(Update at 10:46 AM Sunday)
From the STATter 911 Archives: A Kensington, MD fire in January of 1976. A man set his own house on fire following a domestic dispute and then threatened to shoot at firefighters. He died in the fire.
New York burning … at least Hollywood’s version is. Massive fire at Universal Studios. Video catches roof collapse.
AP photo via Los Angeles Times
Reports are that “New York Street” is among the areas that is burning at a large fire at Universal Studios in California. “New York Street” is a line of facades built to look like New York. Early reports are the pre-dawn fire started on a sound stage and spread.
Explosions have been reported and helicopters have brought in water drops as the fire spread through the back lot.
Already there are estimates that this fire, still burning three hours after it started, has caused tens of millions of dollars in damages. Firefighters were trying to protect a building housing a film vault. TV stations are reporting the King Kong exhibit has been destroyed.
A spokesperson said the theme park would open today, but that the studio tour would be affected by the fire.
Live coverage from KNBC-TV (while it lasts)
FireGeezer has also been updating this story
This is a 10:00 AM (EDT) report from AP:
A massive fire engulfed a back lot filled with movie sets at Universal Studios early Sunday, officials said.
The blaze broke out just before dawn on a sound stage, Los Angeles fire Capt. Frank Reynoso said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
A thick column of smoke was seen rising thousands of feet into the air.
The fire was contained in the back lot and more than 100 firefighters were working to ensure the flames didn’t spread to nearby brush, Reynoso said. Two firefighting helicopters were helping in the effort.
Fire Inspector Daryl Jacobs said at least one building had burned and as many as three blocks of movie facades were destroyed.
Though the fire was contained, it was still raging, Jacobs said.
“The facades are constructed of heavy timber and they tend to burn quite freely,” he said.
CNN reported three studio sets and the Cyclone ride were damaged. Jacobs could not confirm the report.
Filming might have been going on at the time the fire broke out and there was at least one explosion, Reynoso said.
Universal City is nine miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles.
Alerting the police to check out a deadly fire
That’s apparently what happened last week in Franklin, Ohio. Chief Billy Goldfeder of FirefighterCloseCalls.com spotted this one. Click here to see video. Click here to read more.
Don’t forget to help the DC Firefighter’s Burn Foundation
A reminder that Yvette Hess, one of my 9NEWS NOW colleagues, is part of a cycling team heading for a race cross country and in the process raising money for the DC Firefighter’s Burn Foundation. Don’t make me beg you. Just click here to learn more.
FireGeezer on New England fires
I am a little slower in posting this weekend due to some deadline issues on a project. If you are interested in updates on two big New England fires on Thursday and Friday, check out FireGeezer.
EMS unit shift change in DC
From the website of IAFF Local 36 (also on DCFD.com), an announcement of a change of shift for firefighters assigned to the ambulance:
Local-36 was notified today by Assistant Fire Chiefs Jeffery and Sa’Adah and Deputy Fire Chief Baker that the Department has rejected the memberships wishes and the direction for staffing EMS units will include 90-day assignments to transport units, on a 12-hour shift, with a 2-2-4 schedule. The Department hopes to implement it’s staffing plan June 22, 2008.
From the calls and emails we have received so far, this is not sitting well with many members of the DC Fire & EMS Department. Forgetting all of the other arguments for or against this schedule, I found interesting the one that points out this is not an eco-friendly plan. I guess in this case, doubling the amount of commutes to work, the “eco” could mean both “ecologically” and “economically”.
Whether you are for or against this shift, the fact is with gasoline running between four and five dollars-per-gallon, the new shift will mean a financial hit for firefighters assigned to the 90-day tours.
