we live now, with more plastics in the house that make fires burn hotter and faster?”
Two teen girls dead in Virginia house fire — investigators find no smoke alarms
Click the image above to see 9NEWS NOW report from the fire
Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department officials identified the victims of the fire early Friday morning as Morgan Whitsett, 16, and her 13-year-old sister Ashley. Morgan attended West Potomac High School. Ashley attended Carl Sandberg Middle School.
Battalion Chief Mike Reilly said there was heavy fire on both floors of the single-family home in the 2400 block of Popkins Lane. There was also a 53-year-old man trying to get back in the home. He had been burned. Once on the second floor, Reilly says crews found the bodies of the two girls by a bedroom window. Chief Reilly says it appears the were trying to escape. The autopsy confirmed the girls died as a result of smoke inhalation.
What investigators haven’t found, according to Reilly, are any smoke alarms.
An adult female discovered unharmed outside the house is being interviewed.
While the cause of the fire is still under investigation, officials say there is no indication of foul play.
Around the web
I have been operating from an undisclosed location this week and will through New Years Day (apparently my coverage of the fire in the Old Executive Office Building prompted an invite for me to join the VP for the holidays). Between the travel and trying to be on vacation, I may be just a little slower than normal in getting some of the breaking news on as promptly as I usually do. As always, STATter 911 reminds you to also check in with some of our friends who work this same territory. Bill Schumm at FireGeezer.com, besides the variety of things he covers, is particularly good with the breaking news.
Some other sites that we always look at are: WithTheCommand.com; VAFireNews.com; Firefighter Nation; SConFire.com; Charge The Line!; The House Watch; DCFD.com; FirefighterCloseCalls.com; Firefighter Spot; Firehouse.com; FirefightingNews.com.
Watch 1994 video that has sparked racial concerns in MS
STATter 911 first told you Sunday about Jackson, MS Assistant Chief Todd Chandler being investigated for his possible involvement with a 13-year-old video that is currently causing a racial controversy. Now, you can see the video for yourself.
IAFF Local 87 President Brandon Falcon distributed the tape that “shows a video tour of Station 12. One clip shows a Confederate flag on a blackboard. Then comes a segment showing a firefighter, … Falcon says is Chandler, using phrases and gestures associated with derogatory stereotyping of blacks as he imitates a black firefighter”.
Jackson Fire Chief Vernon Hughes is conducting the investigation. According to the story on WAPT.com, “Hughes said he talked to Chandler, and Chandler told him that the man on the tape is not him”.
Old factory burns in Illinois
This is from Rock Falls on Friday. Caption has it as the old Reliant Fastener factory. Long vacant, the clean up of the site has been an issue. Part 2 gets a little closer and is here.
Chief gone over his EMS training, a dozen firefighters go with him
Turmoil in East Kingston, NH, where the long-time fire chief was canned because he failed to complete first-responder medical training required in his contract. A dozen firefighters say they are resigning in protest. Read the story.
Jena fire not found to be racially motivated
From the AP:
The 2006 fire that badly damaged the high school in this east-central Louisiana town had nothing to do with the racial tension that led to a civil rights demonstration, a law enforcement official said Friday.
The fire was set by people who wanted to destroy bad grade records, LaSalle Par
ish Sheriff-elect Scott Franklin said.
Six males, including three juveniles, were arrested Thursday and face aggravated arson counts. Two other suspects are being sought, he said.
“The arson fire at Jena High School had nothing to do with racial motivation, the Jena Six or any of the other events surrounding the school last semester,” Franklin said.
The November 30, 2006, fire destroyed several classrooms, offices and science labs.
It happened a few months after the appearance of nooses in a campus tree — a move that resulted in the suspension of three white students — and a few days before a group of black students attacked and beat a white classmate.
The group of black students came to be known as the Jena Six after five of them were initially arrested on attempted murder charges, drawing criticism from civil rights leaders who said the charges were too harsh.
