Investigation into why firefighters couldn’t reach woman in time who was on phone with 911: A tragic story from Spotsylvania County, Virginia. A 911 call taker listened to Sandy Hill’s last breaths as firefighters tried desperately to find her on the second floor of the burning Cape Cod. By the time they get to the woman it was too late. STATter911.com/9NEWS NOW had filed a FOIA for the fireground & 911 audio in this case, but we were scooped by the local paper. The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star’s Dan Telvock takes a close look at this story and has the recordings. Click here.
DC crew received disciplinary action after failing to take woman to the hospital: This is a case from December with strong parallels to the investigation on-going into the death of a two-year-old girl during the second blizzard in February. In both cases it took a second 911 call to get a ride to the hospital. And in both cases the initial crews failed to get a signed release or file a patient care report. Click here for our coverage.
Driven to distraction: Back in the day I used to find it a challenge when going driver only to a call, keeping the hands on the steering wheel, shifting gears, talking on the radio and blowing the siren. Now you have computers, GPS and other electronics to distract you in the front seat of an emergency vehicle. The New York Times looks at the growing concern that first responders may be distracted by all these bells and whistles. Check out the article.
Fiery multiple-vehicle crash on the highway: Firegeezer has the story and video from Indianapolis. Click here.
Another blue light special: In Martinsville, Indiana a volunteer firefighter didn’t like the way a woman was driving. He pulled her over and yelled at her. His blue light is now history for six-months. Read more.
Firefighter is canned after two women come to blows: The two women squared off after a city council meeting in Johnston City, Illinois where layoffs and pay cuts were dealt with. A man, who is a firefighter and part-time dispatcher, says he was fired because of the fight. Click here for the story.
Drawbridge rescue: Raw video from yesterday’s rescue of four workers in Pompano Beach, Florida. Check it out.
One of the more interesting videos I have seen recently: Have to give Jason Thomas at Firefighter Spot credit for finding this. The photographer springs into action and moves a police car blocking the way as firefighters in Maple Shade, New Jersey pull up to a motel fire on Sunday. In Part 2 you will see where the cops were. Check out the third floor as they break out windows, apparently looking for victims.
A top doc socks it to DC Fire & EMS over child death: It is only two paragraphs long, but Monday’s letter to the editor in the Washington Post from Dr. Joseph Wright packs a wallop. You will want to take a look at the doctor’s credentials in the field of pediatric emergency medicine as it relates to EMS. Dr. Wright not only questions what happened in the recent death of 2-year-old Stephanie Stephens, he is critical of how the system generally provides pediatric pre-hospital care. The DC Fire & EMS Department stands on its record of improvements since Mayor Adrian Fenty’s task force provided an outline for the future of EMS following the 2006 death of former New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum. Dr. Wright looked at Stephens’ death as a “pediatric Rosenbaum”. Click here for our coverage.
Long Island fire chief & FDNY member accused of “vigilante” justice: Hempstead Fire Department Chief Michael Charles. who is a retired NYPD detective, and FDNY’s Brian Schuck from Ladder 111, are accused of stopping and searching a pedestrian at gun point and then letting them go. The men were in the fire SUV. The incident happened after shots rang out near the Hempstead firehouse. Schuck has been suspended without pay. Read and watch the story and here.
Pay attention to this report and you can get rid of STATter911.com: The Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association is trying to put this blog out of business and I am helping them. It is called reputation management and the CVVFA folks put together a special report on how some firefighters are tarnishing the image of the fire service. They even asked me to give them some insight on the awful stories I cover. Forget my role and just read the document. Here it is.
Speaking of reputations – it doesn’t look like Chicago’s mayor is ready to help salvage the fire commissioner’s image: The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting Mayor Richard Daley “conspicuously refused today to give embattled Fire Commissioner John Brooks a vote of confidence”. Brooks, accused of sexual harassment, made this memorable statement to the Sun-Times:
I do not proposition women. I don’t have to. Women usually proposition me. God has blessed me like that.
Los Angeles City Council has second thoughts on cutting ambulance service to save money: The plan is to stop using 10 of the department’s ambulances during night time hours. But after hearing testimony the council is getting cold feet. Here is the story.
Smoking ban for new firefighters rejected: In Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin the police and fire commission is bucking the trend and said no to a new tobacco free policy for newly hired firefighters. Check out the story.
Exploding cell phone: It wasn’t even plugged in, according to a family and firefighters in Seffner, Florida. Here’s the story.
Fire chief lays down the law over convicted arsonist/bomber: Read the story from North Haledon, New Jersey about a convicted arsonist/bomber who was participating in fire department activities.
Fire chief lays down the law over accidental fire: Actually that’s this chief’s name, Jonathan Law. He’s the chief of Oklahoma’s Nescatunga Fire Department. Chief Law told the Alva Review/Courier, “I will not stand for such kinds of incidents” after a firefighter accidentally started a small grass fire. Here’s the story.
The Fire Critic has lost his mind: Where The Fire PIO yesterday had one of the more interesting blog postings I have seen in a while, our friend in Roanoke has gone far in the other direction. There will be nothing socially redeeming in Rhett’s Top Ten Best/Funniest Firefighter Dance Videos, but I am sure you will get a few laughs. That also pretty much describes my first encounter with Rhett at the blogger meetup on Friday. Click here to see what I am talking about.
Twice in eight hours: Edward Malik reports Gary, Indiana firefighters responded for two fires yesterday in a vacant home in the 4700 block of Washington. One was a day time fire, the other at night.
One of the more interesting postings I have ever seen on a fire & EMS blog. Make sure you read it: To me the worst blogs are those that spout some company line, refuse to publish comments that disagree with the blogger’s point of view, usually state the obvious, believe the answer is always black or white with no gray area and stay away from anything that might smack of controversy because it might be perceived as critical of what fire and EMS crews do (I think I just described my own blog). The exact opposite of this is the most recent posting by Jeff Bressler at The Fire PIO. It is titled, A PIO’s ethics dilemma: Spinning a point he does not believe in. A fascinating look at the problem facing a PIO for a Long Island fire department. It looks critically at whether a fire department can justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a motorized drill team. The article shows how a public information officer may have to be the public face of a policy they disagree with. This is the reality of being a PIO. It isn’t just responding to fires and getting your mug on TV. I am eager to read more columns like this from Jeff.
A closer look at the death of Boston’s Lt. Kevin Kelley: A board of inquiry released a 127-page report looking at the January 9, 2009 crash of Ladder 26. Click here to read the report.
FDNY not allowed access to Freedom Tower to assist with injured worker: Some tension at Ground Zero between the Port Authority and FDNY. News reports indicate most of the FDNY units were not allowed access to the site when a worker fell two stories. Read more about the dispute.
Firefighter passes out behind the wheel of fire engine: In Nevada County, California they are saying the problem was one of dehydration when a firefighter on the way to a hospital to pick up his partner blacked out. Read the details.
Accused firefighter arsonist has charges dropped: We covered this odd story from Indiana when charges were placed a little more than a-year-ago. A Lafayette firefighter was accused of setting his Battle Ground home on fire in October, 2008 and then ripping a firehose out of the hands of firefighters and knocking off the helmet of a firefighter. Now, the arson charge has been dropped. Eric Tendam was fired a month after the charges were filed. Read the details.
