It takes a lot to impress me as I search high and low for videos that are worthy of the STATter911.com audience. While this appears to be just a video of a vehicle fire in Albuquerque, New Mexico, it is more than that (actually it's two vehicles burning). If, like me, you are interested in how people react around emergency scenes (especially people with cameras), this is pure gold..
In the title of these clips, the videographer (hoppenbob) labels the whole thing "Awesome". I am not sure the video is awesome, but the commentary sure fits the bill for me. I thought the high point was yelling to the cop "Am I safe here?" and apparently not getting a reply. Maybe, if you feel the need to ask, that's your answer right there..
I am sure there are some of you reading this who don't have the keen, artistic sense I've developed from 38 years of broadcasting and will declare, after watching these clips, that this was almost five minutes of your life that you wished you had back. Let me remind you that STATter911.com's policy is that there are no refunds.
Early reports indicated that there could be three people trapped inside the house, including a person in a wheelchair.
Despite signs that the house had recently been inhabited — a newer-model car was parked in the driveway — McMillan said that there was nobody found inside the house.
McMillan said high heat conditions, a strong wind and the fact that the fire had a "big head start" on firefighters, made it extra difficult to fight.
"We had really volatile smoke that was really boiling out of this thing," McMillan said. "We ended up pulling (firefighters) out."
I'm sure they were rethinking that decision: Watch this video of a truck fire starting at about the 20-second mark. A driver decides to ignore all of the warning signs, like heavy, black smoke pushing across the highway and a truck burning up, and just goes for it. You can't let a little thing like that keep you from where you need to be. I'd love to know what was going through the driver's mind when they heard the pop and saw the flames shooting toward them a bit. They are probably now telling everyone how they cheated death.
FEMS follow-up and Fossilmedic has a new pen-pal who still isn't fond of Rubin: If you read DC City Councilmember Phil Mendelson's response to a complaint by Mike Ward at Firegeezer.com you will likely get the impression that Mendelson is not a big fan of calling the city agency that operates the fire trucks and ambulances " FEMS" (even though Mendelson uses the word a lot). But Mendelson may like it more than he likes the former FEMS chief, Dennis Rubin. Ward had written Mendelson with concerns about the move toward FEMS. You can find that email under the column titled Calling them FEMS will not improve out-of-hospital emergency medical care. In his response Mendelson thinks EMS needs to be highlighted but FEMS may not be the answer,
I have told Chief Ellerbe, however, that the change must be phased in. Further, I told the chief that he ought to consider alternatives such as "DC Fire & EMS." The Chief indicated that he is open to these suggestions and that he will work with the union presidents.
As for the former chief, Mendelson wrote, "Dennis Rubin did damage to the efforts to assert the EMS mission and a small part of that was re-asserting the DCFD designation." As you may recall, many of the clashes between Rubin and Mendelson were chronicled on STATter911.com (click here for the Rubin archives). Read the complete email from Mendelson to Ward.
FireTruckBlog.com: The late Donald Smeal being honored in Nebraska and a fire truck pull in Indiana make up some of the apparatus news from FireTruckBlog.com today. Click here.
Mineral oil & propane help fuel warehouse fire that damages rig: A fire engine from Hillsborough County, Florida took a beating during Saturday's fire at a building housing a business that rehabs electrical transformers. Click here for our coverage.
FDNY in action with multiple people at windows on arrival: The photographer got there before the fire trucks did on this recent fire in Brooklyn. Check it out.
Who has your back?: Is it the Republicans? The Democrats? The Tea Party? Politico looks at potential damage done by some governors during the pension battle that may have some cops and firefighters switching parties. Here's the story.
Climb in DC: If you saw our video of the 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb at FDIC (click here) you know what a great event it is. There is also a climb this week in Washington during CFSI this Wednesday. Click here to sign up.
Fire truck runs over man in street: In Winnipeg, a fire truck on a response ran over and killed a man. Police say the man was lying in the street and the driver of the rig couldn't stop in time. Here's more.
Master stream knocks ladder off of roof: One firefighter was hurt when a ladder was pushed off the roof of a burning house in Minneapolis. Part of it was captured on video. Click here.
Hillsborough County firefighters responded to a 3-alarm fire at Electrical Engineering in the 6100 block of Hartford Street in an unincorporated part of the city between Progress Village and South Tampa.
According to the company's website, Electrical Engineering does high voltage testing and line work as well as industrial and commercial electrical work.
One fire truck was damaged as firefighters battled the blaze at Electrical Engineering Enterprises, 6115 Hartford St., authorities said. The property is near Progress Village, east of Tampa.
