This is a apparently a house fire from 1993 in Blue Island, Illinois. Neighbors use a garden hose through a window to try and keep the fire in check as they wait for the arrival of the fire department. When the first fire engine arrives on the scene it is staffed by one firefighter. The firefighter runs a line to the rear door and then runs back to charge it. But the citizens have other ideas on how that line should be used and have first crack on the nozzle. Soon other firefighters arrive. Make sure you listen all the way to the end and the comments from the woman about the department’s response.
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FDNY Pier 97 fire dispatch details from Thomas Godoy, N.Y. Retired FD (unofficial)
More than 130 firefighters battled a three-alarm blaze at a sanitation garage on Pier 97 that shutdown the West Side highway. Three firefighters went to the hospital with minor injuries.
The fire began at around 3:30 p.m. on 57th street and 12th avenue.
The blaze was on a sanitation pier. It began in trailers containing garbage, according to FDNY. Fire officials are checking the stability of the pier after wooden parts of the structure and trailers filled with garbage went up in flames
Click here for more pictures from NY1.
“There were no injuries, no panic. Everyone got out, everyone did his and her job,” said Sanitation Supervisor Gilbert Keyes, who was inside the trailer when the fire broke. “We got keys to the cars, moved the cars off the pier and made an alleyway, made it accessible for the Fire Department to do their part.”
“All the men lost their uniforms, boots, personal items that were in their lockers…. Their lunchroom was gone, the whole north field is gone,” he said.
Firefighters were concerned that the day’s strong winds would spread to a nearby Consolidated Edison pier that contained fuel lines, but the fire was able to be contained.
Inside the arson ring: A must read. Police report indicates young Massachusetts firefighters were bored & greedy.
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There is now a lot more detail about the five on-call firefighters accused of starting fires in three vacant homes in the Massachusetts towns of Brimfield and Holland. It probably won’t surprise anyone familiar with the issue of firefighter arson that these were young men who said they set the fires because they were bored. They weren’t seeing enough action, except the EMS calls that really didn’t interest them.
In this case there is also the issue of greed. They were on-call firefighters who needed the money from the fire responses. The firefighters charged are Patrick K. Elliott, 19, a call firefighter with the Brimfield Fire Department, Brian S. Findlay, 18, a call firefighter with the Brimfield and Holland fire departments, Jordan R. Frank, 18, a call firefighter with the Brimfield Fire Department, Dylan J. Lajeunesse, 18,a call firefighter with the Holland Fire Department and Donald C. Moores, 20, a call firefighter with the Brimfield and Holland fire departments.
In an excellent article by Gerard F. Russell and Kim Ring at Telegram.com, the reporters go through the police report showing how the five firefighters set the fires and how they were caught. The story indicates investigators focused on the firefighters following a call to a tip line. The caller said one of the firefighters told a friend he and other firefighters had set the fires.
A couple of other interesting points from the excerpts below. The firefighters weren’t very good at starting fires, needing to go back and get gasoline in order to get two of the fires going.
Note the evidence the investigators now have thanks to the young firefighters texting each other with details about what they were doing. Not long before I became a volunteer in the 1970s a couple of firefighter arsonists were arrested from the company I joined. Of course there was no texting in those days. I was told what helped catch the pair was they were on an alternate fire department radio channel when one asked the other if they removed the gasoline can.
Here are some of the details from Massachusetts firefighter arson ring:
The police report detailed the men’s alleged activities leading up to each fire, which included text messages in which the men talked about their involvement in the fires. The police narrative details episodes of failed attempts to light fires with a mixture of oil and diesel fuel in plastic containers that was mixed at the Brimfield Fire Department by Mr. Elliott.
Some of the men allegedly hung out together at the Brimfield fire headquarters, became bored and rode around the town looking for abandoned homes to burn. Prior to one of the fires, Mr. Frank told police that Mr. Elliott “made a mixture of oil, and either gas, diesel or kerosene” and put it into a large antifreeze container. Mr. Elliott “had the container with the mixture between his legs in the front passenger seat.”
After pouring the mixture all over the garage door at the Chandler Road fire, Mr. Elliott tried lighting the accelerant but “it flashed and went down.” The men left and went back to the Brimfield fire station. Mr. Frank said Mr. Elliott “was freaking out because his prints were everywhere.” So the men drove back and the fire was smoldering. They then went to the home of one of the men to wait for the fire call tones that sound to alert firefighters to respond to fires.
