The new Prince George’s County Executive, Rushern Baker, has announced an acting fire chief. He is Marc Bashoor, who retired from the department in 2005 as a lieutenant colonel. Bashoor is a 23-year veteran of PGFD. More recently Bashoor has been the Director of Homeland Security for Mineral County, West Virginia.
Mineral County photo of Marc Bashoor.
We should also point out that, in his youth, Bashoor was an intern in the weather department at Channel 9, where I used to work. Luckily he decided on a more reputable career path.
Here are excerpts from a press release by PGFD Chief Spokesman Mark Brady:
“While the Transition Committee continues an extensive search for the best possible applicants, reviews the current state of county agencies, and seeks best practices to deliver a more effective and efficient county government, these experienced and talented individuals will be able provide the expertise and leadership needed during this interim period of transition,” stated County Executive Baker.
All of the announced appointments of County Executive Baker, besides Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, require County Council approval.
Photo of Marc Bashoor by PGFD's Mark Brady.
Prince George’s County Acting Chief Marc Bashoor is a retired 23 year veteran of the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department. During his 23 years of service, Bashoor rose through the ranks of Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department receiving numerous citations and commendations including the Fire/EMS Department Silver Medal of Valor.
Concurrent to his emergency management duties in West Virginia, Bashoor has served as a consultant with the United States Veterans Administration, a fire service adjunct instructor with the Texas A&M University, and is a member of FEMA’s Technology Transfer Working Group. Furthermore, Bashoor has been recognized by the Maryland Police Training Commission as a National Incident Management System (NIMS) subject-matter-expert. These highlights merely touch the surface of Chief Bashoor’s experience and commitment to public safety.
We’ve heard this tune many times before. Another town wrestles with the siren at the volunteer firehouse. This time a new fire station is being built in Graton, California. While many in the town say they are comforted by the siren, a small group is trying to prevent the old siren from being brought to the new building.
In October we told you about the fire that critically burned Dauphin Island (AL) Fire Chief Brad Cox. Cox is also a fire medic with Mobile Fire-Rescue. Because he was injured as a volunteer he was not able to use his benefits from Mobile. His colleagues from Mobile joined with others and raised $115,000 to help Chief Cox and his family. Mobile Fire Chief Stephen Dean told WALA-TV that they initially expected to raid 20 or 30-thousand dollars. Cox hopes to be back to work in about four months.
“Never thought I’d be that person in need,” said Cox. “Words cannot adequately describe the appreciate I feel for the kindness shown to myself and my family by our community. In addition to the kind donation which will help to ease our burdens.”
“Made it to where I have time to get healthy so I can get back on the streets,” said Cox.
Cox suffered burns on 17 percent of his body and was sedated for three weeks after the fire.
“I was five feet into the door, when there was a flash over and the pressure blast happened,” said Cox. “When I was trapped inside the fire I was unconscious and I had ran out of air. A Dauphin Island firefighter got me out, and a police officer. Even my wife helped pull me down the stairs. They saved my life, pulled me free.”
Cox is still recovering from his injuries. He was released from the hospital Friday, but is still very weak and has a long recovery ahead of him.
“I’ve been beating their goals,” said Cox.
“Biggest thing: never put yourself alone in a fire. I was fortunate that I had a radio with me and Mobile Fire Department training allowed me to survive as long as I did,” said Cox.
A truly fascinating video: I apologize if you have seen this before, but I had not. This version was posted to YouTube yesterday. It’s reported to be a 1941 film of members of Italy’s fire brigade strutting their stuff. The first thing that comes to mind watching the coordination and timing is synchronized swimming. Sure enough, later in the film they are all in the swimming pool. I don’t know if they could fight fire, but it looked pretty and some of those moves took a lot of guts. The idea that Mussolini made sure the trains ran on schedule is now seen as legend rather than fact, but this film seems to show his firefighters had their timing down.
Our reader’s words come to life : It isn’t quite Masterpiece Theatre but we have put together dramatic readings of some of the recent comments to STATter911.com. It is quite moving. Pure poetry. While not really a “must see” video, it’s kind of in a category of its own. Click here to watch the video.
Buy this book! Will Wyatt's And a Paycheck, Too! would make a great holiday gift. Click the image to read why Will wrote it and why Dave likes it.
Speaking of comments: We have quite a lively debate over the ambulance wars story from Las Vegas. A lot of interesting arguments over the best model for providing EMS. Click here.
30th anniversary of a deadly fire: There were a lot of lessons from the MGM Grand fire of November 21, 1980. But as one of our reader’s wrote, not all of them have sunk in 30-years later. Particularly how effective automatic sprinklers are. We have gathered reports and videos for your reading. This history lesson is well worth your time. Please take a look. Over at Command Safety, Christopher Naum had the same idea but went quite a few steps further.
Two for the price of one in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania: I always like it when I am researching one interesting story and find another one in the process. That was the case over the weekend where a search for the details behind the video of a burning ambulance brought me to the story of a rugby team that trashed the Bloomsburg Fire Department banquet hall. Read it all here. Update- Bloomsburg FD was able to hold a Sunday morning breakfast fundraiser despite the damage. Click here to read and watch the story.
Looking again at FDNY firehouse closings: Firegeezer has the latest on the revived plan to shut down 20 firehouses at night on a rotating basis.
Controversy over FDNY calendar: It’s not what you think. It isn’t about sex. It’s about money. Here’s the story.
Distracted driving: One of our readers from South Portland, Maine sends this reminder of distracted driving. A driver on a cell phone hit this police car and injured Officer Rocco Navarro. Click the image to watch an interview with the officer.
Mississippi house fire: I have no clue how to pronounce the name of the time but this is our second recent video of a fire in Kosciusko. Check it out.
911 issues during Ocean City, Maryland cardiac arrest run: Audio, documents and a very interesting story about an October, 2009 incident. If you missed it Friday, here it is.
And they are off – turkey fryer fire week: Already one in Fort Myers, Florida. My guess is it will be the beginning of a trend for the week. (What, is Carnac the Magnificent now running this blog? Are you sure you want to go out on a limb with that prediction, Dave?)
The volunteer blues in South Dakota: Around the Rapid City area volunteer fire departments are seeing the same trend as elsewhere in the country. The Rapid City Journal has a detailed article on the impact of the reduced availablity of volunteers and how many departments are wrestling with the idea of hiring career firefighters. Here’s more.
Texas fire leaves four dead: A Sunday morning fire in a Harlingen trailer park left four people dead and one injured. Read more.
My favorite story of recent days: The Fire Critic got in early on the woman who almost laughed herself to death at a comedy club. Read the story and watch the video. It’s a shame the “Critic” isn’t old enough to get into a club where they sell booze and have adult humor.
They’re out. They’re in. They’re out again?: The saga of Flint, Michigan firefighters. They have been asked to take a 10 percent pay cut or lose a dozen firefighters. Likely cut, the firefighters who were brought back from previous layoffs thanks to federal grant money. But, of course, if the new layoffs occur, the city might have to pay back that money. What a mess.
Firefighters from Charles County, Maryland are telling a different story about their actions at a September 20 house fire across the Potomac River in King George County, Virginia. On Thursday there was a town hall meeting covered by Fredericksburg.com where citizens complained and fire officials agreed that the fire was mismanaged and the conduct of the firefighters was “atrocious”. In her original article reporter Cathy Dyson wrote, “some firefighters danced around and played on a rescue stretcher, gave each other high-fives and rode a pink scooter across the lawn.”
