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Not that it was a surprise considering how much fire enveloped this one story frame house, but most of it collapses into a fireball at 1:25. What remains standing puts up a fight until about 5:45. This one occurred on Tuesday in the 2300 block of Bell.
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Another one from Gary: On Sunday at 2626 Stephenson, a garage and multiple semi-trailers.
We need you!: Read how you can help honor the nation’s fallen firefighters and assist with helping the world to see this weekend’s ceremonies at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial. We also have two new videos to show you. Click here.
Mayor with racy photos who wanted firefighters to mow lawns in the park to be ex-mayor: This probably won’t come as a surprise but Eric Brewer lost his re-election bid yesterday in East Cleveland by almost a two-to-one margin. You may recall in 2007 Mayor Brewer thought firefighters had too much free time on their hands and that the grass in city parks was too high. Apparently some citizens thought the mayor also had a little too much free time after seeing photos of Brewer posing in women’s undergarments.
Sounds like the rookies are goners: In Akron, Ohio the union president believes it may be better that 38 of the departments newest hires be laid off now. Here’s how Phil Gauer presented it to Stephanie Warsmith of the Beacon Journal -
”We’re looking at their long-term welfare,” said Gauer, adding that the rookies agree with him.
If the firefighters are laid off now, Gauer said, they will be eligible for discounted health insurance and the city might be able to apply for federal stimulus funds this fall to bring them back. By early next year, he contends, both of these options likely would be gone.
City leaders, however, think the more senior firefighters don’t want to defer the approximately $763,000 in longevity payments owed to them this year until 2012 — a concession Akron is seeking to eliminate the layoffs. There are 368 members in the fire union.
Fire chief told if he wants new firefighters he has to train them for free: Twice now the Kern County (CA) Supervisors have chewed out Chief Nick Dunn because Dunn can’t find a way to train recruits for free. Chief Dunn says with a bunch of retirements on the horizon the new firefighters are crucial. But the political leaders say tough. Read the story.
“We don’t need to have six trucks respond to a grease fire”: That’s the reaction of one political leader on how to cut the budget in Cumberland, Maryland. The last time we mentioned Cumberland, the idea being brought into the conversation was turning its career fire department into a volunteer department. Now the idea on the table is to have a full time EMS division and a full time, but scaled back, firefighting division. Read the latest discussion with union representatives.
Taser needed at fire scene: In Dayton, Ohio police had to break out the Taser as firefighters battled a house fire after three men wouldn’t listen to the officers orders. Here’s the story.
Home for fire victims: An interesting idea from firefighters in Anderson, Indiana (Madison County). They now have a house available that can be used as shelter for fire victims. It was built on the lawn of an old firehouse. Read the story.
Early video of house explosion in Indiana: Neighbors say they man was mixing something up in his Alexandria, Indiana (Also in Madison County) home when it exploded Tuesday around 6:00 PM. He was burning over 60 percent of his body. There is some early neighbor video in the middle of this report.
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If you have a blog, a website, or have contacts in the news media or local cable company we need you!
Two years ago STATter911.com and Firehouse.com joined forces to provide the first live streaming of the events at the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Weekend. FEMA’s PREPnet had the same idea. We all work together to let the world see how the United States pays tribute to its fallen firefighters. Our hope is have as wide an audience as possible for the Candlelight Service on Saturday and the Memorial Service on Sunday.
There are lots of ways to do this. It can be as simple as providing a link to the streaming on your fire department’s website or fire service blog. Or, it might mean sending an email or picking up the phone to get your local news media to stream the video on its site. You can also ask your cable company to downlink the satellite signal for rebroadcast on one of its channels. It is all free of charge.
A press kit is available here. You can can also have them contact me at dstatter@wusa9.com.
Already, a big thanks to Firegeezer Bill Schumm and The Secret List’s Billy Goldfeder for helping us, as they always do, spread the word. If you are planning to provide a link or stream the event we would love to know.
On this page are two new videos just posted on the recently revamped NFFF website, Firehero.org. The one above is a brief tour of the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland and the one below is a look at a few of the hundreds of volunteers and NFFF staff who work all year for this special weekend in October.
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Paint store burns in Chicago: A 2-11 alarm at 2350 South Pulaski on Monday. This is from Steve Redick and here’s his brief description – A paint store..high winds caused the smoke to remain close to the ground…2 towers, a snorkel and some multiversals.
20-years-ago in Catlett, Virginia: I was in Charleston, South Carolina 20-years-ago this morning, on a return trip to cover the aftermath of Hurricane Hugo, after riding out the storm in Charleston one week earlier. I was in my hotel room getting ready to start the day when I saw Channel 9′s pictures on the CBS Morning News of a fire engine obliterated by an Amtrak train in Catlett, Virginia the night before. Yesterday, the firefighters in Catlett remembered Mark Miller and Matthew Smith who were killed in the collision between Wagon 7 and the “Crescent”. Click here to read more about that crash and the lessons learned.
Help honor the nation’s fallen firefighters: One way you can help honor fallen firefighters is to make as many people aware of the events this weekend in Emmitsburg, Maryland. If you have a website or blog, please link to the streaming of the Memorial Weekend ceremonies on Saturday and Sunday. Contact your local news media and ask them to do the same on TV station and newspaper websites. There are also ways for the TV stations and cable operators to get the events for free via satellite.
This year the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation will be honoring 103 firefighters killed in the line of duty in 2008 and 19 others from previous years.
I will be hosting the telecast as I have since 1996. My wife, Hillary Howard from WTOP Radio, will join me. The Candlelight Service on Saturday evening and the Memorial Service on Sunday morning will be streamed live here at STATter911.com and at Firehouse.com. If you need any information to assist a website or media outlet in doing the same, please provide this link to NFFF’s press kit. They can also send me an email at dstatter@wusa9.com.
97 Hollis Avenue is on fire? That’s my house?: That’s pretty much how it went for Quincy, Massachusetts 911 worker Mike Bowes. Bowes took the call reporting his own home was burning. Read all of the details here.
Water issues, the big picture: Christopher Naum has taken note of our recent coverage of DC’s water woes. He steps back and takes a more general view of what fire departments need to think about when making sure the water flow you need will be there. Check out his Taking it to the Streets blog.
FDNY calendar cover boy finds himself on the gossip pages: Do you recall in 2007 when FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta banned the charity fund-raising calendars where firefighters do the posing? The FDNY member at the center of that controversy was Ladder 131′s Michael Biserta. Biserta also caused a little scandal due to a 2004 video titled “guys Gone Wild (before his FDNY days) where he apparently appeared without his bunker pants. Well Michael Biserta is making steamy headlines again. This time he has surfaced as the “other man” in the divorce proceedings of a reality show contestant who stabbed her husband. If you really want to know more, click here.
Tampa’s new fire boat arrives after running aground: On its journey from Ontario, the new Tampa Fire Rescue boat ran aground in St. Augustine last Wednesday. After getting out of that mess the boat arrived in Tampa yesterday. Read more about the boat and its journey.
The 1920s: Check out this firefighting film of long ago.
