Firefighter Close Calls has the story of a ladder coming in contact with power lines at a rowhouse fire in Rankin, Pennsylvania on Wednesday. The videos above and below show the large amount of wires around the buildings that appear to be potential problems for those placing ground ladders and operating aerial devices.
Two Swissvale firefighters suffered first- and second-degree burns when, having entered the burning apartment, escaped through a plate glass window as flames blew from the rear of the apartment to the front where they had been standing, Chief Brucker said.
Shortly after, a fireman’s ladder touched wires from a utility pole, leading to two electrical explosions at the scene, Rankin police Chief Ryan Wooten said.
One of the ladder trucks came in contact with a power line when firefighters began focusing their attack on the outside of the homes, and witnesses said they heard loud cracks of electricity.
“We were extraordinarily lucky … that nobody was electrocuted during that time,” said Allegheny County Emergency Chief Bob Full.
This video might cause a pain in the neck because most of it was shot with the camera on its side.
This is video from Morningside VFD of Wednesday’s house fire at 8200 Anaio Court in Clinton, Maryland. You can also hear a little of the radio traffic in the background. The fire left five firefighters with minor injuries. Here are details from the press release by Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department Chief Spokesman Mark Brady:
Five Prince George’s County Firefighters sustained minor injuries while battling a fierce fire at a Clinton house this morning. At about 11:15 am, Wednesday, November 10, 2010, fire/EMS units responded to 8200 Anaio Court after being alerted of a house on fire. Firefighters arrived to find a 2-story single family home with heavy fire conditions on both floors with fire extending into the attic area. The house is vacant, however, is known to have recently housed vagrants. Firefighters conducted a primary search of the structure before vacating and continued to extinguish the fire from the safety of the exterior.
It required 33 firefighters about 30 minutes to knock down the bulk of the fire. Four firefighters sustained minor burns and one firefighter sustained an injury to his leg; all were transported to area medical facilities, treated and released.
The cause of the fire is under investigation and fire loss estimates are not yet available.
The Fire Critic Rhett Fleitz was the first with this story shortly after it occurred on the Upper West Side of Manhattan yesterday. Rhett found a :20 clip on YouTube showing the burning ambulance after firefighters arrived. The video above is pre-arrival and lasts for a while and through a couple of pops and explosions from inside the unit.
You will see a tow truck in position in front of the ambulance as it’s parked on 59th Street in front of the Emergency Department at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital. Rhett reports the crane had already been called because of some sort problem with the ambulance and was about to be tow it to the repair shop when the fire broke out. The ambulance is a St. Luke’s unit.
On the other side of the street is the John Jay College of Criminal Justice which evacuated its North Hall building (and sent the students and faculty out into the streets).
Click the image below for a slideshow from dnainfo.com:
Sixty-three-year-old Alan Norcutt will likely spend the rest of his life in jail. But it isn’t for the fire he set as a 17-year-old in December 1964 fire that killed Chicago firefighter Joseph Carone Sr. It also isn’t for the August 1963 Chicago rooming house fire that killed two men. Norcutt served time for a string of 36 fires in Chicago but was released in 1979.
Norcutt is going back to prison for a relatively small fire he set in a storage trailer in Syracuse a little more than a year ago. The Syracuse Fire Department made sure Joseph Carone Sr. wasn’t forgotten in all of this. Firefighters, and the chief of the department, were in the courtroom to support the fallen firefighter’s family.
“You are a dangerous and violent man. You should spend the rest of your life in prison,” Onondaga County Judge Anthony Aloi told Alan Norcutt after declaring him a persistent felony offender under New York’s three-strikes law.
Aloi said that if that maximum sentence amounts to a death sentence for the 63-year-old Norcutt, it was appropriate given the defendant’s background.
About two dozen Syracuse firefighters and fire department officials were on hand – in dress uniforms, some wearing white gloves – for the more-than-two-hour-long proceeding in which Aloi addressed the prosecution’s request to sentence Norcutt as a persistent felony offender and then did as asked.
Fire Chief Mark McLees also was present in a suit and tie. As he emerged from the courtroom following the sentencing, he was hugged by the daughters of the firefighter who died in the 1964 fire in Chicago.
