We have followed the story of Darin Unruh since the night he was burned in November 2008. The Houston fire captain was in cardiac arrest for six minutes after being pulled from the fire in northeast Houston. His mask had come off while fighting the fire, critically burning his face and neck. It may have been as long as five minutes before fellow firefighters found Unruh. It wasn't clear that Unruh was going to survive. Among other medical problems, Darrin Unruh's eyelids had to be rebuilt and he was given a cornea transplant in his left eye. Despite all of that, Captain Darin Unruh is back riding a fire truck in Houston. Watch this remarkable story.
UPDATE: Hospital and fire officials have told reporters the firefighter killed is Lt. Vincent Perez. Perez was 48-years-old. The firefighter critically burned is 53-year-old Anthony Valerio.
Perez was a San Francisco firefighter for 25 years. He was born and raised in the Mission District and Bernal Heights, and was known for his courage and sense of humor, firefighters union president Tom O'Connor said.
"He was always the first guy in a fire and the last guy out," O'Connor said. "He lightened up the mood at the firehouse … He was a firefighter's firefighter."
Earlier:
Speaking at San Francisco General Hospital, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White told reporters (see raw video below) that one firefighter has died and another is fighting for his life following a fire reported at 10:44 AM at 133 Berkeley Way. A third injured firefighter is reported in fair condition.
The blaze started on the first floor of the home and spread to at least the second story, (Spokeswoman Mindy) Talmadge said.
Talmadge said firefighters saw a flash while inside the home. Around that time, a firefighter in the home activated an emergency alarm. Dispatch got the alert and notified the incident commander, who tried to reach the firefighter by radio but was unable to, Talmadge said.
Additional crew members were sent in, and they found two firefighters down and "pretty badly burned," Talmadge said.
The third injured firefighter was able to exit the home without help, she said.
The firefighters were hurt during a "flashover," when everything in a room ignites at once because of a sudden influx of oxygen, Talmadge said.
All three injured firefighters were found together. The two most badly hurt were unconscious, and the third was able to walk out on his own, Talmadge said.
The house appears to be two stories from the street, but has two additional stories built into the slope of a hill in the back.
Talmadge said such structures "historically have caused us problems." Firefighters rushing into such buildings often do not realize that they're on the ground floor and or grasp the layout, she said.
I happen to like New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. It has nothing to do with his politics. I like that Weiner doesn't mind getting into it on TV with people who have a view of the world very different than his. Having heard him speak at a Washington dinner, I found him personable, engaging, self deprecating and hilarious. Maybe not the qualities you look for in a politician, but it makes me happy to see someone with a real personality instead of the blandness that seems to take hold in the Nation's Capital. How can you not like a guy who even makes wiener jokes at his own expense?
Weiner usually has the timing and ear of a good comedian.
But the New York Democrat has become tone deaf on the latest scandal brewing in Washington that some have dubbed "Weinergate". (The press really should stop with the cliché "gate" with every scandal. How about "Weinerhead" instead?)
There are some good lessons from Weiner's actions for public safety officials or anyone else on how not to manage a reputation issue.
For those who don't know, the problem began when a 21-year-old woman from Washington State received a picture from Rep. Weiner's Twitter account. It's a below the belt shot of a man in tight underwear. To describe it further using the theme I started, Oscar Mayer might have similar pictures in ads showing the packaging of its product.
Weiner said originally that his account was hacked. But reporters wanted to know why U.S. Capitol Police weren't called in to investigate the hacking. And it has gone downhill for Anthony Weiner from there. The issue now is Weiner won't say whether or not that's him in the picture.
“This prank has apparently been successful,” Weiner told reporters gathered outside his office. “After almost 11 hours of answering questions, any that anyone wanted to put, today I'm going to have to get back to work doing the job that I'm paid to do.”
Of course, Weiner said on Tuesday that he was “not going to allow this to be what I talk about all week,” only to find himself a day later sitting down for one-on-one interviews with NBC, Fox News, CBS, CNN and ABC. Those interviews did nothing to end the scrutiny, as Weiner refused to say “with certitude” that the photo, which showed an underwear-clad groin, was not of him.
By chastising members of the news media, including calling veteran CNN producer Ted Barrett a "jackass", Weiner is making himself look guilty. It would be one thing to remind reporters, the press and the public that everyone has more important things to do once you've come clean by answering the obvious questions that are lingering.
But Weiner hasn't done that. His explanation as to why he didn't call in police, but is instead having a private firm investigate, isn't very convincing. Also, unless you are a porn star who has that part of the body photographed so many times that you lose count, you know whether or not a specific picture exists of you in your underwear. Again, for the record, there are none of me.
You can't help come to the conclusion this is a man with something to hide. And if that's the case, Weiner should be smart enough to know this is not going to work.
Many of you have heard me say or have read on the blog the following words: get it out; get it right; get it behind you. There really is no other way to deal with bad news and reputation issues.
Egos and pride often make it extremely difficult for someone like Weiner to take this advice. They think they can ride it out by avoiding, spinning, blaming the press and covering up. Very, very few get away with it. And in the digital age, where your reputation can be destroyed at the speed of light, it's almost unheard of.
There may be no better example of a politician doing the wrong thing when it comes to a sex scandal than former Congressman Gary Condit. It was ten-years-ago last month that Condit's name was first connected to a missing woman, Chandra Levy. Instead of coming clean right away about an affair, Condit was willing to allow police, the press and the public to suspect that he was a killer (which he was not). The only thing that got Condit off the front page were the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Until he levels with everyone, Anthony Weiner, who wants to run for mayor of New York, will also likely have to wait for bigger news to come along. Otherwise, expect to see that Oscar Mayer ad running an awful lot in the coming days and months.
