Rescue crews in Frederick County are being hailed as heroes this Memorial Day after saving the life of a kayaker in distress.
It all happened Monday morning on the Potomac River near the Brunswick Campgrounds.
The kayaker was fishing when his morning took a turn for the worse. When he threw out his anchor, the current swiftly dragged his kayak under water.
“The report that we got was there was one under water and four others trying to assist and maybe one of those was in trouble,” rescuer Nelson Smith said.
Friends helped keep his head above water as nearby campers looked on, and the rapid water rescue teams of Frederick County were called to help. But they were stopped on their way to the scene.
“It was difficult to get here, the CSX train had us blocked,” said Brunswick Fire Chief Roy Lipscomb.
“The train came down to stop at the crosswalk, started up, stopped, started up, stopped, then finally moved out of the way. About a twenty minute wait,” Smith said.
The road to the launching ramp in Brunswick crosses heavily used CSX tracks, and a freight train sat across the road Monday as rescuers responded. Frantic calls from the Frederick County Fire dispatch finally got the train moved, and rescuers could travel down the dusty road to the ramp.
Soon the boat launched and the victim was pulled from the water and transported back to shore for a medical checkup. Water rescue crews respond to dozens of calls along the river each year, and train crossing delays are not uncommon.
“Time is of the essence on water rescues, it takes us four or five minutes to get the boat hooked up, drive down here, then a few more minutes to get the boat launched, so you are looking at a ten minute time frame, then yo wait another 20 minutes for the train to clear, not a good thing,” Smith explains.
Fortunately, this kayaker was able to make it safely to shore, even though it took a lot longer than everyone hoped.
The Department of Family and Protective Services says more people drown between Memorial Day and Labor Day than during any other time of the year.
I picked this video because it shows a variety of scenes from Prince George’s County in 1987. It also has cameos by a bunch of old friends working in the field and in communications for PGFD.
With due deference to rank, city Firefighter Rick Conte believed his deputy chief and longtime friend was crazy.
After all, the odds of actually seeing 65-year-old video footage of Conte’s late father, a U.S. Army MP, during a TV documentary on World War II was about one in 8 million, the number of Army soldiers who served in the war.
As it ends up, Deputy Chief Tom Holman was right.
“It was only a four-second clip, but there he was — and the hair on my neck just stood up. I recognized him right away,” said Conte, who finally relented, borrowed a copy of the History channel’s “World War II in HD” and pored over hours of video Easter Sunday.
His father, Joe Conte, was drafted into the Army before Pearl Harbor. He trained in the Mojave Desert in California with plans to deploy him to North Africa to fight German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel. Deployment plans changed, and instead he was sent to England to prepare for the Normandy invasion, Conte recalled.
He arrived in France about 14 days after the first troops landed on June 6, 1944. He later fought in the Battle of the Bulge, where he earned a Purple Heart.
On his iPhone, Conte, a firefighter assigned to the Woodward Avenue firehouse, has wartime pictures of his father, including a favorite of him sitting on the ground next to his motorcycle, his riding goggles perched on his forehead.
But it was an emotional moment to see actual video, even four seconds worth, of his father, who died in 1998. Smiling and talking inaudibly, it was an image of his father at about 24 years old, before he met his mother upon returning home and thus before Rick was a proverbial glint in his eye.
“You cried,” Holman reminded him as they recently related the story.
As I recall this fire was on one of the numbered streets in Aurora Highlands just south of Arlington County Fire Department Station 75 (Now Station 105). The fire occurred on December 31, 1985.
North Shore Volkswagen opened in 1953 and the owners call it the oldest VW dealer in the country. The dealership’s main building was destroyed by fire yesterday. The blaze was discovered around dawn.
WFXT-TV reports the fire appears to have been set:
A fire that tore through the North Shore Volkswagen dealership in Beverly Saturday morning and caused half a million dollars worth of damage to the building is now being called “suspicious” by Beverly Fire Chief Peter O’Connor.
In a statement, O’Connor said that there is strong evidence suggesting that the two-alarm blaze was intentionally set.
The person taking the videos above and below drove up to the scene about the same time the firefighters did. These are parts 3 and 4 from the series of videos posted to YouTube. Make sure you listen to the discussion among the bystanders about fireground tactics. Quite enlightening.
Click the image for more pictures from the Beverly Fire Department.
Here is part of the account posted by the Beverly Fire Department:
At 0526, the Beverly Fire Department was dispatched to a report of a fire on the roof at North Shore Volkswagen at 128 Park St. Captain Russell Halloran, the Officer in Charge, turned on to Park St and witness heavy fire and smoke coming from the building and immediately requested a second alarm. Crews from Truck 1, and Engine 5 immediately stretched hoses into the showroom portion of the building in an effort to knock down fire in the building, but heavy heat and intensifying fire conditions drove firefighters out of the building.
