DC Fire &EMS Department audio above is provided by FireSceneAudio.com. There is also rather dramatic police radio traffic of the pursuit and crash. Click here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
It was a deadly and chaotic Tuesday night in the District of Columbia. It centered around the shootings of 9 people in the area of South Capital Street and Galveston Street around 7:15 PM. In the initial transmissions you will hear that the DC Fire & EMS Department had a presumed DOA along with three others receiving CPR.
Four Metropolitan Police Department officers were injured in a collision just across the District line on St. Barnabas Road in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Above is the initial radio traffic from fire and EMS crews along with links to hear the police radio transmissions posted to the Internet. Below is the story filed last night by WUSA9.com‘s Gary Nurenberg.
Twenty-eight-year-old Brian Carey of the Village of Homewood (IL) Fire Department died following a house fire around 9:00 last night. Firefighter Karra Kopas, 21, was burned in the fire. An elderly resident of the home died.
According to information on the web, Firefighter Carey was sworn in as a member of the department on February 9, 2010 at a Village of Homewood Board of Trustees meeting.
Homewood officials are looking into whether oxygen tanks may have fueled a ferocious house fire that killed an elderly man and a rookie firefighter — the department’s first fatality in the town’s history.
“It’s our first one we lost in the history of Homewood. . .You can imagine how I feel,” said Homewoood Fire Chief Robert Grabowski, who choked up during a brief morning news conference.
Click the image to see dramatic series of photos showing rescue of firefighter by Warren Skalski for the Tribune.
He described the dead firefighter, Brian Carey, 28, as a “very dedicated employee” who “truly loved being a firefighter.”A part-time firefighter, Karra Kopas, 21, suffered first- and second-degree burns and was stable in the burn unit at University of Chicago Hospitals, officials said. Mayor Richard Hofeld said her injuries were not life-threatening.
Kopas began with the department in June of 2005, Grabowski said.
The homeowner, Wendell Elias, 84, also died in the fire. Grabowski was asked about reports that oxygen tanks Elias used had exploded during the blaze.
“It’s still under investigation,” he said. “I don’t have confirmation.”
Click image for Google Maps Street View of 17622 Lincoln Avenue, the scene of last night's fire.
Firefighters rescued Elias, who used a wheelchair, from his home on their second attempt. They attempted to resuscitate him on the front lawn, Homewood Police Sgt. Bernie Hogancamp said.
The 87-year-old man’s wife was able to escape the fire and was also taken to a hospital.
Carey was declared dead at 10:03 p.m. at Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest.
The mayor said Carey had worked for the town as a part-time firefighter before getting sworn in on Feb. 9 to a full-time post with the department. Hofeld said he attended the village board meeting when Carey was sworn in by the village clerk
“Nice, nice young man,” Hofeld said. “He had a smile from ear to ear, he was so happy to get on the fire department, just a delightful nice young man.”
He said the department has about 30 full and part-time firefighters.
A Charlottesville pilot died Tuesday after his single-engine plane crashed into a UPS Freight building and burst into flames near Roanoke Regional Airport.
Peter Sheeran, 59, died at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, spokeswoman Allison Buth said. Sheeran was taken there with passenger John Whitmer, who was listed in serious condition, Buth said.
No other injuries were reported.
Photo by Brian Turner.
Sheeran’s plane, which took off at 1 p.m., hit power lines and crashed into a corner of the building, said Jennifer Conley Sexton, a spokeswoman for the Roanoke County Fire Department.
The National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating. A preliminary report is expected in about 10 business days, NTSB spokeswoman Bridget Serchak said in an e-mail.
The 1985 Piper PA-46 is owned by Aviation Development Group Inc. of Charlottesville, according to FAA records. Government records list Sheeran as president of that company and of Sheeran Architects. The businesses share an address in Charlottesville.
A state legislator in Louisiana backed by the state firefighters union has launched a bid to make Louisiana the only state that exempts firefighters from all medical oversight.
Oversight is crucial, doctors say, because firefighters respond to more medical emergencies than fires and routinely care for critically ill people outside hospitals with no doctor present.
The bill, introduced by Rep. Karen St. Germain, a Democrat, today begins working its way through the legislature. The nine members of the emergency medical services (EMS) commission, named by Gov. Bobby Jindal, called the proposal “preposterous” in a letter delivered to the governor Thursday.
Last year, commissioners found that 900 of the 22,000 people who applied to work as emergency medical technicians had physical, mental or criminal histories that might affect patient care. Five percent of those deserving scrutiny were firefighters. Commissioners disciplined 174 applicants for licensure or renewal for infractions ranging from malpractice and negligence to substance abuse and criminal behavior, says Jullette Saussy, a commission member and New Orleans’ EMS medical director.
EMS directors worry that the Louisiana measure may prompt firefighters elsewhere to try to follow suit. “It would open a Pandora’s box,” Saussy says.
A USA TODAY investigation of EMS care in 50 major cities in 2005 found that 6% to 10% of the 9,000 people who collapse from cardiac arrest each year are revived. If each city increased its save rate to 20%, 1,800 more people could be rescued every year.
Experts say exempting firefighters from oversight could mean more lives lost. “To me, it’s unheard of,” says Corey Slovis, medical director of Nashville EMS. “To the best in my knowledge, there is nowhere in the nation where EMS providers function without medical oversight.”