Rose Carone Benson and Cheryl Carone Matthews said they came back to Syracuse for today’s proceeding to see what would happen with Norcutt. They and their two brothers were in town for Norcutt’s trial in September.
“I’m just glad it’s all over,” Benson said, calling the turnout of Syracuse fire officials “wonderful.”
McLees said he welcomed Aloi’s decision to remove Norcutt from the community’s streets for the safety of the members of his department who put their lives in jeopardy every day responding to fires.
The fire chief said Norcutt’s conduct “flies in the face of all of our lives and our efforts to go home safely every day.”
Firefighter Spot (check out Jason’s redesigned blog) first posted this one from Valley Stream on Long Island. It’s a fire in the Inatome Japanese Steakhouse on October 31. At 7:45 in the video a later arriving ladder tries to get into position near the building but takes out the LDH for a tower ladder already operating.
Fire Chief Joseph Fernandez said that the department received a call shortly after 2:15 p.m., and the first firefighters to arrive found heavy smoke. When they entered the restaurant, they discovered that much of the interior was already engulfed in flames.
Fernandez said that they tried to fight the fire from inside, but after two firefighters went missing, the plan changed. The two firefighters were OK, he said, but were briefly lost in the heavy smoke in the front of the restaurant. Once they were located, Fernandez decided to battle the blaze from the outside.
Mayday in Maysville as landmark burns: A fire yesterday heavily damaged a 124-year-old building under renovation in Maysville, Kentucky that had been at various times a post office, funeral home, Masonic lodge and drug store. MaysvilleOnline.com reports there was a close call for a firefighter almost three hours after the fire was reported - At approximately 6:50 p.m., calls of “mayday, mayday, firefighter down” came over the police scanner in Mason County. “Someone get the ambulance up here,” said someone over the scanner. Officials at the scene identified the firefighter as Kevin Doyle, who was injured when a section of the third floor ceiling collapsed as he and six other Maysville Fire Department firefighters were inspecting the building. Initial reports indicate Doyle may have sustained a broken collarbone.
Fire department S&R dog shot multiple times: Poor Casey is looking bad. The search and rescue dog for the Croft Fire Department in South Carolina was wounded by more than 100 pellets of bird shot. No one has been arrested. Casey is expected to recover. Click here for our story. And by the way this was one of the very few times I was able to beat SConFire.com’s Grant Mishoe to a SC story. I am proud of myself even if it is only by 20 minutes. But always be sure to check out his great site for what’s happening in South Carolina.
Help for a brother blogger: Matt McDowell runs S.A.F.E. Firefighter another one of the sites on FireEMSBlogs.com. Matt is also a lieutenant with Bluffton Township Fire District (BTFD) near Hilton Head Island. Matt and his wife are expecting a baby girl before the end of the year. It is already known the child has a heart defect that will require many surgeries. Tom Bouthillet, who has the blog Prehospital 12-lead ECG, has details how Matt’s fellow firefighters are coming through (as if that’s a surprise) with a fundraiser to help with the expenses. Here’s the link if you’d like to learn more about a 50/50 raffle that will be drawn on November 20.
Labor board goes after ambulance company over Facebook firing. What does it all mean?: The recent case in Georgia over the cell phone video of a dead woman has a lot of fire chiefs working on their social media policies. But the chiefs might want to huddle with the lawyers to see just how far they can go with this. A case in Connecticut has nothing to with patient privacy but everything to do with what limits you can put on your employees. The National Labor Relations Board says the ambulance company went too far. Check out my thoughts on its impact on first responder social media policies. Let me warn you that I have a lot more questions than answers. One chief who regularly reads my musings on this topic (or at least feigns interest) told me if policies can’t be as restrictive as management thinks is prudent then maybe my previous column about social media ethics training for recruits (and veterans) might be the answer.
Click the image by Joe Tamberino for news coverage of Monday's house fire in Fallston, Maryland.
Early video as brand new school buses burn next to portable classroom: The videographer arrives before the fire department to this fire in Lynbrook on Long Island. Click here to watch.
Chief, who is a 41-year veteran, has finally had enough of the town’s politics: Firegeezer Bill Schumm has an interesting story from Eaton Township, Ohio where the chief’s battles with internal and town politics has him walking out the door. Click here.