As firefighters from Wenham, Manchester, Peabody, Danvers and Salem arrived at the scene, crews were able to force additional exterior doors and get hoses in place to stop the rapid progression of fire. Wenham Firefighters opened holes in the roof to give smoke and heat a place to get out rather than travel the length of the building. The buildings layout kept the bulk of the fire in a loft where fire crews had a difficult time getting water on it.
Ultimately, crews were able to get water into the loft and get the fire knocked down before it was able to spread further down the building where nearly 1,000 gallons of waste oil was stored. By 0715, crews from outside communities were being released from the scene. Beverly Firefighters will remain on scene throughout the day.
Not much description with this one other than a 1958 fire at a Grand Central store. Grand Central was a chain of discount department stores that began in Salt Lake City and lasted until the mid 1980s.
Chad Roberts handles the overnight shift for the Democrat and Chronicle in Rochester. He also writes the blog While Rochester Slept. Chad has the story this morning of Firefighter Roberto Cabrera who brought a young woman and her infant son to safety during a raging house fire. A second alarm was sounded due to the heavy fire conditions. Here are excerpts from Chad’s article:
Rochester firefighter Roberto Cabrera balanced himself at the top of a ladder outside a third-floor window of a burning house shortly after midnight, when a 22-year-old woman handed him a 2-month-old boy.
Democract and Chronicle photo by Chad Roberts
“I had to calm her down,” said Cabrera, who has been a firefighter in Rochester for about 10 years. “I said: ‘You are going to make it. Just come out with me. I will help you out. Just take it easy — take some breaths. I know it looks crazy now, but we are going to both make it.’”
After Cabrera coaxed the woman through the window, he started down the ladder with both mother and child, before handing the baby off to a firefighter below him on the ladder.
The woman and infant, whose identities were not released, were taken to Strong Memorial Hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation.
“You’re always thinking about what you are going to do,” Cabrera said about preparing to fight a fire. “What’s it going to be like when you are there? If it is going to be chaos.”
Chaotic is a word Cabrera used to describe this morning’s fire scene. Dozens of people from the neighborhood around the burning house on Glendale Park, near the intersection with Tacoma Street, gathered in the area. Rochester police officers had to stop more than one person from trying to re-enter the burning house, said Deputy Chief Bill Curran of the Rochester Fire Department.
The fire, which Curran described as suspicious in origin, was especially intense, and heavily damaged the large house.
“We think that during the initial attack, that the first floor flashed over,” Curran said. “We had to pull our people out, because the fire was pushing the guys back out of the house. And we had a report of people trapped on the third floor.”
“It was chaotic; there was a lot of fire blowing out,” Cabrera said. “We heard people on the third floor. I looked up and saw somebody. I didn’t know who they were.”
Previous coverage of this story here, here and here
WJZ-TV article by Andrea Fujii:
It was an emotional reunion Thursday between an injured firefighter and a woman whose life he saved.
Andrea Fujii explains they met in a courtroom as they both faced the person accused of setting the fire that nearly killed them both.
Lucille Ziglier, 85, finally got to say “thank you” to the firefighter who saved her life.
“If it wasn’t for him, I would not be here today,” said Ziglier.
On April 7, police say Brittany Garcia, 19, started the fire at a Northwest Baltimore apartment building.
According to charging documents, she was upset after seeing the father of her child with another woman.
In court she pleaded not guilty to first-degree arson charges.
Firefighter Jeffrey Novack suffered a fractured hip and burns in the fire. He was in court Thursday to see Garcia for the first time.
“I wouldn’t say I’m mad. I’d just like to see that justice is served,” said Novack.
He ran back into the burning building twice to save two unconscious residents, including Ziglier.
“I don’t think you can match the feeling of what it’s like to save someone’s life,” said Novack.
The union claims rotating fire station closures forced backup to take longer to respond that night.
Within the next couple of weeks the city must find a way to raise tens of millions of dollars to prevent any cuts to public safety. If they don’t, firefighters say it will put their lives and the public’s lives at risk.
Novack says neither injuries nor budget concerns could have interrupted this reunion.
“Just being here and meeting this young lady puts all that out the window and I don’t think about that now. I’m just happy I have her standing next to me,” said Novack.
“And I’m happy to be standing next to him,” said Ziglier.
Novak is expected to make a full recovery.
Garcia’s defense attorney declined to comment on the case. The trial will start in September.
