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.
911 head says human error and CAD issue sent firefighters to the wrong address for a house fire: Check out this story from Perry County, Pennsylvania.
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.
A lot worse PR than not handling a stuck cat: If the reports are true, the lows of modern firefighter behavior may have hit a new height (does that make any sense?). Check out this story of the “Rat Pack” in Australia and see how two of its members were punished.
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.
Also on STATter911 …
- Quick Takes – January 3, 2011
- Quick Takes: February 7, 2011. – February 7, 2011
- Quick Takes: March 21, 2011. – March 21, 2011
- FireTruckBlog.com: Some new delvieries, training in Kenya, PUC, Glenn meets Tiger & more. – January 11, 2011
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Apartment fire in Hobart, Indiana: Ahhh yes …yet another so-called fire department that:
-Considers a 1.75″ hose line to be a defensive tool.
-Doesn’t see the need to move any faster than a turtle upon arrival at a working fire.
-Feels that a 1.75″ hose line with a fog nozzle is being properly supplied when the only person on the line is able to stand up straight and not strain at all with the nozzle wide open.
-Arrives at the scene and walks down the street while already on air, then reports into command and receives instructions while still on air.
Just another crowd of people masquerading as firefighters. I wonder what they really do for a living?
Apparently no one has explained the hazards truss roof construction in a fire to the Hobart crew that made entry off the balcony. They dodged a bullet… this time.
Must be something in the water over there in Indiana.
Hopefully all of us can learn from watching videos of other’s fire ops. I, too, noticed the crew arriving on scene while on air, but the interior crew doing overhaul was NOT on air!! C’mon firefighters, where there’s smoke, there’s CO, and cancer potential! Too many of us across the continent act the same way. I know the mask is a pain…it’s hot, it’s hard to see. But it’s also hard to die too early due to cancer or pulmonary complications. Take care out there…we owe it to our loved ones!!
Hobart must not get to meny fire’s or they all got new gear before this fire. Opie is right they were not fast movers turtle like, but did you the size of the firefighters and medic crew they cannot move any faster then a turtle. A 1 3/4″ can do a good job just need more then 2 or 3 in service to put the fire out of that size.
1.75″ hose is designed for an aggressive interior attack where 200 GPM or less will get the job done and rapid line advancement and maneuverability is essential. When the decision is made to go defensive a 2.5″ line is the minimum acceptable diameter hose. BIG FIRE = BIG WATER.
But I must say may hat is off to whoever was in cammand to hold this fire to one alarm. I would of called for a 2 nd if I pulled up with that much fire showing. Where was the ladder truck, I did not see anyone on the roof?? Being on air early I agee they would not be any good to anyone. They my have had 10 min. max to work off of. Just asking for trouble if they go in. Good training vido.I hope that they will learn from this fire.
“-Arrives at the scene and walks down the street while already on air, then reports into command and receives instructions while still on air.”
Not 1 tool carried by any of them. Wonder What they thought they were going to do?