Hey, it’s only the chief. It’s not like his job is important: John Lattanzi has been the fire chief in Clairton, Pennsylvania for 22-years. Apparently town officials have determined after all of this time that they really don’t need a chief. In an effort to save $40,000 the chief’s position has been eliminated. Read more.
Give us a break … a tax break. The public agrees: A poll conducted for the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs found 69% of the public supports volunteer firefighters getting a $3,000 tax credit even if it costs the government millions of dollars. Those are poll numbers any politician could love. Here’s the story from the Toronto Sun.
Mother and boyfriend charged after padlocks found on burning home with children inside: In Greenville, South Carolina the only means of escape for three children from a burning mobile home was a broken window. Firefighters had to cut padlocks on front and rear doors to get to the kitchen fire. The children are nine, thirteen and sixteen. Two suffered minor injuries while making their escape. Here’s more.
On Sunday at the Croft Fire Department in Spartanburg, firefighters discovered something was wrong with their dog, Casey.
They say she was acting lethargic and wouldn’t get up.
They took her veterinary emergency clinic, where staff there discovered she had been shot.
Lewis Hayes, the chief at the Croft Fire Department says, “She’s trained to try and find people that are possibly lost, whether it’s a small child or an adult.”
Now she is put on medical leave, after someone shot her with a bird shot gun over the weekend, hitting her with over 100 pellets.
Chief Hayes tells us people have complained about Casey’s barking in the past, which he says could have been a motive for the shooter.
“We bought a collar that is used to help her stop barking and then at night here at the station we have critters that she barks at so we would bring her in at night,” says Hayes.
In our recent discussions about first responders and social media I had cautioned that chiefs need to make sure that their policies to address these issues aren’t infringing on the rights of their employees. Here’s a good reason why. The New York Times reported yesterday the National Labor Relations Board is accusing an ambulance company of illegally firing an employee who used Facebook to criticize a boss. Labor lawyers consider this a ground-breaking case because, for the first time, the ”board has stepped in to argue that workers’ criticisms of their bosses or companies on a social networking site are generally a protected activity and that employers would be violating the law by punishing workers for such statements.”
The complaint is against American Medical Response of Connecticut. While it doesn’t involve patient confidentiality, to me, the most interesting part is that NLRB is saying rights already established extend to Facebook or other social media. While I am not a lawyer and don’t play one on TV (these days I don’t play anything on TV) you have to wonder how policies already established and those being considered will hold up not just in the labor arena, but also in the area of protected speech in general.
I think back to at least three freedom of speech lawsuits the District of Columbia was on the losing end of toward the end of the last century. The oldest one is a 1970s case where Firefighter Kenny Cox was disciplined for criticizing the department’s rotating closure policy while on duty talking to a reporter at the scene of a fatal fire. DC firefighters, with the help of IAFF Local 36 and the American Civil Liberties Union, also prevailed in cases where chiefs punished them for a political cartoon posted at a firehouse and for doing a TV interview, off duty, about inadequate supplies for infectious disease control.
So, can a chief completely ban the use of social media while on duty? Can the chief limit what a first responder writes on Facebook while off duty? Are their parallels between what the NLRB is saying from a labor standpoint and previous rulings about First Amendment rights?
I don’t pretend to know the answers to these questions, but these are things I do think about and hope you are too.
Lafe Solomon, the board’s acting general counsel, said, “This is a fairly straightforward case under the National Labor Relations Act — whether it takes place on Facebook or at the water cooler, it was employees talking jointly about working conditions, in this case about their supervisor, and they have a right to do that.”
The labor board said the company’s Facebook rule was “overly broad” and improperly limited employees’ rights to discuss working conditions among themselves.
Moreover, the board faulted another company policy, one prohibiting employees from making “disparaging” or “discriminatory” “comments when discussing the company or the employee’s superiors” and “co-workers.”
The board’s complaint prompted Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, a law firm with a large labor and employment practice representing hundreds of companies, to send a “lawflash” advisory on Monday to its clients, saying, “All private sector employers should take note,” regardless “of whether their work force is represented by a union.”
The firm added, “Employers should review their Internet and social media policies to determine whether they are susceptible to an allegation that the policy would ‘reasonably tend to chill employees’ ” in the exercise of their rights to discuss wages, working conditions and unionization.