Second-alarm on arrival in Baltimore County: Michael “FirePix1075” Schwartzberg on the scene in Garrison, Maryland around 11:30 last night as thunderstorms rolled through the area. According to Michael, first-due Engine 19 was on another call. When Engine 2 from Pikesville approached the scene the officer called for a second-alarm. More details and pictures on Pikesville VFC’s website.
Dave’s long goodbye: It really is getting sickening. Can’t he just go quietly without making us sit through his home movies? Probably not. I’ve been loading in more videos from the Channel 9 archives as I head into my final days at the TV station next week. (Yes, we know you are leaving. Can’t you just give it a rest?) I have a bunch to feature over the next couple of days that are already in the video player to the right (if you want a sneak preview without Dave’s ramblings). Here are links to some of the videos already featured – 1973 deadly collapse of a 26-story building in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia; 1986 9-alarm fire in Baltimore’s Pigtown; 1985 hazmat on I-95 in Prince George’s County.
Fire & police unions want new mayor in DC: Saying Mayor Adrian Fenty has poisoned his relationship with first responders unions representing firefighters and police officers want current City Council Chairman Vincent Gray as the next mayor. Read more on the endorsement.
Faking it – the investigation widens: State investigators in Massachusetts says they are up to 200 EMTs and paramedics in at least a dozen jurisdictions who were recertified without attending the classes. This includes 18 Boston firefighters. Read and watch the latest.
And then there was one: In Coal City, West Virginia (Raleigh County) all of the volunteer firefighters except one have resigned following a dispute with the president of the board. Read and watch the story.
He called everybody except 911: Investigators believe a light from a marijuana growing operation started a December fire that rapidly spread through five homes in Calgary last December. Not only has the man who had that operation entered a guilty plea, it turns out he made 25 calls on his cell phone when the overnight fire was discovered. Not one of the calls was to 911 or to his neighbors to alert anyone about the rapidly spreading blaze. Here’s the latest.
Internet reporter wants to know more about “crappy crime caper”: New York’s Chestertown Fire Company is having a tough time with a web reporter’s requests for more information following charges against three of its members (all from the same family) over the theft of gasoline and toilet paper. The North County Gazette is blasting the fire company’s efforts to put limits on the Gazette’s FOIA request. This is another good reminder that you don’t need a newspaper or TV station anymore to call yourself an investigative reporter. Check it out.
Hollywood’s version of New York rises from the ashes: Do you recall the large fire two years ago at Universal Studios that destroyed, among other things, the New York street sets? The sidewalks of New York have now been rebuilt and over the next five years Universal is donating $100,000 each year to the fire department. Here’s the latest.
Geezer vents over waste: The doubling in cost and the delays in building a fire station in Bexar County, Texas has Firegeezer Bill Schumm making a few points about how fire departments handle such new construction. Read Bill’s thoughts on the subject.
In March of 1973 I was just short of my 18th birthday and still living in Baltimore. Instead of showing up for my senior year of high school (had the highest number of unexcused absences in the junior year) I was attending the Community College of Baltimore, where I worked at the campus radio station, WBJC-FM. At the same time I was interning at WCBM radio (Bob “Smoke” Shilling, who sometimes checks out STATter911.com, was the news director).
My interest in the fire service was growing. While at CCB I was taking a fire science course along with my radio and TV curriculum. Around that time I somehow talked Baltimore City Fire Department Chief Thomas Burke into letting me spend a few weeks riding with his department. He set me up with Peter O’Connor who was then Battalion Chief 2 and later chief of the department. While up until then I was only interested in the fire service as a buff, the time spent at Engine 6′s quarters convinced me I might want to try doing this stuff.
I read everything I could get my hands on about the fire service and began saving articles about significant incidents. One of those that caught my eye was from a place called Bailey’s Crossroads. I had never heard of it. But what happened there on Friday, March 2, 1973 was making big news. A middle section of a 26-story building under construction as part of the Skyline complex had collapsed. It took the lives of 14 workers and injured more than 30 others. This occurred well before Fairfax County had an urban search and rescue team.
The reporter on the film is the legendary Mike Buchanan, one of the best reporters the TV business has ever seen. Mike was also instrumental in getting me hired at Channel 9.
I now live just down the street from the high-rise canyon that is Skyline. Through the blog I have gotten to know two people who lived in the area at the time. Both are now retired from the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department and should be familiar names to STATter911.com readers.
From Firegeezer Bill Schumm:
At the time, Co. 10 Bailey’s was still in the old firehouse on Rte.7 not far from the site. Two friends of mine (one of them Capt. Jim Small mentioned at the start of the tape) were working that day. They were in the firehouse when somebody came racing up to the bay door telling them that the new building just collapsed. They didn’t believe him and kinda gave it the “yeah, sure” treatment and started laughing it off. Then the tones hit.
