A noon time fire in Williamsport, Pennsylvania yesterday left a 41-year-old man dead. The body of Kenneth Segraves was found in the kitchen at the back of the home at 626 Grace Street about three hours after the fire was discovered. Here are excerpts from an article by Philip A. Holmes at SunGazette.com:
Among those outside the home was Segraves’ 37-year-old brother, Keith, a five-year employee with the city’s streets department.
“They gave the house number (over the radio). That’s how I knew to come down,” Segraves told a Sun-Gazette reporter as thick smoke spewed several hundred feet into the air from his brother’s home.
City Fire Chief C. Dean Heinbach said the fire easily was spotted by firefighters as they pulled out of headquarters on nearby Walnut Street.
Firefighters donned self-contained breathing apparatuses and carried hoses through the front door in a futile attempt to get an upper hand on the fire.
“The basement, all the way to the first and second floors, was involved in fire,” Heinbach said.
Within 20 minutes, all firefighters were ordered out by the inferno because it was getting too dangerous.
“The second-floor stairway gave out, and then the second floor started to cave in. Eventually, some of the roof caved in,” Heinbach said.
In Colorado, a Denver TV station is looking closely at mutual aid agreements telling the public that the closest fire company may not respond in a life and death emergency when seconds count. KDVR-TV explains to the public the difference between automatic aid and mutual aid following an incident where a woman in the Golden Heights area of Golden called 911 saying she was trapped in the basement of her burning home.
West Metro Fire Station 6 is less than a mile away from the home. According to the TV station, firefighters from that station told West Metro not to respond to the emergency. The mutual aid agreement between the two departments requires a firefighter on the scene confirming there is a fire and the request has to be approved by a chief, a captain or lieutenant.
KDVR-TV reports Golden firefighters arrived in about eight minutes from stations 4.2 and 7.2 miles away. The woman’s husband apparently made the save before firefighters were on the scene.
Similar mutual aid agreements are in effect throughout the area. But the chief of the Cunningham Fire Department believes in automatic aid and has such agreements in place with Aurora Fire and South Metro. Here’s more from the station’s report:
“Response time is the most important thing for the citizen,” Cunningham Fire Chief Jerry Rhodes told FOX 31. “Citizens don’t care what the name is on the side when their house is on fire. They want firefighters there in a hurry.”
Chief Rhodes thinks the closest fire department should respond no matter which district it’s in. He believes the community would be better served if all the metro area fire stations with a mutual aid system switched to an “auto aid agreement,” which means the closest fire department is automatically called.
But Denver Fire, West Metro Fire, and many other large fire departments defend the mutual aid agreement saying auto aid would take resources away from their cities and from the taxpayers who pay for fire protection.
“We have to be available for our citizens, not that we would ever turn down a request for mutual aid, but we don’t want have it to where it’s just an automatic,” West Metro Chief Doug McBee explained.
Golden’s Fire Chief also stands by the mutual aid system. He would not agree to an on camera interview, but sent us a statement which states, in part:
After reviewing response times for the (Golden Heights) incident, Golden Fire Department has directed a dispatch/response change…to include West Metro in the initial call for personnel. It states, On any reported structure fire in the Golden Heights area…Golden Dispatch shall immediately notify West Metro Dispatch…and…Pleasant View (Fire) to respond immediately after toning Golden Fire.
No details on exactly where in New York this fire occurred (a tag with the video indicates Brooklyn). But it seems to go out pretty fast.
UPDATE: Backstep Firefighter’s Bill Carey and an anonymous reader now have some details on the fire. It occurred Wednesday at 555 Wilson Avenue in Bushwick. Box 812 had Engines 252, 277, 233, Ladders 112, 176 and Battalion 37. Thanks.
The video above, by Charlie Hannagan at Syracuse.com, is from Firefighter Memorial Park in Syracuse, New York. On this day in 1939 the Collins Block building collapsed taking the lives of eight firefighters and an assistant chief who died three days later. With this memorial service, the Syracuse Fire Department each year honors all of the city’s firefighters who have died in the line of duty. Currently that number is 45.
What isn’t on the video, but is the focus of an article by Hannagan, are the speeches by Chief Mark McLees and IAFF Local 280 president James Ennis. Each man takes the opportunity to remind political leaders and the public that we are the same ”hometown heroes” who were held in such high esteem after 9-11. They address the budget cuts impacting safety and the attacks on firefighter pensions. An important message that needs to be heard all across the country.
But will the citizens and the politicians listen?
It is extremely tough out there right now for firefighters. It isn’t just that you are often losing these economic battles. That’s horrible in itself and is having a devastating impact on scores of departments. It is the image and reputation of firefighters that is also taking a hit. This week alone, on opposite sides of the country, firefighters are making big news with some very unflattering stories about their work ethic (click here and here).
As I pointed out earlier in the week, I am not here to argue the facts of any of these stories. It is the bigger picture that has me worried. Chief McLees and President Ennis are on the right track, but so much more needs to be done. Make sure you read the comments already popping up about their statements to get the full picture of what’s out there.