Water issues at this Gary, Indiana fire: Here’s the description of the video titled Conditions Go From Bad To Worse For Gary Firefighters – GFD was dispatched to a reported still alarm in the area of Ridge and Whitcomb, on arrival Truck 13 advised of a working trailer fire. Due to the lack of hydrants in the trailer park Lake Ridge FD was requested. Crews initiated an interior attack until they ran out of water, when Lake Ridge arrived with their tanker the fire was brought under control. Nobody was hurt at the fire scene and investigators were on scene working.
Mark Miller and Matthew Smith.
Catlett Volunteer Fire & Rescue website
Read USFA report on the collision
Inside the new Catlett Volunteer Fire & Rescue building is a plaque dedicated to Mark Miller and Matthew Smith, two young volunteers killed in the line of duty. When I saw the plaque at the firehouse dedication last October it brought back memories of being sent to the old Catlett firehouse a few days after their deaths trying to make sense of the tragedy that had devastated this rural community in Fauquier County, Virginia.
Yesterday, the volunteers of Catlett paused again to remember Miller and Smith on the 20th anniversary of their deaths.
Firefighters Miller and Smith were two of the five firefighters aboard Catlett’s Wagon 7 as it was dispatched to a vehicle fire on Route 28 south of Catlett just before 7:30 PM on September 28, 1989. Less than 10 minutes after the dispatch, Miller and Smith were dead, the three other firefighters seriously injured, the fire engine was in pieces, an Amtrak passenger train with two locomotives and 16 cars had derailed, 57 of the 399 passengers were hurt and there was fire on the tracks.
Wagon 7 was struck at an unprotected grade crossing as the engine was trying to get back to a driveway it had overshot on the way to the vehicle fire.
The United States Fire Administration looked at the collision as part of its Technical Report Series. Here is a description of the collision from the report:
The event recorder aboard the locomotive indicated that the train was traveling about 77 miles per hour before the collision occurred. The engineer stated that he observed the fire apparatus and believed that Wagon 7 was going to stop at the crossing. When the engine entered the crossing, the engineer applied the brakes on “emergency” and sounded the horn. The engineer reported that the firefighter riding in the front passenger seat of Wagon 7 never looked at the train before the collision.
The brunt of the collision was directed at the rear of the vehicle, at about the rear axle. When the collision occurred, the cab and chassis of the Catlett pumper rotated counterclockwise 450 degrees and came to rest about 80 feet southeast of the crossing. The lead locomotive stopped about 965 feet past the crossing with the left side of Wagon 7’s hose body wrapped around its front end. Most equipment and the rear bodywork were scattered along the collision area. Gasoline fires that broke out near the second locomotive and several derailed cars were extinguished by other firefighters responding to the emergency. The primary fuel for these fires was from the fuel tank aboard Wagon 7, which ruptured in the crash.
Also from the report:
The crossing where the collision occurred was not equipped with any automatic warning equipment such as flashing lights or gates. The only warning was a standard cross buck (railroad crossing) sign. The driveway led from Route 28 to a private residence.
Even though it was dusk, the weather conditions at the time of the accident were clear. The 59-foot section of the driveway from the highway to the rail crossing had an 11.9 degree grade. But the tracks were straight and there were no visual obstructions that prevented the driver of Wagon 7 from seeing the approaching train. NTSB investigators estimate that the railroad tracks are visible for approximately 3,700 feet in the direction the train came from.
Driver Stress
The driver of Wagon 7 was a 24-year-old member of the department who had several years of experience in operating large vehicles. He had undergone training by the fire company in operation of the vehicle and had been driving Wagon 7 for about three years. Postmortem interviews and toxicological tests revealed no evidence of any physical impairment.
In addition to normal stressors experienced during emergency response, the actions of the driver of Wagon 7 indicated he was undoubtedly experiencing added stress for several reasons. First, the engine left the station without an officer on board, contrary to department policy. The chief’s radio transmissions asking “who is in charge” and the indirect response from the crew of Wagon 7 would indicate that the driver was under added stress from the initial moments of the response. Wagon 7 radioed the chief to request that any additional apparatus be held in the station until they arrived at the scene to verify the nature of the call.
A second contributing factor, which may have been affected by the first, was the fact that Wagon 7 missed the turn for the driveway leading to the fire and traveled approximately 1.5 miles past the fire before asking for directions from Fauquier County communications. When Wagon 7 requested directions to the fire, the chief and Tanker 7 responded to the scene. Despite leaving the station four minutes after Wagon 7, the chief arrived on the scene before any other apparatus and reported that the vehicle was fully involved. Upon hearing this, it is likely that the crew of Wagon 7 focused their attention on “redeeming themselves” by performing satisfactorily in reaching and extinguishing the fire. The tanker and the engine approached the scene at the same time. Tanker 7 stopped to allow Wagon 7 to enter the driveway first. The heightened level of stress on the driver of Wagon 7 is indicated by the fact that as he approached the driveway leading to the location of the fire call, he overshot the turn and had to back the vehicle to make the turn into the driveway. In recreations of the maneuver with a similar apparatus, it took 16 seconds to properly align the apparatus to move up the driveway.
At this point, the car fire was visible to the driver of Wagon 7 and the crew probably focused all their attention on reaching the fire. This is reinforced by the statements of the Amtrak engineer, who stated that the placed the train’s brakes on emergency and sounded the horn when he realized that the vehicle was not going to stop. As the train headed toward the pumper, the engineer stated that the front seat passenger never looked at the train, although the passengers in the rear jump seats did observe the approaching train.
“Although some level of stress can enhance human performance, excessive stress can lead to substandard performance. When a person’s arousal level is unduly increased by stressors, the focus of attention is
narrowed to performance of the task perceived to be the most important, while the quality of the performance of any peripheral task(s) deteriorates.”
Interestingly, the Catlett Volunteer Fire Department had responded to a car struck by a train at a similar crossing several months before this incident, which would indicate that they should have been aware of the dangers associated with such crossings.
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For the third year in a row, STATter911.com has joined forces with Firehouse.com to bring you live coverage on the web of the events from the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial Weekend, October 3 to October 5. 103 firefighters who died in 2008, along with 19 who died in previous years, will be honored in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
You can tune here to STATter911.com or to Firehouse.com to watch the Candlelight Service on Saturday evening and Sunday’s Memorial Service.
Hillary Howard from WTOP Radio and I will host the two telecasts. Prior to each event will be provide interviews, details about the weekend and the show you some of the work of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Our coverage begins at 6:15 PM EDT on Saturday and 9:30 AM EDT on Sunday.
Please encourage other websites to link to this live coverage. Contact your local newspapers and television stations to tell them about this important weekend. There is also a way for your local cable operator or TV station to carry the telecasts.
Feel free to contact me at dstatter@wusa9.com if you need additional details on how to arrange this.
Here are some other important links.
National Fallen Firefighters Foundation
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Our friend Norm “Doc” Zaffater from Shreveport is always finding old gems. Some from his collection and some from others. I have seen various pieces of this one before, but not in this form. Here’s Doc’s descriptio:
This video was made from Stillman’s Fire Collection, Perlinger Archves and possibly represents what took place when an fire alarm box was pulled in Brooklyn in the 1920′s. The new state-of-art Brooklyn Fire and Telegraph Central Station was just opened and the movie shows how a pulled fire alarm box was received and re-transmitted to the fire stations. The video also shows apparatus of the time period responding, firemen hooking up to a fire hydrant, pulling hose from apparatus, ladder work and the water tower fighting a building fire.