I didn’t work in that part of town, so never responded to the call. But I got up there a couple of days later with my 35mm. camera and got some good slides of the thing. They’re still around here somewhere, I think.
Harry Diezel was working at the training center then and he told me about loading up the recruit class on the bus and going down there to search for victims. They used a technique where the whole group would stand along the top of the collapsed debris and everybody would simultaneously stomp on the concrete while yelling. Then at a signal, all would stop and there would be total silence on the entire work site while people would listen for any kind of a response from underneath. Never got any, though.
From FossilMedic Mike Ward:
I would occasionally play cards at a buddy’s house. We were sophomores. His parent’s house was just north of Route 7, in the shadow of the high rise complex. We hung out at the scene while the sun set Friday night.
Three or four ambulances were lined up on Leesburg Pike with their rear doors open. The drama was offset when I realized that they were shut down. With 19 months as a VFD weekend warrior, it was the first major, multi-jurisdictional event I witnessed. Not much was going on so we went back to his house.
Around midnite I went back to the scene. A DCFD jeep with a portable generator had a floodlight focused on the corner of the smaller section of the building. About 2 am I was in the crowded Krispy Kreme, listening to conversations.
Sworn in as U.S. Fire Administrator at Fire Rescue International just last August, Kelvin Cochran in now on a short list that could soon send him back to Atlanta. No official explanation, but Chief Cochran was named today as a finalist for his old job as the city’s fire chief. Here is the article from WXIA-TV:
Interim Fire Chief Joel Baker could stay on as chief of the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department. He’s among the three finalists being considered for the post.
Kelvin Cochran, who served as the city’s fire chief from 2008-2009 before being appointed to U.S. Fire Administrator by President Obama, also made the cut.
So did Brenda Nishiyama Willis, who’s served with Atlanta Fire and Rescue for nearly 30 years.
The finalists were announced Wednesday after a three-month search.
“These candidates have the experience and leadership skills to help make the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department the best-trained and responsive in the nation,” Atlanta Mayor Kaseem Reed said in a statement. “I am confident that soon we will have the right person in place to lead the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department.”
All three finalists have each had more than two decades of fire service experience.
The best fire safety system?: This video was shot Monday morning at a fire in the largest market in Yangon in Myanmar. Hundreds of shops were destroyed. There were no injuries reported despite the people who appear to have been trapped on the roof. The fire raged for 10 hours. At one point it was thought to be under control but gas tanks in a fourth floor restaurant then exploded. In February an official declared the building had the best fire safety system. Read that story. Also check out 3:30 in the video. It is a place where they still ride the back step.
Chief saves family and firefighter calls for evacuation just before the collapse: If you haven’t seen it make sure you check out the story from a fire early yesterday in Everett, Massachusetts. Click here.
One of the notes left to throw off investigators looking at a string of fires set in the Swansea, South Carolina area. Investigators say Lexington County volunteer firefighter Larry Williamson has confessed to the fires. Click the image to read and watch the story.
Memories of the way we were: If you really want to laugh check out the standup from Dave during a 1985 PGFD hazmat story. Some familiar faces are in the video. Just don’t look at it while you are eating breakfast. Click here for the video.
North Carolina POV response fatal crash results in charges: The Union Fire Department volunteer involved in the fatal crash Sunday that killed a 76-year-old woman returning from church is facing charges. Forty-one-year-old Terry Allen Moore has been charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle. Witnesses told Trooper C.F. Rogers of the North Carolina Highway Patrol that Moore had passed a number vehicles as he drove his pickup to a medical call. As he passed another vehicle the woman was making a left turn into her driveway. Here is more from the Salisbury Post:
Rogers said while Moore had a flashing red light in his vehicle, it gave him no authority to break state motor vehicle laws.
Rogers said drivers aren’t required to move out of the way for a firefighter in his or her personal vehicle with a red light, although most drivers do as a courtesy.
Chief down but not out: Firegeezer has the update on the story we brought you few weeks ago from Carlisle, Iowa where Fire Chief/Paramedic Scott Burger is accused of showing up intoxicated at a medical call. The chief is getting a six-month vacation. Click here for coverage from the Geezer.
Fire Station One: My son and I walked by the old firehouse on Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland about six weeks ago and wondered when it would be opening. This week is the soft launch of the new restaurant in the old Silver Spring VFD building. Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service Station 1 is now across the street from Fire Station One, the restaurant. Click here to read details.
Volunteer says he will resign over ambulance fee: Speaking of the Silver Spring VFD, one of its members says he is resigning because Montgomery County is implementing an ambulance transport fee. Darian Unger says it is wrong to charge for what he provides for free. The volunteer association is working on a petition to put the issue before voters. Read more.
