“I heard five big booms. It sounded like an explosion,” said John Mason who lives near Fairfax County’s new Crosspointe fire station where a dangerous mistake could have been deadly.
“We don’t like that this happened, especially to us, but thankfully, nobody was seriously injured,” said Dan Schmidt, a spokesperson for the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department.
Ironically, the accident happened during a routine safety check at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday. Schmidt says a firefighter on the ladder truck was raising and moving the ladder when it hit the 230,000 volt transmission line above.
The firefighter who was on the truck jumped off and another one who was standing nearby was hit by flying debris from a concrete barrier that exploded. They were both transported to a hospital with minor injuries.
“Carelessness. They’re usually very professional. That’s not the kind of mistake you’d expect from them, ” said Richard Magee of Alexandria. He was one of more than 31,000 power customers of Dominion Virginia that lost power because of the incident.
Virginia Dominion officials say they restored power to all of those customers by 10:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.
Officials said the contact between the ladder truck and the power line caused a small fire in an electrical panel inside the fire station.
Metro officials told 9NEWS NOW the outage affected the King Street, Van Dorn, and Springfield Metro stations, where power has since been restored.
A third firefighter was taken to the hospital to check for possible hearing loss after the explosion. Both the Fairfax County Fire Department and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating.
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UPDATE: Virginia ladder hits 230,000 volt line during safety check. 3 firefighters slightly hurt. 31,000 lost power.
26 commentsFairfax County, Virginia ladder hits power line in front of station. Starts fire. Causes blackout. One injured.
33 comments
Pictures and story from WUSA9.com:
Virginia Dominion officials said they have restored power to thousands of Northern Virginia customers after a ladder truck struck a power line at a Fairfax County fire house Wednesday morning.
Le Ha Anderson, spokesperson for Virginia Dominion Power, said the emergency vehicle hit a transmission line off Ox Road and around 8:45 a.m.
Officials said the contact between the ladder truck and the power line caused a small fire in an electrical panel inside the fire station.
One firefighter received non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
Anderson said crews worked to reroute power in order to get customers back on line as soon as possible. Power was restored shortly before 10:30 a.m.
Metro officials told 9NEWS NOW the outage affected the King Street, Van Dorn, and Springfield Metro stations, where power has since been restored.
Fireworks gone bad video: 11 injured in Palmyra, PA. Same firm involved in 2007 incident in Fairfax County, Virginia.
1 commentMore details from 2007 fireworks mishap in Vienna, Virginia
Read 2009 article by The Washington Post’s Tom Jackman on the victims of the Vienna mishap
11 people were hurt last night during the finale of a fireworks display in Palmyra, Pennsylvania. According to WGAL-TV reports, “Schaefer Pyrotechnics, of Ronks, Pa., put on the display, which also commemorated Palmyra’s 250th anniversary”. In 2007 STATter911.com, while at WUSA-TV, we reported that the same firm handled the July 4th fireworks in Vienna, Virginia that hurt ten people, including three with serious injuries (see video below). Victims of that incident filed suit against Schaefer.
Also from our 2007 coverage:
STATter 911 has learned that Schaefer was involved in a July 4th, 2004 incident in Pittson, Pennsylvania. The company was fined $8100 by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) after at least 24 people were hurt. That mishap was blamed on a faulty explosive. OSHA discovered 7 violations (from a 2005 Scranton Times article no longer available online).
Here are some details from WGAL-TV on last night’s incident around 10:37 PM at the Palmyra Middle School:
“This accident occurred after one of the firework charges misfired, causing an explosion, sending firework material into a nearby crowd located near the games and ride area … This accident also propelled fireworks material across the football field and beyond,” a Palmyra Borough Police Department news release stated.
Eleven people suffered burns contusions and abrasions. Four of them were minors, aged 11, 14, 15 and 17. One of the injured was a fireworks employee. All of the patients were taken to Hershey Medical Center.
Police said none of the injuries appeared to be life threatening. As of 11:30 a.m. Monday all of the injured, except one adult and one minor, had been released from the hospital.
Imagine that, Jerry Engle didn’t tell the truth to STATter911.com: A little more than a year ago the self-proclaimed baddest firefighter in all of PGFD Land (and former “mayor” of Kentland) told me it was other firefighters who set a March, 2008 blaze at a vacant house in Riverdale Park. Jerry claims he just watched and tried to report it to the top officials of the Riverdale VFD. I am guessing not too many thought that story made a lot of sense when we ran the extensive interview of the author of the book Probie Days. Now Jerry has said in court that he actually set that fire, entering a guilty plea on a second-degree arson charge. Co-defendant James Martinez, a former Riverdale volunteer and career firefighter in Montgomery County, has a court date in a month, accused in the same fire. Check out this latest, and maybe our final chapter in the life and times of Jerome Engle. (Note: We were a4re having trouble embedding videos, but we now have the links working to the interview and other videos from the Engle archives, including when he used his bottle rocket launching pad.)