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Much better results this time at Penn Mar Shopping Center: I am sure you recall the video above from May 7 in Prince George’s County when nine firefighters were hurt as an explosion occurred while they were investigating a natural gas leak. On Sunday, PGFD was back at Penn Mar investigating another gas leak. Called by a Washington Gas Company employee who detected high levels of natural gas in the Marshall’s store, firefighters moved 125 people out of 13 stores. Firefighters were on the scene for five hours until the all clear was given. More details here from WUSA9.com. Mark Brady also has pictures and info on the PGFD PIO blog.
DC council member thinks leadership was behind failure at mansion fire: Phil Mendelson came out swinging at the start of Friday’s hearing looking at the July 29 fire that destroyed the home of former school board president Peggy Cooper Cafritz. Mendelson believes it wasn’t so much a water supply problem as it was a leadership issue, accusing Chief Dennis Rubin of not properly dealing with similar issues uncovered in 2007. Rubin believes the council isn’t giving the department enough credit for its program to address a crumbling infrastructure. Click here for our coverage where you can watch the entire hearing and look at the history of this issue and the dispute between the chief and the council member.
Firegeezer thinks our story is THE story of the month: I am not sure I would go that far, but it sure is interesting. We catch up with the mayor of East Cleveland, Ohio, who graced these pages in 2007 when STATter911.com was less than a month old. Eric Brewer was the guy who wanted firefighters to mow the grass in the park in between calls. Always one of my favorite stories. So we decided to find out what Mayor Brewer is doing these days. Check out this intimate profile.
Man run over by ambulance in front of firehouse – now the rest of the story: We first told you about the homeless man who was lying on the ground in front of a St. Petersburg, Florida firehouse when the ambulance dispatched to provide aid ran over him. Now comes word that at least one 911 caller warned that the man was on the ramp. Here is an update.
Is it abuse or normal sick leave use?: That’s the question in Allentown, Pennsylvania where the contract allows firefighters to take an entire four-day tour of sick leave without a note from the doctor. The mayor says it is one reason overtime is out of control. The union says a mayor can work with a sprained ankle, but a firefighter can’t. The local newspaper has all the stats and a close-up look at the issue. Check it out.
Miscalculation at Station fire: Here is the lead to a Sunday Los Angeles Times story- U.S. Forest Service officials underestimated the threat posed by the deadly Station fire and scaled back their attack on the blaze the night before it began to rage out of control, records and interviews show.
Tragedy in Carroll County, MD: The Mt. Airy VFC responded to the Dalton home on Friday where Charles Dalton had shot and killed his wife and two kids and turned the shotgun on himself. One of the children, 14-year-old Charliem, was a junior member at Mt. Airy. Here’s the story.
Car crashes into home setting it on fire: Click here for a series of videos as fire progresses through a house in Fairfield, New Jersey on Saturday after a car smashes
Rochester, NY house fire video: Early video of a two-alarm blaze Sunday morning. We have now added links to pictures, details and fireground order from our friends at Monroe County Fire Wire.
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This series of videos is from Hollywood Avenue in Fairfield, New Jersey on Saturday. According to the description with the videos, the driver of an SUV ran through a stop sign at a T-intersection and straight into a house. The driver escaped, relatively unharmed, as the vehicle burst into flames. The videos show the progression of the fire from there.
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Allentown Fire Department website
See database listing 4-day sick leave use & overtime for each firefighter
Allentown, Pennsylvania firefighters shift schedule has them working four days on followed by four days off. The number of firefighters who have been using sick leave for their entire four day tour of duty has the mayor outraged and the local newspaper focusing on it in the Sunday paper.
The paper’s analysis of data provided by the city shows that since 2006 “six out of every 10 times a firefighter called out sick was in four-day spurts.” Obvsiously, that gives the firefighter 12 days away from the office.
The chart with the article shows 12 firefighters who have had between 10 and twelve four-day sick leaves. It also shows 26 firefighters who have had none.
Here’s how Jarrett Renshaw and Jacob Fenton at The Morning Call start their article:
Allentown firefighters apparently suffer from a unique illness.
It generally lasts four days, requires a heavy dose of overtime and can be hazardous to the financial health of the city.
The ailment stems from a contract that allows firefighters to take four consecutive sick days without a doctor’s note — a provision that firefighters have exercised repeatedly over the past several years, driving up overtime and pension costs, and hampering the mayor’s efforts to erase a $9 million budget deficit.
Contractually obligated to have 29 firefighters on duty at all times Allentown uses a good portion of its overtime budget to deal with absences due to illness.
Mayor Ed Pawlowski from city website.
Here’s what the mayor says about all of this:
”I think it’s an abuse of the system. That’s clear,” said Mayor Ed Pawlowski. ”They are exploiting the system and using it to their advantage.”
Here’s the view of the union president:
The head of the city’s fire union, John Stribula, said the local ”has never, nor ever will advocate the improper use of sick leave.”
He said firefighting is a unique and dangerous occupation that requires workers to be in top form. An ill or injured firefighter, he said, becomes a liability to his co-workers and the public. While an office worker may be able to endure a cold or an earache, such illnesses can sideline a firefighter, who may be called upon to carry a person from a burning building.
”I can be the mayor with a sprained ankle. I can’t be a firefighter with a sprained ankle,” Stribula said.
He added that the city has encouraged the use of sick days by denying worker’s compensation claims when firefighters have come back to work from sick leave and then suffered an on-the-job injury.
”They’ve told us we’ve come back too early and that’s what sick days are for and denied claims, saying it’s a pre-existing condition. So, there’s no incentive,” Stribula said.
And here’s the fire chief’s take:
”Somewhere along the line, contractual language replaced the sense of duty and obligation to the taxpayers of this city,” said Allentown Fire Chief Robert Scheirer.
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Above, WPRI-TV reports on the shut down of the firehouse.
Chopmist Hill Fire Department website
Watch and read original story by WPRI-TV on August 28
There are a lot of different views of what has happened at the Chopmist Hill Fire Department and tempers are running high. This much is clear: The fire department is closed for business as the town of Scituate, Rhode Island looks into what started as a water theft from a neighboring town and has now grown into a much wider probe.
It started a month ago when WPRI-TV reported on Chopmist Hill, one of four fire companies in Scituate, filling its tanks at a fire hydrant in Johnston about nine miles away. The Johnston mayor called it theft. From there it grew.
Now, residents served by Chopmist Hill are very upset that their local fire company is currently closed and calls are being handled by the other Scituate departments (see the video below).
Some firefighters says that the real reason Scituate shut down the department is because of recent union organizing.
Here are excerpts from a Friday article at projo.com with some more details on a complicated situation:
The town is probing allegations involving the use of town-owned fire trucks and equipment in a scheme to transport water from municipal water systems in neighboring towns and sell it for use in private pools, according to the Town Council’s president, Robert Budway.
