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The Fire Critic hits a home run with this one. A chance to laugh at ourselves instead of just at Rhett.

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Rhett Fleitz is a small, but easy target. It isn’t just me. Take a look at what one his closest friends did to Rhett today. Willie Wines has two interesting pictures and a lot to say about his “little buddy” on the IronFiremen.com site

Rhett has put it all out there on various blogs for longer than most of us. These days you see a lot of this work on VAFireNews.com and FireCritic.com. Despite my pounding on him for his poorly thought out position on the Tennessee “pay for spray case”, I do sometimes like the guy. Mostly because he makes me laugh. 

Today he hit one out of the park in the laughter department. This video has apparently has been around since the middle of September, but most of us seemed to have missed it. Rhett, with a little from a friend, found it and posted it earlier today. 

We have run many videos and stories where firefighters are making fun of the police. In this case it’s the cops taking on fire and EMS and it is quite funny (that is if you are able to laugh at yourself a bit). 

Rhett gives his Monday morning “shout outs” to highlight various fire and EMS blogs. This is our Tuesday afternoon “wave” to Rhett Fleitz. And ths time I am doing it with all of the fingers. 

From the past: A 1989 close call & lessons learned. A Phoenix Fire Department video.

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I am sure many of you have seen this 1990 video produced by the Phoenix Fire Department about a close call the previous year for the crew from Ladder 27. Some dramatic video and an interesting story courtesy of YouTube. 

Raw video: Helmet stolen from Boston’s Ladder 26 & firefighters take down a suspect. Complaint to TV station that man was roughed up.

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Above is the  raw cell phone video of the take-down recorded by Jodie Smith.

More from WFXT-TV

Something tells me there isn’t going to be a lot of sympathy on this forum for the man being wrestled to the ground by firefighters from Boston’s Ladder 26. That man, identified by friend Nicholas Duncan as James, is accused of stealing a helmet from the rig and then pushing a firefighter in the chest as he tried to flee.

According to WFXT-TV, Nicholas Duncan says that James was injured when he was roughed up by firefighters who slammed his head into the pavement. A police report says the injuries came when James ran into a pole. WFXT-TV says that Duncan does not dispute who stole the helmet. According to Duncan the helmet ended up in his backpack after James and another man took it.

Jodie Smith, a bystander who took the video, claims a firefighter confronted and pushed him.

 The video above is the story from WFXT-TV.

Quick Takes

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 Apartment fire in Spokane, Washington: This is from a fire yesterday at the Houston House Apartments in North Spokane. News reports confirm what the video shows that it started on the second floor and had spread to the roof by the time firefighters had knocked the fire in the original apartment and the one above. The fire went to three-alarms with no injuries reported. Click here for four more video clips.

Must see video: It’s a week late, but you should see this video of arcing & sparking lines on top of a beer truck with the driver still inside. More lines came down trapping an ambulance crew. Click here for the story from Cottonwood Heights, Utah.

The battle over ambulance fees in Montgomery County, Maryland: Hours away from Tuesday’s election, The Washington Post’s Michael Laris tries to sort out all of the charges and counter-charges in the divisive fight over whether Montgomery County can bill insurance companies for ambulance service. Here’s the story.

Pikesville, Maryland house fire: Michael Schwartzberg was on the scene at a fire in Baltimore County early Sunday morning that left one occupant burned. Watch the video.

Child & adult dead in collision with fire vehicle in Delaware: DelawareOnline.com reports the two deaths in Felton Sunday evening after a crash on Dupont Highway with a utility vehicle from the Harrington Fire Department. A Delaware State Police report says a 29-year-old man and an 11-year-old boy were killed when their vehicle used the median to pass an SUV driven by a Harrington FD member and then struck the SUV before hitting another vehicle heading in the opposite direction on the highway.

Fire building with a checkered past: In Kalamazoo, Michigan Saturday evening a fire destroyed part of the 88-year-old former Checker Motors complex. The fire has been called suspicious. Checker was famous for its distinctive taxis. Read more.

Mississippi house fire: Video from a fire Saturday in Kosciusko, Mississippi.  Click here.

Professional wrestling and amateurish handling of the emergency: Dave recalls his youth watching wrestling matches at the Baltimore Civic Center as he looks at a four-year-old video of a fire during a televised wrestling event. Check it out.

Detroit sees increase in fires over Halloween weekend: Certainly far from the 800 fires on Devil’s Night in 1984, but the three day total was at 129, 10 more than last year. Read more.

EMS chief accused of being drunk at scene: An interesting story from Gloucester Township, NJ where the head of the EMS Alliance was arrested at a barricade scene. Here’s the story.

Minnesota firehouse fire: Firegeezer has the story of the blaze at St. Cloud Fire Department Station 3.

Update on close call with Boston’s Ladder 26 and power lines: Firefighter Close Calls has an updated and detailed account of the recent incident that caused an electrical shock to a Boston firefighter. You will want to read it.

The parrot in the house fire becomes the canary in the coal mine: No smoke alarms in a York, Pennsylvania home that caught fire early Thursday morning. But two people made it out thanks to their squawking pet parrot. Here’s more.

Behind the scenes during Backdraft filming: A look back 20-years to Ron Howard and company shooting in Chicago for Backdraft. Click here.

Turmoil at Texas fire company: The chief quit in disgust, an assistant chief stepped down and at least one other firefighter has left the Noonday VFD. The problem started when a repo man tried to snatch a firefighter’s vehicle. The claim is firefighters tried to prevent the repo man from doing his job. Read and watch the details

Blockage in vent requires extrication: Martin Grube at Fire Rescue TV had an up close and personal view of an unusual extrication in the exhaust system of a Virginia Beach, Virginia restaurant. Click here for the video.

Garages on fire in Millville, Massachusetts: Matt Gregoire at Providence Fire Videos caught this one on Saturday afternoon.