Above is helmet-cam video from the first of two fires last year at a pair of United Alloy and Metals facilities on East Slauson Avenue. The fires were a month apart and each included multiple explosions involving titanium. The first incident was on June 11.
That I can see, there are two explosions caught on the video above. The first is at 2:04 and the second at 3:30.
On Friday, June 11, 2010 at 11:00 AM, 36 Companies of Los Angeles Firefighters, 16 LAFD Rescue Ambulances, 2 Arson Units, 1 Urban Search and Rescue Unit, 2 Hazardous Materials Teams, 1 Helicopter, 4 EMS Battalion Captains, 7 Battalion Chief Officer Command Teams and 1 Division Chief Officer Command Team, a total of 248 Los Angeles Fire Department personnel, as well as Los Angeles County Fire Department staff responding in Mutual Aid, all under the direction of LAFD Deputy Chief Mario Rueda, responded to a Major Emergency Industrial Fire at 900 East Slauson Avenue in South Los Angeles.
Responding to numerous cell phone callers providing non-specific information regarding one or more explosions and a well-established fire, Los Angeles Firefighters quickly arrived at United Alloys and Metals to find heavy fire at an industrial facility known for processing titanium and super alloy scrap.
Firefighters came to the immediate aid of a worker critically injured by an earlier explosion and fire, as they brought huge volumes of water to bear upon intense flames encompassing a 150' x 100' area that included titanium shavings in large bins and containers.
Despite the challenge of subsequent explosions and resultant precautions, the first arriving 160 firefighters were able to tame the blaze in just 2 hours and 22 minutes.
Along with the critically injured civilian, one Los Angeles Police Officer suffered a minor injury during the course of the fire. Both were taken to an area hospital by LAFD Ambulance.
The second fire got more media play. It was on July 14, 2010. Three firefighters were hurt. That video is below. Click here to read more from LAFD.
Edward Malik video of a fire around 6:50 Wednesday morning at 50 Washington Street in New Chicago, Indiana. New Chicago and Lake Station fire departments were on the scene.
This is from a fire yesterday in a 26-unit apartment building on Athol Street in Port Alberni in British Columbia. Fire chief Tim Pley told reporters on-duty crew discovered smoke and flames in one of the stairwells and called for assistance.
"The wall the fire was into is where the electrical service goes in," Pley said, which made it difficult for firefighters to knock into the wall and attack the flames. "Another challenge is just the search and rescue of 26 suites."
Six firefighters evacuated the building floor by floor, while others set up to fight the fire, which had already reached the attic.
"When it's in the attic space, it's almost always a defensive fire," he said.
"We were never able to control it."
From Heather Thompson at Alberni Valley Times:
"Because of the extreme heat, we had to pull everyone out," Pley said.
"We put our energy into getting people out," he said. "We had to rescue two by ladder." He said all of that took quite a bit of time.\
The fire quickly ran through the walls and into the ceiling, the fire chief explained. "It is hard to get into the walls," he said. "We are focusing on a defensive attack."
One week ago the Port Alberni released details of a consultants report looking at how the department is run. Click here for the details.
Glenn Usdin's FireTruckBlog.com looks at fleet problems in Washington, DC. The union and the fire chief are at odds over running ambulances without air conditioning. Plus other problems left many units out of service in recent days. Click here for the story.
A reporter for KTVU-TV said in his live report last night that a city staffer asked him to put a positive spin on the story of a man who drowned along the beach in Alameda on Monday while police and firefighters watched (click here to see that report). Maybe the most positive thing you could say is that the island community is very lucky this only happened once in the two years its fire department has been without a water rescue program.
As many of you have written in comments, now that someone has died and the public and the press are scrambling for answers, suddenly the political leaders care. The KTVU report also indicates the interim police chief is still defending the actions on Monday. Concerned about safely dealing with a suicidal man in the water, Chief Michael Noonan thinks they would still have had to wait to rescue Raymond Zack telling KGO-TV. "Could we have done more when the gentleman became unconscious? Certainly, there's that opportunity for us to have gone out and do more. We're looking at that."
The police chief's words are probably not what the citizens want to hear right now and won't do much to restore confidence in public safety. There are fewer excuses from the interim fire chief. Michael D'Orazi took over just a week ago and has made it clear this shouldn't have happened. But even Chief D'Orazi told reporters that while they are moving ahead with training for firefighters, buying a boat may be out of the question considering the city's serious budget problems (KTVU-TV's article details the money issues in Alameda).
You can't help but wonder if it will take another tragic situation before the elected leaders of Alameda realize it might be a priority for an island community to have a rescue boat.
In years past, the fire department had a comprehensive water rescue team, interim Fire Chief Michael D'Orazi said before the City Council tonight, a program that included shore-based and surface-based tactics.
But after several years of struggling to balance budgets and making sacrifices, D'Orazi said, the program deteriorated to a state that left firefighters unable to respond Monday, when Raymond Zack, 53, waded neck-deep into the frigid water at Crown Memorial Beach and remained there until he lost consciousness.
"We are absolutely going to do an investigation," Mayor Marie Gilmore said. "And we are planning to do it in as transparent a way as possible."
The death of Zack comes as city officials are considering axing up to nine police jobs and five positions at the fire department to make up a $7.4 million budget deficit.
"Obviously, we need to review any decisions that have been made in the past (about training) as we look at our current budget," Gilmore said.
D'Orazi said the fire department's water rescue program was shelved in March 2009 due to cuts. The loss of overtime also led to fewer training hours for firefighters, he said. As a result, department policy prevented firefighters from entering the water to help Zack, D'Orazi said.
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