Chad Major of the Professional Fire Fighters Association of Louisiana claims responsibility for the measure. “I control the bill,” he says, adding that the union wrote it “sternly” to bring the commission and the state Department of Health and Hospitals to the bargaining table. The union’s goal isn’t to deprive commissioners of medical oversight, he says, it’s to limit their power over certification fees and late penalties.
Saussy rejects the complaint about onerous fees and penalties, because firefighters who qualify to provide medical care reap thousands each year in extra income and hazardous-duty pay.
Jimmy Guidry, who heads the health department, says he has begun meeting with firefighters and others to decide how oversight duties should be handled.
An 81-year-old city man was killed Tuesday morning in a motor vehicle crash that involved a stolen vehicle, according to a preliminary report from Vineland police Detective Lt. Thomas Ulrich.
Craig Matthews, The Daily News.
Alfred S. Costantino was driving his red Plymouth Voyager from Holmes Avenue onto Chestnut Avenue when a white SUV struck his van, Ulrich said.
Police took Jones into their custody after the accident. Vineland EMS took Jones to South Jersey Healthcare Regional Medical Center for complaints of pain following the collision, but Ulrich said his injuries are not life threatening.
Jones will be charged will felony murder – a murder committed during another crime, which in this case was theft of the vehicle, Ulrich said. The Cumberland County Prosecutor’s Office already approved this charge as well as another charge for eluding police, he said.
New Jersey Department of Corrections photo of Michael A. Jones.
Police are speaking with a judge now to get Jones’ bail set.
Franklin police Capt. Cleo Howe said it was stolen from the Franklinville Fire Company’s paramedics’ station. He referred further details to Vineland police.
State police notified Vineland police that the stolen vehicle was in Vineland’s jurisdiction around 9 a.m. Vineland police saw the vehicle around Sherman Avenue and started a pursuit.
The pursuit ended on Chestnut Avenue shortly before the collision, which Ulrich said happened around 9:08 a.m.
Vineland police blocked off the area to traffic as they investigated. Vineland Fire Department also sent a rescue vehicle and engine to the scene.
Pool company burns in Wolcott, Indiana: Officials say a furnace started the fire that destroyed the showroom of San Juan Pools. Read more about the fire here and here.
DC fire and police radio systems crash on Monday night: The fire department worked to switch over to the 800 MHZ systems used by Montgomery County and Arlington County. The police department, on a different part of the radio spectrum, apparently had a little tougher time. It appears to be a pretty significant failure of two different public safety radio systems in the Nation’s Capital. Read more.
Truth serum: The editor of this blog takes a very brave editorial stand and comes out in favor of the truth. He’s a regular Edward R. Murrow, that guy. Finding the truth is near and dear to the heart of a reporter. DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Dennis Rubin writes in this month’s Firehouse that always telling the truth should be near and dear to the heart of a firefighter. Rube’s Rule 7 fits well with a previous posting from STATter911.com. Check it out.
Check out this video of a close call: In Chula Vista, California a camera was rolling as a firefighter took a bit of a tumble during roof operations at a house fire. Luckily the only thing he lost was the tool in his hand (and I am sure he is wishing there were no camera around). Check it out around 1:45 in the video.
Firefighter demoted for hanging mayor’s picture next to photos of Adolph Hitler and Osama bin Laden: In Memphis when the order came to hang Mayor AC Wharton’s picture in city fire stations it was followed at Station 16. But it was the company that the picture was keeping that has now brought the demotion of a lieutenant to the rank of driver and lesser punishment for a battalion chief and others. Here’s the update.
23 layoffs. 23 fires: Those were the totals yesterday evening in Flint, Michigan. As many firefighter layoffs as fires since Wednesday. The arson spree continues. Read and watch more. Also, the city council wants to set minimum staffing levels for fire and police. Those levels are apparently to keep down future layoffs and not restore what has been lost. Click here for that one.
UK firefighter who lost his son is among those charged with gross negligence: Paul Stephens is one of six people charged in connection with the handling of the tragic fire that killed four firefighters in Warwickshire in 2007. Stephens’ son was one of the firefighters killed. Here’s the latest.
A Little Rock woman dies two days after paramedics thought she was dead when in fact she was alive.
The Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services (MEMS) executive director says he has full confidence in his medics and isn’t ready to place fault. That’s why he’s launched an investigation.
Pamela Harper died around 2:30 Sunday afternoon.
“It never happened before that we judged a person to be deceased and they were not,” said Jon Swanson, MEMS executive director.
Swanson calls it an unusual story about life and death, which now has two of his paramedics on paid suspension and under investigation.
The first emergency call came Friday morning around 6:30. Authorities say Harper was lying half-naked outside a family member’s Little Rock home on Hunters Grove Drive.
“Unit responded, paramedics assessed the patient and determined that it was not appropriate to transport,” Swanson said.
He adds that the emergency crews left after the first assessment. But when investigators arrived, they believed the 52 year-old was still alive and called paramedics back.
“We have two very experienced paramedics who responded to the same situation and determined they evaluated it the same way,” Swanson said.