Authorities are investigating various issues, including: the alleged use of municipal water from Johnston and Smithfield and the alleged removal of fuel from Scituate’s public works department for personal “or other than department-related use,” Budway said.
As Scituate police mount an investigation, town officials have locked down the Chopmist Hill Fire Department, moved trucks used by the volunteer organization to the public works department and arranged for other volunteer fire companies to cover Chopmist’s district, Budway said.
Town officials say they ordered the closure to ensure that none of the taxpayer’s money or resources can be “misused.”
In his statement to town residents Thursday night, Budway also said the town has information about members of the Chopmist Hill department allegedly threatening to withhold life-saving emergency medical services.
He described the condition of the department’s headquarters building as “disgraceful.”
On Friday, Budway said that a police investigation into the photo shown on television found that the water taken from the hydrant had been used for firefighting purposes and it had not been sold.
However, the police are investigating other incidents where water was taken from hydrants, he said.
Both Scituate police and Johnston police are involved with the investigation.
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This is Guy Zampatori video of a two-alarm house fire this morning on 4th Street in Rochester, New York.
I was a little fast on posting this one and got ahead of the always great details, pictures and fireground audio that are now available from Scott Ellman and the crew at Monroe County Fire Wire. Click here.
Here’s MCFW’s synopsis:
Rochester Firefighters responded early this morning for numerous calls reporting a house fire on 4th St. Quint 7 went on location with heavy fire and smoke from the first floor of “B” side of a 2 1/2. Battalion 1 reported a working fire and requested an Extra Company which was Quint & Midi 4. A second alarm was called which brought Engine 12 and Quint & Midi 6. Quint & Midi 9 responded as the RIC and the fire was under control in about 52 min. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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Watch the story from 9NEWS NOW’s Lindsey Mastis (or here)
Maryland State Police are looking at the possibility that financial pressures are what pushed 38-year-old Charles Dalton to shoot and kill his wife and two children while they slept. Dalton then turned the shotgun on himself sometime late Thursday night or early Friday morning. The bodies were found at the family home in Mt. Airy in Carroll County.
The 14-year-old son, Charlie Dalton was a junior member of the Mt. Airy Volunteer Fire Company. He is listed on the department website as secretary/treasurer of the juniors (since removed). Mt. Airy VFC was dispatched to the call at the Dalton home on Friday.
Also killed were Charlie Dalton’s 7-year-old sister Emmaline and his 37-year-old mother Jennifer.
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Watch report from 9NEWS NOW’s Scott Broom (or here)
Read Council Member Phil Mendelson’s opening statement
See previous coverage of the Chain Bridge Road fire here, here, here, here and here.
“I believe FEMS is using the infrastructure issue as a smokescreen for the real problem – poor leadership.” Those harsh words were spoken Friday morning by Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary Chairman Phil Mendelson. Mendelson made the remark as part of his opening statement (at 1:15 on the hearing video from Friday) at a hearing looking into the water supply problems during the July 29 fire that destroyed the mansion of former District of Columbia school board president Peggy Cooper Cafritz.
We had warned you there were likely to be fireworks, as has been the pattern, when DC Fire & EMS Department (FEMS) Chief Dennis Rubin appeared before Mendelson’s committee. The two have butted heads at a number of hearings (September 16 at 2:01 and April 1) and rarely see eye to eye on fire department issues. This comment may have been the most pointed one yet from Mendelson, the man whose committee has oversight of the fire department and its budget.
For his part, Chief Rubin expressed disappointment that Mendelson and two other council members were not acknowledging the tremendous progress the department has made in trying to deal with a water infrastructure that is “falling apart” and includes hydrants dating back to the early 1900s (43:40).
Despite Mendelson’s strong words at the start, the council chairman and the fire chief did not have anything like the sharp exchanges of previous hearings until almost the end of the one-hour and 45-minute session (starting about 1:38:00).
Chief Rubin was joined by Lt. Sean Egan and the leadership of the DC Water and Sewer Authority (WASA) answering questions about the fire on Chain Bridge Road.
It appears the council member did his homework for the hearing. Mendelson was able to recite to Council member Jim Graham a list of hydrants that surrounded the burning home, the gallons-per-minute each hydrant was able to deliver, the size of the mains, and the time fire engines hooked-up to the hydrants (58:45). While much of that information was from a preliminary report into the fire by Mayor Adrian Fenty’s office, Mendelson peppered the panel with questions about other related water supply issues based on his conversations with firefighters and his own knowledge of the system.
In the closing discussion Mendelson talked in detail about an area of low flow hydrants on Massachusetts Avenue, first reported on 9NEWS NOW, and relayed a conversation with a firefighter about a smaller water main near Bolling Air Force Base.
Chief Rubin pointed out that the Navy is in charge of fire protection at Bolling and questioned the reliability of the council member’s information, asking, “Is that something we are going to use on folklore from a firehouse or are we going to work on science?” Rubin continued, “I didn’t take the course on listening to fire station rumor. I guess I need to brush up on that.”
It was then that Mendelson warned Rubin to “be kind” and later chided the chief for too quickly dismissing his line of questioning.
Rubin believes the program set up where the fire department twice yearly checks the operation of the approximately 10,000 hydrants in the city, and WASA checks the water flow, is a model system. Rubin also told Mendelson, “I think we can do knee jerk work or we can do it in a very structured scientific way.”
The council members have been concerned that WASA’s five year plan of refurbishing or replacing all of the city’s hydrants as it tests water flow and color codes the hydrants is too slow.
Mendelson’s criticism also focused on key recommendations of the 2007 report by consultant J. Gordon Routley looking into a large apartment building fire on Adams Mill Road. Mendelson made it clear he thought history repeated itself with the Chain Bridge Road fire, saying that in both fires too many fire engines tapped into a main that was too small and fire officials didn’t know where to go to get a more adequate water supply.
In his opening statement Mendelson said, “At best it seems FEMS personnel were confused, sucking dry the closest hydrants, bypassing good hydrants not too far away, and expending precious resources accessing hydrants almost a mile distant”.
“FEMS has testified that it needed an estimated 1,600 gallons per minute water flow to fight the Cafritz fire. In fact, there was over 3,000 gallons per minute available from four hydrants on or just off Loughboro Road, but two of these hydrants were never tapped, and a third was tapped and then abandoned.”
As STATter911.com reported the day after the Chain Bridge Road blaze, despite it being an issue in the 2007 fire, fire officials still did not have maps from WASA that showed which hydrants were connected to which mains. WASA issued maps to the fire department in December 2007 a month after the Routley report recommendation. According to Mendelson, WASA testified before Mendelson’s committee a year later, with Chief Rubin in the room, that the department had the proper maps. It turns out that the department did not have the necessary maps and data discs and only got them after the Chain Bridge Road fire. Mendelson said, “It was apparent that FEMS had done nothing to obtain the maps for 20 months.”
The fire department has scheduled its battalion chiefs to be part of an October training session put on by WASA to give firegroun
d commanders a better understanding of the water system. Mendelson pointed out that also was a recommendation in the 2007 report.
As for Chief Rubin, he said, “Residents visitors and businesses in the District of Columbia are not interested in finger pointing and the blame game.”