Charges in the case eventually were reduced. In September, an estimated 20,000 people demonstrated in Jena, one of the nation’s largest civil rights demonstrations in recent memory.
Burning sinkhole
Six homes were evacuated Friday in West Knox County, TN as CO levels increased. Firefighters determined the problem was a burning sinkhole that had been used as a dump. Read the story.
Maybe Alan Etter can set up a photo-op for the Odessa Fire Department
Investigators say the fire in a boyhood home of President George Bush is arson. The fire started early Thursday morning on the front porch and spread inside the one-story home behind the Presidential Museum in Odessa, Texas.
Excerpts from the Odessa American (the paper’s picture is above):
Investigators had no suspects in the fire late Thursday, (Odessa Fire Marshal Detra) White said, and she expects the case to take some time because investigators have so much to consider. Arson is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
The fire spread inside the home, damaging the green carpet inside the living room, the mid-20th century radio console near the door and the ceiling. Much of the porch roof is burned, and smoke damaged the ceilings throughout the home.
The Bush family photos in the northwest bedroom were not damaged.
The Bush family moved here in 1948 from New Haven, Conn. The house originally sat at 916 E. 17th St., before it was moved to be part of the Presidential Museum’s permanent exhibit. A representative of George H.W. Bush’s office said the president and Barbara are deeply saddened to hear about the fire, but they declined to be interviewed.
It was last week that a fire in the Old Executive Office Building, next to The White House, brought President Bush and Vice President Cheney out to meet firefighters. For an account of how DC Fire & EMS PIO Alan Etter sparked this meet and greet for the camera, check out a blog entry last week on WTOP.com (Thanks to Dave Hughes and his DCRTV.com for the alert on this one).
Reaction to Catania 911 call
Still hearing from people critical of DC Councilmember David Catania and others who think a 911 call taker could have done a better job after the two interacted during an emergency call released on Wednesday. If you haven’t heard the recording, or want your opinion heard, click here.
Consultants under attack
The Fire Brigades Union in the UK says if more money were spent on the front line and less on consultants, things would be better off. Government spending on management consultants in the fire service since 2006 is said to be 44 million pounds. Union leaders claim that would pay for more than 1,500 firefighting positions.
In defending the spending, a spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: “Deaths and injuries from fire are at their lowest levels since records began. This consultancy spending is to ensure that this trend continues and Government’s £1 billion investment in the service is money well spent – effectively equipping the service to meet the challenges of today’s world, such as terrorist incidents, natural disasters and industrial accidents.”
There’s more. Read the article.
Two-alarm fire in PA
Around 11:00 Thursday night, fire was reported in a building in McKees Rocks, PA. Fire through the roof and because of a collapse firefighters were ordered out of the building. Click the image above to see video from KDKA-TV.
Sounding the alarm in NH
That is, if there were an alarm to sound. A Christmas Day fire in Manchester, was in a restaurant that was in violation of the state fire code requiring it to have an alarm system. Not clear if it would have changed the outcome, but the article in the Union Leader gives some insight into an enforcement system that doesn’t seem to have a lot of teeth behind it.
Cross dressing
I have known people who faced a dilemma trying to decide if they wanted to be a firefighter or a police officer. In Tyler, Texas, a 17-year-old was having a similar problem. He was trying to decide whether he would rather impersonate a firefighter or police officer. He wasn’t sure, so police say he tried both. It is a rather complicated story that goes back to an arrest last August and the latest bust on Christmas Eve. Austin Harden had also been a member of a Fire Explorer program. Read the details.
Read and watch the story from KLTV-TV.
Apartment fire in Poland
No date on this fire in Warsaw. Video begins before firefighters arrive to mount an interior attack at a 3-story apartment building.
More security camera video from FL explosion
This is another video showing the impact of the recent deadly explosion in Jacksonville.
MD house fire
Things are a little slow in the video department this week, so I have added this older Montgomery County house fire. I believe it is in the Gaithersburg area sometime last year (or is it earlier?).
Photo from Loudoun County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management 
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