Getting the word out about burglar bars: WTSP-TV’s Reginald Roundtree plays the victim behind burglar bars as he waits to be rescued from a house fire by St. Petersburg, Florida firefighters.
This is another one of those videos that caught my eye in recent days. It was December 22, 1985 when a tanker rolled over on I-95 in Beltsville, Maryland shutting down traffic. PGFD Chief Jim Estepp allowed me to get a close-up look at the decision making process when handling hazardous materials emergencies. The incident commander was Lt. Col. Steve Edwards (seen in the image above with Greg Noll, now of Hildebrand and Noll Associates). Edwards would later become chief of the department and is currenty the director of the Maryland Fire & Rescue Institute.
Some tense moment in Everett, Massachusetts after fire in a vacant triple-decker spread to the occupied building next door. Deputy Chief John Berghello and his driver were the first to the scene on Broadway. Here are excerpts from WBZ-TV’s story:
A family of four was trapped on the third floor of the occupied home.
“They might have been disoriented from the smoke,” Berghello told WBZ Radio.
He ran up and saved the three adults and a ten-year-old.
A short time later, the abandoned building collapsed.
Firefighters were inside the building just moments before it came down.
They were able to escape because a veteran firefighter heard “a loud crack,” according to deputy fire chief Bill Humphries.
“So he ordered his crew out. I would say within 20 – 30 seconds after that the collapse happened. They were lucky,” Humphries told WBZ’s Sera Congi.
Water Valley, Mississippi house fire: This fire was at Buena Vista and Grandview yesterday afternoon. Firefighters dealt with temperatures in the 90s. The North Mississippi Herald reports it took a little more than an hour to bring the fire under control.
Union & chief offer differing views on PGFD’s holiday staffing: IAFF Local 1619 is again making waves about the reduced staffing during a holiday. In this case it is two holidays. Friday is Firefighter Appreciation Day and Monday is Memorial Day. Rather than doling out premium holiday pay Chief Eugene Jones says the combined system allows the department to still provide quality service using volunteers. Andrew Pantelis, the union president, thinks the safety of the citizens is in jeopardy. Read all about it.
An ice cold memory that got pretty hot: As Dave continues to make his way through his desk and the archive room in the waning days of his TV career, he found a must see close call from 1994. Check out this video of DC firefighters making a hasty retreat due to frozen hoses and pumps. You will also see that I retrieved from my desk a picture of the man who shot the video.
Woman calls 911 to report that firefighter appears to be drunk: An Orlando district chief is under investigation after a woman claims he was drunk in uniform at a pizza joint. Listen to the audio and read and watch the details.
Bees sting rescuers arriving at fatal crash: One of the two trucks involved in a pileup with two cars on I-35 near Lakeville, Minnesota was carrying thousands of honeybees. Two people died in the crash. Click here for the story.
My wife calls this the ultimate in multi-tasking: A Minnesota woman gave birth on the way to the hospital last week. That happens. But how man times has the woman been behind he steering wheel of a car? Amanda McBride did turn the wheel over to the father of the child as they moved down the road to the hospital. Here’s more.
Chicago suit gets new life: Here’s the lead from the Chicago Tribune – “After more than a decade of legal wrangling, thousands of black applicants for Chicago firefighting jobs celebrated a Supreme Court ruling Monday that found they did not wait too long to sue the city over a 1995 hiring test they deemed discriminatory.” Read more.
Firefighters give a hoot: Responding to a fire a fire truck from Missouri’s Wentzville Fire Protection District saw something fly into the windshield. Only after being at the fire for an hour did they realize they hit an owl and the injured bird was sitting dazed on top of the rig. The firefighters saved the owl. Read the details.
You never know what’s in those things: In Orlando yesterday fire swept through storage lockers at the Orlando Business Center. Not only did four explosions keep firefighters on guard but it turns out people and animals were being “stored” there.
The memo from Lt. Col. William D. Lea is very clear. The dramatic reduction in the career staff on duty during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend is an effort to remain within budget by the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department. Lea, who heads the emergency operations command, has sent out a plan that calls for only about 90 career firefighters and paramedics working on Friday, May 28 and Monday, May 31.
Andrew Pantelis from IAFF Local 1619 website.
The normal weekday career staffing is approximately 200 firefighters and medics. Holiday staffing prior to the cutbacks had been comparable to weekends with about 125 career firefighters and medics on duty. The county has 45 fire/EMS stations (Station 844 in Chillum is currently EMS only but is soon expected to again have an engine company). Five of the stations are staffed by volunteers with no career firefighters.