The chief later added, “I think we are making great progress. This was obviously a systemic failure. I am remorseful for it. You just described me as not, but that’s not correct (1:40:25).”
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Image from TheSunNews.com. Read more.
More from Firegeezer & Firefighter Close Calls.
From the AP:
A medical transport helicopter crashed in coastal South Carolina, killing all three people on board, authorities said Saturday.
The company that owned the helicopter, Addison, Texas-based OmniFlight, said a pilot, flight nurse and paramedic were on board when it crashed Friday night.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators were en route to the scene Saturday. Agency spokesman Peter Knudson says no patients were on board the helicopter, which had dropped off a patient at about 9:35 p.m. Friday in Charleston, about 60 miles southwest of Georgetown County.
In a statement, the company confirmed that the American Eurocopter AS350B2 took off from Charleston around 11 p.m. Friday and was headed to Conway, a city about 50 miles north of Georgetown.
Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen says the pilot last radioed air traffic control at 11:05 p.m., saying the crew was about four miles from an airport near Charleston and had it in sight.
The helicopter crashed shortly thereafter, at about 11:30 p.m., Knudson said.
“Omniflight is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of its crew members and wishes to express its deepest regrets and sincerest condolences to the families and friends of those who lost their lives,” the company said.
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Watch WKYC-TV original story (or here)
Watch WKYC-TV story as Brewer blasts the police department (or here)
STATter911.com wasn’t even a month old when we ran one of my favorite stories of all time. It was June 4, 2007 and East Cleveland Mayor Eric Brewer had ordered firefighters to cut the grass in city parks during their down time. We brought that story back in November of last year when there was a fire in the mayor’s apartment building. Our headline then was “Glad they weren’t out mowing the lawn”.
Mayor Brewer is up for re-election, with voting just days away. Our sister station in Cleveland has made this race quite exciting. WKYC-TV was apparently were the first to report and show a very racy series of photos of the mayor wearing women’s underwear.
Mayor Brewer then held a press conference blasting his police department for leaking the photos and taking WKYC-TV reporter Tom Meyer to task for his handling of the story.
Here is Friday afternoon’s story from Tom Meyer:
Days before a primary election decides the outcome of the mayor’s race in East Cleveland, shocking and disturbing photos, allegedly of incumbent Mayor Eric Brewer, are being circulated in the community, The Investigator Tom Meyer has learned.
Channel 3 News has obtained nearly four dozen graphic and some times X-rated photos of a man that sources say is Brewer.
In some photos, the man is in seductive poses, wearing women’s lingerie, a wig and lipstick.
At a news conference today, Brewer refused to say if he was the individual being photographed.
“While I am not and will not authenticate any of the pictures, since it appears as if they and the e-mails my opponent has caused to distributed are personal in nature, the fact is they are embarrassing to our city,” Brewer said.
Instead, he accused his opponent in next week’s mayoral election, City County President Gary Norton, and city police officers of distributing the photos in the community.
Brewer said city police are retaliating after he called on the U.S. Justice Department to investigate accusations that city police officers are racists and bullies.
Brewer said he’s already contacted the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department about accusations that officers have assaulted suspects in handcuffs, filed false charges, hurled racial slurs and ripped off peoples’ property. He also listed a number of officers he’s fired for police misconduct.
“It is understandable that East Cleveland’s Fraternal Order of Police have endorsed my opponent,” Brewer said. “Many are rogue cops who know he is far too weak to hold them accountable.”
Is this gutter politics? His challenger, Norton, says he’s seen the photos and has no doubt they are of Brewer. But, Norton said, neither he nor his staff had anything to do with passing the photos around the city. He said any number of people could be responsible for passing them around.
“He’s made a lot of enemies along the way,” Norton said. “I don’t like the fact that anyone passed these out.”
Norton said he doesn’t believe the photos should be an issue in the hard-fought campaign.
“There are big issues in East Cleveland and I don’t want these photos to serve as a distraction to problems that face our residents,” Norton said.
Scott Gardner of the East Cleveland Police Union also denied the union or its members had “anything to do with the dissemination of any of the obscene photographs alleged of Mayor Brewer.”
Gardner added that officers work “long and hard, day and night to police aggressively for a safer and more warming community” and that they “will continue to police with professionalism and courtesy as well as investigate complaints against abuse through authority.”
Most voters that Channel 3 News spoke with were shocked at the photos, but a number said that what someone does behind closed doors is his or her own business and should not impact an election.
The mayor also took shots at Channel 3 News for showing photos he called obscene and for failing to reach out to him about the photos.
“I do not recall receiving any telephone calls, e-mail messages letters or faxes from Tom Meyer seeking confirmation from me about the news story he crafted that WKYC chose to broadcast.”
However, Channel 3 News called Brewer on his personal and city cell phones and also went both to City Hall and his campaign headquarters, telling his staff exactly what we wanted. We also spoke with Acting Mayor and Finance Director Ron Brooks, who said he spoke with Brewer about our request and that Brewer said he would issue a statement.
The statement was sent, but it went to a general station e-mail box that normally receives hundreds of news and programming comments. In the statement, Brewer did not address our questions about the photos or where they came from. He did speak about the passing of his father yesterday and his wish for privacy.
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It took the driver quite a while to realize his car was leaking and burning. He got out just in time. This happened at the Pacific Highway border crossing on Sunday. The border patrol handled this one with three fire extinguishers.
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Bus fire: The only information with this one was that it happened in Canada.
Permanent time-out for chief of department that had a temporary one: More troubles for Florida’s Minneola Fire Department. This was the fire department where the city manager ordered a time-out for firefighters and shut the place down for 48-hours so they could all learn to get along (read the report). Now the same city manager, Sam Oppelaar, has fired Chief David Dobrzykowski, saying the chief was insubordinate and didn’t follow protocol. Apparently there have been a number of disputes between the two men with the most recent being an apparent unauthorized trip for the chief and two firefighters to take a look at a used fire truck in Tampa. Here’s the story. Click here for a detailed story on the history between the chief and the city manager.
From worst to first? DC report says not yet: Two years ago the DC inspector general issued a scathing report about the treatment city fire and EMS crews provided to dying former New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum. Since then, the administration of Mayor Adrian Fenty and Chief Dennis Rubin has pointed to great progress in EMS after decades of neglect. According to the Examiner’s Bill Myers (in an article we missed earlier in the week), the inspector general has taken another look at EMS and DC and doesn’t like what he sees. Here’s an excerpt from the article:
The D.C. inspector general reported in a recent audit, obtained by The Examiner, that the D.C. Fire and Emergency Management System, the city’s main rescue service: Hasn’t established anything like a quality “medical assurance” program to protect the health and welfare of District citizens; Still suffers from “excessive turnover in key management positions”; And still doesn’t have enough staffers to coordinate rescue services for the city’s some 600,000 some citizens.