“King George did not have adequate staff and manpower to put in the right places like we did,” said Clifton Butler, volunteer assistant chief at Newburg Volunteer Rescue Squad and Fire Department in Charles County. “When we got there, we went to work and did what we were supposed to do.”
Jason Moore, fire chief of LaPlata Volunteer Fire Department, said his unit was dispatched 30 minutes after the first trucks responded. He expected to help with cleanup and was surprised that the fire was still raging.
“That thing should have been well out by then,” he said, adding his ladder truck probably got to the scene 50 minutes after the first units arrived. “It was chaotic, to say it lightly, from the simple matter of who’s in charge, who’s calling the shots.”
Butler said firemen may have slapped a few high-fives when the fire was out, to show they were glad the situation was handled and no one got hurt.
“But there was no horseplay,” he said.
He said no one from King George was doing anything while the Maryland firefighters worked.
“We took a lot of our pieces to come over and protect the citizens of Dahlgren because we know they needed it,” Butler said.
Moore, from LaPlata, was “personally offended” that King George would place blame publicly instead of talking about the issue privately, among the departments involved.
“You don’t put your dirty laundry out on the street,” Moore said. “I’m not gonna spit in your yard, don’t spit in mine.”
Neighbor Don Diehl said he lives nine houses down and went to the fire scene at least half an hour after the first trucks got there. He didn’t go earlier because he was watching Monday night football.
“What I saw was an orchestrated effort to put the fire out,” said Diehl. “That would be my judgement as a layman.”
Two fire departments in Nacogdoches County, Texas are contemplating drastic changes now that the public has spoken and failed to vote for funding an emergency service district (ESD). The former career firefighter who lead the oppposition has now donated $150 to one department and changed the message on the electronic sign that told people to vote down the ESD to one that asks the public to make donations to their local VFD. Here’s more from KTRE-TV:
“It’s kinda a slap in the face, that how dare you ask us,” said Bryan Loudenslager, Melrose volunteer firefighter. “But in the midst, if they have an emergency we’re there all hours of the night. Now that we have an emergency that we need funding, we were unable to get that,” said Loudenslager.
Opponents say it boiled down to one issue. “People are tired of paying property taxes and this was going to be another one of those,” said Nathan Alders Jr. He actively campaigned against the proposal that would provide authorization to levy a tax not to exceed 10 cents on each $100 valuation of taxable property within the district.
The Woden Fire Department is contemplating closure. “We really feel unappreciated,” stated Woden’s fire chief, Rickey Jones. “I don’t know what direction we’re going to go, but we don’t have money. It’s up to the community to decide if they want a fire department, ” said Jones.
In Melrose the plan is just short of a rummage sale. “We’re going to have to sell off some equipment to go ahead and make ends meet,” said Loudenslager. The department owes money on a truck they obtained through a matching grant. There won’t be enough money to pay the notes if a whole lot of money doesn’t come in within the next three months according to loudenslager.
Alders said no one needs to shut down or sell off. “I think what we may need to do is scale aback just a little bit and get a budget and work within that budget,” said the retired career firefighter for the Nacogdoches Fire Department.
Ambulance fee defeated in Montgomery County, Maryland: In an extremely controversial campaign that pitted career versus volunteer, voters soundly rejected the idea of billing insurance companies for EMS service in Montgomery County. The vote was 135,000 to 116,000. Without the fee, county officials have warned of significant budget cuts for fire and EMS that could include the loss of 100 career firefighter positions. Read details.
Fire based EMS to remain in Sheboygan, Wisconsin: It was a narrow victory separated by 500 votes but a move to take EMS from the Sheboygan Fire Department and farm it out to the private sector was defeated. Chief Jeff Hermann sees this as a victory for the citizens. Read more.
Child born hours after mother escapes fire that killed two other children: A pregnant woman suffering from smoke inhalation gave birth shortly after escaping a fire in Norman, Oklahoma. The fire took the lives of two young children and injured others in the Larkins family. Here’s the story.
Video of a 1989 close call in Phoenix: Video and lessons learned in an old video from Phoenix showing the crew from Ladder 27 falling though the roof of a home with a lightweight truss roof. Here’s a look back.
No love here: As expected, the man accused of stealing a helmet from Boston’s Ladder 26 isn’t getting much sympathy from STATter911.com readers. If you haven’t seen it, here are the video and the comments.
Reasons to laugh: I offered an olive branch to my friend and mutual tormentor Fire Critic Rhett Fleitz yesterday and sang his praises for giving us a reason to laugh (other than at him) with a great video posted yesterday showing the cops view of fire and EMS on the scene of a highway crash. Click here if you haven’t seen it (it’s worth the time). The good will didn’t last long because Rhett’s good friend, and our fellow blogger, Willie Wines, went and ruined it all by having us once again laugh at Rhett Fleitz, the King of the fire/EMS blogs. Long live the king. If you are really bored, but need a really good laugh, click here.
A serious blog: While I am wasting your time with the foolishness above, over at Firegeezer.com they take their fire and EMS news seriously. Geezer and FossilMedic have a bunch of good postings, including the latest from the strike in London and an update on Roseville, California shopping mall fire and sprinkler controversy. Click here and scroll down.
Another community surprised by firefighter OT: In what as been a pattern in recent years, a news organization is doing a story how firefighters are making as much money as top city managers. This time it’s Long Beach, California where some firefighters and officers have doubled their salaries by working a lot of overtime. Here are the details.
Minneapolis concerns: Firefighters talk about past and future cuts and how it impacts fireground operations and safety for citizens and firefighters. The story is illustrated by a deadly fire in April. Here’s more.
Four-alarm fire in Fall River, Massachusetts: Providence Fire Videos on the scene yesterday afternoon at a vacant mill complex on Bay Street. Two firefighters were slightly hurt. Here’s more.
Jerry Engle on the left. James Martinez on the right.
Second PGFD volunteer pleads guilty in 2008 arson case: James Martinez, a 25-year-old former career firefighter in Montgomery County, Maryland, has entered a guilty plea on Monday to second-degree conspiracy to commit arson in connection with a fire that Martinez fought as a volunteer with the Riverdale VFD in Prince George’s County. This is the same fire that long-time PGFD volunteer Jerry Engle admitted to setting. Engle was sentenced in September to a year in jail, but was released on time served (click here for that story). Martinez is scheduled for sentencing on December 3. Ruben Castaneda has more in The Washington Post. Click here to review our previous coverage of this case beginning in April, 2009.
Suspended Spalding County, GA firefighter identified. Report calls for firing over cell phone video of dead woman: The report looking at the July incident where video was taken of the body of a woman inside a crushed car calls for at least one firefighter to be fired. At the same time the local news media has identified the firefighter who was suspended after the incident came to light as Terrence Reid. Here’s the latest.
VA fire chief charged with DWI: NVDaily.com reports that Tim Welsh, who heads Virginia’s Frederick County Fire & Rescue Department, is on administrative leave following his arrest Monday on a DWI charge. Here are the details (more here).
Did cops turn off the sprinkler system at California mall where man had barricaded himself?: As we first told you yesterday the answer to that question is now part of the official investigation into the blaze that heavily damaged the Westfield Galleria in Roseville. Click here to learn what a TV station has determined so far. Also, Fossilmedic Mike Ward, who had suspicisions about the sprinkler issue right away, wonders if this was done to keep the robots from melting. Check it out.
Chief resigns following rebellion by firefighters over winter uniform: In Chelsea, Massachusetts, where the IAFF local and Chief Herbert Fothergill have long battled, the final skirmish came when the chief wrote up almost the entire department for not wearing the winter uniform shirt. Then Chief Fothergill suddenly resigned. More from Boston.com.