However, Pulaski County Coroner Garland Camper says, “It was evident with us that she was alive.”
Camper explains that his office called emergency crews back a third time to take Harper to the emergency room.
“It had been reported that there was a debate between us and EMS, there was never a debate. We knew that Mrs. Harper showed signs of life,” Camper said.
Because of privacy laws, neither the hospital, Camper nor MEMS is releasing details about why Harper needed medical attention yet.
In the meantime, Swanson says his ambulance service is looking into why it took nearly three hours after the initial call before the patient was finally taken to the hospital.
“This is a very unusual situation. One that we’ve never encountered before,” he said.
Since Pamela Harper’s death, the Pulaski County Coroner’s office has launched its own death investigation.
“We were astonished at what we saw,” explained Camper.
Chief Dennis Rubin says you shouldn’t have to raise your right hand. He believes it should be SOP to tell the truth. The chief writes about a concept few can argue with, but many ignore.
Tell the entire truth the first time and every time that you are asked. Understanding that our most precious resource is our people and that our people are human, the possibility does exist for deception, so it makes sense to talk about it in the rules. It seems like quite the irony that the folks that Americans trust the most, firefighters and paramedics, can sometimes withhold information, mislead or otherwise not be truthful in the workplace.
For many years now there has been so much talk about leadership in the fire service. It seems the word is in the title of dozens of classes at each of the major conventions and gatherings around the country. A recent email conversation with Mike Dallessandro, who has RespondSmart.com and thinks and talks about this stuff all of the time, prompted me to ask is there anything more important from the people who lead the firefighters, paramedics and EMTs of today than providing an example of honest and ethical behavior?
If that is not your priority as a leader, aren’t you telling the troops the chief can get away with it, so anything goes?
Besides the issue of personal responsibility, could leaders who fudge the truth and blur ethical lines be one of the other major contributing factors behind the problems outlined in the CVVFA report?
As usual, I don’t have the answers to these questions I am asking. I just think they are worth pondering.
My only question about what Chief Rubin has written is shouldn’t always telling the truth be bumped up to rule number one?
Isn’t that be the starting point and basis for everything else that goes on?
It isn’t letting up in Flint: More vacant building fires in the troubled Michigan city in the wake of fire and police layoffs that started on Thursday. This one is from last night around 10:00 PM at the corner of Oak and Court. Click here for video of a Sunday afternoon fire and details from WJRT-TV. Two more of the fires from early Sunday morning are here and here. And here is one from Saturday. With the city officials openly speculating that the layoffs and the fires are connected, you can’t help think of the early 1980s when Boston was the “arson capital of the world”. That long, ugly and devastating episode had its origins in a group of fire buffs reacting to the layoffs of hundreds of Massachusetts firefighters and police officers. A little history lesson.
Family told for the second time in two days that man was dead: Relatives of George Waters first heard on Friday that the 70-year-old man was dead. That turned out not to be true. Then they heard the same news on Saturday from the Prince George’s County Hospital Center. This time the news was correct. The Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department has two reviews underway looking at why this happened. Two paramedics are sitting on the sidelines as this is sorted out. It is the second such incident for PGFD this year. Here is the latest story. Here is our initial coverage.
Florida chief says better info from 911 might have shaved minutes off door removal to help dying woman: This is a very interesting story from North Fort Myers. Chief Larry Nisbet of the Bayshore Fire Department believes if his firefighters had the same information they had at the 911 center, the crew wouldn’t have waited to remove the front door and help a dying 72-year-old woman. The director of Lee County’s 911 says no policies need to be changed. Here’s the story.
Cops cite firefighter at scene: Not a lot of details of what went wrong at a domestic violence call in Leadville, Colorado leading to a firefighter charged with obstruction. Read what we know.
Listen as firefighters report tornado touchdown: Violent weather yesterday in and around High Point, North Carolina. We have video and pictures along with FireSceneAudio.com‘s radio traffic as things get pretty busy for the 911 center. Here is our coverage.
Jumper from Montgomery County, PA fire: PhillyFireNews.com has a series of pictures from a house fire early Saturday morning in Lansdale. Click here. Read more about the fire.
Raw video, lots of pictures and memories after 5-alarm fire: In Sacramento they are mourning the loss of Iceland, a 70-year-old skating rink. Check it out.
“Useless” firefighter video draws comments: I put this video up to stimulate a little discussion, and it did. A citizen somewhere called the fire department “useless” for laughing off a suggestion they get a cat down from a power pole. The power company ended up handling it. There isn’t anyone arguing the fire department should have done the job, but there are a few making the case that the customer service and PR component might have been better handled (based on the impression of the unknown videographer). Here are the video and the comments.
Friday was Mid-Atlantic train derailment day: We started with the dangling locomotive that almost went into the drink in Chesapeake, Virginia because the bridge was in the “up” position. Click here. That was followed by a derailment in Maryland. While it was posted in our player, we never got to mention the Howard County incident. Here’s that video. Doug Walton at his Howard County blog has details and close-up pictures of the wreckage in Patapsco Valley State Park near the swinging bridge (I used to love that place as a kid).