American Medical Response of Connecticut denied the labor board’s allegations, saying they were without merit. “The employee in question was discharged based on multiple, serious complaints about her behavior,” the company said in a statement. “The employee was also held accountable for negative personal attacks against a co-worker posted publicly on Facebook. The company believes that the offensive statements made against the co-workers were not concerted activity protected under federal law.”
Engine Company 421 was first on the scene, followed by Tally-Ho 423, and Truck Company’s 428. Engine Company took their first line to the front of the buses to cool the exposure and begin the attack of the intense fire consuming the buses. Two of the buses were totally engulfed while the third bus was also burning. A second and a third hose line was taken from Engine 421 by members of that company and Tally-Ho.
The Malverne School District lost three new school buses and the use of its portable classrooms on Sunday morning after a fire broke out and engulfed the recently purchased buses, which were in the parking lot of the Davison Avenue Intermediate School in Lynbrook.
Firefighters arrived at the school, at 49 Davison Ave., at 4:17 a.m. to find two buses in flames and third beginning to burn. Nearby portable classrooms, used for music classes, sustained heavy exterior damage and interior smoke damage, according to Superintendent Dr. James Hunderfund.
Neighbors reportedly heard screaming and were able to help two adults, the children’s mother and grandmother, out of the home, but could not get to the kids, three boys and two girls.
Marion County Fire Rescue said the two girls were taken to a hospital where they died, and firefighters found the three boys’ bodies in the burned home.
A woman, reportedly the sister of the mother of the children, who had escaped was severely burned and airlifted to Shands Hospital in Gainesville in critical condition. The children’s mother suffered only minor injuries.
Marion County sheriff’s Detective Donald Buie said the mother and grandmother told him a space heater in the living room may have been to blame.
The women told Buie they were awake in their room when they hear the children screaming that there was a fire. When they emerged from the room, they found the front portion of the home fully engulfed in flames. They escaped through their bedroom windows, but the children were trapped inside.
Another neighbor, Dennis Flood, said he was inside his home when he heard screaming.
Flood said his family members knocked out windows, trying unsuccessfully to find a way into the home. They shouted in an effort to get the attention of the people inside.
Click the image for the Google Maps Street View of the firehouse.
A press release from the DC Fire & EMS Department announces the sudden move out of an almost century old firehouse in Upper Northwest Washington. The renovation of the quarters of Engine 28, Truck 14 and Ambulance 28 had been planned for some time. Chief Dennis Rubin and his staff had previously testified before the DC City Council that the department has been frustrated by unsucessful attempts to keep the fire and EMS equipment close to the neighborhood around Connecticut Avenue and Porter Street. Now, unspecified conditions at the firehouse, built in 1916, have forced this move even though the renovation is not imminent. Here is an excerpt from the release issued early this evening:
The Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department will be closing the facility housing Engine 28 and other units located at 3522 Connecticut Avenue NW within the next twenty-four hours until the renovation of the station is completed. Feedback from personnel assigned at the firehouse in addition to recent building inspections, have facilitated immediate action. The current plan is to relocate Engine 28 and Truck 14 to the fire station at 4930 Connecticut Avenue NW, about 1 mile away. In addition to ‘first responder’ coverage Emergency Medical Services in the area will be adjusted to include response from the firehouse at 1763 Lanier Place NW slightly over a mile’s distance as well as the firehouse located at 1617 U Street, NW about 2 miles away.
While plans for the renovation have been completed the project has not been put out for bid.
In Bialystok, Poland today two freight trains collided and caught fire. This resulted in a large explosion involving cars carrying oil and fuel that was caught on video (story above, raw video below). Here is more from SkyNews:
It is understood 17 out of 32 tanks travelling in convoy through the Polish city of Bialystock caught fire – but, amazingly, only two people were injured.
The footage shows the burning crash wreckage suddenly erupt, sending massive flames and clouds of black smoke shooting into the air.
More than 30 fire engines were scrambled to the scene and extra firefighters brought in from other provinces.
Firefighter Jan Gradkowski said: “When we arrived at the site we found a lot of burning tanks.
“The last tank derailed and collided with a locomotive moving in the opposite direction.