Deputy sheriff’s great escape after lighting up: Pretty amazing story from Jackson County, Georgia where a sheriff’s deputy’s propane-powered cruiser caught fire after he lighted a cigarette while responding to a call. Here’s that story.
Refund may be coming for Tulsa firefighter applicants: Before charging $25 a head to 342 people who want to be firefighters the City of Tulsa claims it checked out a lot of the legalities. The one they forgot to look at is whether Tulsa had the authority to do it without a City Council approved ordinance being enacted. Read the details.
Firefighters honored for saving bridge from barge: In New Hope, Pennsylvania four firefighters have been recognized for helping to figure out how to keep a runaway barge from taking out a bridge on a rain swollen river. Here’s more.
Early video from fatal fire in British Columbia: Looks like two cameras were on the scene rolling as firefighters in Delta, BC pulled up Monday on what appears to be a relatively small fire inside a commercial garage. A man was found dead inside. Witnesses reported hearing a small explosion. Here’s more.
Fallout from Spalding County, Georgia cell phone video: The traffic on STATter911.com yesterday was double what a normal day is. The story I posted on Monday about the firefighter who took video of a woman’s dead body at the scene of a car crash had five to six times the readership of what a popular story usually has and it handily beat the numbers for the blog’s main page. I am not saying this to brag. It’s to point out the reputation issues facing firefighters from this incident. I guarantee you it’s not firefighters who are accounting for my sudden popularity. This traffic is coming from Google searches and is mostly the general public looking for more on a story that has grabbed their attention in the U.S. and around the world. If you don’t believe me, put the word “firefighter” in YouTube’s search engine and choose “today” under search options. Look at how many videos have popped up making reference to this, mostly from people wanting to take advantage of the interest in this story. Both the NBC Today Show and the CBS Early Show featured this story yesterday morning. I think there are lessons to learn from this incident on a number of levels. Here’s my view of it.
Some rules for the road (or the cell phone camera) from Billy G: As you will read in the link above, we have been discussing this issue of picture taking by firefighters since the earliest days of STATter911.com. Billy Goldfeder at Firefighter Close Calls/The Secret List has also thought about this topic for a while. He came up with some general guidelines that are well worth reading. Check it out.
Ambulance plunges into lake killing crew: Firegeezer has a detailed report on the tragic situation on Vancouver Island where a British Columbia Ambulance Service crew was killed. Their ambulance plunged into the frigid Kennedy Lake. Click here for the story.
New York firefighter dies during POV response: William Akin, a 52-year-old volunteer with the Ghent Fire Company, died last night after his pickup truck hit a pole during Akin’s response to a reported traffic collision. Firefighter Nation has the details.
A beer BLEVE: In Oak Ridge, Tennessee a fire at a restaurant and bar’s storage building resulted in an exploding beer keg. Firefighters say parts of it flew 50 yards. Here’s more.
Toddler killed in Winchester, Virginia fire: A four-year-old girl died in a fire that also injured her little cousin and her grandmother. Read the details.
Obion County, TN area chief to guest on Firefighter Netcast: John Mitchell and Rhett Fleitz have convinced Union City Fire Department Chief Kelly Edmison to join their gabfest Thursday night at 9:00. The topic, of course, is the latest move by commissioners to expand subscription fire service coverage to the rest of the county despite the fire chiefs pushing for a fire tax. Here’s the link.
Rescue reunion: It took 14-years but a Methuen, Massachusetts fire lieutenant and the mother and daughter he helped save from a fire were reunited. The family sought out the firefighter because of a special occasion. Read the story.
A vote today by Obion County officials has brought the county wide expansion of a subscription fire service. This, of course, is the same county that made big news after the South Fulton Fire Department refused to extinguish a blaze at the home of a non-subscriber.
Union City Fire Department Chief Kelly Edmison, on the left, from the department website.
We have been keeping in touch with one of the fire chiefs whose municipal department also has supplied subscription fire protection for a part of Obion County. Union City Fire Department Chief Kelly Edmison has, with the other municipal chiefs, been working for some time to get Obion County to implement a fire tax and do away with the subscription service. In this guest column, Chief Edmison gives us his reaction to today’s developments:
The Obion County Court today (10/18/2010) voted 15 to 3 (21 members; 3 not present) in favor of implementing county wide subscriptions. Basically the county will collect the fees at the court house and distribute them to the 8 municipalities. There is definitely mixed emotions among the fire chiefs. Though this may be a step forward in getting needed funds into the hands of the departments; it is still far from the goal of having a fire tax or fire fee to provide 100% coverage for all county residents.
Commissioners also voted 17 to 1 in favor of an amendment that this issue of a fire tax/fee will be placed as a referendum on the ballot at the next general election in 2012.
It has been stated that the county could petition the state for a “public act” which would allow Obion County to set up, their own fee structure; independent from the TN fire tax code. This could be done, and needs to be investigated and followed through. This could be done much prior to 2012. In the mean time, the subscription service program would begin July 1, 2011. It is my guess that the remaining 5 departments who presently do not have a subscription service will more than likely implement a policy to go on everything and bill a member and non-member rate. I think it also fair to surmise that Kenton, Union City and South Fulton will continue with the current policy of responding only to covered structures. A two level rate structure will cover everyone, but in my opinion, it will hurt the over all process of producing optimal funds.
The saddest point I want to make is that you would have hoped that the court house would have been packed. It wasn’t. There were only three county residents in attendance that spoke up. (One being, a member of the Cranick family.) The remainder of the crowd consisted of news media and firefighters.
My opinion still stands; that it is hard to protest a city policy that protects its city tax payers; when the residents of the county do not seem to care enough to show up and voice their concerns. Then again, with over 70% of the people in our rural coverage area supporting our subscription program, maybe they are voicing their opinions.
Again, I do not like the subscription program. It doesn’t let firefighters be firefighters. But it has been, and will continue to be, the policy that our department is forced to follow until the city changes its policy; until the county court implements a fire tax/fee or until the county residents care enough about fire protection and demand that something different be done.
What took place in South Fulton’s rural area, more than likely will happen again. “Government” has always reacted in a “knee jerk” fashion, and sadly, too many times after the event. And as we all know, when it happens to the “right person’ something positive will take place. I can assure you, the Obion County fire chiefs aren’t through ‘fighting.”
Fire in New Philadelphia, PA: “An early morning fire destroyed four homes and a former restaurant Thursday and damaged at least 19 other homes.” – from RepublicanHerald.com.
Just when I thought I was out, they pull meback in: After a couple days of coverage and posting the fireground audio my hope was to give the Obion County, Tennessee story a rest today. But that changed with the lengthy comment sent overnight from Union City Chief Kelly Edmison. Chief Edmison’s department is also one providing subscription fire service to residents in Obion County. Please take the time to read his comments here.
You will find some not as well thought out remarks from Fire Critic Rhett Fleitz. When you don’t have a good argument you usually do two things: attack your opponent and blame the news media. Rhett does both. Check it out for yourself. He’s turning into a master of distortion.
A Presidential MCI – President Obama dispatches EMS: PGFD PIO Mark Brady tells us what happened when President Barack Obama starts dispatching EMS from the podium during his speech at Bowie State University yesterday. Exhaustion and dehydration seemed to be the major symptoms. Click here for pictures and details from Brady’s blog.