PGFD has been working with volunteer crews to provide coverage at many of the stations that will lose staffing for the two holidays. The memo from Col. Lea begins this way:
The County Government has provided limited funding for overtime and holiday pay. Thus, the Emergency Operations Command is working to ensure a collaborative effort by career and volunteer members to ensure adequate holiday coverage of fire and emergency medical services. To remain within budget, the holiday staffing for Employee Appreciation Day (Note: it is actually Firefighter Appreciation Day), Friday, May 28, 2010 and Memorial Day, Monday May 31 is as follows:
The president of IAFF Local 1619, Andrew Pantelis, is not happy about the staffing situation. In an email to STATter911.com late last week Pantelis wrote:
“The Prince George’s County holiday staffing plan for the Memorial Day Weekend Holiday is extremely dangerous for the citizens of the County and the members of the Fire and EMS Department. This unprecedented staffing reduction relies on a volunteer workforce that is already stretched thin across the County. Fire Department officials are gambling on the fact that there will be adequate personnel available to respond to emergency calls.”
Chief Eugene Jones.
Chief Eugene Jones sees this from a different perspective. He issued this statement when contacted by STATter911.com:
“We are a combination Department so we have the luxury of controlling expenses and providing quality service at the same time. Volunteers have contributed millions of dollars worth of services and we are proud of their service.”
According to Pantelis, firefighters who would normally be scheduled to work those days will receive pay for not showing up:
“Once again, Prince George’s County is paying firefighters a full wage to stay home as to avoid paying a holiday premium for on duty personnel. Clearly, the County is prioritizing dollars over our citizens lives.”
The union president also pointed out staffing issues during an apartment fire on Christmas Eve (video from that fire is here):
“We witnessed similar, but not as drastic, staffing reductions on Christmas Eve of 2009. When an apartment fire occurred at 6388 Maxwell Drive in Suitland on that date, more than half of the first alarm units and all of the second alarm units were understaffed with only 2 personnel on each rig. Ultimately a fourth alarm equivalent was required to control the blaze and forty people were displaced.”
As I wrap up the TV career I have been conducting raids of the archive room at Channel 9 in an effort to get some of the old material on the web before I leave. This is a fire shot by the late Sheldon Levy in January, 1994. Sheldon was our overnight photographer and a member of the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department. His son David, a lawyer in Chicago and former firefighter, is a STATter911.com reader.
This fire was in the 2100 block of 14th Street, NW. Vito Maggiolo reminds me that the units had come from other fires with everything already wet and then freezing. Vito says members of Rescue Squad 2 were doing a primary search when they were forced to bail. All I remember is that it was a cold, cold winter.
Something else I found while cleaning out my desk, a February, 1993 picture of Sheldon Levy.
Arson blamed for Sunday afternoon house fires: A pair of homes that burned in Tampa is being looked at for a connection to a strong of 22 arsons in the area. One vacant home burned and a second home used by an adjacent business was damaged in the 1500 block of E. 17th Avenue. Firefighters kept the fire from spreading to the main building of Tommy’s Wholesale. Click here to read more about the 3-alarm fire.
Firefighter John Glaser: A Shawnee, Kansas firefighter died in a house fire Saturday night. Thirty-three-year-old John Glaser was a six-year member of the department who leaves behind a wife and two young children. Here’s our coverage.
What did the firefighters know and when did they know it?: Free Lance – Star reporter Dan Telvock has an interesting follow-up to his story about the fire in Spotsylvania County, Virginia where firefighters couldn’t find the woman talking to 911. According to Telvock, a police report by a sheriff’s deputy who was first on the scene indicates the deputy gave some important details to firefighters about who was in the house. Telvock reports this information was not part of the official review of the incident ordered by County officials. Read more.
Remember her? I warned you this Australian trainer would get more publicity than any of you for her efforts at firefighting. Tash Bennett helped put out a fire in a palm tree while doing some topless sunbathing. Now she is posing for the men's magazine ZOO Weekly (source for picture above) and says a firefighters' organization in Illinois is bringing her in to speak. Click the image to read more.
Hazmat from 22-years-ago: From the STATter911.com Archives (actually I found it on my desk) a 1988 story on a series of hazardous materials incidents in the Washington area and a look at how firefighters were trained to handle such things. There are interviews with the late Warren Isman, then chief in Fairfax County, and Pat Walsh, a STATter911.com reader who was then a DC lieutenant. Check it out.
Firefighter charged in pipe bomb incident: Volunteer firefighter Walter Scott Jr. from Salisbury, New Hampshire told police he found the bomb and then took it back to his garage before calling for help on March 16. Scott is now charged with reckless endangerment for tampering with the bomb. Read and watch the story.
Lt. and crash victim wrestle for gun: In Florida, Port Orange Fire Department Lt. Joe Carrasquillo spent his 44th birthday facing the barrel of a gun held by a man who crashed his vehicle. Read the dramatic story of how this one ended.