This move addresses issues brought up in the final report of the Task Force on Emergency Medical Services. Specifically it comes under “Recommendation 4″, and it looks like, by the time it is implemented, it will be three months behind the timetable listed in the report:
b) The Mayor and Chief shall work together to come with a recommendation to the Council to implement shorter shifts for all employees and other recommendations to ensure the goal of having alert
and awake employees who can provide competent patient care.
c) The Chief shall establish, no later than March 31, 2008, and as available staff allows, a practice for assignment to transport duty in which employees are permanently assigned to ambulance service for periods of not less than 90 days, rather than intermittently with fire apparatus duty.
d) The Chief shall report, no later than March 31, 2008, on procedures for peak load staffing of transport units, that enable an adequate number of units to meet response time targets. The Chief shall also establish by the same date a procedure for dynamic deployment of units to provide coverage when any particular area of the District experiences a shortage of available units.
We have put in a request to DC Fire & EMS for comment.
Loudoun review team picked
One Loudoun County firefighter remains in the MedStar Burn Unit at the Washington Hospital in serious, but stable condition. Loudoun County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management officials have decided not to identify any of the firefighters injured in a house fire last Sunday, but they are making public the names of those who have been picked to review the incident.
The team leader is Division Chief Richie Bowers (Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service). Chief Bowers went to the scene to assist Loudoun County on Sunday, shortly after the fire occurred.
Chief Bowers will be joined by Battalion Chief Jennie Collins (Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue), Battalion Chief Scott McKay (Arlington County Fire and EMS), Battalion Chief Corey Parker, (Loudoun County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management), Captain Justin Green, (Loudoun County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management), Lieutenant Nicole Hankin, (Loudoun County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management), Technician Greg Moore, (Loudoun County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management), Firefighter/Medic Denise Gay, (Loudoun County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management), Fire Commissioner Bill McGann, (Loudoun County Fire-Rescue Commissioner and member of Hamilton Volunteer Fire Company #5).
Chiefs Bowers and Collins were part of the group that reviewed the LODD of Prince William County’s Kyle Wilson. That report was nine months in the making. This one is expected to have a much shorter turn-around time. Here are some details from the press release issued Friday morning:
The team is tasked with obtaining all available incident facts/information and communicating a detailed, validated factual incident review report to the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue system. All information contained in the report will be factual documentation of the events leading up to the incident, the incident operation(s), the firefighter mayday(s) and incident mitigation to include treatment and transport of the injured personnel. The results of the findings and recommendations will be used as lessons learned for the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue system, the region, the State, and the National Fire Service.
The process is going to take time. Although a tentative schedule has been established, the timeline is not set in stone. Things may progress sooner or may take longer than anticipated. At this time, the tentative schedule is as follows:
Draft report – 30 to 45 days
Interim report – 45 to 60 days
Final report – 60 to 90 days
Historic Boston lobster company burns in 7-alarm fire
7-alarms overnight in Boston as the James Hook and Company burned. The fire in the landmark wholesale and retail food business was reported around 3:30 AM. There have been a number of collapses, including the rear of the structure falling into the harbor. No injuries have been reported.
Raw helicopter video at daylight from WCVB-TV
It has been busy in the Boston area. Yesterday afternoon 4-alarms were needed in Peabody, MA to try and get a handle on a fire running the roof of a large apartment building. FireGeezer has been on top of that one.
“This is really a nothing call. That’s why I did it. I mean, it’d have been different if it was a box alarm or, you know, baby chokin’ or something.”
The story from Austin, Texas was bad enough for Lt. Michael Pooler. Fired for putting his food order ahead of an emergency call, IAFF Local 975 Secretary Palmer Buck said that Pooler would appeal his firing.
But now these statements, reported to be made by Pooler to investigators, put a different light on the case. Note that the statements were made, not in the heat of the situation, but three-months after the incident occurred. Here are excerpts from the latest article on statesman.com:
An Austin firefighter fired after he delayed a response for two minutes while making a food run told investigators that he did so because he thought, “This is really a nothing call,” according to documents obtained today.
“That’s why I did it,” Lt. Michael Pooler told investigators. “I mean, it’d have been different if it was a box alarm (structure fire call) or, you know, baby chokin’ or something.”
Officials with the fire department’s professional standards office interviewed Pooler in March, three months after the Jan. 4 call for a 77-year-old patient in respiratory distress at Austin Regional Clinic near Far West Boulevard.