After the first fire during the cleanup, Mr. Moores had asked Mr. Frank, of West Brookfield, how he arrived at the fire so fast. Mr. Frank said he was in the area with Mr. Elliott, Mr. Patrick and Mr. Findlay. In a police interview, Mr. Moores said he asked the men if they started the fire and they denied it.
“Moores stated he has known these guys a long time and he knew they were lying about the fire so he asked a second time and they all laughed and Elliott stated they did start it,” the report said.
Hours before the second fire on Washington Road, Mr. Elliott allegedly telephoned Mr. Moores, who was visiting another firefighter in town. Mr. Moores was preparing to go home Mr. Elliott told him to “just stay in town.”
Mr. Moores asked Mr. Elliott, “Why, are you going to start another fire?” Mr. Elliott did not answer the question. Just before midnight, Mr. Moores spotted Mr. Elliott, Mr. Frank and Mr. Findlay at Cumberland Farms, and Mr. Moores again asked Mr. Elliott why he should stay in town. Mr. Elliott responded, “You know why.”
All of the men then drove to the Brimfield fire station, where an accelerant was mixed inside the bay where the ambulance and forestry trucks were parked.
Mr. Moores told police that before the third fire, in Holland, he received a text message to meet Mr. Elliott, Mr. Findlay, Mr. Frank and Mr. Lajeunesse to start another fire.
As in a previous fire, the men had trouble getting the fire going. Around 1:30 a.m., Mr. Findlay got a text message saying the fire did not light.
As a result, Mr. Elliott and Mr. Frank returned to the fire department to get more gasoline and then went back to the Chandler Road home to relight it.
The police report said it was Mr. Elliott and Mr. Findlay who were bored and wanted to start the fires. In his interview with police, Mr. Lajeunesse said that “the reason for the fires was to look cool and go to fires.”
He added, “They didn’t want to go to medicals — as it is not what they look forward to. Lajeunesse stated that he joined the department to fight fires.”
View pictures from Dennis Walus of the fire at Highland Towers
The three videos on this page show the progression of the fire last night in Highland Park, Michigan that destroyed a vacant, historic apartment building. Photographer Dennis Walus was on the scene and shot the still pictures you see on this page. Here’s his account of the fire:
On Friday September 3rd 2010, The Highland Park Fire Department responded to a reported building fire at Woodward and Mclean. Upon arrival of HPFD units they reported a working fire on the 3rd floor of a vacant apartment building. Crews attempted to make an interior attack, but due to fire/building conditions and low manpower they were unable to make progress on the fire and were forced to evacuate the building and go defensive. Mutual aid was requested from the Hamtramck Fire Department for there tower and Berkley Public Safety responded with there quint. Defensive operations were started on the story 350 X 150 building. Additional mutual aid was then requested from the Detroit Fire Department. DFD responded with a full box alarm with an additional 2 engines & 2 Trucks. Crew fought this fire in defensive mode using 5 water towers. companies operated at this scene overnight to bring this fire under control.
Fire fighters from Berkley, Hamtramck and Detroit all assisted in the efforts to douse the flames.
We’re told it might take until the end of the weekend to extinguish all of the hot spots.
While the official cause has not yet been determined Highland Park’s mayor says he believes the source of ignition is suspicious. He believes the blaze was set in at least three places across the sprawling building. It’s another in a string of suspected arsons that have recently plagued the city.
The Highland Towers have been vacant for several years, but when they were built 90 years ago the apartments were considered luxury living.
Five on-call firefighters charged with arson in Hampden County, Massachusetts. Members of Brimfield & Holland departments.
5 commentsBrimfield Fire Department
Holland Fire Department
In Hampden County, Massachusetts, five call firefighters were arrested last night. They have been charged wih fires in vacant buildings in Brimfield and Holland. All five entered pleas of not guilty.
Here are excerpts from Boston.com:
No one was hurt in the three fires in June and July, but the alleged actions of the five young men drew denunciations from their chiefs, State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan and Hampden District Attorney William M. Bennett said today.
“The conduct of these defendants is outrageous,” Bennett said in a statement today. “Their callous disregard for the safety of the community and the safety of the dedicated firefighters who had to respond to the scene of the fires is shocking. It is a very sad day when people pledged to serve the public become a serious danger to the public.”