Mobile sick-out: The latest news report indicates there were eight firefighters out sick Sunday compared to 31 on Saturday in what some are calling a spontaneous sick-out in the Alabama city. The department recently closed three fire stations and dropped minimum staffing to three. Firegeezer has the original story.
Lawyers not interested in case of collapsed gurney: The daughters have the video showing their father hitting the ground after the gurney he was on collapsed during unloading at a Michigan hospital, but no lawyer is interested in helping them sue. Read why.
Sheriff says no to raise for firefighters: In Broward County, Florida where the fire department is part of the sheriff’s department the top man is saying no to a raise ordered by a special magistrate. Read details.
Long Island fire: Lots of video from last week’s fire in Baldwin in a block adjacent to the firehouse. Click here.
Three-alarms for vacant electronics plant in New Jersey: Struthers Dunn electronics moved to South Carolina 16-years-ago but their old building is still around in Mantua Township. It burned early Saturday. Click here to read more about the fire.
A Shawnee firefighter has died at an area hospital from injuries he suffered while fighting a large house fire Saturday night.
At a news conference on Sunday afternoon, the Shawnee Fire Department said John Glaser, 33, was a six-year veteran who leaves behind a wife and two young children. The department said the family has requested privacy. The department said Glaser was “a nice guy, a good friend and a great dad,” who spoke often about his children. It said Glaser was the first Shawnee firefighter to die in the line of duty.
Picture from Kansas City Star. Click the image for the paper's coverage of the tragic fire.
The fire was reported by automatic alarm at 8:55 p.m. Saturday at 13408 W. 75th Court, according to fire officials. When firefighters arrived, they found the home burning out of control. Neighbors told firefighters they thought two people and a dog were inside.
Firefighters began attacking the fire and searching the home.
As they were searching the home at 9:12 p.m., a mayday call went out because a firefighter was missing, according to the news release. Several firefighters searched the home and found the 33-year-old man unresponsive at the rear of the home.
A resident told KMBC that the firefighter fell. The firefighter was not breathing and in cardiac arrest when he was rushed by ambulance to a hospital, Johnson County Med-Act officials told KMBC.
Fire crews were also told there were possibly two people and a dog inside the home. About 15 minutes into the fire, a firefighter called out for help. That’s when the search began for a missing firefighter that was inside the residence. He was found unresponsive near the back of the home. Paramedics transported the fallen fighter to an area hospital where he later died.
The 33-year-old firefighter was a six year veteran of the Shawnee fire Department. He is survived by a wife and two children.
I had two things on my agenda today and both played a role in the above video being posted. The first was a visit to Baltimore for the International Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference presented by the IAFC. Tim Butters and Chris Hawley were kind enough to extend an invitation for the chance to look around. I also attended an interesting class by Mike Hildebrand and Greg Noll.
From there it was a trip to Channel 9 to start the process of dealing with my own hazmat situation. Much of the rest of the day was spent trying to clean the toxic dump that is my desk in anticipation of my departure in less than two weeks. Should have contracted with Hildebrand and Noll Associates to handle this one.
Somewhere in that pile was a tape that caught my eye because it had the words ”hazardous materials” highlighted in yellow. Rather than fight it, I went with the theme of the day and checked it out. It is a story from September 7, 1988. Inspired by a series of hazardous materials incidents on and around the Beltway, a much skinnier me took a quick look at the training being done in the area.
The video includes interviews with the late Warren Isman, who was then chief in Fairfax County, Virginia, and current STATter911.com reader Pat Walsh, who was a lieutenant in Washington, DC.
With luck I will have a few more gems for you before I lose access to the archives.
A major fire in Baldwin is the second in less than three weeks in the downtown area. The blaze destroyed up to a half-dozen stores on Grand Avenue, as well as the apartments above.
The fire was reported about 8 a.m. on May 20 and firefighters from Baldwin and more than a dozen surrounding communities responded. Smoke could be seen for several miles.
The buildings were unoccupied, but the fire destroyed a row of shops, including a bar, a café, a laundry, and a take-out food store.
No one was hurt, fire officials said.
The destroyed stores were in the process of being sold to the Town of Hempstead to be turned into housing as part of an urban renewal effort. Now the fire marshal will investigate if it was started intentionally.
The fire was in the block to the left of the picture on the same side of the street as the firehouse. Click the image for a Google Maps Street View tour of the neighborhood.
This video is from that controversial fire in Stamford, Connecticut where the Long Ridge Fire Department is being criticized for canceling mutual aide companies before arriving on the scene. With the long standing issues over Stamford’s fire protection, we recognize it is possible some many find more to the motivation for posting this video to YouTube than meets the eye. But, as usual, I will let you be the judge.