Arson charges placed against firefighter: In Penn Township, Pennsylvania a farmhouse fire is being blamed on Eric Penska, a volunteer from Irvin Borough, and two others. Read the story.
Old home burns in Maryland: One firefighter from Montgomery County suffered a second degree burn to his leg fighting this fire yesterday in a late 1800s home in Poolesville. Check our player at the top right for more videos from the Washington area and around the country.
A board of inquiry says a number of factors, including lack of an adequate preventative maintenance program, contributed to a deadly fire truck crash in Boston.
Lt. Kevin Kelley was killed in January 2009 when the ladder truck he was riding on lost its brakes on a steep hill and slammed into a building.
In a 127-page report released on Monday, the board cited 15 “causative factors,” including inadequate funding for preventative maintenance, insufficient manpower in the fire department’s maintenance division, and the installation of improper parts by outside vendors working on fire equipment.
The investigation was one of several into the accident
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino says the department has already implemented recommendations from previous reports, including the hiring of certified civilian mechanics.
Security camera image as Ladder 26 busts through fence before hitting the building. More pictures like this in the report.
Detroit’s Ladder 13, hit by a train yesterday, was caught on video when it crashed last year: In July, Ladder 13 went out of control as it made a turn at Lawndale and Vernor. The video above is from a security camera that caught the collision. Click here for our coverage of that story.
Detroit commissioner blasts Ladder 13 driver & union blasts commissioner: If you checked with us at all yesterday afternoon and evening you have seen the pictures and video of the aftermath of Ladder 13’s collision with an Amtrak train. It isn’t just the executive fire commissioner and union president who have opinions about this one, we have received a few comments. Click here for our extensive coverage of the wreck.
The most bizarre fire story you are likely to see in some time: In the UK a fire engine crew member was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter by negligence. His crime – he blew the lights and siren causing a stampede of Holstein Friesian cows that ran over Harold Lee, a 75-year-old farmer from Somerset. According to the Daily Mail, “Mr Lee’s son Andrew claimed the incident could have been avoided had the fire crew waited for just a few minutes as the cows were safely herded off the road.” Here’s the entire article.
Firegeezer Bill Schumm thinks this isn’t the United Kingdom’s only recent trip through the looking glass when it comes to the fire service. Check out Bill’s view.
Fairfax County still on standby for Chile: I spent some of yesterday afternoon watching the mobilization of Virginia Task Force 1 at the training academy for the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department. While the USAR team hasn’t been officially activated they were following USAID orders to get a 52 member team (with 4 search dogs) together and ready to deploy. Here’s the story. As of 8:00 this morning everyone is on 4-hour standby waiting for word from USAID. Here is a slide show from Fairfax County yesterday and here is the video (also in our player to the right). By the way my favorite image from yesterday was not captured by a camera. It was of a firefighter in uniform preparing his gear for deployment, talking on the cell phone and changing his toddler son’s diaper all at the same time. Now that’s multitasking. Also, here is some video from Califronia Task Force 2 doing the same drill.
Trying to explain brown-outs to the public: In Springfield, Illinois the local paper is trying to let the public know when the local fire station might be part of rotating closures. They are finding the answers a bit more complicated than expected. Check it out.
Comment number 15k: Yesterday morning we posted our 15,000th comment since starting STATter911 in May of 2007. It was from JasoninVA responding to a recent posting of a video from Gary, Indiana-
Good comment Chris. Now for those that want to pick this and every other video they see apart. Are you serious? Do you live in a dream world where every fireground goes perfect? It makes no difference whether you are from NOVA, DC, PG, Southern Va. or Western Md. We all have our own highlight reels and those that we wish we could go back to quarters and start again from the beginning. Sure, there were some questionable ops, but then again, I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t taken a window or two (or 20) w/o PPE as the wagon driver because the truck was delayed or cut a roof without a roof ladder. This is not an attack on anyone but more of an observation. With the age of technology, you never know who is there and watching. Pictures and videos are on the internet before you can even get back in quarters. Before we get on a “holier than thou” kick, you may want to think about something. The next video on here may be you doing something that “The Book” says isn’t safe and then you will find yourself justifying / defending your actions.
If you go to that entry and scroll down to comments you will see one by me. I think I actually ask some thoughtful questions (I don’t have any of the answers, but I sure can ask questions) on this whole topic of people pointing out issues in the fireground videos we post. Click here to see it all.
“I’m very upset,” said executive fire commissioner James Mack. “I’m going to make it known that this is not acceptable and we’ll do some training.”
The truck was struck by a commuter train late this morning in southwest Detroit.
“The fire truck was parked right on the tracks,” said Willfrido Gutierrez, 27, whose Monte Carlo was struck by the tractor trailer. “I tried to get my wife and kid away from there and I heard a huge explosion.”
Photo by Andre J. Jackson, Detroit Free Press.
The four firefighters jumped in the rig and tried to get it off the tracks in time, but were unsuccessful. The truck, Ladder 13, was T-boned by the westbound train and crushed like an aluminum can and dragged a considerable distance before coming to rest on the tracks.
The driver was treated and released at a local hospital and will be off-duty.
The same ladder truck had been involved in an accident earlier this year, but Mack was unsure if it was the same driver.
“It was a $600,000 truck,” Mack said. “We’re trained professionals. We should always be thinking. I don’t think the citizens of Detroit are pleased that he parked on the tracks.
“I’m very upset. This was a disservice to the citizens. It’s their fire truck — they paid for it.”
The commanding officer of the ladder truck was Lieut. Gerard Martinez, according to a fire official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak.
“Right now I can’t say anything about it,” Martinez said when reached by telephone at the fire house.
The head of the Detroit Fire Department is red hot about firefighters parking a $600,000 ladder truck on railroad tracks before it was hit by an Amtrak train today.
One firefighter — who was trying to drive the truck off the tracks when it was hit by the train – was treated and released at an area hospital, said Executive Fire Commissioner James Mack. Another firefighter initially parked the truck to wash away gas from an 11:30 a.m. accident in the intersection of Lonyo and John Kronk next to the tracks, he said.
“I’m very upset,” he said, standing in front of the mangled red truck body, a gold #13 on the side. “I think about the citizens when I’ve got a fire truck out of service. This is their fire truck. They pay for it. It should be in service and they should be careful.”
One person was taken off the Amtrak train on a stretcher, but did not appear to be seriously hurt.
“I wish the commissioner would express relief that no one was seriously hurt or injured in this accident,” said Dan McNamara, president of the Detroit Fire Fighters Association. “No one — firefighter, civilian, or otherwise — in an accident was hurt. That’s our No. 1 concern.”
Beyond that, he said, “We’re going to sit back, make sure everything’s going OK and moving forward properly and see how things unfold. We’re not going to knee-jerk react.”
In the original car accident, Wllfrido Gutierrez, 27; his wife, Anna, 24, and their 3-month-old baby Suri were northbound on Lonyo crossing Kronk when they collided with a semi-tractor trailer eastbound on Kronk.