This fire was reported at 6:38 PM Sunday night at 24 Saylor Drive in Coplay, Pennsylvania. Longtime STATter911.com contributor Bill Rohrer from NewsWorking.org was on the scene before the fire department. Here are excerpts from Bill’s description:
… heavy fire conditions in the rear of a 1-story S/F/D. Whitehall’s Squrt 3 arrives as first-due engine and stretches two lines – one to the front door and one to the rear using side B. The initial line to the front door was delayed in being charged because of pump problems.
Coplay Engine 5 arrives and stretches two lines to the rear. Another large handline was stretched off of Squrt 3 to the rear using the D side of the home.
Initial engine crews made a good attack through the front door after getting the line wet. However, with the delay in calling 911 (as the homeowner tried to battle the blaze) and with heavy fire conditions met on arrival, the attack was a little to late to save the house, as it was totally gutted.
Companies working the two alarm blaze: Coplay engines 511 and 512, Whitehall Engines 3, 13, 4, rescue 5, Cascade unit 3292 (Woodlawn) EMS 6291 (Cetronia) and Macungie Recon 6651.
The homeowner sustained burns to his feet and was transported to a local hospital. Red Cross was on scene assisting the family.
Dennis Brandon is a former volunteer firefighter, but he was no match Saturday for a fast-moving fire that erupted while he was watching the Eagles game, destroying his family’s recently-expanded Coplay Borough ranch home.
The fire, which started in the rear of the house at 24 Saylor Drive at about 6:30 p.m., quickly tore through the rancher. Brandon, 61, said he made a brief effort to fight the fire, which he initially thought was confined to the kitchen curtains, but when he realized it was raging out of control, fled the home with his son and called 911.
Warehouse fire in Glenview, Illinois: Steve Redick video of a fire early Sunday morning in a 14,000 square foot maintenance building that dates back to 1909. Five firefighters were treated at local hospitals and released. Firegeezer has pictures from Larry Shapiro and many more details.
Click the image to see how this was resolved in Detroit.
The 20,000th comment posted to STATter911.com: We hit that mark at 11:38 EDT Saturday night with a comment by Danny H. on the story of the stolen fire helmet in Boston. Danny wrote, ”Looks like a Citizen’s Arrest to me!!”.
As I have said many times before, my favorite comments are those that discuss the issues in a productive manner rather than wasting our time by blasting each other. But I am realistic about the Internet and know we are far from reaching that goal. I do find though, that in between all of the claims about who has the bigger hose, there is a lot to learn from the STATter911 audience. Your input is always appreciated.
Claims of atrocious conduct on the fireground and a response from those being accused: Quite a to-do following a September 20 house fire in King George County, Virginia. Citizens and fire officials got together last Thursday to discuss the fire at a town hall meeting. The public pointed fingers at the visiting firefighters from Charles County, Maryland for behaving badly. The King George chief said there is plenty of blame to go around. That story, along with video of the fire can be found here. There is also a response from the chiefs of the mutual aid companies that came from across the Potomac River. Click here for that story.
Large house destroyed in Falls Church, Virginia: Click here for WUSA9.com coverage of a fire early Sunday morning at Haycock Road and Westmoreland Street (picture to the right). Watch the video.
Transformer explosion shuts nuclear power plant in New York: It happened at the Indian Point 2 plant on Sunday evening. LoHud.com reports the local fire department was kept outside the gates for a while and wasn’t needed when the firefighters were allowed inside. Here is what’s known about the incident.
Technology to help figure out volunteer staffing: In Shamokin Dam, Pennsylvania instead of trying to guess which volunteers might show up when their is an alarm, the fire department is using a new system to get feedback moments after the call is dispatched. Click here for details.
Getting the right hole is crucial: A man in New Zealand tried to fuel his boat by putting the petrol in a rod holder which brought out firefighters. Wonder what he was fueled with? Click here.
Toronto firehouse is a must see on the bachelorette party circuit: Actually it’s the firefighters who are the attraction at Toronto Fire Hall 332, the buisiest fire station in Canada. Located in the Entertainment District, it is a regular stop for brides-to-be and their entourages. Here’s the story.
Colorado apartment fire: Raw video from a fire Sunday afternoon in Arapahoe County. Click here for news coverage.
What's wrong with this picture? Click the video above to watch this street drama unfold.