The council chairman and the fire chief: For those who like fireworks, there is a pretty good chance you will see some today at a DC City Council hearing. We say that because the sparks seem to fly each time Committee on Public Safety and Judiciary Chairman Phil Mendelson questions DC Fire & EMS Chief Dennis Rubin. The two just don’t seem to communicate without a great deal of tension in the air. We last saw it September 16 at a hearing on the city’s water woes chaired by another council member. (Click here and start watching at about 2:01.) You may recall the heated confrontation during Mendelson’s look at the Puerto Rico fire engine/ambulance give away. Phil Mendelson’s hearing at 9:00 AM today is another look at the fire department’s problems with water at the mansion fire on July 29.
Speaking of DC water problems: The Washington Post finally goes a little more in depth into the issues between the fire department and the DC Water & Sewer Authority (subject of the council hearings above). Read the article by Theola Labbe-DeBose and Allison Klein. It’s a good re-cap with details from the September 16 hearing, but there is not much we haven’t already told you about. Something important they did get that we couldn’t put our hands on are more details about the list we first showed you in August of now 40 areas of concern in the city where the water supply may not be adequate. Click here.
Interesting to note during that September 16 hearing, Council member Jim Graham, for the first time, had some questions for the fire department and WASA about the 2007 report into the Adams Mill Road fire by consultant J. Gordon Routley. You may recall that we reported Routley was supposed to testify before Mr. Graham’s committee and present his report on December 10, 2007. We still don’t know for sure why Routley never appeared, and his report was never officially presented to the council. What may be most interesting. is that the best we can determine, no one on the council has ever publicly questioned Routley, Chief Rubin or WASA about this ominous statement in the report: “The condition of the water system infrastructure is highly questionable … “.
PGFD in the news: The Gazette’s Daniel Valentine takes a closer look at the recent upswing in volunteer applications being handled by Prince George’s County. The article features an interview with the vice-chairman of the Prince George’s County Fire Commission, Vince Harrison. Click here. We have been trying to interview Vince Harrison since July in an effort to get his version of an incident at PGFD’s Station 821.
PGFD Tower 824 wrecks: Tower 824 from Accokeek was responding on a box alarm at 2600 Brinkley Road in Oxon Hill Wednesday night at 9:15 PM when the rig collided with the rear of a car. Spokesman Mark Brady says it happened on Indian Head Highway at The Mall. Brady says two firefighters went to the hospital for a check-up. No word on damage.
EMS crew runs over man they were coming to aid: In St. Petersburg, Florida, Rescue 5 responded to a report of a man bleeding about a block from the station. What the crew didn’t know was the homeless man was lying on the ramp in front of the ambulance’s bay door. Read the story.
One you will want to see: An Atlanta TV crew during a report on the aftermath of the flooding was in the middle of an interview on Wednesday when an explosion shook the neighborhood. A house nearby blew up. Click here to see the story.
More slinging in Boston: We told you about the claims that firefighters were behind the testing of an alarm system at Mayor Menino’s campaign headquarters on election day. Now comes a complaint claiming that an on-duty fire captain was using a fire department vehicle to take senior citizens to the polls. So far no one seems
to know if its true. Watch the report.
Arsonists caught on video: Virginia Beach fire investigators quickly publicized security camera video of two men who set a storage facility on fire. Watch the video and read details on yesterday’s two-alarm fire.
The latest from Jericho, Arkansas: Firegeezer has the latest installment.
More on bee attack: EMS1.com has an in-depth look at the Africanized honey bee attack in Texas that we briefly mentioned. Firefighters and an ambulance crew were stung when they tried to help an 83-year-old man. Here’s the story and a bee primer for first responders.
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Ted Lenox
A paramedic and EMT aassigned to St. Peterburg Fire Rescue’s Rescue 5 got the call Thursday afternoon for a man bleeding about a block from the fire station. Rescue 5 pulled through the open bay door of the firehouse and the crew instantly heard a thump. Trapped below the Ford F-650 was the man the crew was sent to help. Here are excerpts from a Tampa Bay.com article by Jamal Thalji:
“They never even saw him,” said St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Lt. Joel Granata.
Authorities said the man who was run over is Ted Allen Lenox, a 41-year-old homeless man. He suffered life-threatening injuries and was at Bayfront Medical Center Thursday night.
Alcohol was a factor, according to a St. Petersburg police report, which was not specific.
The accident took place about 3:45 p.m. outside Master Fire Station 1 at 400 Dr. Martin Luther King St. S. The facility houses St. Petersburg Fire Rescue’s headquarters and two fire companies.
According to police and fire officials, Emergency Medical Technician Jason Springer, 36, climbed into the driver’s seat of Rescue 5. Paramedic David Bucholz, 32, rode shotgun.
But neither apparently knew that Lenox was lying just 2 to 3 feet in front of Rescue 5′s bay, authorities said.
“Neither Springer or Bucholz saw, or could have seen, Lenox in the position he had placed himself in,” the police report states.
Rescue 5′s front wheels didn’t hit Lenox, but the undercarriage caught and rolled him. The crew stopped after they felt the truck’s rear tires roll over his legs.
He was pinned underneath. Firefighters raised the vehicle, pulled the injured man out and treated him. His condition was unavailable Thursday.
The firefighters involved in the accident remain on duty, Granata said.
He wished that the crew would have been told prior to leaving the station that the man was right at the foot of the garage.
“We would have just walked out the door and looked,” he said.
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Click here to watch the video from WVEC-TV.
Read Virginia Beach Fire Department Press Release
At 4:35 AM two men set fire to a storage facility in Virginia Beach, Virginia. By 4:12 PM the video of them starting the fire was on the Internet. Virginia Beach officials didn’t waste any time in publicizing the security camera video from this morning’s two alarm fire at AAAA Storage Center on Honeygrove Road.
The fire destroyed the contents of four units and damaged three others at the self-storage facility.
In the video, the men are seen removing what appears to be a gasoline container from the trunk of their car, opening one of the storage units and starting the fire.
According to a press release from Virginia Beach Fire Department Battalion Chief Tim Riley investigators are looking for anyone who may have witnessed the crime. They are asked to contact Fire Investigator Newton at 757-385-4228 or Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP (1-888-562-5887).
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Battalion chief arrested in OT fraud investigation: North Providence Mayor Mayor Charles Lombardi has been complaining about the amount of overtime being earned in the police and fire departments. His police department is doing something about it. Officers arrested Battalion Chief David Charello yesterday morning and charged him with fraudulently billing some of his overtime. Chief Charello is now out on $10,000 bond. In 2006 Charello was on a list as the sixth highest paid worker in North Providence making $39,000 in overtime for a total salary at more than $93,000. The mayor had asked the police department to probe OT in the fire department. Firefighters have pointed out in the past that the reason for all of the OT is unfilled vacancies in the department. Watch the story above and read more here.
WARNING- This is not the most important story of the day, but you will most likely want to read it and send it to your friends: The Costa Mesa Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue team saved a member on Tuesday, but it wasn’t a fellow firefighter. They were called to a local hospital to handle the most delicate of extrications involving a man who just wasn’t satisfied with what his parents gave him. He didn’t call an 800 number to order one of the many male enhancement products on the market. He took matters into his own hand and used a sort of home made device. That’s where the firefighters came in. Who else are you going to call in a jam like this? We have all of the details right here. Believe me, it’s more than you really want to know.
