More OC fire pictures; Vision 20/20 – part of a busy week in Washington; Stadium duty

(Updated at 1:44 PM)

Even more pictures and video from OC 9-alarm fire and a blogger looks at a home response

Click the image above to take you to a dramatic series of photos by Allen Sklar as the fire flashes on the first floor, Side A of the Dough Roller on the Ocean City Boardwalk on Sunday. Sklar has some time references listed on the pictures showing how quickly the fire comes out to meet the firefighters.

Since about 25 minutes after the fire started on Sunday we have been collecting videos, images and links for the fire on the Boardwalk and posting them. We have gathered the various elements on one page, including OCVFC’s run down of the units involved in the operation. Click here to get to that page.

The blog Salisbury News has an entry by Joe Albero that is drawing some comments. Albero expressed concern as he followed a firefighter from Salisbury to OC for the fire:

Just follow this truck! This time I’m not going to claim to be an expert but my GUESS would be that this guy was hitting speeds of up to 90 mph on Rt. 50 to get to the Fire in Ocean City.

Oh, he was cool all right. He had those emergency strobe lights in the front windshield AND the back windshield, letting everyone know, GET THE F OUT OF MY WAY, I’M A FIREMAN!

No, I do not believe this was an official Fire Station Vehicle. I believe this was a personal vehicle and while we pulled away from the light at the Shorebirds Stadium, he was able to get everyone out of his way eventually with his flashy lights and take off like his Wife and Children were on the roof of the burning building and he was going to get there to save them.

Mind you, some Fire Trucks passed me along the way and I was very cool with that. However, I watched them STOP at red lights before they continued through. I will check with Sheriff Lewis today to see if in fact the lights on this vehicle are even legal? Does anyone out there know if it is or not?

There is also a still picture that the author apparently took. Was he driving when he took it (not that I haven’t done that)? Interesting topic.

Vision 20/20′s attempt to see through the smoke, part of a busy week for the fire service in and around Washington

Not as dramatic as pictures like those from Ocean City above, but extremely important to the safety of the public and firefighters is Vision 20/20. Fire prevention and safety leaders are meeting in Washington right now in an attempt to save lives and reduce fire injuries across the country. This is how Vision 20/20 describes itself:

The Institute of Fire Engineers US Branch was awarded a Fire Prevention and Safety Grant by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to develop a comprehensive national strategy for fire prevention. This is a project with the goal of helping to bring together fire prevention efforts and focus everyone’s efforts collectively to effectively address the fire problem in the United States.

Here is another description of the gathering from a press release by Pete Piringer of the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service:

Fire safety experts from across the nation will convene in Washington, DC, on March 31 and April 1, 2008, to develop a national strategic agenda to reduce the loss of life and property from fire, which claims an average of almost 4,000 lives and $12.7 billion in property damage each year. This meeting is a key part of a year-long project and Division Chief and County Fire Marshal Mike Love, and others from the Montgomery County (MD) Fire and Rescue Service will be taking part in this landmark meeting.

“This project is unprecedented in scope and depth,” said project manager Jim Crawford, fire marshal for the city of Vancouver, Washington. “We have assembled an incredible array of experts from a diversity of fields to help craft a national plan to reduce the loss of life and property from fire. Through our collective efforts we will develop strategies that will save lives, now and for the future.”

Many of the groups involved in this project issued a press release under the headline Deadly Fires Prompt National Warning. Read the warning here.

The press release talks about some of the same issues United States Fire Administrator Greg Cade did in Emmitsburg on Friday at the National Fire Academy’s Executive Fire Officer seminar. Chief Cade announced the USFA is officially behind residential sprinklers. Read more.

Also this week is the 20th Annual National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner and Seminars . A new event this year is the Showcase of the Fire and Emergency Services on the National Mall on Wednesday. Demonstrations, fire trucks and ambulances surrounded by cherry blossoms. Go to CFSI.org for more information.

I am planning to spend some time at each of these events.

STATter 911 — probably the only people in the stadium looking at fire engines and ambulances instead of the ball game

You may have noticed that STATter 911 is a little light this morning (unfortunately its editor isn’t). We were assigned to cover opening day at Nationals Park. DC Fire & EMS had a large contingent on hand. 9NEWS Now photographer Greg Guise snapped these pictures.

This is one of the First Aid stations. It is located at the left field gate.

The Gator assigned to the station staffed and ready to roll.

This an ATV with a DC Fire & EMS seal parked between the bullpens ready to handle an on-field emergency (from my cameraphone and obviously not a Guise photo).

The Special Events and Special Operations crews were led from the command post embedded in the outfield. One of the first emergencies of the day was a security person hit by a foul ball at batting practice.

During the game power went out on a portion of South Capitol Street near the Douglas Bridge. Some smoke filled the air from a blown transformer or circuit breaker. The DC Fire & EMS brush truck led the way, followed by a larger suppression assignment, in an effort to pin down the exact source of the smoke. It was traced to poles on Half Street Southwest.

By the way, Greg Guise has his own blog called On The Scene Now. It has some nice cherry blossom pictures that Greg snapped on Saturday.

Also, if you are interested in what I do besides fire and EMS, you can watch my stadium story here. No fire engines or ambulances included.