The couple and their baby were fine, Gutierrez said. Anna sat back down in the car with the baby while firefighters from Ladder 13 fire station on Lawndale at Lafayette at Lawndale washed gas away.
But then the crossing gate bells began to ring.
Gutierrez’s uncle, Bernabe Gutierrez-Amana, 39, of Detroit, who had come to the scene to help, looked up.
“We hear a noise, the train was coming, about 20 yards away,” he said. “I grabbed my nephew’s wife and run — fast. I go, ’Run!’ She didn’t know what to do. And when I looked back, there was big dust. It sounded like an explosion.”
Bob McLean, 41, of Redford Township, who was driving nearby, saw the train hit the fire truck, pushing it off the tracks.
Click the image for the Google Maps Street View of the area.
The fire truck was parked across all three railroad tracks, and the Amtrak train came … with the horn going and they couldn’t move it. And the train just crunched it. It flew up over top of it, the train. I never heard nothing like it in all my life.”
The train, which was heading to Chicago, wasn’t evacuated. At 2:09 p.m., the engine, pulling seven silver cars with blue and red stripes, softly blew its whistle twice and pulled away, heading west to the Windy City.
A Brooklyn Heights police officer is recovering from his injuries after being struck by a vehicle during a traffic stop Saturday.
Lt. John Lambert responded to a one-vehicle traffic accident at 4:51 p.m. Saturday on the State Route 176 southbound and I-480 eastbound, near the Tuxedo Avenue overpass.
While he assisted the driver who spun out into traffic due to icy road conditions, another vehicle lost control and hit him.
Lt. Lambert was struck and thrown over the guardrail while trying to prevent the 18-year-old driver from being hit by the oncoming vehicle, police said.
Police say Lt. Lambert lost consciousness for four minutes, and was taken to MetroHealth Medical center.
He is currently in fair condition with multiple fractures.
Lt. Lambert has worked on the police force for 22 years.
Watch out, this could be a firing offense: This text-to-movie animation “educates” the public on when not to call 911. It is the type of video that cost a South Carolina firefighter his job. See the story below.
Warning! Warning! Warning! This video that got a South Carolina firefighter fired has language that some might find offensive. Now that you have been warned, you can watch it by clicking the image.
LEAD STORY – Firefighter canned over YouTube video: It isn’t just the video you shoot at a fire or in the firehouse that can get you in trouble. Animation can also cost you your job. Most likely you have seen those text-to-movie videos from xtranormal.com (see above) that seem to be very popular with firefighters and others. One created by a South Carolina firefighter and posted on his Facebook page has resulted in his firing. WCSC-TV in Charleston has the dismissal letter issued to Firefighter Jason Brown by Colleton County Fire-Rescue Director Barry McRoy. It says in part, ”You [Brown] displayed poor judgment in producing a derogatory video depicting a member of this department with a physician which is implied to be at Colleton Medical Center.” Brown told a reporter, “There was no malicious attack to anybody involved personally or countywide or any certain department ever.” Read the letter. Watch the story. Read the story.
Ocean front block gone thanks to fire during storm: The Atlantic Coast storm helped drive a fire in Hampton, New Hampshire. It spread from the Surf Hotel to eight or nine other businesses along the ocean. Click here for our coverage.
The keep back 500 feet sign ignored with almost disastrous results: In Washington, DC last night a 14-year-old skateboarder latched onto the rear of Truck 11 as it was leaving a box alarm. It apparently didn’t work exactly how the teen anticipated. The rig ran over his foot. He is in Children’s Hospital with injuries that aren’t life-threatening.
A man and young child were rescued by firefighters from this burning Hyattsville, Maryland apartment building this morning. Both were burned and CPR was being performed. PGFD called two-alarms to handle the fire. Click the image for details and check the video player at the upper right of this page for an interview from the scene.
Firefighter/union president made acting chief over higher ranking officer: One day he is a firefighter and the next day he is chief. In Nahant, Massachusetts a lieutenant is calling it a “bag job” in the move that makes Firefighter Kevin Howard the acting fire chief. Howard had to resign as union president to take the position. Read more.
Two firefighters charged in bar brawl: Three from FDNY turned themselves into police investigating the fight at a firefighter hang out in Brooklyn. Only twoof the firefighters were charged after police identified them on the surveillance video. The dispute started over a spilled drink. Click here for more.
Another off-duty bar brawl leads to suspension: This one is in Frankfort, Kentucky and it took an eight-hour personnel hearing to give a firefighter three months without pay. Brian Olds says he was trying to break up the fight, but the chief says Olds has a past with anger management issues that left him barred from the city’s contracted fitness facility. Here’s more.
Arrest in the Philly sound fire: A man described as so drunk it is amazing he didn’t pass out and die in the fire has now been charged in the blaze we told you about that destroyed the offices of Philadelphia International Records. Investigators say the man has no connection to the legendary recording company that brought us artists like Teddy Pendergrass and Patti LaBelle. Read more.
Firefighter charged in fatal collision: Firefighter Close Calls has the story of a firefighter being charged in a wreck with a fire engine earlier this month that killed a 54-year-old man in Vaughan, Ontario.
Sheriff’s deputy makes grab: In Indiana, the Angola Fire Department is crediting Steuben County Sheriff’s Corporal Chris Emerick with crawling in on his hands and knees armed with a flashlight to rescue a man from a burning home at Jimmerson Lake. Here’s the story.
The Urban Firefighter debuts: I was greatly disappointed when I learned thehousewatch.com was about to handle its last alarm. The writings of Erich Roden have been a favorite of mine. Whether I agree with what Erich has to say or not, I believe he is one of the most talented writers in today’s fire service. It would be easy to be almost condescending and say for a front line firefighter he’s a good writer. No, for a writer he’s a good writer and he makes me look like a hack (which I am). When I discovered Erich was putting his efforts to a new venture I got out of my depression. Continuing his partnership with Ray McCormack, whose articles constantly remind me that firefighting is more an art than a science, they have debuted Urban Firefighter Magazine. It is online. It is free. Check it out. Also, Firegeezer has his view on Urban Firefighter.
Two Fairfax County firefighters were struck by an SUV driven by an EMS supervisor Tuesday evening as they attempted to help a cyclist who had been hit by a car. The injuries are not life threatening.
Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department spokesman Dan Schmidt says a captain responding to the crash as EMS 401 was behind the wheel of the SUV. Engine 404 and Medic 404 from Herndon were already on the scene. The EMS 401 vehicle was described as moving slowly through the area when the collision occurred.
The incident took place near the intersection of Wiehle Avenue and Dranesville Road just before 8:00 PM.
The cyclist and one of the firefighters were flown by helicopter to Inova Fairfax Hospital. The other firefighter was taken by ground to Reston Hospital Center. Both firefighters have been treated and released. No word on the cyclist.
This recording from FireSceneAudio.com includes both police and fire & rescue department traffic.
In the wake of the collision between two fire trucks responding to the same emergency, the Anne Arundel County Fire Department has changed the way it dispatches Calvert County’s Dunkirk Volunteer Fire Department on mutual aid calls into Anne Arundel. In a statement to STATter911.com, Anne Arundel County Chief John Robert Ray said the decision to ”limit but not eliminate” Dunkirk’s responses was made “in the interest of public and firefighter safety”.