How can a geezer be only three-years-old?: That’s a lifetime in blogger years. Bill Schumm just celebrated three years at the helm of Firegeezer.com. Congratulations to Bill. What do you get for the third anniversary? More links, of course. There’s lots to choose from, so just scroll down. The most interesting to me is the fire engine in Croatia that lost a battle with a tram. Click here for that one.
Fire in Virginia Beach: We have an early series of still pictures from an apartment fire with an arts store down below on the oceanfront. Click here. Since our posting, FireRescueTV.com added some video to those pictures. Click here.
Early video in Milford, Massachusetts: Cameras were on the scene as a man came out a third floor apartment window while fire raged down below. The three-alarm fire has lots of video and pictures to document it. Here it is.
Apartment fire in Hobart, Indiana: Report of a number of injuries at this fire on Sunday near Hickey and Liberty.
A 911 call in February during which a sick woman died because she couldn’t unlock the front door to her home has prompted the Bayshore Fire Department to try to revamp its policy for such situations.
Bayshore Fire & Rescue Chief Larry Nisbet said he reached out to local fire departments as well as peers from the Executive Fire Officer Program, a federal firefighter training course. He found that few departments have a policy written for forcible entry on medical calls.
“I was kind of surprised. I thought there would be more out there,” he said.
Norma Stucki.
Nisbet said he will be meeting with other local fire departments in coming weeks to put together policies for emergency situations.
The policy review stems from a 911 call Feb. 23 from Norma Stucki, a 72-year-old who was in her upstairs bed coughing and sick.
She told the dispatcher she was home alone in her two-story house at 11500 Bayshore Road in North Fort Myers. She said she would unlock the front door, but she never got there.
EMS and fire crews arrived seven minutes after being dispatched. Because the front door was locked, crews waited outside 14 minutes until a Lee County sheriff’s deputy arrived. When firefighters finally unhinged the front door, Stucki was dead, pronounced so at 12:08 a.m.
Nisbet said an internal review of the call found firefighters acted properly based on the information provided. He said they were taking off the front door’s last hinge when the deputy arrived.
“The guys had acted appropriately based on what they were faced with,” he said. “The information we got from dispatch was a little vague.”
Nisbet said certain information, if relayed to firefighters, might have prompted them to move more quickly. He said if they knew they were at the right house – a ringing doorbell could be heard on an audio recording of Stucki’s 911 call – and if they knew the dispatcher lost contact with the caller, they might have unhinged the door without waiting on law enforcement.
“If some of the information was relayed, we could have gone in there,” he said. “I know my guys, they’re just crushed by this call.”
Ron Stucki, Norma Stucki’s husband, said a policy change won’t bring back his wife. He said he believes more responsibility should fall on dispatch for not properly relaying information to those on the scene.
“My response is I’m angry as hell,” he said. “They had a right to go in – they were called by 911.”
Diane Holm, public information officer for Lee County Public Safety, said the department believes medics acted appropriately. She said a sign on the door that read “Forget about the dog, worry about the owner” with a picture of a gun concerned them, so they called for deputies.
She said the department has finished reviewing the case and hasn’t made changes to policy. But Holm said the department this week hired a deputy director and operations chief – both promoted from within – so it’s possible that could spark a review.
Matt Rechkemmer, the county’s 911 program manager, has said the dispatcher followed policies. He said Friday no dispatch policies will be changed.
Damage from possible tornadoes is being reported across the Triad.
The hardest hit area is Davidson County. A trailer park is reported to have sustained significant damage off Clark Road in the Linwood area.
Davidson Co. Emergency Services Director Doug Lowe says are 30 people are displaced from the damage in the area. One person was injured and transported to the hospital. The entire area is without power.
Another area along Sink Lake Road was also hit. This is in northeast Davidson County near the Wallburg area. There are 30-40 people out of their homes. Many cars have been damaged and trees are down.
The Urban Search and Rescue Team out of Thomasville is doing ground searches in the area with Hasty and Wallburg VFD’s to make sure everyone is safe and accounted for.
Power outages extend to area around and near Friendship Elementary and Ledford Middle School which is at the junction of Hwy. 109 and Old Greensboro Road/West Lexington Avenue.
Representatives from the National Weather Service will head to the affected areas on Monday to determine the extent of any possible tornadoes.
From High Point, NC. Click the image for more photos from WFMY-TV.
Emergency crews are reporting that a house was struck by lightning on Kanoy Road in Davidson County.
There are reports of trees down blocking a portion of Old Greensboro Road.
In Guilford County, heavy storms cells have moved across the High Point area and also around the Lake Brandt area.
Damage has been reported in High Point along Johnson Street, Hamilton Park, Waterview and Kendall Ave. Trees and powerlines are down all across North High Point.
There is significant damage to a roof on the Apple Tree Academy on North Main Street in High Point.
Power outages have been reported in Guilford and Davidson Counties. Check the outages here
In Rowan County, an overturned semi is reported on the side of Interstate 85 possibly caused by the storm.
Fire investigators were working to determine what led started a 5-alarm fire that destroyed a landmark Sacramento ice skating rink Sunday morning.
A call to 911 reported a car fire at the rear of the Iceland ice skating rink at 1430 Del Paso Boulevard around 3:30 a.m. Sunday, Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Capt. Jim Doucette said.