Martinez lit the road flare and handed to it Engle, who ignited a sofa in the basement, Engle said in court Tuesday.
Engle and Martinez returned to the Riverdale Fire Station and awaited the dispatch of a 911 call.
When no call came, Engle said he told Martinez to go back to the house and told him, “If the fire is small, put it out. But if it’s big, come back to the firehouse and get us.”
Careful not to choke on your breakfast when you watch this: We have Part 2 of this must see series of videos selling life saving techniques (and lingerie) in a unique way. I also pay tribute to a friend of mine who introduced the Heimlich Maneuver to the public. Check it out.
The firefighters saved the beer and then drank it: When a hotel burned in Oliver, British Columbia firefighters apparently had their priorities on straight, rescuing as many as six kegs of beer from the flames. Now it turns out those kegs found their way to the fire hall. The mayor is not happy. Two firefighters are under suspension. Here’s the story.
And on a similar note, firefighter is charged with driving the fire engine while drunk: This is from Jefferson County, Oregon where a firefighter who crashed his car on the way to work is accused of then taking the fire engine out to a camp ground, racing through with the siren on and yelling obscenities at the campers. Read more about this smooth move.
Interesting vehicle fire video: Firefighter Close Calls has one you will want to see where the hose got away.
The instructor was “just trying to help fellow EMTS”: The words of a Lexington, Massachusetts firefighter in the center of the EMS training scandal. The help came in the form of giving a passing grade on recertification and not having to take the course. Read the details.
Closed drive-in burns: In Ceres, California Monday night the Ceres Theatre and Flea Market burned. Here’s the raw video. A report of two separate fires in the complex. Here’s more.
There are so many people to thank for my TV career. One of those is Walter Gold who is executive director of the DC Fire & EMS Museum and has been a long time member of the Friendship Fire Association. Walter, a veteran newsman, first introduced me to management at Channel 9 in the early 1980s when he pitched my services as a tipster.
At about the same time, there were a number of local TV reporters who encouraged me to make the move from radio to television. They included Mary Norton and Brian Williams at Channel 5 (Brian had also been a volunteer firefighter) and Larry Shainman at Channel 4.
Then there is the man who may have been the best TV reporter this market has ever seen, Mike Buchanan. Mike was the one who convinced news director Dave Pearce to hire me.
Once at Channel 9 it was the photographers and editors who molded this skinny radio guy into a TV reporter.
But probably the biggest influence on my career came from the person you will see in the videos above and below, Rich Adams.
I first met Rich around 1977. As one of the first Cardiac Rescue Technicians in Prince George’s County, Chief Jim Estepp had asked me to join him and PIO Duncan Munro for a TV broadcast at Channel 9. Rich was the producer of the “Town Hall” meeting probing the state of EMS in the region. Bob Strickland and Gordon Peterson hosted the two-part broadcast. It was my first appearance on Channel 9, eight years before I was hired (I’d love to find that tape).
Watching Rich in action at Broadcast House, made it clear he had successfully melded his love of EMS with his job as a journalist. Rich was an active member of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad in Montgomery County, Maryland. His monthly columns in Firehouse were a must read for those in EMS.
We really got to know each other well starting in 1982 after I began working at WTOP Radio in the Stuart Petroleum Building next door to Channel 9 (both stations used to be in the same building when they were owned by The Washington Post). It was through Rich that I met his close friend Hal Bruno. Hal is someone I had long been a fan of. In my mind those two set the standard on combining journalism with a passion for fire and EMS.
For Rich it was very much an advocacy type of journalism. As editorial director he was the voice of TV station management in taking positions on important community issues. Just like the editorial page in any newspaper, TV stations across the country used to provide these opinions on a regular basis, usually adjacent to a newscast. But Rich did something very different than the average editorial director. He made public safety, particularly EMS and fire, a priority.
From my perspective, the influence of Rich Adams on the delivery of fire and EMS in and around the Nation’s Capital was immense. His knowledge and experience, plus his TV pulpit, allowed him to influence policy and light a fire under political leaders, fire chiefs and others when needed. And when things didn’t change for the better, Rich stayed on the case.
That role has not been filled since Channel 9 stopped doing editorials in the 1990s and Rich moved over to the news department assignment desk before heading out on his own. Rich died in 1996.
Don’t just take my word about Rich’s legacy. Watch these editorials.
The video at the top of this post is a February, 1982 series Rich did on the region’s capabilities in the face of disaster. He talks about the lessons learned from January 13 of that year when the crash of Air Florida Flight 90 into the icy Potomac River occurred moments before a deadly Metro train derailment underground in nearby Southwest Washington. I contend the results of the prodding by Rich (and it went well beyond this series of reports) can be directly linked to the regional response almost 20-years later at the Pentagon on September 11.