Image provided by Dunkirk VFD.
Dunkirk VFD Chief Toby Sealey calls the change “flat out dangerous” and says it is ”a poor decision that will have ill fated results with due time”.
In explaining that decision, Chief Ray says his department “operates under nationally recognized best practices policies and procedures for both responses to and operations at emergency incidents”. According to Ray, ”there has been some deviation from these policies by members of one of our neighboring departments”. Ray is “hopeful that continued discussions and perhaps joint training opportunities will yield positive results, which will allow me to revert to the prior response profile with this company.”
Chief Sealey forwarded to STATter911.com an email sent by Anne Arundel County Division Chief H. Lee Cornwell outlining the new mutual aid plan. The email says in part:
… in light of the recent accident at RT255/RT468, our department determined it was necessary to make adjustments to the running assignments. Although we think our meeting last week was promising, this incident is just another example of the concern we have with your company. In summary, any box area where your company is either closest or second due, the assignments remained the same. Box areas where your company was greater than second due, your company has been removed from the running assignments.
Dunkirk’s Engine 51 and Anne Arundel’s Tower 40 collided while responding to a reported gas leak on February 14. The Capital of Annapolis reports the driver of Dunkirk’s rig, 24-year-old David Stream, has been charged with one count of unsafe driving by an operator of an emergency vehicle. The Capital also cites the police report as saying Tower 40 had the green light and that Dunkirk’s engine didn’t stop at the scene, but continued to the call.
Chief Sealey, in an email to STATter911.com, disputes the police report and says pictures he has provided prove that a diagram on that report is wrong. STATter911.com currently does not have a copy of that police report.
Chief Sealey also forwarded his response to Chief Cornwell. In it, Sealey cites numerous concerns about the relationship between the volunteers at his station and the career staff in Anne Arundel County.
Sealey sent along two images he claims had been posted at Anne Arundel County Station 9. One is a Jeopardy style question that reads “Where do reject Prince George’s County firefighters spend their days off?”. The other is set up as a caution message that uses expletives to indicate Dunkirk volunteers are on the way to mess things up.
Sealey also writes in his email to Cornwell that an individual at Station 9 tossed Dunkirk provided SOPs into the trash can. He adds:
The same individual most likely (is) responsible for comparing a picture of Engine 52 to that of a school bus that transports handicapped children that was posted in the station, along with other derogatory posters and drawings that I do in fact have in my possession, and were given to me by one of your employees that will remain nameless at this time to prevent any retaliation by you or your command staff. Do you condone this type of immature behavior in your stations? Do you condone the hostile work environment that your employees are creating for my men and women? How would you explain these derogatory posters to a citizen that stops by one of your stations to show their kids a firetruck, or a citizen that’s having a medical emergency? Is that the PROFESSIONALISM that you praise that your county and your employees have?
STATter911.com altered this image to remove language that may be offensive to some.
Anne Arundel County Division Chief Michael Cox, a department spokesman, tells STATter911.com “these images are obliviously inappropriate and an investigation into the matter is underway.” Cox says in a statement, “Any individuals found guilty of such inappropriate behavior will be dealt with appropriately, in accordance with established departmental policy.”
I am aware of the issues in January of 2009, and I have handled the cards that were dealt to me regarding that issue. Is it something to be proud of? Absolutely not. If it takes people (commenters on your site) to beat a dead horse (ref. Jan.2009) to get the point across about how this decision that Anne Arundel County Fire Department is making then so be it. Once again, just for clarification, this issue isn’t about me at all, which I’m sure that you are very aware of. This is about the safety and well being of fellow Fire, Rescue, and EMS personnel (in) both Anne Arundel, and Calvert County, as well as the general public.
Toby Sealey is also a career firefighter in the District of Columbia. In his emails (links above), Sealey apologizes for a late response to these issues because he is recovering from second degree burns received during a fatal fire in DC on February 17. Sealey was released from the MedStar Burn Unit at the Washington Hospital Center on Friday.
David Stream is also a career firefighting with the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department, assigned to Station 24 in Accokeek. Stream faces the possibility of a $150 fine and three points on his license.
Firefighter Cory Broich has been in the hospital since he was hit by a car on I-94 in Clearwater while responding to a car fire in January. On Tuesday, three weeks to the day after the accident, he was able to go home.
“See ya! Thanks for everything ladies,” said Cory as he was wheeled out of St. Cloud Hospital.
It’s been three weeks since he’s seen anything but the inside of his hospital room. Believe it or not, it was worth the wait. Cory didn’t know it, but he would be met by emergency vehicles from eleven different departments on his trip home.
“That was the most incredible thing I think I’ve ever seen,” said Cory.
The Clearwater Firefighter was hurt on the job, and in true firefighter-fashion, no man is left behind.
“Everyone stays safe and everybody comes home. And, now finally today, we can say everybody came home,” said Clearwater Fire Chief Doug Nieters.
Few of us will ever know the impact we have on someone else’s life. Cory and Abby Broich are getting a pretty good idea right now just how much they mean to this community.
“You just see it all and you’re kind of speechless,” said Cory.
Since Thursday, when they found out he was coming home, people have been remodeling the Broich’s home. They added a ramp in the garage, they widened doors to fit his wheelchair and even changed the entire bathroom to make it accessible.
“The one night I came home and I just sat down and cried,” said Abby. “I mean you can’t thank them enough. You can’t express how you feel.”
It means Cory can now recover in his own home instead of a nursing home. Abby is in charge of his care, she learned how to do it all in the hospital. It’s a role she’s more than happy to take over.
“We’re home. that’s what we needed,” said Abby.
There is a fund set up for the Broichs at Annandale State Bank in Clearwater.
Cory Broich is thankful to be able to be with his family after he was nearly killed in Interstate 94 last week.
Broich sat in his hospital bed in St. Cloud Sunday with his wife and five kids surrounding him.
He picked up his 3-month-old son Carter and gave him a kiss. It’s a moment he’s all too happy to experience.
“Very too close to call,” said Cory referring to the accident that nearly took his life last Tuesday.
Cory Broich was on a routine call on Interstate 94 near Clearwater last week when a passing car hit and pinned him against the fire truck. He was airlifted to St. Cloud Hospital with extensive injuries to his legs.
“I remember getting hit, and hitting the ground and crawling away so I didn’t get hit again,” said Cory.
The 28-year-old will be in hospital for at least three more weeks, and at this point, doctors don’t know when he’ll walk again. For the first time in Cory’s life, he’s not the one giving, but receiving help.
“It means the absolute world to me what everybody’s been doing,” he said fighting back tears. “I can’t say enough.”
The visitor’s waiting room just down the hall at St. Cloud Hospital is always full, even with people who don’t know the Broichs.
“I just wanted to stop by and see his friends and family and tell them our thoughts and prayers are with them and we’re here for them,” said Jason Smith with the Big Lake Fire Department.
A benefit was held Sunday night at Flintstone’s in Clearwater.
“Support another firefighter. We’re a brotherhood so we want to help Cory our whatever way we can,” said Eric Linn, Chief of the Avon, Minnesota Fire Department. He and several members of his department drove in for the event.