Another new fire service expert tells us four firefighters on a rig aren’t needed: A columnist for the Orlando Sentinel apparently has all the answers on fire department staffing. Lauren Ritchie seems to think even two firefighters is adequate staffing for a fire truck as she is encouraging of Leesburg, Florida’s decision to take another vote after approving money that would save the jobs of two firefighters-
For example, precisely how does service to a citizen drop when two rather than three firefighters go to a call? If there is a full-blown fire, clearly the more firefighters the better. More hoses can be pulled more quickly and so forth.
However, 85 percent of the 8,000 calls to which Leesburg firefighters respond are medical emergencies. And the number of major fires? 1 percent? Less?
So just how many columnists does a paper need anyway? If there is a full blown news emergency, can’t we get opinions from columnists at other papers further away? You be the judge. Click here.
A clean start: In Boston, after years of controversy, a random drug testing program for firefighters has finally started. The first 50 tested apparently have nothing to worry about. Here’s the story.
Firefighter dies after collapsing at brush fire: In California, Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District Firefighter James Saunders died in the hospital yesterday morning after suffering an apparent heart attack during a grass fire on Saturday. Read more about Firefighter Saunders here and at Firefighter Close Calls.
Paramedic found murdered in her home: A tragic story from Ontario, Canada about an hour southwest of Toronto. According to GuelphMercury.com, Adrienne Roberts, a Guelph-Wellington EMS paramedic, “was found murdered in her Arthur home Wednesday evening. She was reportedly the victim of a violent domestic dispute.”
Firefighter’s gear stolen during graduation ceremony: In Utah, Colby Robison had just graduated from the West Valley Fire Academy and was celebrating in a restaurant. When he got back to his car it had been broken into and his PPE and badge had been stolen. Here’s more.
Like father, like son: Anyone who has met Vinnie Brennan Jr. likely won’t forget him. The still hard working retired FDNY firefighter can only be described as a character (in the absolute best sense of the word). I’ve known him through my work at the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, an organization Vinnie has worked with since the death of his firefighter brother Peter on September 11, 2001. Susan Nicol at Firehouse.com tells us the story of Vinnie’s son, Vinnie Brennan III, also an FDNY firefighter, who tackled a cell phone thief at about the same spot his father came to the aid of a police officer who was being attacked by drug dealers 30-years earlier. Check out the story.
Previous coverage of the issue from STATter911.com can be found here, here and here
The following comment was received overnight from Chief Kelly Edmison of Tennessee’s Union City Fire Department. Union City is one of three departments to provide subscription fire service to Obion County. Chief Edmison has more information on the issue in a column on the department’s website titled Firefighters turn their backs? … Not so…The Truth about Subscription Fire Service in Obion County TN:
My name is Kelly Edmison. Chief of Union City Fire Dept. Union City TN. OBION County. We are 1 of the 8 city fire dept’s in Obion County. My department is the only fully paid dept.
Even though my department (Union City, TN) was not the department involved, it has been extremely hard viewing the news media storm this past week; especially, when no one has reported the truth about the situation yet.
Chief Kelly Edmison on the left with firefighters from Union City, TN. From department website.
Watching news cast after news cast with miss information makes me wonder just how much “other” news we see nightly about our country and world events is turned and twisted.
Obion County Tennessee does not have a county fire department. It does have 8 municipal fire departments. Union City, TN is the only full time staffed department in the county. The other 7 departments are volunteer departments; but like Union City, are city departments. Again, Obion County does not have a county fire department. Sadly, Obion County is one of two counties in the state who do not provide fire protection. County residents do pay county taxes. However, no tax money goes towards fire coverage. The 8 municipal departments are funded by each of their city tax payers.
Three of the cities, Union City, Kenton and South Fulton operate a subscription fire service in an attempt to help the rural people in their respective areas. Union City has operated this way for over 47 years. They all three charge a $75 per year fee. It’s not a tax. It’s not mandatory. But the service is there if they wish. The reason these three charge a fee, is because the cities do not feel it fair to take the city tax payers money and service and give it to county residents for free.
Their policies are the same. With the exception of a life endanger; if you don’t pay; they don’t come.
However, once South Fulton had to respond to take care of the neighbor whose property caught fire and was a subscriber, that’s the point where in my opinion the outcome probably would have been different. But I’m not South Fulton.
But here is what the public doesn’t understand. Right, wrong or indifferent, it was not the decision of the South Fulton Fire Chief or of his firefighters to not put water on the structure. Their orders came from their city manager and mayor and council. Was it wrong? Everyone has an opinion (We would have put it out if for no other reason than that we had to come anyway and that was the damn fire that was endangering the neighbor who had the coverage.) If they had tried to put it out the chief would have been fired, the fire fighters terminated and there wouldn’t have been any body left to help fight fire for the majority of the rural residents in their area who do pay the annual fee.
The remaining 5 departments (city departments) in the county have been going out into the county without a subscription service with the hope that after responding they will bill the home owner and collect. It hasn’t been working. One of these departments even though it is a city department, has to get change out of their outside coke machine that sits on the front of their station just to have money to put fuel in their tank. They get very little help from their own city, let alone NO revenue from the county. Financially these departments will be forced to either go to a subscription based service or draw back into their respective city limits. If that happens, there won’t be any fire protection in three quarters of the county.
No firefighter wants to see a home go up in flames; but especially for the volunteer departments, the cake sales and fish fries just don’t cut it anymore. One set of gear to out fit a firefighter can exceed $3,000. A fire truck easily costs more than a quarter of a million dollars. How many cakes do you think it will take? And who again is paying for this? The “city” taxpayer.
The state of TN guarantees that as a tax payer; city or county, you are promised two things. One, garbage pickup will be provided. And two, law enforcement will be provided. Fire service apparently isn’t considered that important.
What people need to know is the fire problem in Obion County is NOT South Fulton’s problem or any of the other 7 departments. It’s a county problem.
The other 7 city chiefs and myself have been working with the county for over four years now in trying to convince then to go with a fire tax like most counties in this country operate and we would all gladly get rid of this subscription crap. The county currently wants all cities to go subscription and the county will collect and distribute.
I as an individual have been catching holy hell this week from all over the country, and wasn’t even the department involved. All I have been trying to do is defend some brother firefighters who weren’t given a choice as to what they could do; defending a program, though not perfect has been a successful program in Union City at least for over 47 years. South Fulton has run theirs for 20. It’s kept the doors open and help provided protection to a majority of rural customers in our Union City area who if it were not for the blessing of our city government would not have any fire protection what so ever because the County still does not want to pass a fire tax for county residents.
It has been one week. Not one letter to the editor has appeared in any of the papers. I’m not hearing complaints from the county residents. I’m only getting my ass chewed out from one end of the country to the other. I apologize for interrupting your forum. It’s late; I’m mad, and I wanted to vent. Honestly, this has been the most civil forum I have come across. And the only one I have taken part it.
Hope you all stay safe and please never judge until you have the facts.
“No firefighter wants to standby and watch a neighbor’s house burn, but we are sometimes put in this predicament through the subscription response program.” The words of Hornbeak Chief Bob Reavis. Hornbeak is one of eight municipal departments providing fire protection to Obion County. Chief Reavis has one of the five departments that doesn’t require subscriptions to respond into the county. But he says county policy of failing to properly address this issue is pushing his department and the others into joining South Fulton in requiring these subscriptions.
Reavis says a comprehensive plan was presented two years ago by the chiefs to eliminate subscription response and replace it with tax or fee based funding that would provide “rural fire protection to all residents”. The chief says the county sent it back wanting to instead expand the subscription program.