No date on this Detroit house fire on Temple Street between Park Avenue and Woodward Avenue. (UPDATE – Dennis Walus was kind enough to track this down and confirmed the fire was on Saturday at 72 Temple Street.)
The description says there is a ”man trapped upstairs claiming people downstairs were shooting at him” and that the area was “soon swarming with police.”
As Engine 1 drops its lines in front of the structure, look who is kind enough to catch the plug for them. It took a little bit before the cop got the message that unless he has a pump built into that cruiser he better move it.
While we are on the subject of Detroit, STATter911.com reader and contributor Paul Bassett (who knows his way around both a crime scene and a fireground), recently posted the video below from his July visit. Paul’s still photos can be found here.
Paul also has one of the nicest photo essays on the challenges faced by Detroit firefighters. We have previously posted it. In case you missed it, click here.
On a daily basis Dennis Walus is always out there taking great pictures of Detroit firefighters in action. His photos can be found here.
And our friend in Chicago, Steve Redick, makes regular trips to Detroit. His Detroit videos are here.
Firefighters from Charles County, Maryland are telling a different story about their actions at a September 20 house fire across the Potomac River in King George County, Virginia. On Thursday there was a town hall meeting covered by Fredericksburg.com where citizens complained and fire officials agreed that the fire was mismanaged and the conduct of the firefighters was “atrocious”. In her original article reporter Cathy Dyson wrote, “some firefighters danced around and played on a rescue stretcher, gave each other high-fives and rode a pink scooter across the lawn.”
“King George did not have adequate staff and manpower to put in the right places like we did,” said Clifton Butler, volunteer assistant chief at Newburg Volunteer Rescue Squad and Fire Department in Charles County. “When we got there, we went to work and did what we were supposed to do.”
Jason Moore, fire chief of LaPlata Volunteer Fire Department, said his unit was dispatched 30 minutes after the first trucks responded. He expected to help with cleanup and was surprised that the fire was still raging.
“That thing should have been well out by then,” he said, adding his ladder truck probably got to the scene 50 minutes after the first units arrived. “It was chaotic, to say it lightly, from the simple matter of who’s in charge, who’s calling the shots.”
Butler said firemen may have slapped a few high-fives when the fire was out, to show they were glad the situation was handled and no one got hurt.
“But there was no horseplay,” he said.
He said no one from King George was doing anything while the Maryland firefighters worked.
“We took a lot of our pieces to come over and protect the citizens of Dahlgren because we know they needed it,” Butler said.
Moore, from LaPlata, was “personally offended” that King George would place blame publicly instead of talking about the issue privately, among the departments involved.
“You don’t put your dirty laundry out on the street,” Moore said. “I’m not gonna spit in your yard, don’t spit in mine.”
Neighbor Don Diehl said he lives nine houses down and went to the fire scene at least half an hour after the first trucks got there. He didn’t go earlier because he was watching Monday night football.
“What I saw was an orchestrated effort to put the fire out,” said Diehl. “That would be my judgement as a layman.”
Video from dash-cam in the vehicle of King George County Sheriff’s Deputy Timothy Lyons shows the September 20th fire. The video was played at a town hall meeting on Thursday evening.
While a five-alarm fire blazed in King George County in September, some firefighters danced around and played on a rescue stretcher, gave each other high-fives and rode a pink scooter across the lawn, according to King George Fire and Rescue officials.
“The conduct was atrocious,” said Floyd Allen, the department’s safety officer.
The behavior of the firefighters is one of many problems cited at a town hall meeting last night to discuss the incident.
King George fire officials say they believe the firefighters acting irresponsibly had responded from Maryland. No Maryland firefighters attended the meeting.
Residents raised concerns about why King George has to rely on units from Charles County, Md. They also wondered why King George doesn’t have enough paid and volunteer workers to get trucks out to the scene, and why that incident was so poorly managed.
Fire and Rescue Chief David Moody told more than a dozen people in the audience he had the same concerns they did. He spoke openly–and critically–of the actions of the Maryland firefighters and admitted his own personnel didn’t follow protocol.
“King George folks are at fault, too, absolutely,” said Moody, who wasn’t on the call but has interviewed firefighters and residents. “Most of the people I talked to said it just looked like nobody was in control.”