When firefighters arrived, the entire back of the skating rink was completely engulfed in flames. As firefighters entered from the front, crews quickly realized the entire building as well as the attic were already fully involved, Doucette said.
“This is one of the biggest ones I’ve ever been on. It was a huge ball of fire,” said Doucette.
Due to the old construction of the building, firefighters didn’t have enough time to save the 70-year-old landmark before it began to collapse, Doucette said.
All of the responding firefighters were able to safely get out in time and no one was injured, according to Doucette.
It took an hour for firefighters to gain control of the blaze and prevent neighboring structures from being damaged. Sacramento Metro firefighters also assisted in putting the fire out.
Click image for Google Map Street View.
While Doucette said investigators would continue sifting through the wreckage to piece together what happened, Iceland owner Chris Lord said he believes the cause of the fire is all too clear.
“There was a stolen car out there that was torched and it was right next to the building,” Lord said.
The building, erected by Bill Kerth Sr. in 1940, was deemed a complete loss with damages reaching nearly $1.5 million, Lord said. The property is still owned by Bill Kerth’s grandson, former Sacramento city council member Rob Kerth.
“This is the grand dame of ice skating in Sacramento,” Kerth said. “She got quite a thumping today, but she’s not down for the count. There will be another day.”
On their Iceland Memoriesweb site, the Kerth family said they hoped to rebuild Iceland in time to celebrate its 70th anniversary in November.
Throughout the afternoon Sunday, dozens of curious locals came out to see the damage for themselves, including many who still had fond memories of gliding across the Iceland rink.
“My mother was a figure skater. She danced in all the shows here. I can remember hanging on to the wooden rail, watching her go round and round and round,” said Melinda Johnson, a third generation skater at Iceland.
Lord said that while Iceland had no fire insurance, he was committed to getting the location back up and running.
“I’m going to find out who my friends are. Financially, we’ll pull it all in and we’ll build another one,” Lord said.
Doucette said Sacramento arson investigators were being aided in the case by officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The man who was mistakenly determined to be dead by paramedics on Friday in Prince George’s County has died, his daughter told The Washington Post.
Laverne Waters said her father George Waters, 70, died Saturday night at Prince George’s Hospital Center.
Laverne Waters added that after she was mistakenly told on Friday that her father had died, she and her mother began notifying relatives.
The Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department is limiting the duties of two career paramedics pending an investigation into how they walked away from the unconscious Waters at about noon on Friday after saying he was dead.
An hour and a half after the two medics left the Waters’ Glenarden Parkway home, forensics investigators saw signs of life in him and again called for EMS help. This time he was taken to the hospital.
It is not known if the delay had an adverse impact on Waters’ condition.
A quality assurance review will examine whether proper medical protocols were followed by the first two medics before they said Waters was dead. A separate investigation is underway to determine if the crew followed PGFD standard operating procedures and general orders.
“We will ensure a complete and thorough review and, if warranted, take whatever corrective action is called for to avoid any reoccurrence,” said department spokesman Mark Brady.
In January, a man was presumed dead at the scene of a fiery crash on I-95 in Laurel. A short time later, as crews worked to remove the body from the wreckage, firefighters determined he was alive. A review of that incident led to remedial training for a volunteer member of the department.
It isn’t quite a cat up a tree, but a close, and potentially more dangerous cousin. It’s a cold cat on top of a utility pole. The video doesn’t say where or when this was taken. The caption does say the following:
The fire dept. was called but they just laughed and took off. Useless. So the electric company came to got the poor car off the pole. He was there all night in freezing temps.
The fire department in this person’s mind is “useless” for not taking care of the cat. I am not advocating that the fire department should have handled this one any differently than was done, just passing along the impression of a member of the public.
I am interested in your views on this. You can comment below.
Let me also throw out this observation as you break into discussion groups. Recently there have been a number of well publicized animal rescues (mostly water related) where part of the justification for potentially putting firefighters in harms way was an effort to keep the unskilled citizens from getting hurt or killed trying to make the save. Should that be part of the risk evaluation in this case when you are dealing with the dangers of power lines?
As usual, the stupid reporter doesn’t have any of the answers, just a bunch of questions.
The five firefighters were known as the Rat Pack. The report indicates they threatened to burn down homes, ran naked down streets, drove the rigs while they were drunk and intimidated a whistleblower.
According to the Sunday Telegraph, the group was found to be responsible for a campaign of harassment and intimidation. But despite that, two of the Rat Pack were promoted to leadership roles.
The paper has a copy of the investigation report from last year by Superintendent Warwick Isemonger. Marlin Audit and Investigation Services was hired to look at how NSWFB handled all of this. Here are excerpts from the article:
The report reveals incidents such as getting drunk at local pubs in uniform and driving the fire truck at dangerous speeds “to see what it could do”.
Other complaints included a drunken, uniformed officer running “pants-down naked” along the town’s main street before flagging down a car containing two women “to chat”, and urinating on the front of a shop that was open for business.
The report says they engaged in a campaign of intimidation against a female colleague and their captain who subsequently left the service.
It says that at a caravan-park fire in 2007, a group of firefighters refused to follow the captain’s orders and said: “Get f*****, I’m not going on that roof for any bastard.”
Other firefighters, who asked not to be named, said such refusals were frequent and led to avoidable damage.