The entire press conference, including questions from Todd Cranick whose parents’ home burned a week ago, is above. Below is the answer from Obion County Mayor Benny McGuire. Despite a lot of threats and a great deal of pressure, McGuire still wants to expand the same subscription service that created this controversy to the entire county, something Bob Reavis and the other chiefs are against.
Reavis does want county residents to stand up and be heard, “The people have to understand that houses are going to burn. It’s not what we want.”
“The same thing has happened in the county before,” said Obion County Mayor Benny McGuire. “It never got this much attention.”
He doesn’t understand why his county’s policy is under fire.
Under the current system, there is no county-wide fire protection.
The mayor said that policy might soon change if county leaders vote yes on a new plan, which gives everyone an opportunity to buy subscription service from the nearest fire department.
“It’s not what I want, not what my fire department wants, not what my town wants,” Chief Bob Reavis said.
Reavis’ plea certainly resonated with some in the audience, perhaps most especially Todd Cranick, whose parents burnt out home is at the center of the controversy.
“The country is fed up with this crap and it’s about time everybody pulled together and gets things changed,” Cranick said.
Before going into last night’s Firefighter Netcast I had only one problem with my good friend The Fire Critic’s views on the fire department in South Fulton, Tennessee letting a family’s home burn to the ground because a $75 fee wasn’t paid. Now I have two problems.
In his opening monologue describing the events, Rhett Fleitz did what I have seen and heard many a fire chief do when the bad news showed up on radio, TV and the newspapers. Rhett almost reflexively blamed the news media for sensationalizing this story. Rhett you are definitely chief material with natural reactions like that. There is a future for you buddy.
But let me give you a reality check with this ancient lesson from the news business. Dog biting man is not news. Man biting dog is. I know Rhett that you are probably still trying to figure out why I brought this old saying into the conversation last night, so let me put it another way. Firefighters putting out a house fire often isn’t news. Firefighters sitting and watching a house burn is (if you still don’t get it, ask Willie to explain it to you).
There are a lot of citizen commentaries like this on YouTube. It gives you an indication of the depth of the emotion with this story and the reputation problem the fire service faces. Click here for more.
I can be as a big a critic of my former profession as anyone, but this is in no way, shape or form a problem of the news media hyping a story. This story doesn’t need hyping. Rhett’s objection was the headline “Firefighters watch as home burns”. That isn’t hype. That’s a fact and a very accurate headline.
In fact, Rhett bringing this up really does my job and makes my argument about this case. It’s simple. This wouldn’t have been a story making news around the world if the fire department did what fire departments are supposed to do and put out the fire. Yes, there is a lot more to this issue and it is much more complicated than that. But that’s the bottom line.
During our debate Rhett said he still stands by his other comment that caused me to wonder if he really has a clue about what he is saying as he tries to juggle the content of multiple blogs (the other day the man I used to call ”the hardest working man in the fire service blog business” was so desperate for content he put naked boobs on FireCritic.com). Rhett says he still believes, “The only thing that failed here was the homeowner not paying the fee. Everything else operated as it should.”
I will explain it again to all of my friends who agree with Rhett. And looking at the comments, there are quite a few of you. This is a case where you can’t just say the rules are the rules, and make sure each one is followed to the letter. It draws you to the wrong conclusion.
Yes, you can point to the requirements and say that the homeowner blew it and give the example that GEICO won’t let you make a claim on car insurance that you buy after you total your car. You and Rhett are technically correct on each one of these points. But you are morally wrong (not that I am normally an arbiter of morals) and it is the wrong answer for the fire service.
Your correct assessment of the individual facts doesn’t mean your answer to this problem is correct. In this case it’s just the opposite. You’re failing to see the big picture (now who is sounding like a fire chief?).
It is the job of the fire service to be there when someone else is having the worst day of their lives, no matter how wrong they are for getting themselves in that situation. In this case the fire service blew it big time and it is once again costing a great amount of reputation equity.
Let me give you an insurance analogy that better relates to this case. You have no health insurance. You take your child to the emergency room with a badly fractured leg. Because of the lack of insurance does the doctor refuse to treat your kid or tell you to come back when the leg is infected and his life is in danger? You know the answer to that and that should have been the answer in South Fulton.
But to me this is not really a problem with the firefighters on the scene. I know there are many of you think they should have disobeyed orders and attacked the fire. I don’t blame the front line firefighters. But I do blame the fire department. A distinction lost on my friend Rhett last night (and he is my friend and I continue to defend his right to be wrong). Even the woman whose son decked the fire chief agrees this wasn’t the fault of the firefighters.
But the Fire Department should never have put those firefighters in that position. They were set up to fail. Yes, I know there is a great responsibility by Obion County, its citizens and the political leaders of South Fulton in this matter. That is not lost on me. But the fire department shouldn’t allow everyone else to put them in a position that goes against what being a firefighter is all about.
If this is truly a policy dictated by others and not the fire department, than this is one one of those rare situations where the fire chief, backed by his firefighters, must collectively hold their breath until they turn blue. They need to take a stand.
And I am hoping the leadership in fire departments all over the country where this scenario can and does happen will look at this black eye to the fire service and realize they don’t want their department to become the next postor child for this issue.
Rhett tells me not all of the municipal departments providing fire protection service for Obion County operate this way. According to Rhett some don’t charge at all and others have a policy similar to the one I’ve shown from the Karns VFD, a Tennessee department about five hours to the east of South Fulton.
In case you missed it, Karns is implementing subscription fire protection. But they are smart enough not to put themselves in this untenable position of having to refuse to put out a fire. They will do what firefighters are supposed to do, but after it’s the smoke clears the homeowner will get a hefty bill for the fire department’s services. Not ideal, but it saves firefighters from being the man who bit the dog.
We have almost 60 comments since yesterday on the South Fulton, Tennessee story where the fire department would not put out the house fire because the homeowner hadn’t paid his subscription. The Fire Critic, Rhett Fleitz, is among those who wrote in because I dared to criticize his statement that ”Everything else operated as it should” except for the homeowner not paying his bill.
Tonight at 9:00 EDT I will debate this issue with Rhett on his Firefighter Netcast Internet radio show. I still predict that before it is over Rhett will admit that was a poor choice of words and he was wrong. But we shall see. I am guessing the only way Rhett will let you hear the debate is if you pay a subscription fee up front.
To kind of summarize where we are on this debate, here is a recent comment from STATter911.com reader known as Joseph Schmoe who defends the South Fulton FD. Below that is my response. Join us tonight at 9:
I have to disagree with you on this one Mr. Statter. The citizens of the city are under no obligation to subsidize fire protection for a county that does not care enough to provide fire protection for it’s citizens.
Many solutions are available for the county to provide protection to unincorporated areas of the county. Formation of their own fire department, contracting with the city to provide protection, formation of a community services district to allow collection of funds to pay for city responses are just a few.
Instead, the county chose to do nothing and leave it up to the residents to subscribe. Like many people, this “victim” elected not to participate, thinking he would never have a fire. He miscalculated and lost everything. Now, the city officials, including the fire chief, are being vilified in the media for protecting the interests of the people that they represent. Odd.
Had the fire department extinguished the fire, others in the community would likely not subscribe, knowing that any fire would be extinguished anyway. As it is, I am sure that the subscription rate will rise after this event.
This incident is similar to when unincorporated communities votes against annexation time after time, then whine when the neighboring city denies services.
The blame on this lies solely with the property owner, he rolled the dice and lost. As you can tell, I am not buying that he “forgot”.