East Great Plain Fire Chief Patrick Daley said firefighters found the fire in the building’s attic, where it moved horizontally across the structure.
Firefighters with axes and power saws cut holes in the roof as flames shot through the crown of the building. Other firefighters made their way into the smoke-filled structure.
“The most damage from the fire was in the attic,” said Daley, who said he did not consider the fire suspicious. “The main problem was getting firefighters up through the ceiling and into the attic.”
I don’t know if this a trend and Friendly’s is becoming the Dollar Store of the restaurant business (see Firegeezer) but a month earlier, on October 2, a Friendly’s burned to the bround in Concord, New Hampshire. The aftermath is below. Click here to read and watch more about that fire.
Two fire departments in Nacogdoches County, Texas are contemplating drastic changes now that the public has spoken and failed to vote for funding an emergency service district (ESD). The former career firefighter who lead the oppposition has now donated $150 to one department and changed the message on the electronic sign that told people to vote down the ESD to one that asks the public to make donations to their local VFD. Here’s more from KTRE-TV:
“It’s kinda a slap in the face, that how dare you ask us,” said Bryan Loudenslager, Melrose volunteer firefighter. “But in the midst, if they have an emergency we’re there all hours of the night. Now that we have an emergency that we need funding, we were unable to get that,” said Loudenslager.
Opponents say it boiled down to one issue. “People are tired of paying property taxes and this was going to be another one of those,” said Nathan Alders Jr. He actively campaigned against the proposal that would provide authorization to levy a tax not to exceed 10 cents on each $100 valuation of taxable property within the district.
The Woden Fire Department is contemplating closure. “We really feel unappreciated,” stated Woden’s fire chief, Rickey Jones. “I don’t know what direction we’re going to go, but we don’t have money. It’s up to the community to decide if they want a fire department, ” said Jones.
In Melrose the plan is just short of a rummage sale. “We’re going to have to sell off some equipment to go ahead and make ends meet,” said Loudenslager. The department owes money on a truck they obtained through a matching grant. There won’t be enough money to pay the notes if a whole lot of money doesn’t come in within the next three months according to loudenslager.
Alders said no one needs to shut down or sell off. “I think what we may need to do is scale aback just a little bit and get a budget and work within that budget,” said the retired career firefighter for the Nacogdoches Fire Department.
This is from a fire on Tuesday handled by Missouri’s West Plains Fire Department. An evacuation order is given at 4:55 on the video. No details about the fire, but West Plains FD has posted a series of pictures from the fire. Click here.
Printing company fire in Chatsworth, California: Fire consumed a printing company yesterday evening. The fire was reported at 5:59 PM in the 100 X 80 building. Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey has a very detailed account, pictures & more video at the LAFD blog. Here’s an excerpt- “Forcing their way through rolling steel and entry doors, firefighters discovered extreme fire conditions throughout a graphics design and direct mail marketing firm heavily loaded with combustible printing and printed materials. The offensive interior attack on the fire proved short lived as flames roared through the roof, compromising the structure within ten minutes of the 9-1-1 call that brought scores of Los Angeles Firefighters to the scene.” Click here for more video.
Election woes: In Stockton, California firefighters are quite worried over the passage of Measure H which gives the city new ways to control staffing and cut costs. Read and watch the story.
Crane rescue: Continuing with our California theme, click here for pictures and details of the rescue of two people injured on top of a 200-foot tall construction crane in Long Beach.
Neil Sedaka was wrong! Not everyone loves the calendar girl. Controversy has stalled the release of a calendar in Australia that features pictures of female firefighters from ACT Rural Fire Service. If it is delayed too long the calendar's only use may be those pictures. Click the image for more.
Virginia department adds positions because of volunteer shortage: Four part time firefighters will be hired in Warren County due to concerns over the dwindling number of volunteers. Here’s the story.
One dead in overnight two-alarm fire in Baltimore: Early details from a 2:30 AM fire that damaged three townhomes in the 7000 block of McClean Boulevard in Northeast Baltimore. One man was found dead inside. Click here for more.
Union head fights suspension over talking to the press: In Ottawa a disciplinary hearing is underway as Stéphane Noël, president of the union in Gatineau tries to overturn a six-month suspension for telling reporters about water pressure issues following a church fire. Here’s more.