“(The captain) would be trying to tell them to do something and they’d just stand there taking the p*** out of him … it meant that fires were causing more damage because they were burning longer,” one said. “They’re lucky no one died.”
In 2004, the captain received permission to have his home phone tapped after receiving “nuisance calls” from a number matching the local fire station and, later, private numbers.The station is staffed by more than a dozen firefighters who work other jobs but are on call 24 hours a day. There were no complaints against the majority.
The report says one rogue firefighter phoned two superiors at their day jobs and left a voice-mail threat to burn down their houses if they “persisted in reprimanding him for poor work ethics”. Other firefighters were told their cars would be burned.
Residents of the town, current and former firefighters, live in fear of the five. Last week, The Sunday Telegraph approached several people connected with the station who refused to speak out for fear of reprisals.
“If I said something, my house would probably be burned down and I’d hate to have to call the fire brigade,” one local said.
Last week, one person was allegedly threatened at home by a man connected with the group who said he had learned of The Sunday Telegraph’s enquiries.
Superintendent Isemonger reported: “There is sufficient evidence to support these allegations and that there is a prima facie case of misconduct by all five firefighters.”
He recommended two of them be sacked while the others be cautioned or “subject to remedial action as determined by the Commissioner”.
Instead, two later became the station’s captain and deputy captain, to the anger of locals.
For the second time this year an investigation has been started into why a Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department crew pronounced a person dead who was still alive. This afternoon PGFD Chief Spokesman Mark Brady released a statement confirming that two career paramedics assigned to Medic 846 (Largo) have been placed on limited public contact status after the crew’s actions at a home in the 8600 block of Glenarden Parkway in Glenarden “resulted in a delay of care”.
According to Brady, the call came in around noon today from the Glenarden Police Department indicating there was a possible dead man inside the home. Brady said the medic crew arrived on the scene within four minutes and concurred with police the elderly man was dead.
According to the press release, “At about 1:30 PM, an official from the County Police Department’s Forensic Services summoned the Fire/EMS Department to return to the scene as the adult male was displaying signs that he was alive. A different EMS unit arrived shortly thereafter and transported the patient to an area hospital.”
At last word the man was still alive.
Sources not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation say it is being investigated why the crew spent what appeared to be little time in their initial assessment of the patient, and possibly didn’t follow state protocols for determining if a person is dead. Other sources indicate there is a question whether the medics just took the word of the police officers and possibly never went into the room with the patient. One of the paramedics is described as “seasoned” while the other more recently became a medic.
The medical protocol issues will be covered in what the department calls a quality assurance review. According to Brady, the medics have already been interviewed by PGFD’s medical director.
The press release indicates there is a also a review by the Office of Professional Standards. That review will cover whether general orders and standard operating procedures were followed.
Brady says, “Actions of personnel are taken very seriously by the Fire/EMS Department. We will ensure a complete and through review and if warranted take whatever corrective action is called for to avoid any reoccurrence.”
This is the second such incident for PGFD in a little more than two months. STATter911.com reported that on January 24 a man whose vehicle crashed and burned on I-95 in Laurel was initially pronounced dead on the scene. As crews helped police remove the body a short time later, it was determined the man was alive.
A quality review was also initiated in that case. While Mark Brady says that state law requires those reviews to be confidential, he can confirm a volunteer from Station 849 (Laurel Rescue Squad) received remedial training following the I-95 incident.
Brady tells STATter911.com that there were no inquiries from reporters about today’s incident. Prince George’s County officials say they released the information in an effort to be transparent about issues involving the service the department provides.
Click the image for a series of pictures taken by Angelo Speach
A fire this morning damaged a second floor apartment and an art store downstairs in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The building is along the oceanfront at 305 16th Street. Battalion Chief Tim Riley, who handles media relations for the Virginia Beach Fire Department, says the call came in at 9:20 AM with the first units arriving on the scene at 9:24.
According to Chief Riley, the fire was handled with the first alarm assignment of 3 engines, 2 trucks and a heavy rescue, along with a RIT engine. It was brought under control within 20-minutes.There were no injuries. Riley says the fire started in a second floor front bedroom and is believed to be accidental.
In Milford, Massachusetts yesterday, a three-alarm fire gutted an apartment building on Pine Street. The Milford Daily News was on the scene and has video and still pictures of a man being brought down an aerial ladder from a third-floor window as the fire burns below.
Click the image for more pictures by Jacob Belcher, Milford Daily News.
The crews eventually went to exterior operations, which you will hear and see on the video above by Metro West Videos and the one below by Providence Fire Videos. At the bottom are aerial views later in the operation.
Fire Chief John Touhey said no one was hurt in the blaze at 31 Pine St., which was caused by careless smoking. It sparked when a cigarette ignited a tenant’s bed in a first-floor apartment, the chief said.
Rescuers used a ladder truck to reach a tenant who was hanging out of his third-floor bedroom window, unable to escape with all the thick smoke and fire.
“I’m all right, just a little shaken up,” said Gary Howe, 42, right after he was helped down the fire truck’s extended ladder to the ground.
Touhey said the fire, reported at 12:44 p.m., got out of control as crews needed to concentrate first on people’s safety.