Village agrees to pay firefighter $850,000 in sexual harassment claim: It was in February of 2008 when we last mentioned the then two-year-old lawsuit Sharon Januszewski had against the Village of Oak Lawn, Illinois. Januszewski has been a firefighter since 2000. She claimed, among other things, that a firefighter ejaculated on her bedding, and there was pornography throughout the firehouse. Firefighter Januszewski also said officials did not properly investigate her complaints. According to news reports the Oak Lawn Village Board voted 5-0 to pay Januszewski $850,000. She also gets to keep her job. Read the story.
Union claims 500 missed calls at PGFD’s Capitol Heights station: IAFF Local 1619 continues to press the staffing case, citing the number of missed calls since career firefighters were removed from Station 805 on August 1. In a Wednesday night press release, union vice-president Andrew Pantelis specifically cites two scratches on recent significant calls, including one where a man was murdered and the home set on fire. Pantelis also points to a September 18 house fire in Station 832′s (Allentown Road) first due where three of the four engines and two ladder trucks all responded understaffed with two firefighters on each unit. You can read the press release here. It was late evening when we contacted PGFD for a response. We will let you know if there is anything to report.
A little more on the dismal news from Baltimore: Details on the Board of Estimates meeting on Wednesday morning. The fire department still has 20-days before the next decision point on layoffs versus furloughs. Annie Linskey’s article in The Baltimore Sun does mention the impact the Prince George’s County furlough case may have on the plans. Click here.
Budget cuts are threatening mutual aid: California’s mutual aid system, key to handling the massive brush fires, is being impacted by budget cutting. That’s what fire officials told state legislators yesterday. They point out that mutual aid response on the Station fire, the largest in Los Angeles County history, was down by a third when compared to other recent fires. More details from the Los Angeles Times.
Back to the overtime issue: The amount of overtime the mayor of North Providence is worried about (top of the page) is small compared concerns in Miami. A paramedic captain made just short of $100,000 for working 500 hours overtime. The city is looking at OT and other compensation for firefighters as a way to trim the budget. Read the story.
City’s first firehouse is destroyed by fire: But Ypsilanti, Michigan’s Thompson Block building was more than a firehouse. It was built in 1861 for Union troops and had some other historic firsts. Click here for the story.
Senate says no to federal money for wildland firefighting in Washington … DC that is: Remember The Washington Times story we told you about where the wildland firefighting funds were being spent on park activities in The Nations Capital? The United States Senate doesn’t like that idea. Here’s the update.
I hope they at least gave the firefighters a tote bag or another premium gift: New Hampshire Public TV in Durham had to call firefighters to their studios twice last night. Let me tell you those TV people are a real pain. Read the story.
A weight problem: Firegeezer has an interesting story about a California Sheriff’s office with a new command post vehicle that is more than a ton overweight and shows it. Click here. And something tells me to expect more from the Geezer on the very lame fire connection he uses as justification to run details of a very special motorcycle event from New Zealand. Just go to Firegeezer.com and tell him at least Statter has some standards (boy do I have some nerve after my lead story).
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This is a once in a lifetime type call for a firefighter that I imagine most would just as soon miss. It was a two-hour job handled by the Costa Mesa Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue team.
They got the call early Tuesday morning to report to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach. There had been no earthquake. No collapse. Just a male patient whose efforts at enhancement went terribly wrong.
The job of the firefighters was to use their tools to cut around his tool and in the process not turn him into John Bobbitt. What they were cutting was a steel, ring-shaped dumbbell weight fastener. It had been on there for two or three days. Somehow he thought the fastener would make it longer.
By putting it though the hole of that device it sort of gave the man the effect he wanted, because the swelling brought it to about five times its normal size. But he apparently was dangerously close to losing the whole package when he couldn’t remove the thing.
For more on this most delicate of extrications we turn to excerpts from the article by the Daily Pilot’s Joseph Serna:
“They said his comment was, ‘This will make me the chief of my tribe,’” said Costa Mesa Battalion Chief Scott Broussard, who like others in the department, heard about the incident the next morning.
Broussard added that doctors at Hoag had told the man, who refused immediate treatment, that if he waited any longer to remove the fastener, the flesh in his penis would die.
“He was kind of a wingnut,” Broussard said.
Staff kept him in the hospital under a psychiatric hold and called the Fire Department to come remove the item because they didn’t have the tools to do it, Broussard said. Medical personnel tied down the man to a table and sedated him for the emergency, he said.
Firefighters had to don full surgery garb, including masks and scrubs.
The men constructed a watering system to keep the sparks from the sawing — which were flying half-way across the room — from injuring the patient as they cut through the inch-thick ring around his penis.
“They also slid a little piece of metal between the collar and his thing, so if it slipped past it wouldn’t hit his thing,” Broussard said.
If anything, the incident demonstrated the versatility of the city firefighters’ rescue skills, Broussard said.
“If we’re cutting people out of some kind of building, or if we’re cutting right up next to somebody’s flesh and don’t damage his flesh, then it’s a good day,” he said.
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Picture from the Eastern Echo by Don Oates.
More pictures from the fire here and here
At 2:00 this morning Ypsilanti, Michigan lost some of its history. That’s when the structure known as the Thompson Block building at North River and East Cross Streets in Depot Town was destroyed by fire.
The run down 10,000 square foot building near the railroad tracks was to be turned into a mixed residential/commercial property.
In an article earlier this month at concentratemedia.com describing the development, there is a brief history of the property. The building was constructed in 1861 to house Union soldiers. In 1880 it became Thompson Hardware Store, the first to sell bicycles in the area. Fifteen years later it was the city’s first fire station and it became the first Dodge Brothers dealership in 1916.
In the WDIV-TV story above, you will learn more about the history of Depot Town and one of its famous citizens, Elijah McCoy, the inventor of a lubrication system for steam engines. His product was known as “the real McCoy”, but maybe not the real, real McCoy.
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Actor/stuntman describes fiery stunt that went wrong at home being used for training by the fire department: Josh Frazier is back making movies after a lengthy recovery from burns during his last movie. It happened in May in Frazier’s home town of Lebanon, Oregon. The timing of an explosion was off by a few seconds setting Frazier on fire. Frazier had written the script for the film. Click the video above to see the stunt that went wrong (here’s another version of the story). The incident occurred as firefighters were setting up for a day of training at the abandoned house. Oregon OSHA is investigating. Here is an article shortly after the incident occurred.
More on the flooded Cobb County Engine 6: There was little information when we first showed you the pictures late Monday of Cobb County, Georgia’s Engine 6 under water near a burning home (we even had to do a little detective work just to figure out which rig it was). Now there is a just a little more information and another image from WGCL-TV-
The firefighters were called Monday to a burning home on Fire Oaks Court. The firefighters were trying to put out the blaze when, officials said, flood waters quickly rose, forcing firefighters to seek higher ground and flooding the truck. None of the firefighters were hurt.
Budget cuts, layoffs, furloughs – the Baltimore story: Get caught up on the latest from Baltimore City where the union president says morale has never been lower. Chief Jim Clack, who met behind closed doors with firefighters Tuesday night, isn’t disagreeing. Here is an excerpt from WJZ-TV’s story-
“I don’t have any magic wand and so what I’m coming here tonight to do is answer any questions and be transparent,” he said. Tuesday, Clack laid off four fire department employees, including an assistant chief.