If public officials must be blamed, blame the county for not making the protection of it’s citizens a priority.
Thanks Mr. Statter for your fine work. Despite my disagreement with you on this issue, I remain a most loyal reader and fan.
Respectfully submitted,
Schmoe
Joe,
I’m always glad to have someone disagree with me so nicely (as if I set a good example with Rhett).
A number of people are making the points you make. And there is little argument that technically you are correct on probably all counts. But in this case following all of the rules gives you the wrong answer. Not only is it the answer that is morally wrong and goes against what firefighters are all about, it is the answer that gives the fire service a black eye.
Let me be clear, I am not defending the homeowner. And you are also right that South Fulton is probably under no obligation to protect the county (except by the agreement that set up this scenario). In fact, my point is they should not put themselves in this position. No fire department should. It is not what firefighters do.
As Jeff Bressler writes in the Fire PIO there is plenty of blame to go around. But it is the fire department that looks bad.
What I am saying to the fire department (and any others who have these set-ups) is don’t put yourself in this no-win situation in the future. You would look much better sending the man a bill for a couple of thousand dollars after you put out the fire (the Karns VFD model) than sitting there looking like you are at a football rally bonfire.
Thanks Joe for being such a loyal reader and sticking with me even when you think I am wrong.
NOTE: Mr. Williams was not on his radio show this morning & indications on his Facebook page are that he has been taken off the air
Talk show host Matt Williams was in Gilmer, Texas and found himself face-to-face with some volunteer firefighters apparently responding in their POVs. Williams had some big concerns about their driving and the use of emergency equipment on the vehicles. Both legitimate questions and issues worth discussion. We’ve discussed them here.
But listening to Mr. Williams you have to wonder if somewhere in his history his house burned down because the local fire department didn’t show up or possibly a volunteer firefighter stole his woman when he was a teenager. Starting at the five-minute mark Williams talks about everything from incest to the work ethic of volunteers.
Trust me, you will want to hear this.
Clearly Matt Williams is to volunteers what Connie Xinos is to career firefighters (and then some).
I am sure most of you have been following the latest incident of a Tennessee fire department letting a home burn because the homeowner didn’t pay the annual subscription fee. In this case in South Fulton an unpaid $75 bill resulted in the fire department watching a house burn to the ground. There has been a lot of reaction to this story, including the following: News coverage across the country (just heard the story again on CBS Radio); A live shot with the homeowner on Keith Olbermann’s Countdown on MSNBC with references to life under the Tea Party (see below); Glenn Beck supports the FD position; The son of the homeowner decking the fire chief (see story above); A harsh statement from IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger; The Fire Critic Rhett Fleitz taking the side of the fire department saying the rules are the rules (please check my critique of The Fire Critic further down).
As a volunteer firefighter in Maryland in the 70s I recall being quite outraged reading the stories, usually from the South, of firefighters watching homes burn because someone wasn’t on the department’s subscription or membership list. I don’t think my outrage is any less more than 35-years-later.
The chiefs who run these subscription based entities, including Union City Fire Chief Kelly Edmison whose department is in Obion County, Tennessee with South Fulton, make the case that they are between a rock and a hard place. Here is what Chief Edmison said to WPSD-TV:
“If somebody is trapped in the house we’re going to go because life safety is number one but we can’t give the service away,” Edmison said. “It’s not South Fulton’s problem. It’s not Union City’s problem. It’s the county’s problem. There is no county fire department.”
“If we just waited to charge when we went out there, you’d be working on a per-call basis,” he said. “With no more calls than there are, the money wouldn’t be there in a sufficient source to buy the equipment you need.”
He and other fire chiefs in Obion County who charge subscription fees for county residents know they’re in a tough spot.
“It’s like car insurance,” Edmison said. “I wish I could wait until I have an accident until I pay my premium on my car insurance, but it doesn’t work that way. So why should the fire service be looked at anything different?”
The self dubbed Fire Critic, Rhett Fleitz, has no sympathy for the homeowner who didn’t pay his bill and he also thinks the fire department is wrongly the fall guy in this one.
This situation is a black eye for the fire service. The fault lies with the homeowners for not paying the $75 fee. However, the public will not view it as such. The media is also jumping on the band wagon…saying that the homeowner is the victim. The only thing that failed here was the homeowner not paying the fee. Everything else operated as it should.
So many people are pointing the finger towards the fire department. Once again, they fail to look at policies. This is bigger than the fire department. If someone wants to change the policies they need to look to the South Fulton City Government.
I don’t know if it’s just a poor choice of words or my good friend Rhett has finally snapped after taking years of abuse about being short. Rhett has me really worried about him when he writes, ”Everything else operated as it should”. Huh?
I am starting to think that carpool I wrote about with Connie Xinos of Oak Brook, Illinois and the two council knuckleheads from Xenia, Ohio who want the firefighters to buy their own gear can now go in the HOV-4 lanes. Connie, give me a call for directions. Rhett will be standing at the curb waiting for you. Thank goodness IronFiremen.com is now aboard FireEMSBlogs.com so we can get something sensible from Roanoke. (BTW Rhett is so threatened about the blog by Willie Wines he put some frontal nudity on The Fire Critic today. I think we know who the real boob is. Desperate people do desperate things.)
Now back to our story. No, Rhett. Everything did not operate as it should. Firefighters put out fires and help people. They should not be put in the position where they can’t do that. And maybe it’s not the South Fulton Government that is necessarily the problem. Maybe Obion County should provide for its people by subsidizing the volunteer fire departments.
If that can’t be done, maybe a better answer to this problem comes from a Tennessee fire company with a similar issue. In the story below, after running into fundraising issues, the Karns VFD, five hours or so to the east of South Fulton, is going to a subscription type department. But it sounds like they are not refusing to respond to anyone’s emergency. They will bill those who aren’t members a pretty substantial fee for putting out a fire.
Far from perfect and still objectionable. But at least this way it won’t bring about video on national television of firefighters looking like they are at a marshmellow roast while someone loses all of their belongings. Let the bill collectors, accountants and courts do what they are supposed to do while firefighters do their jobs. (And Rhett, go do your job, admit you were wrong and apologize to your co-worker Willie for trying to steal his thunder on his opening week.)
There is now a lot more detail about the five on-call firefighters accused of starting fires in three vacant homes in the Massachusetts towns of Brimfield and Holland. It probably won’t surprise anyone familiar with the issue of firefighter arson that these were young men who said they set the fires because they were bored. They weren’t seeing enough action, except the EMS calls that really didn’t interest them.
In this case there is also the issue of greed. They were on-call firefighters who needed the money from the fire responses. The firefighters charged are Patrick K. Elliott, 19, a call firefighter with the Brimfield Fire Department, Brian S. Findlay, 18, a call firefighter with the Brimfield and Holland fire departments, Jordan R. Frank, 18, a call firefighter with the Brimfield Fire Department, Dylan J. Lajeunesse, 18,a call firefighter with the Holland Fire Department and Donald C. Moores, 20, a call firefighter with the Brimfield and Holland fire departments.
In an excellent article by Gerard F. Russell and Kim Ring at Telegram.com, the reporters go through the police report showing how the five firefighters set the fires and how they were caught. The story indicates investigators focused on the firefighters following a call to a tip line. The caller said one of the firefighters told a friend he and other firefighters had set the fires.
A couple of other interesting points from the excerpts below. The firefighters weren’t very good at starting fires, needing to go back and get gasoline in order to get two of the fires going.