Webster’s couldn’t write a better definition for the word community than the one that played out Sunday in this tiny Minnesota town.
“We had the extra money and they needed it way more than we did,” said Sheryl Miller. She doesn’t know the family but felt the need to help.
The Broich’s will only dwell on the accident long enough to teach others a lesson.
“Hopefully this will bring a light to some people and get them to see and realize and slow down,” said Cory Broich.
They don’t want to dwell on the accident because they’re too busy now creating new memories.
This is an update to a tragic story from New Jersey I first saw on FirefighterCloseCalls.com earlier today. It is about Joseph Sims Jr., who was driving an ambulance back from the hospital when he became aware that the home he shared with his father, also Joseph Sims, was on fire.
While responding in the ambulance to the burning home there was a serious collision with another vehicle. Sims and his partner in the unit were not seriously hurt, but a 43-year-old woman was airlifted to a trauma center. The reports are her condition has stabilized.
Joseph Sims died in the fire in the Erma Section of Lower Township. As you will see in the excerpts from this Press of Atlantic City article, the response by the ambulance to the house fire is not considered legal:
Police say the Middle Township ambulance driver who crashed into another vehicle Tuesday while responding to a fire that killed his father, was not responding in an official capacity.
Joseph Sims, Jr., a member of the Middle Township Ambulance Corps, raced to the scene after finding out about the fire — but the ambulance collided with a Chevy Trailblazer driven by Alyn Toth, 43, of Burleigh section of Middle Township.
Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner said Sims would not have been able to legally respond to the Lower Township fire.
A Clearwater firefighter responding to a vehicle fire on Interstate Highway 94 was struck by a vehicle Tuesday morning.
Minnesota State Patrol photo.
The eastbound lanes of the interstate were closed for nearly three hours.
The collision happened at 7:17 a.m. west of Clearwater. A vehicle traveling east hit 28-year-old Cory Broich and a Clearwater fire truck, according to the State Patrol.
Broich was airlifted to St. Cloud Hospital in critical condition.
The driver of the striking vehicle was Deborah A. Symalla, 43, of Cold Spring. She was taken to St. Cloud Hospital where she was treated and released, according to the patrol.
The interstate was closed shortly after the crash and reopened shortly before 11 a.m.
Firefighter Cory Broich.
Clearwater Fire Chief Doug Nieters said Broich, of Clearwater, has been a firefighter for five years. Nieters said the fire crew was finishing up with the vehicle fire call when the crash occurred.
The fire department had two fire trucks on scene when Broich was hit. Another fire truck was brought to the scene after the collision.
Ashly Madson is Broich’s sister-in-law. She said Broich and his wife Abigail have five children under the age of 8.
Madson said Broich has broken both legs, but did not suffer a head injury. He is awake and talking to his wife, she said.
Three firefighters from the North Oldham Fire Department in Kentucky have been released from the hospital after their fire truck rolled over around 1:00 Saturday morning. FirefighterCloseCalls.com reports the three were wearing seatbelts.
The crash knocked out power for hundreds of customers in the Goshen area after the rig hit two power poles and landed on its passenger side.
“The fire apparatus left the road for some unknown reasons,” North Oldham Fire Department Deputy Chief David Stoltz said.
Inside the vehicle, three North Oldham firefighters headed to a residential fire alarm at the Paramount Estates subdivision. Officials say the fire truck was driven by Chief Rick Albers.
A witness who lived nearby said he heard a loud “boom,” not far from an LG&E substation. A helicopter arrived shortly after and those involved received hospital treatment.
“Two were transported by ambulance, one by air ambulance,” Stoltz said.
Officials say the fire truck is a total loss and has been picked up by a wrecker service.
Second crew from Fairfax County, Virginia headed out: Above, a second team from Virginia Task Force 1 heads to Haiti. This is the first time Fairfax County has had two such teams deployed on the same international incident. This latest group is made up of 42 members. In case you missed it, click here for our coverage of what the first team did in Haiti yesterday.
Kentucky mayor first refuses, then changes his mind, about letting firefighters be part of Ohio USAR’s deployment: Worried that the federal government will only reimburse 70% of the overtime expenses to pay for those who would be needed to staff stations back home, Lexington, Kentucky Mayor Jim Newberry at first declined to send firefighters to Haiti. He later had a change of heart and nine firefighters are on standby. Read that story. Meanwhile, there has been some delay in getting Ohio Task Force 1 on a flight to Haiti. Here are the details. Click here for video of the Ohio team getting ready.
This calendar photo featuring a Houston firefighter has become an issue along with the chief's handling of a "team building session" on a firefighter's first day back after making racism and sexism claims.
UPDATE – Mayor scolds Houston fire chief over his welcome back for female firefighter who made accusations about graffiti: Chief Phil Boriskie decided to have a “team building session” at Station 54 as Firefighter Jane Draycott returned to the firehouse for the first time since last summer when she made accusations about racist and sexist graffiti inside the women’s locker room. The four-hour meeting with the chief, his command staff, a psychologist, Draycott and co-workers apparently didn’t go so well. Draycott says the men brought up rumors, grievances and questioned her sanity. Draycott went home. Mayor Annise Parker questioned the chief’s judgment, saying she doesn’t condone and won’t tolerate what happened at Station 54. Critics are also pointing to other concerns about sexism, including a calendar to raise money for HFD’s Pipes and Drums that has “a scantily clad and nearly bare-breasted female firefighter”. Read more. There also more about a letter read at the meeting. Click here to read and watch that story.
Rhett Fleitz at FireCritic.com has posted a completely different view of the calendar and an interview with the woman appearing in the picture at left. Click here.
Fatal ambulance crash in New Jersey: Firegeezer and Firefighter Close Calls are on top of the story from yesterday where an ambulance in Warren County, New Jersey hit a tree, killing a patient and trapping the crew.
New study questions immobilization protocols: Johns Hopkins researchers have data that shows it may not be a good thing to take the time to immobilize a gunshot or stabbing victim. Click here for the details.
More on Baltimore’s doomsday budget: We told you yesterday about Chief Jim Clack briefing some firefighters on the possibility of closing a lot more companies and laying off scores of firefighters come July 1. The Baltimore Sun has more on the issue today.
Click the image for fireground audio and raw video from yesterday's gasoline tank truck fire in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Pittsburgh union prez admits firefighters have “stumbled” tarnishing the department’s image: We have heard from management on the recent arrests of Pittsburgh firefighters for drug, alcohol and violence charges. Now it’s labor’s turn. Click here.
Detroit firefighter accused of insurance fraud after fake incident report filed: Police indicate the firefighter was trying to cover for an off-duty accident where he hit a parked vehicle and fled the scene. Investigators believe the firefighter created a fake fire department incident report to send to his insurance company. Read more.
The driver of a Penn Township, Pennsylvania ambulance has been found not guilty of vehicular homicide in a 2006 crash that killed a man. Jason Fait was found guilty today of careless driving and failure to obey a traffic control device and fined $225. Excerpts from an article on the WTAE-TV website:
“I never intentionally did this,” Jason Fait said outside court. “I spent my entire life trying to save lives, educate the public on safety. It just gives me a new appreciation how just one moment in time can alter anybody’s life.”