Flames shot from the first floor up three stories to the roof, and drifting smoke forced the evacuation and closing of the town library next door.
Firefighters, who took hoses inside the house to attack the fire, had to evacuate, fearing the building would collapse.
Crews with Milford Ladder 1, on one side, and Franklin Tower 1, on the other, drenched the house with 1,600 gallons of water per minute for about an hour until the flames finally were extinguished.
State police say the death toll has risen to 11 in a fiery crash between a tractor-trailer and a church van on northbound Interstate 65 in south-central Kentucky.
State police Trooper Charles Swiney says two children survived the crash.
A pastor for the family in the van says they were Mennonites from Kentucky on their way to a wedding in Iowa. Authorities say the truck driver was also killed.
Officials say the tractor-trailer crossed the median and struck the van head-on around 5:30 a.m. CDT near Munfordville.
Pastor Leroy Kauffman with the Marrowbone Christian Brotherhood in Burkesville says the two surviving children were taken to a nearby hospital.
A little problem early this morning in Chesapeake, Virginia for the Chesapeake-Albemarle Railroad Company. An excerpt from WVEC-TV’s web story explains it best:
The trestle of the A & C Canal Bridge was in the “up” position when the train was about to cross around 5:00 a.m. The engineer tried to stop when he realized his mistake and the very first car, the engine, is hanging off the track.
Here is more from the AP:
A derailed locomotive on a trestle in Chesapeake has leaked approximately 1,700 gallons of diesel fuel into the Intercoastal Waterway.
The Coast Guard closed the waterway in the area after the locomotive derailed at around 5 a.m. Friday. The spill was contained several hours later and cleanup was expected to continue through the weekend.
The locomotive is hanging over the trestle’s edge. Chesapeake Fire Department Capt. Sam Gulisano says the engineer got out safely and there are no injuries.
The Coast Guard identified the rail company as Chesapeake-Albemarle, which operates in southern and northeast North Carolina. A worker who answered the phone at the railroad declined comment.
Coast Guard petty officer Dennis Henise said the rail normally carries rock and potash.
A Gary house fire: The photographer and the first engine caught this house fire early. It was in the 2600 block of East 22nd. No date given.
Firefighters accused of sharing medical records of chief’s wife: From Jackson Township, Ohio, three firefighters are facing internal charges after records from a call where the fire chief’s wife said she was being choked were distributed. Here’s the story.
Chief says firefighters did everything possible in double fatal fire: Chief Stan Smoke in Wenatchee, Washington says an internal investigation backs the actions of firefighters at an apartment fire earlier this month where two elderly woman died. The family of 87-year-old Elsie Reiswig has been wondering why a firefighter who climbed a ladder and talked to the woman at her window didn’t immediately take her down that ladder. Instead, the firefighter apparently climbed back down to drop off tools, “conferred with other firefighters about what to do and then climbed back up the ladder to start taking Reiswig out the window.” By then the woman had walked out through the hallway. She died the next day of a heart attack. Click here for more on Chief Smoke’s findings from the Wenatchee World.
Fear in Flint: No overnight report yet on Flint, Michigan, a day after a series of nine fires in vacant building. The fires came hours before the first layoffs of 23 firefighters took place. The two firefighters injured in those blazes were among those on the layoff list. Two firehouses are scheduled to close today, leaving just four stations. The mayor reacts to the fires saying they appear to have been set for some ”perverted political purpose”. With fewer firefighters and police to deal with an arsonist on the loose, residents aren’t happy. Read the story here and here. Watch the story.
Firefighters and mayor battle it out in Wilkes-Barre, PA: The latest on the reduction of minimum staffing and closing of companies as the two sides square off very publicly at a city council meeting. Here’s the story.
Sex, fire and presidential politics all come together in North Carolina: A significant fire has hit the courthouse in Chatham County which has been the site of a dispute over a video purportedly showing John Edwards in a sexual encounter. Even though his story doesn’t mention that fact, you know Firegeezer had a gut feeling there was something sleazy in there (he finds those stories even when he isn’t trying). Most important is that Bill has the video and the fire details. Click here.
Deputy chief awakened from daylight nap shoots woman: Police say the woman tried to burglarize the home of Philadelphia Fire Department Deputy Chief Robert Wilkins yesterday. Apparently not understanding that some people work shift work and sleep during the day, the woman soon was on the receiving end of the chief’s gun. Click here for the story.
F-bombs by chief officer to other chief officer found offensive and lead to discipline: In Clearwater, Florida, Division Chief Richard Riley, formerly of the Washington, DC area, gets three days off for they way he handled a problem with another chief officer. But it is clear by the article in the St. Petersburg Times that problems run a little deeper than a few four letter words in a department that has long had some well publicized unrest. Here’s the latest.
Another firm apparently turned down medical flight that led to crash: Click here for coverage of yesterday’s helicopter crash that killed a crew of three in Brownsville, Tennessee.
PALS recert records lead to firings in Trenton: We forgot to give you this one yesterday, but there is trouble for a group of paramedics who are being accused of falsifying pediatric ALS certifications and have been fired by Capital Health Emergency Medical Services. Read the details.
This is different: It is a time lapse video of a day in the life of the Leesburg Volunteer Fire Company in Loudoun County, Virginia. It was put together by Photo 601 Steve Kusterer.