Note the evidence the investigators now have thanks to the young firefighters texting each other with details about what they were doing. Not long before I became a volunteer in the 1970s a couple of firefighter arsonists were arrested from the company I joined. Of course there was no texting in those days. I was told what helped catch the pair was they were on an alternate fire department radio channel when one asked the other if they removed the gasoline can.
Here are some of the details from Massachusetts firefighter arson ring:
The police report detailed the men’s alleged activities leading up to each fire, which included text messages in which the men talked about their involvement in the fires. The police narrative details episodes of failed attempts to light fires with a mixture of oil and diesel fuel in plastic containers that was mixed at the Brimfield Fire Department by Mr. Elliott.
Some of the men allegedly hung out together at the Brimfield fire headquarters, became bored and rode around the town looking for abandoned homes to burn. Prior to one of the fires, Mr. Frank told police that Mr. Elliott “made a mixture of oil, and either gas, diesel or kerosene” and put it into a large antifreeze container. Mr. Elliott “had the container with the mixture between his legs in the front passenger seat.”
After pouring the mixture all over the garage door at the Chandler Road fire, Mr. Elliott tried lighting the accelerant but “it flashed and went down.” The men left and went back to the Brimfield fire station. Mr. Frank said Mr. Elliott “was freaking out because his prints were everywhere.” So the men drove back and the fire was smoldering. They then went to the home of one of the men to wait for the fire call tones that sound to alert firefighters to respond to fires.
After the first fire during the cleanup, Mr. Moores had asked Mr. Frank, of West Brookfield, how he arrived at the fire so fast. Mr. Frank said he was in the area with Mr. Elliott, Mr. Patrick and Mr. Findlay. In a police interview, Mr. Moores said he asked the men if they started the fire and they denied it.
“Moores stated he has known these guys a long time and he knew they were lying about the fire so he asked a second time and they all laughed and Elliott stated they did start it,” the report said.
Hours before the second fire on Washington Road, Mr. Elliott allegedly telephoned Mr. Moores, who was visiting another firefighter in town. Mr. Moores was preparing to go home Mr. Elliott told him to “just stay in town.”
Mr. Moores asked Mr. Elliott, “Why, are you going to start another fire?” Mr. Elliott did not answer the question. Just before midnight, Mr. Moores spotted Mr. Elliott, Mr. Frank and Mr. Findlay at Cumberland Farms, and Mr. Moores again asked Mr. Elliott why he should stay in town. Mr. Elliott responded, “You know why.”
All of the men then drove to the Brimfield fire station, where an accelerant was mixed inside the bay where the ambulance and forestry trucks were parked.
Mr. Moores told police that before the third fire, in Holland, he received a text message to meet Mr. Elliott, Mr. Findlay, Mr. Frank and Mr. Lajeunesse to start another fire.
As in a previous fire, the men had trouble getting the fire going. Around 1:30 a.m., Mr. Findlay got a text message saying the fire did not light.
As a result, Mr. Elliott and Mr. Frank returned to the fire department to get more gasoline and then went back to the Chandler Road home to relight it.
The police report said it was Mr. Elliott and Mr. Findlay who were bored and wanted to start the fires. In his interview with police, Mr. Lajeunesse said that “the reason for the fires was to look cool and go to fires.”
He added, “They didn’t want to go to medicals — as it is not what they look forward to. Lajeunesse stated that he joined the department to fight fires.”
In Hampden County, Massachusetts, five call firefighters were arrested last night. They have been charged wih fires in vacant buildings in Brimfield and Holland. All five entered pleas of not guilty.
No one was hurt in the three fires in June and July, but the alleged actions of the five young men drew denunciations from their chiefs, State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan and Hampden District Attorney William M. Bennett said today.
“The conduct of these defendants is outrageous,” Bennett said in a statement today. “Their callous disregard for the safety of the community and the safety of the dedicated firefighters who had to respond to the scene of the fires is shocking. It is a very sad day when people pledged to serve the public become a serious danger to the public.”
Robert McCarthy, president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, the union which represents 12,000 career firefighters in the state — not call firefighters — had harsh words for the accused men.
“I’m shocked. It’s tragic,” he said in a telephone interview. “As far as I’m concerned, they should be punished to the fullest extent of the law.”
Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Fire Services, said the firefighters did help put out the three fires but she could not say whether the men started the fires so they could get paid.
“A firefighter accused of deliberately setting fires betrays the public’s trust and destroys the credibility of the fire service,” state Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan said in a statement. “It is also a betrayal of the trust firefighters need to place in one another to see that everyone goes home at the end of the day.”
Charged with burning of a building are:
- Patrick K. Elliott, 19, of 12 Power Station Road, Charlton, a call firefighter with the Brimfield Fire Department.
- Brian S. Findlay, 18, of 85 Armatage Road, Ashford, Conn., a call firefighter with the Brimfield and Holland fire departments.
- Jordan R. Frank, 18, of 19 Cross St., West Brookfield, a call firefighter with the Brimfield Fire Department.
- Dylan J. Lajeunesse, 18, of 21 Union Road, Holland, a call firefighter with the Holland Fire Department.
- Donald C. Moores, 20, of 3 Forest Drive, Brimfield, a call firefighter with the Brimfield and Holland fire departments.
Holland Fire Chief Paul Foster said: “Unfortunately the actions of these five young men gives the entire fire service a black eye, which is unfair to the decent, honest members of the Holland and Brimfield Fire Departments who volunteer their time away from their families to properly train and respond to emergencies to protect their neighbors at all hours of the day or night.”
Pinellas County, Florida fire: The vacant building that used to house the bar Big Ed’s Hideaway in Lealman was destroyed overnight. No injuries were reported in the two-alarm fire. Watch news coverage.
Story in Loudoun County drags on: Reporters seem to keep asking questions but there are apparently few definitive answers as to why the chief of the Middleburg VFD and four firefighters resigned at the same time the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an investigation of the department. Click here for the latest.
Firefighters knife under bunkroom pillow may be the third strike: Jordan Jostes says he is getting ready to leave the South Bend Fire Department to join the Marines. But the department may hasten his departure. Backed by the union, Jostes is trying to explain why he would keep a Bowie knife under his pillow at the firehouse. The firefighter doesn’t consider the knife a weapon. The South Bend Tribune reports Jostes has had other troubles including calling in sick while working another job and we reported on an issue of a picture of a patient that ended up on the firefighters Facebook page. Here’s the most recent story.
Picture of the day: Help arrives on a hayfield fire in Witmer, Pennsylvania. Click the image for more.
Chief suspended over PPE issues: This one sure is different. When a newspaper photo showed the chief of the fire department in Friday Harbor, Washington without gear as he backed up an SCBA-less firefighter on a car fire things hit the fan. The chief is now on medical leave after a two-day suspension. Five volunteers, including four officers, resigned saying they had no confidence in the chief. Check it out.
State investigators making sure Stockton, California firefighters don’t practice ALS: A long-standing dispute has forced Stockton out of the ALS business after 34-years. Read the details.
Two from Geezer you should look at: An embezzler is forcing an Indiana fire department to shut down for lack of funds on January 1. Click here for that story. Also, in Plainfield, New Jersey and ambulance crew must have been thinking that medicinal marijuana is part of their ALS protocols. It isn’t. They have been busted. Here’s that story.
Boston IAFF president back on the ladder with eyes on state post: Ed Kelly has made a lot of headlines as the president of IAFF Local 718 in his battles with Mayor Thomas Menino. Kelly is stepping down and hopping aboard Ladder 17, Boston’s busiest. But Kelly isn’t through with the union. He is considering running for president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts. Read more.