You put your life in their hands, but for one family, a trip to the hospital in an ambulance went horribly wrong. Mitch Jannereth, 90 was injured when his gurney tipped over as he was being transported by two Life EMS workers. He died two months later.
It happened back in 2005. The incident was caught on surveillance tape, but the family is still seeking closure. They say the ambulance company never admitted to what happened.
“It was horrible and very sad to see the dad I knew, broken and hurt,” says one of Mitch’s five daughters, Jane Jannereth.
In September of 2005, Jannereth called an ambulance to his home in Wyoming. He complained about being weak. Jane says she was later told that he had low electrolytes.
“He was the healthiest 90-year-old man you could meet. He wasn’t on any blood pressure, heart medicine, nothing,” says daughter Joni Hyde.
Life EMS transported Jannereth to the hospital. Jane met them there and when she went inside, she says an EMT gave her a piece of paper with his supervisor’s name on it.
“And he says, excuse me ma’am, but this never happened before, but when we were transporting your dad, he jerked and bumped his head.”
By then, the rest of the family had arrived and went into their dad’s room.
“I walked in and the toupee I had put on my dad’s head, was saturated with blood.”
The sisters took pictures of the injuries. He had a gash on his head, bruises on his shoulder and was wearing a neck brace.
“He kept saying to me, honey, did they beat me up? It knocked him out. He was knocked out. He was unconscious”, says Joni.
As Jannereth was being treated for his injuries inside the hospital, Jane came outside to smoke a cigarette. It was there that she noticed a security camera pointed at the same location the ambulance was parked. She had a feeling that her questions about what happened were about to be answered.
The surveillance camera captured the events on tape. The ambulance is seen pulling up to the hospital and comes to a stop with the right side of the vehicle on the curb. A short time later the gurney can be seen falling on its side. Jannereth’s head hits the ground. One of the ambulance workers tries to pull him back up.
Jane says, “Then you see the other guy and they’re opening up the legs. Then, they try to pick him up and drop him again!”
Jannereth spent the next two months in various nursing homes. His daughters say he was never the same. He would ask to see their mother.
“And my mom had died 4 years before him and I said, mom passed away dad. And I started crying and he said I’m supposed to know that aren’t I?” says Joni.
Two months after the accident, Mitch Jannereth died of pneumonia. Since then, the family has struggled with what to do about the day he was injured. They consulted different attorneys, but so far, no one has taken the case.
“Yeah, those are compelling images on camera, aren’t they? Wow”, says Nelson Miller, who teaches at Cooley Law School.
Miller says malpractice lawsuits are challenging. “The law has made it harder here, to make that case.” The biggest reason is a law that protects emergency workers.
“For instance, the Emergency Medical Services Act. Basically an act providing limited immunity for service providers and particularly with respect to ambulance technicians, EMT and so forth.”
Miller says an attorney would have to prove gross negligence, not just carelessness.
“And that’s a tough standard to make because in large, professionals, EMTs, doctors, are pretty caring. They may not always show it, bedside manner being what it is. But, in general, very caring.”
The Jannereth family says Life EMS never acknowledged what really happened. When WZZM 13 News caught up with the company’s President, Mark Meijer, at the opening of a new facility, we tried to get Life EMS’s side of the story.
“Well, I appreciate that, we just don’t discuss patient care issues”, says Meijer.
WZZM 13′s Sarah Sell also asked about the two ambulance workers. “Is there anything you can say about…were these guys disciplined? ” “Oh, we would never talk about patient care”, says Meijer.
WZZM 13 News did check with the Michigan Department of Community Health and the two men are still licensed by the state. According to the documents, there has been no disciplinary action.
“You should feel safe when an ambulance is brought to your house, you should be brought down there safely, respectfully”, says Jane.
Sarah says, “Will anything give you closure?” “No, but maybe it will never happen to another family”, says Joni.
The Jannereth family knows that they may never get the justice that they believe they deserve. They do take some comfort in knowing that someone out there may learn from what happened to their dad.
The family says that their insurance company did receive a ‘no fault auto claim’ and that money went toward some of the medical bills. As for any kind of lawsuit, the statute of limitations for this case expires on September 23, 2010.
WZZM 13 News also received this written statement from Life EMS:
May 6, 2010,
“We treat the trust and privacy of all individuals with the utmost importance. In keeping with specific Life EMS Ambulance policies, we do not publicly discuss individuals whom we may have cared for.”
- Mark Meijer, president of Life EMS Ambulance
“The report that we got was there was one under water and four others trying to assist and maybe one of those was in trouble,” rescuer Nelson Smith said.
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