Robert McCarthy, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, the union which represents 12,000 career firefighters in the state — not call firefighters — had harsh words for the accused men.
“I’m shocked. It’s tragic,” he said in a telephone interview. “As far as I’m concerned, they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Fire Services, said the firefighters did help put out the three fires but she could not say whether the men started the fires so they could get paid.
“A firefighter accused of deliberately setting fires betrays the public’s trust and destroys the credibility of the fire service,” state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said in a statement. “It is also a betrayal of the trust firefighters need to place in one another to see that everyone goes home at the end of the day.”
Charged with burning of a building are:
- Patrick K. Elliott, 19, of 12 Power Station Road, Charlton, a call firefighter with the Brimfield Fire Department.
- Brian S. Findlay, 18, of 85 Armatage Road, Ashford, Conn., a call firefighter with the Brimfield and Holland fire departments.
- Jordan R. Frank, 18, of 19 Cross St., West Brookfield, a call firefighter with the Brimfield Fire Department.
- Dylan J. Lajeunesse, 18, of 21 Union Road, Holland, a call firefighter with the Holland Fire Department.
- Donald C. Moores, 20, of 3 Forest Drive, Brimfield, a call firefighter with the Brimfield and Holland fire departments.
Holland Fire Chief Paul Foster said: “Unfortunately the actions of these five young men gives the entire fire service a black eye, which is unfair to the decent, honest members of the Holland and Brimfield Fire Departments who volunteer their time away from their families to properly train and respond to emergencies to protect their neighbors at all hours of the day or night.”
Pinellas County, Florida fire: The vacant building that used to house the bar Big Ed’s Hideaway in Lealman was destroyed overnight. No injuries were reported in the two-alarm fire. Watch news coverage.
Story in Loudoun County drags on: Reporters seem to keep asking questions but there are apparently few definitive answers as to why the chief of the Middleburg VFD and four firefighters resigned at the same time the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation of the department. Click here for the latest.
Firefighters knife under bunkroom pillow may be the third strike: Jordan Jostes says he is getting ready to leave the South Bend Fire Department to join the Marines. But the department may hasten his departure. Backed by the union, Jostes is trying to explain why he would keep a Bowie knife under his pillow at the firehouse. The firefighter doesn’t consider the knife a weapon. The South Bend Tribune reports Jostes has had other troubles including calling in sick while working another job and we reported on an issue of a picture of a patient that ended up on the firefighters Facebook page. Here’s the most recent story.
- Picture of the day: Help arrives on a hayfield fire in Witmer, Pennsylvania. Click the image for more.
Chief suspended over PPE issues: This one sure is different. When a newspaper photo showed the chief of the fire department in Friday Harbor, Washington without gear as he backed up an SCBA-less firefighter on a car fire things hit the fan. The chief is now on medical leave after a two-day suspension. Five volunteers, including four officers, resigned saying they had no confidence in the chief. Check it out.
State investigators making sure Stockton, California firefighters don’t practice ALS: A long-standing dispute has forced Stockton out of the ALS business after 34-years. Read the details.
Two from Geezer you should look at: An embezzler is forcing an Indiana fire department to shut down for lack of funds on January 1. Click here for that story. Also, in Plainfield, New Jersey and ambulance crew must have been thinking that medicinal marijuana is part of their ALS protocols. It isn’t. They have been busted. Here’s that story.
Boston IAFF president back on the ladder with eyes on state post: Ed Kelly has made a lot of headlines as the president of IAFF Local 718 in his battles with Mayor Thomas Menino. Kelly is stepping down and hopping aboard Ladder 17, Boston’s busiest. But Kelly isn’t through with the union. He is considering running for president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts. Read more.
Half-million dollars in fire SUVs sit without radios: Right after making headlines about 90 cop cars that sat idle, the fleet services folks in Memphis, Tennessee are having a similar problem with 20 Chevy Tahoes ordered by the fire department. The fire SUVs arrived in May but they still don’t have radios. Check it out.
New Pierce dealer in mid-Atlantic as old one has charges dropped: Atlantic Emergency Solutions is now taking over the territory for Pierce that used to belong to Singer Associates Fire Equipment. Details are here. While we were on the road InsideNova.com had this update on molestation charges against Dick Singer- “Richard Dennis Singer was scheduled to stand trial on 13 felony charges Monday, but prosecutors declared the charges nolle prosequi, meaning they do not wish to prosecute him at this time. The charges can be brought again later.”