6:30 AM “home inspection” leads to arrest of man claiming to be firefighter: In Adams County, Pennsylvania a strange story of a man claiming to be a firefighter walking into the bedroom of a man’s home. Read more.
911 not that important: The mayor of Alsip, Illinois, a former firefighter, is stunned voters failed to approve a fifty-cent per month surcharge on their phone bills to help fund 911. The mayor points out you can’t buy a Coke for that price. Check it out.
Strike update from the Firegeezer crew: Mike Ward and Bill Schumm continue to keep us up to date on the labor dispute involving the London Fire Brigade. Click here and scroll down for multiple stories.
Woman says she wasn’t about to jump but was sure was glad to see firefighters: In the video above, WUSA9.com talked to a young woman who was on the phone with here sister doubtful that DC firefighters would be able to get to her as smoke filled her 10th floor apartment on Tuesday. Along with the previous raw video and fireground audio, we have added interviews with some of the firefighters who helped in the rescues during Tuesday’s fire at 1444 Rhode Island Avenue, NW. The firefighters tell the story of a commercial vehicle that was jammed into a dumpster in an effort to get rear position for a ladder truck. Click here. Also, click here for a slideshow.
Ambulance fee defeated in Montgomery County, Maryland: In an extremely controversial campaign that pitted career versus volunteer, voters soundly rejected the idea of billing insurance companies for EMS service in Montgomery County. The vote was 135,000 to 116,000. Without the fee, county officials have warned of significant budget cuts for fire and EMS that could include the loss of 100 career firefighter positions. Read details.
Fire based EMS to remain in Sheboygan, Wisconsin: It was a narrow victory separated by 500 votes but a move to take EMS from the Sheboygan Fire Department and farm it out to the private sector was defeated. Chief Jeff Hermann sees this as a victory for the citizens. Read more.
Child born hours after mother escapes fire that killed two other children: A pregnant woman suffering from smoke inhalation gave birth shortly after escaping a fire in Norman, Oklahoma. The fire took the lives of two young children and injured others in the Larkins family. Here’s the story.
Video of a 1989 close call in Phoenix: Video and lessons learned in an old video from Phoenix showing the crew from Ladder 27 falling though the roof of a home with a lightweight truss roof. Here’s a look back.
No love here: As expected, the man accused of stealing a helmet from Boston’s Ladder 26 isn’t getting much sympathy from STATter911.com readers. If you haven’t seen it, here are the video and the comments.
Reasons to laugh: I offered an olive branch to my friend and mutual tormentor Fire Critic Rhett Fleitz yesterday and sang his praises for giving us a reason to laugh (other than at him) with a great video posted yesterday showing the cops view of fire and EMS on the scene of a highway crash. Click here if you haven’t seen it (it’s worth the time). The good will didn’t last long because Rhett’s good friend, and our fellow blogger, Willie Wines, went and ruined it all by having us once again laugh at Rhett Fleitz, the King of the fire/EMS blogs. Long live the king. If you are really bored, but need a really good laugh, click here.
A serious blog: While I am wasting your time with the foolishness above, over at Firegeezer.com they take their fire and EMS news seriously. Geezer and FossilMedic have a bunch of good postings, including the latest from the strike in London and an update on Roseville, California shopping mall fire and sprinkler controversy. Click here and scroll down.
Another community surprised by firefighter OT: In what as been a pattern in recent years, a news organization is doing a story how firefighters are making as much money as top city managers. This time it’s Long Beach, California where some firefighters and officers have doubled their salaries by working a lot of overtime. Here are the details.
Minneapolis concerns: Firefighters talk about past and future cuts and how it impacts fireground operations and safety for citizens and firefighters. The story is illustrated by a deadly fire in April. Here’s more.
DC Fire & EMS Department photographer Vito Maggiolo shot the video above during a fire at 1444 Rhode Island Avenue, NW. The fire was reported around 4:45 this afternoon and trapped some residents on the upper floors. Three civilians and two firefighters were hurt.
WUSA9.com’s Bruce Leshan reports the fire started on the 9th floor of the Windsor House. It trapped residents on the 10th floor who came to their windows signaling firefighters of their distress. Fire department spokesman Pete Piringer says firefighters brought residents to safety through the interior of the building and down ladders.
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