"There was an explosion shortly after they arrived and they didn't have time to move the truck," said David Travis, an interim assistant chief with Hillsborough County Fire Rescue.
Travis said the company refurbishes transformers, a process that requires gallons of mineral oil, as well as propane tanks to power forklifts.
Some of the materials in the warehouse made battling the blaze a tricky endeavor for firefighting crews from Hillsborough County.
“There’s a lot of material, combustible material inside the facility including mineral oil, mineral spirits and other materials like that,” said David Travis with Hillsborough County Fire and Rescue. “They also had some propane tanks which caused several explosions. It made it quite challenging.”
A fire Thursday at 275 Eldert Street in Brooklyn. Before the arrival of FDNY neighbors try to help those at second floor windows in the front. It appears from the video there may have been others waiting for help in the rear. None of the injuries were reported to be serious. Below is a later video from the fireground.
The headline on this post is a quote from Chuck Canterbury, the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police. It came from an article at Politco.com by Jeanne Cummings about firefighters and cops who feel a natural ally and friend has turned on them. Here are excerpts:
Many cops and firefighters have thrown their allegiance to the GOP for years — union members who frequently stray from labor’s longtime support for Democrats.
A host of new Republican governors is changing all that.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and others took aim at the GOP’s most powerful labor antagonists but ended up hitting some of the party’s best friends too — leaving public-safety unions fearful this year’s attack on teachers might easily be next year’s attack on them.
It’s a political shift that could have significant repercussions, and not just because these right-leaning union members vote for Republicans in sizable numbers. Angry cops and firefighters make for bad PR — especially after Republicans under President George W. Bush aligned themselves so successfully with the heroes of Sept. 11 in the years since then.
Chuck Canterbury, the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said his members are “shocked” by the turn of events.
He is traveling the country to rally FOP members to rise up against anti-labor laws in their states or in support of their colleagues in other states. “There is going to be a backlash,” said Canterbury, a former county police officer in South Carolina. “We are going to hold them accountable.”
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) experienced the blowback firsthand when he attended a recent event for rising leaders in the New York fire department.
“These are down-the-line conservatives. They fully supported Bush in the Iraq war, in the war against terrorism, and on all the gut issues they were there,” King said. “Some of the guys I talked to said, ‘We stood with Bush on Queens Boulevard. Now, the Republicans have turned on us.’ ”
Democrats win their share of public-safety union endorsements, and the International Association of Fire Fighters — which calls itself “the most bipartisan union in the AFL-CIO” — was one of the first unions to endorse Democrat John Kerry in 2004, and later endorsed Barack Obama in 2008.
But for many public safety workers, the Republican party is a natural home, a comfortable fit for these overwhelmingly white, male and often culturally conservative voters. And in turn, they offer the kind of spit-and-polish endorsements that any politician would crave — allowing Republicans to peel off labor support from Democrats and boost their tough-on-crime bona fides at the same time.
Now it looks like the 2011 labor fights won’t just energize the Democratic-leaning union members but could cause some of the Republican-leaning ones to break away.
This guy didn't buy a badge, a helmet or flashing lights for his car in an effort to pretend he was a firefighter. Police say all Austin Lee Reding needed was access to the Internet and a keyboard.
The 20-year-old Reding has been charged by police in Waterloo, Iowa with impersonating a public official after posting on the Facebook page of a local radio station that he was a firefighter involved in a recent rescue.
The rescue occurred Wednesday after a man jumped into the Cedar River during a police chase. Here's more from KCRG-TV:
Police say Reding posted several comments Wednesday on the Facebook page for public radio station, KCRR, claiming he had been a Waterloo firefighter and paramedic for two years. In the posts, Reding also said he was the paramedic who pulled a man from the Cedar River following a police chase that day.
Police contacted the fire department and confirmed that Reding was not a firefighter. Police say Reding admitted to posting the comments.
At about 1:40 in this video (shot by Amy Koppel) of a multi-family home burning in Minneapolis it appears a master stream knocks a ladder off the roof onto the D side of the building. It is difficult to see. The description with the video says one firefighter was hit in the head. KMSP-TV reports:
One firefighter was injured when water pressure from the hose knocked a ladder on top of him. He is expected to be okay. No other injuries were reported.
Below is earlier video from the fire on 1st Avenue near East 25th Street in the Whittier neighborhood. The fire was reported around 1:00 PM. Here's more from KMSP-TV:
Emergency crews said the fire started in the basement and worked its way up through the walls until it got into the attic. The cause of the fire is under investigation, but it's believed to be electrical.
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