Probe continues in Loudoun County, Virginia. Still no word why chief & four firefighters resigned from Middleburg VFD.
5 commentsWUSA9.com’s Surae Chinn has an update on the investigation in Middleburg, Virginia:
Amidst a storm a controversy not yet revealed to the public, five volunteer firefighters suddenly resigned. One of those who left his post, is the fire chief.
Board Member Jim Burton of the Blue Ridge District, says it couldn’t have come at a worse time. He says the department is already stretched so thin. Burton wants to ensure residents that they will answer their emergencies.
Paul Draisey is the director of the Middleburg Fire Department. He says allegations of misconduct were brought to the Loudoun County Fire Commission two weeks ago.
An investigation was launched with the help of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department. Immediately, three people were placed on administration leave.
Then this past weekend on August 27th and 28th, five volunteer firefighters resigned before the completion of the investigation.
Burton says they will get to the bottom of what happened if there was anything illegal or unethical that took place at the fire house.
Before the scandal, there were 15 volunteer firefighters. Now a third are gone and they are down to 10.
Company 3 is now forced to call on other stations for help. Burton says they could be forced to cut service, which would be the very last resort.
He says they are okay for the next few weeks, but he sees a problem in the longterm if they don’t come up with a solution.
It takes 18 months to recruit, hire and train a paid firefighter.
Because of the vacancies the station has requested eight paid firefighters.
Chief suspended over PPE issue at vehicle fire. Firefighters resign saying no confidence. The story from Friday Harbor, Washington.
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August 12 vehicle fire story and photos are here and here
Newspaper photos last month of a firefighter dousing a vehicle fire without SCBA and his chief standing behind him with no PPE have caused quite a dust up in Friday Harbor, Washington. SanJuanJournal.com reports Chief Vern Long, seen in the middle of the three photos above, was suspended for two days and then went on medical leave on the day he was to return, August 18. Town Administrator King Fitch “said Long indicated at their disciplinary meeting that he had medical appointments scheduled.” The firefighter in the picture was not disciplined.
On August 12, the day the photos were published, a letter of no confidence in Chief Long was sent from two captains, two lieutenants and firefighter. All five volunteer members of the department have since resigned.
In Long’s absence, Assistant Fire Chief Tom Eades is serving as acting fire chief, Mayor Carrie Lacher said. Eades is a dispatcher from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., so District 3 Fire Chief Steve Marler and Assistant Chief Brad Creesy are supporting the town fire department’s volunteer duty officer.
Lacher said she spoke to Long when he went on medical leave and “urged him to get better.” She attended a Monday night drill and spoke to firefighters before they drilled on the new fire truck.
“They’re shook up. They’re concerned that the firefighters who left chose to express their concerns in this way,” Lacher said. She said firefighters told her they believe Long is “an outstanding administrator.”
Lacher said she also spoke with two of the firefighters who submitted the “no confidence” letter, and said their concerns went beyond how the car fire was handled.
On Aug. 12, SanJuanJournal.com posted a story and a series of photos of a car fire at the ferry landing that day. The photos show a firefighter with hose working to extinguish the fire; he is not wearing breathing apparatus, which Fitch said is standard procedure. In one photo, the firefighter is crouching next to the front bumper, spraying water under the car, as smoke billows out. In another photo, Long is standing behind the firefighter, holding the hose, not wearing gear.
In their declaration of no confidence, the signers said they have “no confidence in the leadership, management, organization or training abilities” of Chief Long, and requested his “immediate removal and replacement.”
“As volunteers, we contribute our time and effort to preserve and protect the health and property of others — a responsibility we undertake willingly but take seriously,” they wrote. “The FHFD needs strong leadership from a chief and assistant chief who will promote, support and comply with standard guidelines and procedures; assess, utilize and improve the skills and abilities of its volunteers; and advance the competence and knowledge of all department members through training and education. The size of the department, small geographical area, limited calls and/or financial constraints are no excuses for requiring or expecting less than full commitment from any member of the department, including staff officers, nor are they reasons to disregard requests for training and assistance, or ignore generally accepted and statutorily required fire ground practices.”
Stockton, California firefighters barred from providing ALS. Without FF/PMs for 1st time since 1976.