Sources say Deputy Fire Chief Robert Wilkins was a sleep in a second floor bedroom of his home in the 1700 block of Hoffnagle Street when he heard a noise downstairs.
Wilkins reportedly found a woman in his home who had broken in through a front door. The deputy fire chief allegedly opened fire on the 38-year-old female shooting her several times. The unidentified suspect attempted to escape, but collapsed on the street corner. She was rushed to Aria Torresdale Hospital in critical condition.
Neighbors say Wilkins works irregular hours, so the suspect was probably surprised to find him home.
A Shelby County nanny is being hailed a hero. 22-year-old Alyson Myatt is at University Hospital, recovering from severe burns after she saved a 5-year-old’s life.
Around 6:20 a.m. on March 23, Myatt was sleeping in a downstairs bedroom at a home on Golden Rod where she is a live-in nanny for 5-year-old Aiden Hawes, whose father was out of town.
“I just heard a big boom. I thought it was Aiden,” Myatt said.
After hearing the boom, Myatt immediately sprinted upstairs – barefoot. When she got to the hallway, she was met by flames on the carpet.
“I was calling him. He said, ‘Aly, I’m in here. I’m in my room underneath my covers.’ I was like okay and I ran there, grabbed him and ran out,” said Myatt.
Myatt said her focus was rescuing Aiden. At the time, she didn’t even think about getting burned.
“After I ran off the carpet, my feet were just … it was like I was walking on goo ’cause all the skin. My feet were just burned off,” Myatt described.
Myatt then ran out of the house with Aiden, drove to a neighbor’s house to call 911. Although Myatt suffered burns to her hands, legs and feet, she said Aiden was not injured.
“I’m just happy Aiden is okay,” said Myatt. “I care for that kid a lot.”
“The boy, probably, without her wouldn’t have been able to survive until we arrived,” said Chief Willard Tucker of the Shelbyville Fire Department.
Tucker believes Myatt ran through 400 degree flames to reach and rescue Aiden, something he believes a lot of people would not have done.
According to Tucker, the fire started in the attic near the fan in the bathroom. Tucker said three hours before the fire, Myatt noticed there was something wrong with the fan. She contacted the Aiden’s father about the problem, but they both thought it was not serious.
Tucker advises if you are worried about an appliance or anything else in your home, contact the fire department.
It is now being reported by JacksonSun.com that another medical helicopter company turned down what appears to be the same flight that led to this morning’s crash. Here are excerpts from that article by Nicholas Beadle:
Julie Heavrin of Air Evac Lifeteam, a Springfield, Mo.-based medical transport company, said the company was offered a flight from Decatur County General Hospital in Parsons to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital shortly after 4 a.m. She said it was the only flight to Jackson the company was offered since 12 a.m., but she could not definitively confirm it was the same flight that led to a crash shortly after 6 a.m. that killed three Hospital Wing crew members.
A state emergency management official, however, told The Associated Press this morning that the flight that led to the crash was from Parsons to Jackson. An official with the National Weather Service in Memphis also told AP that his agency is submitting a report that says weather could have played a role in the crash.
Heavrin said Air Evac’s weather flight policy is stricter than that prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration, but that company officials do not want to disclose their policy because they think doing so would be inappropriate in light of the crash.
The weather service’s nearest observation station to Brownsville is in Jackson, where this morning’s storm front likely would have arrived 15 to 20 minutes after passing through Brownsville. The observation station reported a thunderstorm with heavy rain between 5 and 6 a.m., with wind gusts probably topping out at little more than 20 mph.
A medical helicopter crashed this morning near Brownsville, and three people appear to be dead, Haywood County Sheriff Melvin Bond said. Three crew members were on board, but no patients, according to the medical transport company to which the aircraft belonged.
The cause of the crash has not yet been determined. Factory workers about three miles from crash site reported to the Sheriff’s Office that they saw a lightning strike in the direction of the crash and then saw an orange fireball, Bond said.
By Aaron Hardin, The Jackson Sun
Dispatchers who had been in communication with the helicopter crew lost contact with them a little before 6 a.m. and knew something was wrong, Bond said. The dispatchers used GPS tracking on the helicopter to locate the crash site.
Authorities first received reports at 6:20 a.m. about the crash, which happened about 100 yards off Springfield School Road, a gravel road about a half-mile long that is 10 minutes or about four miles east of downtown Brownsville. Close to a dozen emergency vehicles have blocked off the road at its intersection with Springfield Road, and, from the roadblock, no homes appear to be near the crash site. The fire department and ambulances were the first on the scene, followed by the Sheriff’s Office.
The wreckage appears to be contained to an area about 30 to 40 feet in diameter in a field where winter wheat is planted at the bottom of a hollow.
This is the picture of the Brownsville Base of Hospital Wing from the company's website.
A company official confirmed the helicopter was with Hospital Wing, a nonprofit medical transport company that operates in West Tennessee and portions of surrounding states within 150 miles of Memphis. The company has a base in Brownsville, where the helicopter was returning this morning after transporting a patient to Jackson-Madison County General Hospital.
Officers at the crash site said more information will likely be released after Federal Aviation Administration officials arrive after 9:30 a.m.
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