Besides attending the meeting, Chief Clack posted a message about yesterday’s layoffs on an Internet forum run by IAFF Local 734. He wrote in part-
I had the unpleasant task of laying off several members today. Assistant Chief Joe Pryor, Ms. Karen Scroggins, Captain Denis Storck and Ms. Michelle Lacey will be laid off effective October 20. All of them were providing important work toward the goals of our business plan. The selection of positions to be eliminated was very difficult for me as I don’t think we have enough people to get all the work done today, much less with these losses. Additionally, positions recently vacated by other folks who left us will be abolished including two Command Level I positions (Battalion Commanders) a fire inspector position and the department’s solicitor position.
Watch the story from WJZ-TV. Watch the story from WMAR-TV. Baltimore Sun story.
In Boston the union’s choice wins and the mayor is alarmed: Lots of interesting doings on election day in Boston. The man endorsed by firefighters, Michael Flaherty, won the right to face incumbent Mayor Thomas Menino on November 3. But earlier in the day there was the test of the fire alarm system at Mayor Menino’s campaign headquarters. That raised a few eyebrows. Click here for the story and here for the response from IAFF Local 718.
Passions high over minimum staffing in Rockford, Illinois: If the city lays off eight firefighters as planned, it could cost them more money than would be saved. That’s because the collective bargaining agreement with the firefighters’ union requires a minimum staffing of 64 at all times. To meet that requirement the city would have to pay firefighters overtime to fill the positions that were axed. Despite pressure to give in from city officials, the union president says a line has been drawn. It’s an interesting story. Click here.
Houston firefighter who complained about graffiti is transferred: Jane Draycott is scheduled to come back to work today at the Houston Fire Department after complaining about racially and sexually charged graffiti at an airport fire station. She says she wanted to go back to Station 54. Instead, the department has temporarily moved her to Station 99, also at Bush Intercontinental. Draycott and her attorney aren’t happy. Read the latest. Watch the latest.
Your latest installment from Jericho: When we last left Jericho, Arkansas, Mayor Helen Adams had just fired the wounded assistant fire chief and the firefighters said if Don Payne goes, so do we. Firegeezer followed up with the interview that intrepid WPTY-TV reporter Allison Sossaman snagged with the elusive mayor on Monday. Mayor Adams said not to worry about the fire department because she has everything under control. The reporter, not satisfied with that answer, spent Tuesday with the chief of the neighboring department in Marion, who basically says I hope you are not relying on us. Click here to read and watch the latest. (Editors note – Firegeezer trumped his own story by posting the mayoral interview of the year. This one is from Wellford, South Carolina. That’s where the mayor has banned police foot chases because too many cops are getting hurt running after the bad guys. With that criteria I wonder if Wellford’s mayor even lets the fire department leave the firehouse?)
More from ambulance passing controversy: Yesterday, we brought you the statement from the Quakertown Fire Company over the incident where its Rescue 91 passed an ambulance as both units responded to the same call. The local paper in Hunterdon County, New Jersey has a li
ttle bit more on the story.
Controversy as fire chief loses paramedic license for a year but keeps job after fondling issue: Eunice, New Mexico Chief Ron Grogan had his paramedic license suspended by the state for a year following allegations of fondling a woman in the back of an ambulance (it is actually a little more complicated than that … read and watch the background). Now, the city manager is defending the decision on what to do with Grogan and says it has nothing to do with the chief being related by marriage to the mayor. Read and watch the story.
Six feet under update: Bay County, Florida officials found no wrong doing by firefighters in that strange story we ran about the homeowner claiming the fire crew buried a stereo speaker rather than the family dog after a house fire. Read the latest.
San Diego County disputes that its a cheapskate on fire protection: A study comparing San Diego County to Orange County and Los Angeles County shows it is spending considerably less per person on fire protection and that the gap is growing. County officials complain the study is comparing apples to oranges. Here’s the story. Read the report.
A body without a head: That’s how some firefighters describe the loss of an assistant chief’s position on C shift at the Duncan Fire Department in Oklahoma. Here is an excerpt from the article by Kevin Kerr of the Duncan Banner-
There are three other guys with the same rank without that position, so when we have to report to an incident, there’s no one person to tell us what to do,” (union president Wayne)Doucet said.
There are three 24-hour shifts that work at the Duncan Fire Department, and before the position was vacant, one assistant fire chief would be assigned to each shift. With the position vacant, there is no ranking firefighter to designate how calls are handled, let alone if they even answer the call at all for the “C” shift.
ATF to lead Little Nashville Opry probe: ATF is getting involved in a big way in trying to find a cause of the fire that destroyed an Indiana country music venue on Saturday night. Click here for the story and here for our previous coverage.
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Picture & video of the day: This is from the flooding in and around Atlanta. Click here to watch the video and learn what is known so far about this fire engine. Click here.
Was ambulance crew passed by rescue squad lost during response to car crash?: That’s the indication from a newly released statement by the Quakertown Fire Company. Firefighters claim ambulance was taking a much longer route, going below the speed limit and would not respond to the radio. Read the fire company’s first detailed statement about the incident on September 13 in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
Layoffs don’t include firefighters: As we first reported last week. Prince George’s County, Maryland is laying off employees. The total is 125 with another 25 vacant positions are being eliminated. A county spokesman confirms for the Gazette’s Daniel Valentine what senior government officials told us, that police officers and firefighters are not among those being laid off. Read the article.
The mayor breaks her silence: A TV station actually catches Mayor Helen Adams outside of her home and gets a few words from her about the mass resignation of the town’s fire department that followed the shooting of the assistant chief by a police officer. Firegeezer, as usual, is on top of this one.
Chief thinks more people will be crashing into the fire station: You may have seen the story of the car that did structural damage when it crashed into a fire station in Pelham, New Hampshire. Pelham’s fire chief thinks it is likely to happen again. Read the story.
TIC helps Virginia Beach firefighters make save: A Monday afternoon save for Virginia Beach firefighters. A thermal imaging camera helped them find a disabled man trapped in a burning home. He is being treated for smoke inhalation. Read the story from WAVY-TV. Read Battalion Chief Tim Riley’s press release.
Neighbors save woman from Chesapeake, Virginia home: Not far from Virginia Beach another drama played out on Monday. Neighbors kicked down the door and brought a woman out of her burning home. They also took some early video of the garage fire. Click here.
The 7700 pound elephant in the room … or rather on the incline: In El Paso, Texas firefighters used airbags to help a struggling elephant at the zoo stand up (at least they didn’t go out of service to give her a bath). Read the story from FirefightingNews.com.
Rescuers get stung: Helping an 83-year-old man after he was stung by a bee, the fire department in Cleburne, Texas also ends up on the receiving end. Read the story.
East St. Louis firefighters win one battle: Facing 13 layoffs, firefighters in East St. Louis, Illinois rallied against the cuts on Monday. At the same time the cuts were rejected by the city’s Financial Advisory Authority.
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