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A long standing dispute between Stockton, California and San Joaquin County has forced city firefighters to stop providing paramedic services. Starting yesteday, for the first time in 34-years, it is BLS only until paramedics arrive from a private ambulance service. Black tape is covering up the word paramedic on fire trucks and uniforms used by the Stockton Fire Department. California investigators are double checking, making sure that the firefighters aren’t providing ALS.
This may an oversimplification of a complicated issue, but the city and county have been in court for a while over who provides 911 services and EMS. This has kept the two jurisdictions from renewing an agreement that is required for the city to have paramedics.
More on this in excerpts from an article by Zachary K. Johnson in The Record:
City and county officials say they want an agreement to bring Fire Department paramedics back.
State and county officials said that the people of Stockton were safe Wednesday: firefighters provided basic emergency medical care and worked in tandem with paramedics arriving with responding ambulances. It’s a model used in other California cities.
But there was one instance Wednesday that shows what was lost, according to Stockton Fire.
In that call, firefighters arrived at a scene before an ambulance, but the firefighters were barred from giving the patient medication because that falls under the advanced-life-support list of techniques.
According to the county, an ambulance was delayed to a call because Stockton provided incorrect information to dispatchers. It was unclear Wednesday if these two incidents were the same.
Investigators from the California Emergency Medical Services Authority stationed themselves in teams of two to interview ambulance crews outside emergency rooms to ensure Stockton was not violating state rules by operating paramedic services without an agreement, said June Iljana, deputy director of the state agency. But things ran smoothly, and the investigators wrapped up early, she said. “We’ve just seen great cooperation.”
After the Stockton City Council decided to temporarily suspend paramedic services Tuesday, firefighters began removing advanced-life-support supplies before Wednesday’s 7 a.m. deadline, Deputy Chief Paul Willette said. “We did what we had to do to comply.”
Must see videos: Scores of explosions at Collingdale, Pennsylvania welding shop fire. Employees injured. Two old fire trucks destroyed.
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Watch raw chopper video of the fire from WPVI-TV
Watch news reports from KYW-TV
More on the five-alarm fire from PhillyFireNews.com
The fire, at Scully Welding Supply Corp. in Collingdale, broke out about 12:50 p.m. and quickly went to five alarms.
Image from KYW-TV.
“It looked like hell, like Dante’s Inferno,” said Collingdale fire marshal George Kaiser. “The fire was at least two-stories high.”
The main fire was declared under control around 4:30 p.m., and officials began letting almost all people return to their homes shortly after 7 p.m.
Three Scully employees were injured, including one seriously who was transported to Crozer-Chester Medical Center and was reported tonight in stable condition. Five firefighters were treated for heat related illnesses.
Kaiser, the fire marshal, was working at the storage center he owns adjacent to the Scully plant. He said the blaze ignited his building. The fire destroyed two old Collingdale fire trucks he kept on the premises and storage units rented by 70 customers.
Officials spent hours pouring water on large propane tanks to cool them, Lovejoy said. County Emergency Services Director Ed Truitt said officials also had been concerned about the danger the flames posed to a nearby oxygen supply company.
“If that building were to be breached, that could make life real interesting down there,” he said.
The fire caused heavy damage to Scully Welding Supply and a neighboring business, Kaiser Automotive, Lovejoy said. The cause of the blaze was under investigation by state and local authorities, he said. A call to Scully Welding Supply rang unanswered.
Tammy Scanlon, who lives a few hundred yards across the railroad tracks from Scully’s Propane, heard the explosions go on for about 30 minutes.
Click here to join the fun at Dover International Speedway
The video above is from the 2009 event at Dover International Speedway honoring fallen firefighters and supporting firefighter safety. This year Rusty Wallace and NASCAR president Mike Helton are scheduled to join the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation at the hospitality tent in Dover on Sunday September 26 for the Sprint Cup Series at the Monster Mile.
Come join the fun. I’ll be there, camera in hand, shooting video for the Foundation. Get your tickets now.
Firefighter Rude is his name. If allegations in open hearing are true he lives up to it and more.
10 commentsMichael Rude is trying to stay employed as a firefighter in Lawrence, Indiana. To do so he must fight for his job at a public merit board hearing where cameras are allowed. The allegations against Rude are coming from multiple female firefighters and some men. Click above to hear for yourself what they saying about Michael Rude.
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