Fait, of North Huntingdon, ran a red light at the intersection of Route 130 and South Greengate Road in Hempfield Township, striking another vehicle on the morning of Oct. 30, 2006.
”It proved in our argument that Jason was not trying to deliberately beat the light or run the light or do anything else that was unsafe driving. He missed it,” defense attorney Ken Burkley said.
Fait and a paramedic who was also riding in the ambulance were not hurt, but Frank Scalise Jr., 46, who was on his way to work at Westmoreland County Prison, died a week after the crash.
Police said Fait was not en route to a call during the time of the crash, but had just dropped off a patient at Westmoreland Hospital at about 5:30 a.m. before leaving to return to base in Harrison City.
Police said the ambulance’s warning sirens and lights were not on and it was believed to have been traveling at 40 mph — five mph under the speed limit.
We have a winner! The very first entry into our top stories contest for 2009 correctly guessed the top story of the year. Even though the rest of that person’s top five weren’t on target, it gave me hope for you people and this contest. Once again, Statter was wrong.
Many of you were blinded by our extensive coverage of PGFD and one man in particular, who at last look was still in the Prince George’s County Detention Center. You will have to scroll way done to number 14 to find his picture on this page. Other entries, including one from a person who should know better, focused way too much on our coverage of the District of Columbia Fire & EMS Department. Only one DC story made the list (but it was a big one at number two). In fact, only eight of the top 20 were local stories from the Washington, DC area. Remember that for next year’s contest. We are global in scope here at STATter911.com (yeah, right!).
To get a winner we had to go deep down to someone who guessed two of the top five. While he had the two top stories in reverse order, author and fire service veteran from Baltimore County Chris Hawley was the only entrant to get more than one out of five. The good news is the two Baltimore boys should have lots to talk about when this one buys lunch.
Our rankings are based on the number of pageviews between January 1 and December 31, 2009 according to Google Analytics. If a story had multiple postings we only counted the top one for our list.
The interesting thing is that the bottom two stories and the 21st story were just nine clicks apart. Their rankings kept changing up until the closing hours of 2009. In the end, a somewhat odd, but newer story from Montgomery County, Maryland moved up, knocking off one of my personal favorites from earlier in the year. Number 21 is the story of Alexandria Fire Department (VA) veteran Doug Townshend who, while off duty, rescued his brother Mike from a burning home. Click here for that story.
Click the Popeye cartoon to see what used to pass for a year-end review at STATter911.com.
By the way, I did this type of year end review, rather than the more humorous (at least I thought so) version of the two previous years, because I thought it would be easier to manage. I am writing this at 4:00 AM on New Years Day, so now I am not so sure. If you miss the old one, here it is (I am sure most of it is still true today anyway).
Obviously isn’t just us taking a look back at 2009 and ahead to 2010. Other fire service sites beat us to the punch. Paul Peluso at Firehouse.com says 2009 was the year of the video (look below for proof). FireRescue1.com has a host of characters writing lots of words under its year in review banner. Billy Goldfeder has a message for the new year at FirefighterCloseCalls.com. Paul Combs has a great thought in his December cartoon at FireEngineering.com. I am sure Bill Schumm will have something to help bring in the new year Firegeezer style and so will many others who share the FireEMSBlogs.com site with this rag. .
And Rhett Fleitz at The Fire Critic, who is a great inspiration and supporter to all of us who blog, has a contest that is better than mine. Rhett is looking for the Fire/EMS Blog of the Year 2009 (now you know why I said those nice things about him). Rhett’s is better because he is promoting it as the contest with the prize where you don’t have to sit across the lunch table from Dave Statter.
Thank you to all who entered our contest. Thank you to all who read and comment each day. Thank you to all who link to STATter911.com and carry our stories. Most important, a happy and safe 2010 to all of you and especially those out there protecting us each and every day.
So, drum roll please! We present our 20 most popular stories from 2009:
This was the story that dominated 2009 on STATter911.com. Not only did the posting on May 30 (our fourth posting on the topic) bring in 43 percent more pageviews than our number two story for the year, three other stories on the confrontation would have taken places two, three, and four. When you add up the clicks for the almost 20 stories we posted on this topic they account for about five-percent of the overall traffic on the blog for 2009.
There have been more than 700 comments (actually a lot more than that, but many we couldn’t publish). A couple of comments still arrive each week.
I think the reason for the high numbers, besides being a hot topic, is that we apparently reached way beyond our normal fire and EMS service audience on this story. It helps that the YouTube video above, which has more than two million views, has our link in its description.
As much grief as I get for carrying too many negative stories on the blog, the only reason the world knew about this one is because I was trying to do a good deed and post some positive news. On Wednesday, October 7 there were two sprinkler demonstrations scheduled in the National Capital region. One at Gallaudet University and the other at the University of Maryland (at MFRI). My goal was to get to both of them, but the Maryland one was the priority because of the release of a study about Prince George’s County’s mandatory residential sprinkler law. I never made it to DC and no one said anything to me about a problem during that demonstration.
As I was about to leave work the following evening I was feeling guilty the DC sprinkler video didn’t get any play in my story the day before (there had been a photographer on the scene from LNS, the local news service run by my station and two others in Washington). I pulled the video up with the intention of editing something for the blog and possibly WUSA9.com. Of course, as I watched the video, I immediately realized there was a little bit more to this demonstration.
This entry had 128 comments. More comments came in after Chief Dennis Rubin, when talking about what he saw, used the term “comedy act”.
Firefighter Will Gregory exits the home with his PPE on fire. Photo by Brian Haney, The Daily Record.
This was a late entry for the year. It came about because FirefighterCloseCalls.com first put out the story of the close call based on the newspaper article by Brian Haney at The Daily Record in Dunn, NC. Figuring that there might be more than one photo, I called Mr. Haney and he told me he had shot 210 images from that fire. Brian sent a bunch to STATter911.com and gave us permission to use the photos.
Until a day or two ago, this was in the number three spot for the year. In my heart I wish it was number one. I was blogging away on the Friday afternoon that Ladder 26 wrecked trying to keep up with the developments from Boston. Later in the evening when we learned that Lt. Kevin Kelley was the firefighter killed, it didn’t take long to find his appearances from Firehouse USA on the web. How can you not smile when you watch these?
While I get a lot of stories and videos from your tips, this is one I found all by myself. Going through fire related YouTube videos on a Sunday evening I happened upon this clip. I usually don’t run controlled burning type training exercises, but this one looked different. After picking my jaw off the floor upon seeing the unusual PPV via the leaf blower, I decided this was one worthy of a wider audience.
You have to admit this one was different. The 160-foot Spirit of Washington squeezed the 72-foot John H. Glenn Jr., putting a big gash in the Glenn’s hull and sidelining the boat for many months. The collision also crushed a small FBI boat at an adjacent dock.
This is a rather simple story of a rescue in that it was popular despite there being no video of the event. Firefighters saving the day when it looks like that might be impossible.
Here’s how WZZM-TV’s Lambrini Lukidis described the story:
Kelysse LaBelle is full of energy today. But when fireman Scott Campau rescued her from the bottom of Fisherman’s Landing in Muskegon last week, Kelysse was purple, her eyes were gray and lifeless.