Today, “the economy has bottomed out. The government has bailed out Wall Street, the banks, the automobile, insurance and housing industries. Firefighters’ pensions are now being blamed for the financial woes of the state and many other states across the nation,” he (Chief McLees) said.
“Are you kidding me? Firefighters’ pensions are the cause? Seriously?” McLees said.
“The last time I checked there was no plaque with the names of bankers who died in the line of duty. There are no statues of Wall Street executives who laid down their lives for total strangers,” he said.
James Ennis, president of Syracuse Firefighters Local 280, continued on the same theme.
“In these extremely difficult economic times, when pundits and others may argue about the number of firefighters needed to safely operate at a working fire, or complain about the pensions and benefits we receive, I remind you of the 45 brave men whose memories we honor here this morning,” Ennis said.
“I ask, and implore, that you assist us from ever having to add yet another name to the wall behind me,” he said.
Ennis then reminded those present that firefighters and retirees face a shortened life expectancy, a greater risk of getting cancer and other diseases because of their continued exposure to smoke, toxins and other byproducts of combustion in the course of their careers.
This is a fire at 6:30 PM today in Waipukurau. Waipukurau is in the Central Hawke’s Bay District. It is located on the east coast North Island of New Zealand.
The Sun-Times also has the story of a firefighter who has minor injuries after being slugged by a man whose vehicle was in the roadway:
The 52-year-old firefighter was attacked about at 5:25 p.m. in the 7200 block of South Lafayette. The firefighter claimed the man’s vehicle was blocking the road, police said.
The man fled after the incident.
To give you another view of what the firefighters are up against, someone put together the story above of a Chicago Fire Department engine and crew getting stuck in the Albany Park neighborhood. But the videographer didn’t wait around for the rescue.
The clip above, from a different neighbor with a camera, has the snowplow coming in to save the stuck CFD crew on the streets of Albany Park.
Obviously it isn’t just Chicago. Neighbors with shovels rush in to help Milwaukee Fire Department’s Engine 23 dig out.
They have their hands full in Chicago with the snow. Check the video above starting at about 3:30 and watch as Chicago firefighters try to navigate the streets with a little help.
A rather unique story from Richmond, California. Peter Pan, employed by Councilman Tom Butt to handle fire prevention duties on Butt’s property, was being pursued at high speed by Sparkle. Both ended up sharing the same small ledge half-way down a 300 foot cliff on the shoreline waiting to be rescued. Peter Pan is a sheep. Sparkle is a dog. A friend of Sparkle’s owner, a human female, also almost became stuck when she tried to rescue the black Labrador retriever. The rescue attempt by the Richmond Fire Department was much more successful and was watched on TV by Tom Butt while he busy doing the taxpayer’s business at a City Council meeting.
“The dog and sheep, who were shortly before chaser and chasee, found themselves reluctant buddies stranded a few feet apart on a ledge,” Butt wrote to his constituents today in an e-mail.
Richmond firefighters converged on the scene and rappelled down the cliff. Sparkle, a black Labrador retriever, seemed eager to be rescued and was quickly scooped up. But Peter Pan went on the lam for a few tense moments, skittering away from rescuers a couple of times.
Finally, the sheep was snatched. All’s wool that ends wool.
Butt said he keeps three goats and two sheep on his property in the Point Richmond hills to munch on the fire-hazard brush.
This is from the 1954 episode of TheBig Picture: Pictorial Report Number 27 sh0wing a mock disaster where the Army would be expected to handle mass civilian casualties. This drill simulated a tornado striking the City of San Antonio and showing the Army’s response. It was staged at Brooke Army Hospital in Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
As we approach the 10th anniversary here is one way to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice on September 11, 2001. The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation will help you set up and organize a 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb for your area.
On the morning of September 11th fire service members convene in high-rise buildings across the United States to climb 110 stories as a tribute to their fallen brothers. Some use air pack or carry hoses; many are in full turn-out gear; others are accompanied by rescue dogs. Each climber carries the photograph of a firefighter who was lost on September 11, 2001.
Several climbs have been modified to enable citizens to participate, and are generally held in outdoor venues. For both types of event, the 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb is not a race, but an opportunity to honor and remember the 343 FDNY members who selflessly gave their lives so that others might live.
An antique fire engine was involved in a hit and run collision in St. Paul, Minnesota. Now that’s a bit unusual. Imagine a lookout broadcast by police. Glenn Usdin’s FireTruckBlog.com has that story and much more, including the death of KME founder John “Sonny” Kovatch. Click here for more.
Captain Steve Weatherby of the Lutherville Volunteer Fire Company in Baltimore County, Maryland asked that we share this letter of thanks for all who reached out to them following the recent death of Firefighter Mark Falkenhan.
This is a fire Saturday afternoon at the Sun Prairie apartments in West Des Moines, Iowa that left 100 people homeless. No one was injured. The fire broke out around 3:30 PM and apparently started on a third floor balcony. The fire damaged 36 units and went to three alarms.
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