Half-million dollars in fire SUVs sit without radios: Right after making headlines about 90 cop cars that sat idle, the fleet services folks in Memphis, Tennessee are having a similar problem with 20 Chevy Tahoes ordered by the fire department. The fire SUVs arrived in May but they still don’t have radios. Check it out.
New Pierce dealer in mid-Atlantic as old one has charges dropped: Atlantic Emergency Solutions is now taking over the territory for Pierce that used to belong to Singer Associates Fire Equipment. Details are here. While we were on the road InsideNova.com had this update on molestation charges against Dick Singer- “Richard Dennis Singer was scheduled to stand trial on 13 felony charges Monday, but prosecutors declared the charges nolle prosequi, meaning they do not wish to prosecute him at this time. The charges can be brought again later.”
Amidst a storm a controversy not yet revealed to the public, five volunteer firefighters suddenly resigned. One of those who left his post, is the fire chief.
Board Member Jim Burton of the Blue Ridge District, says it couldn’t have come at a worse time. He says the department is already stretched so thin. Burton wants to ensure residents that they will answer their emergencies.
Paul Draisey is the director of the Middleburg Fire Department. He says allegations of misconduct were brought to the Loudoun County Fire Commission two weeks ago.
An investigation was launched with the help of the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Department. Immediately, three people were placed on administration leave.
Then this past weekend on August 27th and 28th, five volunteer firefighters resigned before the completion of the investigation.
Burton says they will get to the bottom of what happened if there was anything illegal or unethical that took place at the fire house.
Before the scandal, there were 15 volunteer firefighters. Now a third are gone and they are down to 10.
Company 3 is now forced to call on other stations for help. Burton says they could be forced to cut service, which would be the very last resort.
He says they are okay for the next few weeks, but he sees a problem in the longterm if they don’t come up with a solution.
It takes 18 months to recruit, hire and train a paid firefighter.
Because of the vacancies the station has requested eight paid firefighters.
One thing we never want to do at STATter911.com is take the work of others without their permission. Our post this morning showing guys with guns putting out fires did just that. We embedded video from the YouTube account UpsetAboutSafety. Larry Steiner of BainbridgeGa.com informed me today that the videos are his property and he did not give permission to others to upload the clips to YouTube. YouTube has already removed the videos. Larry was kind enough to send us links to his original works and a few from his corner of Georgia that we didn’t use earlier.
The video above is from a fire Sunday night in Bainbridge. According to the article with the video, Bainbridge Public Safety Officers and Georgia State Patrol were in the area for another call and all responded:
As Public Safety Officers donned their fire fighting gear, Cpl Duke, Trooper Walt Landrum and Trooper Brian Palmer pulled hoses off the fire engine. Troopers Duke and Palmer hit the fire in the front of the house and then Trooper Landrum hit the fire that had spread into the rear carport area.
The video above is from a house fire handled by Bainbridge Public Safety on April 7. Click here for more details.
There are other places in Larry’s coverage area where apparently cops are cops and firefighters are firefighters. Law enforcement was on the scene first of this July 9 fire (above) but it left it to the firefighters from Decatur County Fire and Rescue, Black Jack and Climax. Details are here.
And there are times that it doesn’t matter who is on the nozzle because there is no hose or fire engine. Larry shot the clip above on July 21. Here’s more.
Early video from Alberta, Canada: This was shot in Three Hills. The description indicates it is one of two suspicious fires being investigated by the RCMP.
Fire on the 27th floor with a mayday: We have fireground audio from the fire that began last night in the historic 36-story JP Morgan Chase Building in Downtown Houston. The firefighters had to deal with standpipe issues. At least five firefighters received non-life threatening injuries. Click here for our coverage.
Arresting the flames: A trio of videos showing uniformed police officers handling fire duties. Check it out.
Loudoun County, Virginia company hit with resignation of chief and four others: Leesburg Today reports the sudden departure of the chief and others from the Middleburg VFD may be connected to an investigation by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. The paper says no details are being provided explaining what this is all about. Whatever the reason the actions have an impact on staffing. Here’s the story.
It depends which way you look at it: A very interesting article that shows the San Diego Fire Department spends more per firefighter ($210,600) than any of the top 15 cities in the country. But at the same time the survey indicates San Diego actually spends less per resident on fire protection than all but two of the departments. Click here for the story and the chart comparing the costs.
A picture by Werner Ennesser at Sunday's event in Arlington County, Virginia.
Lots of pictures from Iron & Steel event: Despite a somewhat controversial start, by all accounts the Iron & Steel Run to the National Capital Region was a wonderful event on Sunday. Click here for video as the group went through Prince George’s County and pictures of the ceremony as the World Trade Center steel was brought to Arlington County Fire Station 5.
Firefighters may soon be allowed to drive ambulances: It is a controversy WIS-TV brought to light in 2008. Now it looks as if Columbia, South Carolina firefighters will soon be considered first responders and be able to get behind the wheel of Richland County ambulances. Check out the update.
Firefighter accused of burglary at his own firehouse: Click here for the details of a break-in at the Pine River VFD in Lincoln County, Wisconsin. Thanks to surveillance video a now former 28-year-old volunteer and two 16-year-olds have been charged.
Know your neighbors: Firegeezer has the story of the meth lab that took out an apartment building in Des Moines over the weekend.
Dispatcher credited with save: A look at the work of a dispatcher who helped guide people to safety during a weekend apartment fire in Austin, Texas. Click here.
About every day I check the site Firefighter Spot to see what new videos Jason Thomas has posted. What I found today was the clip above that Jason found on YouTube (uploaded on Tuesday by someone who uses the name DCFDfirefighter100). Jason asks on his blog, “Anyone familiar with this job?”.
Jason, you are about to find out there are a lot people familiar with this one. It is from May of 1994 and is among the most controversial fires in Prince George’s County history. For PGFD that’s saying something.
Here is what I know about the fire. A 19-year-old pregnant woman, her two-year-old son, and a four-year-old girl who was a family friend, died in the burning home at 5206 Emerson Street in Edmonston, Maryland. The woman’s four-year-old daughter escaped the blaze.
The woman called 911 saying her son had set the couch on fire with a lighter and that she was trapped inside the with the two children. While I don’t have the exact times, that conversation with 911 happened shortly before the arrival of Prince George’s County firefighters. That information was relayed to firefighters.
What made this fire so controversial within PGFD is that the first units on the scene were ordered by a chief officer not to enter the building and were told to fight it from the outside (you can hear and see some of that on the video). There have been very bitter feelings about this fire ever since.
I believe this is the first time I have seen the complete raw video since 1994. The video is the one most requested by STATter911.com readers. The requests surged again as I finished my career at Channel 9 last month and began posting and writing about old stories from the archives. While I didn’t find this raw video in the archive room, I found a story done at the time of the fire by my friend Miriam Hernandez (now with KABC-TV in Los Angeles).
I had Miriam’s story ingested and started writing about the fire. But I got cold feet. I wimped out and never posted the story (though it did appear in the STATter911.com video player for a bit).
It is not that I am afraid of controversy. I just didn’t feel like dealing with it. It was not the way I wanted to end my career in broadcasting. I didn’t want to handle the comments and all of the finger pointing (and I still don’t want to).
Now that Jason has posted the video and asked the question, I feel somewhat obligated to provide an answer and share it with the STATter911.com audience (as I have done with other Washington area videos Jason has discovered).
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