“The stroller was actually sitting up-right on its wheels on the bottom of the lake and she was unconscious,” said Campau.
“She wasn’t breathing, no heart rate,” said Battalion Chief Ken Chudy who lead the team on the call. “She was lifeless when we pulled her out of the water,” said Fireman Kevin McMillan also assisted by firemen Chad Horn and Scott Hemmeslbach.
Eight Prince George’s County firefighters were hurt when an explosion occurred while they were investigating a natural has leak at a shopping center in Forestville.
Truly one of the great stories of the year. John and Joel Rechlitz received national attention for their off-duty rescue of a young boy from a burning car. Their efforts didn’t stop after the rescue. The firefighters remained close to D.J. Harper and his family. Click here.
In December, 2008 Continental Flight 1404 ran off a runway and burst into flames at Denver International Airport. This was the audio as the airport tower controllers directed firefighters to the scene.
The fireground audio provided by Erie County Fire wire was very difficult to listen to as these two men responded to a call for help inside the burning building on Genesee Street.
Layoffs and budget cuts were THE story of 2009. We saw a lot of stories like this one, but for some reason the Flint fire got more attention than the others.
What more can I say about this frequent subject of STATter911.com stories. In the interview Jerry Engle told us all about an arson ring involving firefighters. Later in the year Engle and another former volunteer from Riverdale were both charged with the fire Jerry told us about. If you haven’t read enough about him, click here for our Jerry archive.
A touching tribute to firefighters who were lost 50-years earlier. The incident is believed to be the first time the term BLEVE was used to describe the rupture and rocketing of a flammable liquid container during a fire.
It took teamwork and a lot of guts as a dispatcher and engine company worked to save a woman trapped in an apartment fire started thanks to a neighbor’s meth lab. Video shows Chad Meyer from Engine 26 basically walking through fire to bring out Nikki Cain.
This entry from Montgomery County had to be one of the more unusual stories of the year. A firefighter’s date spent the night at the firehouse and got lost on the way to the bathroom.
What this means is that, even though Kyle Wilson died in a house fire in April, 2007 and the report was released nine-months later, firefighters are still interested in learning from this tragic situation. Enough people searched, found and apparently read that entry in 2009 to make it part of our top 20.
Stick this in your stocking – layoff notices go out two days before Christmas: Thirty-eight firefighters are among 100 in public safety who were sent layoff notices yesterday from the city of Cleveland, Ohio. The mayor says force reductions are planned for January 11 if a four-percent pay cut isn’t agreed to by the unions. There would also be reductions in rank for supervisory personnel. Read the details.
Early video from commercial fire in Pennsylvania: Click here for the raw video of a fire yesterday evening in Ephrata Township.
Firetruck rollover in France: Firegeezer has the picture and story over a crash that killed one firefighter and injured two others. Click here.
An orange jumpsuit may be in your future: I wonder if the owners of an Oakland, California fortune cookie company left behind that message after vacating the building that used to house the business. It seems a marijuana grow operation took over the Chinatown spot. A fire in the building brought the discovery. Here are some details.
Firefighters didn’t need a fortune cookie to help make this discovery: A fire in a mobile home brought a little something extra. Just outside firefighters found what is being described as the first still discovered in Etowah County, Alabama in more than a decade. Read more.
Replacement for chief who quit over layoffs: Remember the story in Saratoga Springs, New York where both the police and fire chief announced their retirements over concerns about safety following budget cuts? Fire Chief Robert Cogan’s last day is Friday and his replacement, Bob Williams, is a third generation firefighter whose father was once chief of the department. Read the details.
Click the image from KLAS-TV in Las Vegas to watch the station's live coverage of a large fire in an apartment complex yesterday morning.
Two-alarm house fire in Malden, Massachusetts: This fire occurred on Thursday sending a number of occupants to the hospital. Two firefighters were injured when they slipped on the ice. Read more.
UPDATE – Two FDNY EMS workers now suspended without pay over break incident: Mayor Michael Bloomberg blasts the EMTs who were on break in a coffee shop as a woman was dying. Witnesses say the pair didn’t help. A union rep says the two did the best they could and that both were dispatchers who have been away from patient care for some time. Click here for the latest.
Some like it. Some don’t: Riverdale VFD Chief Charles Ryan reports he is investigating the circumstance surrounding the video apparently posted by some of his firefighters during the snowstorm. Read the latest.
Icy roads in North Carolina result in two firefighters hit: On I-40 in the Asheville area two firefighters with the Enka-Candler VFD were struck by a vehicle while offering assistance at the scene of another collision. Click here for more.
Case over wrecked Massachusetts ladder truck still making its way through court: It was more than a year ago that we told you about 22-year-old Firefighter Elias Martinez who had taken the rig belonging to the Provincetown Fire Department for a spin and wrecked it. Police said Martinez’s blood alcohol level at the hospital where he and a female passenger were treated was four times the legal limit. The lawyer for Martinez is arguing for a dismissal of the case based on privacy issues with Martinez’s medical records. Read the article.
Could this fire have been predicted?: The home business of a psychic advisor burned on Monday in Lake Station, Indiana. The photographer reports the interior stairs and the floor had burned away halting the interior attack.
Gary, Indiana house fire with no hydrant: This was early this morning in the 5100 block of Washington. Water supply was reported to be an issue.
Video deposition of Chief Dennis Rubin in lawsuit over the dismissal of the DC Fire & EMS Department lawyer: A whistle blower protection group releases excerpts from the October deposition of Chief Rubin. The city is being sued by the department’s former general counsel, Theresa Cusick, who claims Rubin got rid of her after she told him about a cover-up involving an assistant chief. The chief says she needed to be gone after an expletive filled tirade about his command staff. Click here for our coverage. We have also added the complaint from Theresa Cusick’s lawsuit.
And now you know the rest of the story: Firefighter Close Calls has more on the Tennessee close call video where a man was almost run over a tanker. Apparently there was someone assisting the driver in backing up and the man who was hit has trouble hearing. Here’s the latest.
Chief who was reprimanded for racial slurs has to take back reprimand of union president: You may recall the story last March of South Milwaukee Chief Jay Behling who ended up with 90-days off the job. The chief ended up later issuing his own reprimand against a lieutenant who is the union president who pushed the investigation of the racial slurs and wanted Behling fired. That discipline has been reversed. Read the details.
10 more firefighters who were not part of lawsuit to be promoted in New Haven: Ending some uncertainty, these additional promotions came from the 2003 lists. Read more.
Former firefighter and art thief pleads guilty to assault during police impersonation: You may recall the story of former Waterford, Connecticut volunteer firefighter Charles McDougal. It was learned McDougal was also an art thief on probation when he was arrested for pulling a woman over with his blue light in January and hitting here. He has now entered a guilty plea on the assault charge. Here are the details.
House siren battle: A new firehouse. A new and larger house siren. Not a good mix in one New York neighborhood. Firegeezer has it covered.
That's Station 2 on the right and the Rooney estate on the left. Rather than bring John Madden out of retirement to diagram this one for us, just click the image for the Google Maps Street View.