Acting Fire Chief Jim Evans fired Pooler on Friday, saying that his actions demonstrated “a shocking neglect of duty.”
According to transcripts of the interview, Pooler told investigators that he had never before delayed calls by ordering food. Documents show he ordered breakfast at the Burger House, which is next door to the Northwest Austin fire station on Spicewood Springs Road where he worked.
He also said that he “was hurrying” back to the fire engine.
Another firefighter told investigators that three other firefighters “were sitting there waiting” in the fire engine and that dispatchers tried to check their status at least once.
Inflation problem in Louisiana
In River Ridge, the fire chief has been suspended after it was determined his son had apparently been writing some fiction in official reports. Eric Kramer is the treasurer who is facing allegations that he inflated the number of firefighters responding on calls. Two weeks after that story surfaced Chief Steve Kramer has been relieved of duty. Click here for the details.
MD apartment fire
Raw video of an apartment fire in Frederick County, MD late Wednesday night is available from the Frederick News Post.
Click here to see the fire on Waverly Drive
Fundraiser for DC Firefighter’s Burn Foundation
Talking to some firefighters from Loudoun County this week, once again, I heard nothing but praise over how the DC Firefighter’s Burn Foundation has reached out to the firefighters who were burned Sunday and their families.
It’s the same story I heard from Montgomery County when three firefighter wound up in the MedStar Burn Unit at the Washington Hospital Center. It is also what I saw up close with my own eyes when four DC firefighters were injured last October.
So, with that in mind, let me tell you about one of my colleagues at the TV station, Yvette Hess . Yvette is embarking on a journey, and in the process, is raising money for the DC Firefighter’s Burn Foundation. Click here to read more.
I am very slow in getting this one out, so please, if you are so inclined, respond promptly (otherwise Yvette is going to kick my butt). Click here to make a donation.
Comments
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RE: "Nothing call" – It's easy to be PC and blame the Lt – But I think there's a lot missing – The Call was
to the Austin Regional Clinic
http://www.austinregionalclinic.com/find_a_location/index.asp?ID=2&_filterSearch=far%20west&_searchField=Name%2CSpecialty%2CService
A facility with Doctors on Staff – what more was a piece of fire apparatus going to do for the patient? How many times had they been called to the "medical" facility to handle so called emergencies? How many out there have had these types of calls to drive through doctors, who once they realize that they might have to do some real work, call 911 to get the patient out of their facility, probably to lessen their liability.
Charles,
You make some excellent points, none of which were lost on me when I wrote what I wrote.
There is a debate in many places over how you serve facilities like the one involved in this call. But I am prety certain this is not the way to deal with that issue.
The point I was making is much more simple: Whatever defense the union might be able to mount for Lieutenant Pooler is going to have an impossible time overcoming statements that not only admit the wrong doing, but try to justify it in a way that just isn't going to fly.
Forget trying to convince your bosses for a moment of how right you may believe you are. That may be the easy part compared to the public that will want your head.
I know there are plenty of other firefighters who would echo the feelings of Lt. Pooler about what they perceive as wasted resources on non-emergencies. There were moments I felt that way myself. That was 30-years-ago and it is a much more difficult dilemma now.
You just aren't going to win friends and influence people, much less hold on to your job, with actions and statements like that.
I should point out these are just general comments that could apply anywhere. They come from someone watching this from afar with zero knowledge of the Austin FD or local politics.
I appreciate the comment.
Dave
Yes, we run a lot of emergencies that are anything but. This is an issue that should be addressed by public education and appropriate dispatch complements. For example, if the facility is a doctor's office with a nurse/doctor on scene, there is no need for a suppression piece to be sent on the call – just send the transport unit (unless it is a stoppage of breathing/CPR).
On the flip side, my very first CPR call on the engine came out as a trouble breathing, which of course ended up being an understatement. So, if we are dispatched on an emergency call, we need to treat it as such. Sometimes, "nothing" calls end up being the opposite. Personally, I'd rather be running calls than sitting around the station anyways