The North Fire Station (Station 2) in the Town of Palm Beach, Florida sits among some pretty pricey real estate and wealthy residents. So when Engine 2 decided to take a driverless spin Wednesday morning the chance was likely it would hit something noteworthy. It did.
On Thursday, compressed shrubs showed where the truck hit the approximately 4-foot-tall, thick wall around the property at 160 Wells Road. No damage to the wall was apparent.
As for the fire engine, the Town’s website describes the rig as a 2001 Pierce Enforcer, 1250 GPM Pumper (the newspaper doesn’t verify that was the unit involved in the incident). Here’s more from the article:
The department plans to have its master mechanic, Fred Wade, check the engine for possible mechanical failure as soon as Friday. Wade was not available to inspect the truck earlier because of the holiday, (Fire-Rescue Chief Bill) Amador said.
Town of Palm Beach North Station from the the town's website.
“The vehicle is operable, we are able to use it, but we want to make sure there was no mechanical failure,” Amador said. “If a human, careless act was done, then disciplinary action would be administered.”
The town’s risk management staff will contact the home owner and coordinate insurance processing, the fire chief said.
Councilman William Diamond, who lives on Wells Road, not far from the station, expressed concern that it could have been worse. “No one was hurt, but somebody could have been killed. It’s sort of frightening,” he said.
Diamond said he was glad he wasn’t on the street Wednesday morning. “I said ‘Thank my lucky stars I wasn’t walking my dog.’ We would have had to have a special election.”
Clearly, this runaway was not as damaging and embarrassing as another one that occurred in Florida a little more than two-years-ago. In September, 2007 an Ocala Fire Rescue engine left the ramp and wound up in the lake across the street. Click here, if you missed that unforgettable picture. That one was blamed on human error.
What's Missing? Fire service press does what Google couldn't.
Offensive use of fallen firefighter’s picture is removed: Score one for the fire service online community. When I spotted the story by WFTV-TV about the misuse of Volusia County fallen firefighter John Curry’s image on a blog in Australia, I had little doubt that the fire service community would be outraged and attempt to do something about this problem. The original article indicated that Google was unable to provide help without a court order. Firehouse.com soon picked up the story and I alerted Billy Goldfeder, knowing full well that his outrage would turn into a message on The Secret List. One of Billy’s readers noted that the blogger hadn’t uploaded the image but essentially embedded it from FireEngineering.com. That person and Billy were instantly in contact with PennWell. Late yesterday PennWell simply removed the picture from its site where it was being very legitimately used. This automatically removed it from the Australian blog where John Curry’s image had been posted to illustrate an article about a former firefighter who is a sexual predator. STATter911.com readers alerted me late last night and early this morning it was gone. Thank you Bobby Halton and company. Click here to read our original story (interview with Kristen Currry now added) and here for the posting on the Secret List.
Fire Engineering Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Bobby Halton sent in this comment about the removal of the image-
Dave,
We here at Fire Engineering were very upset to learn how inappropriately this link was being used. It did take considerable effort and a few hours to get it done given the way all this electronic gadgetry works however we got it done. I have never seen a more offensive use of photo in my entire career. Thank you for the kind words however we here at fire engineering felt we had a moral obligation to remove this more than anything else.
Your friend, Bobby
UPDATED – Firefighter told to park his SUV elsewhere because of anti-Obama bumper sticker: This may be a slippery slope for the Hartford Fire Department in Connecticut. Deciding what kind of bumper stickers can or can not be on a firefighter’s car when parked on the firehouse property could turn into a full time job and could help keep some lawyers employed. Check out the story and the offending bumper sticker here. Once there scroll down to read the comments where the issue seems to have united some polar opposites on the political spectrum. An interview with Firefighter Mike Di’Giacomo has now been added to the story.
Second time around: Click the image for a series of Zone911.com pictures by Vincent Fradet of the latest wreck of a new quint in Levis, Quebec. This time a crew member was seriously injured as was the driver of the vehicle the rig collided with. It was less than a month ago that the other new E-One overturned.
NEW- Timing is everything: In Canandaigua, New York city officials were discussing plans to cut firefighters and close stations. Around the corner an apartment fire broke out, which itself is around the corner from a fire station. Click here for the story.
Someone admits to withholding autopsy results from NIOSH: Yesterday we told you there were a lot of people saying “not me” as reporters tried to figure out who refused to turn over autopsy reports to NIOSH. NIOSH recently released its investigation into the deaths of two Boston firefighters, but without the documents could not address the widespread media reports the autopsies showed drug and alcohol use. Now the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner says it believes it didn’t have the authority to overrule requests from the families not to release the reports. Here’s the update.
More courts – Agility test does not discriminate against women: Lexington City, Tennessee’s requirement that candidates handle a 24-foot ladder is not discrimination, according to an appeals court. Here’s the story.
Another Bourne investigation: Officials in the Massachusetts town have hired a private investigator to try and help sort out the multiple messes. Click here for the update.
Storage shed with lots of hazards burns in Gary: The call came in as a brush fire yesterday morning. A shed at what appears to be a salvage yard was burning. It apparently had acetylene tanks and a few other things that go boom stored inside. You will see a glimpse of something taking off at 3:38 in the video.
Prepare to be outraged. This is a picture of John Curry, a Florida firefighter who died during a 2007 training accident. His widow wants the operator of a blog from Australia to stop using this picture to illustrate the story of a firefighter child predator. Click the image for the full story.
Not me – Boston officials refute NIOSH claim that autopsy report was denied: We told you that NIOSH says it could not get the autopsy reports for two Boston firefighters who died in a restaurant fire. This is the case where media reports indicate one firefighter was drunk and the other had cocaine in his system. Now some Boston officials are saying they didn’t tell NIOSH no. Click here for the latest.
Cop who handcuffed firefighter is reprimanded: Back in April we told you the story of a confrontation between New Haven Fire Department Lt. Filipe Cordero and Officer Newton Anderson of the police department. Cordero was trying to convince an overdose victim to go to the hospital while Anderson was berating her. It ended with Cordero in handcuffs. The police chief has now counseled the officer. More interesting may be the police internal affairs conclusions about who was in charge of the scene and related issues. Here is the article.
Fire chief accused of assaulting former member: Quentin Fowler used to be a member of West Virginia’s Bradley-Prosperity VFD. Now he’s a member of another department. Fowler claims his former chief came up to him in the parking lot of a local market on Wednesday afternoon and began hitting him. Some of it was caught on video. Click here for the story.
Philly firefighters sue their union: A group of African American firefighters in Philadelphia is suing IAFF Local 22 in federal court accusing the union of being “racially harassing and abusive” to blacks. The suit claims the firefighters have no voice in the union and that the local is being run by a white firefighters organization with the purpose of ending all quota-based hiring practices. Local 22’s president told Philly.com the allegation of the union being racist is “completely not true”. Here’s the complete story.
Color blind firefighter rejected for career service: In Australia a volunteer who has been trying to become a career firefighter is finding that his color blindness is keeping him from living his dream. Here’s the story.
Family blames Baltimore’s mayor for rotating closures: Sheila Dixon is on trial in Baltimore right now. Baltimore’s mayor is also being named by one family as the guilty party behind rotating closures they believe played a role in the loss of a loved one. WBFF-TV has the story.
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