The second video consists of two editorials by Rich focusing on the April, 1982 fire that destroyed the Filene Center at Wolf Trap Farm Park. In the second editorial he keys in on a pretty dismal fire safety record by the federal government in the form of the National Park Service.
I am not sure there was ever anywhere else in the country that had an such an important advocate on TV regularly focusing on fire and EMS.
I often think if he was still with us that a blog or website would have been the perfect outlet for Rich Adams. I can assure you that Adams911 would have been much more interesting than STATter911.
You have watched and read the battles concerning EMS in the Nation’s Capital over the last three years here at STATter911.com. I have been covering the very same issue from my first days at Channel 9 25 years ago and before that at WTOP Radio. But the problems precede my reporting.
The video above has two stories from the late Bob Strickland in 1976 reporting on difficulties during the early stages of providing ALS in Washington, DC.
Below is a half-hour special (in two parts) by reporter Steve Gendel that takes a wider view. Besides the District of Columbia it covers the suburbs in Maryland and Northern Virginia. When you look at the credits you will see the name Tad Dukehart as the photographer for the broadcast. Tad retired from Channel 9 and is now a volunteer firefighter in Wisconsin.
You will also see the name Rich Adams. Up until his death in 1996 Rich was a columnist on EMS issues for Firehouse Magazine and was a member of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad. Rich was also the editorial director at Channel 9. In that role Rich helped pushed the fire and EMS community to improve EMS in the region. There were many other similar public safety issues where I believe my friend Rich left a lasting mark. He is greatly missed.
From the STATter911.com Archives: 1973 building collapse in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia kills 14.
4 commentsIn March of 1973 I was just short of my 18th birthday and still living in Baltimore. Instead of showing up for my senior year of high school (had the highest number of unexcused absences in the junior year) I was attending the Community College of Baltimore, where I worked at the campus radio station, WBJC-FM. At the same time I was interning at WCBM radio (Bob “Smoke” Shilling, who sometimes checks out STATter911.com, was the news director).
My interest in the fire service was growing. While at CCB I was taking a fire science course along with my radio and TV curriculum. Around that time I somehow talked Baltimore City Fire Department Chief Thomas Burke into letting me spend a few weeks riding with his department. He set me up with Peter O’Connor who was then Battalion Chief 2 and later chief of the department. While up until then I was only interested in the fire service as a buff, the time spent at Engine 6′s quarters convinced me I might want to try doing this stuff.
I read everything I could get my hands on about the fire service and began saving articles about significant incidents. One of those that caught my eye was from a place called Bailey’s Crossroads. I had never heard of it. But what happened there on Friday, March 2, 1973 was making big news. A middle section of a 26-story building under construction as part of the Skyline complex had collapsed. It took the lives of 14 workers and injured more than 30 others. This occurred well before Fairfax County had an urban search and rescue team.
The reporter on the film is the legendary Mike Buchanan, one of the best reporters the TV business has ever seen. Mike was also instrumental in getting me hired at Channel 9.
I now live just down the street from the high-rise canyon that is Skyline. Through the blog I have gotten to know two people who lived in the area at the time. Both are now retired from the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department and should be familiar names to STATter911.com readers.
From Firegeezer Bill Schumm:
At the time, Co. 10 Bailey’s was still in the old firehouse on Rte.7 not far from the site. Two friends of mine (one of them Capt. Jim Small mentioned at the start of the tape) were working that day. They were in the firehouse when somebody came racing up to the bay door telling them that the new building just collapsed. They didn’t believe him and kinda gave it the “yeah, sure” treatment and started laughing it off. Then the tones hit.
I didn’t work in that part of town, so never responded to the call. But I got up there a couple of days later with my 35mm. camera and got some good slides of the thing. They’re still around here somewhere, I think.
Harry Diezel was working at the training center then and he told me about loading up the recruit class on the bus and going down there to search for victims. They used a technique where the whole group would stand along the top of the collapsed debris and everybody would simultaneously stomp on the concrete while yelling. Then at a signal, all would stop and there would be total silence on the entire work site while people would listen for any kind of a response from underneath. Never got any, though.
From FossilMedic Mike Ward:
I would occasionally play cards at a buddy’s house. We were sophomores. His parent’s house was just north of Route 7, in the shadow of the high rise complex. We hung out at the scene while the sun set Friday night.
Three or four ambulances were lined up on Leesburg Pike with their rear doors open. The drama was offset when I realized that they were shut down. With 19 months as a VFD weekend warrior, it was the first major, multi-jurisdictional event I witnessed. Not much was going on so we went back to his house.
Around midnite I went back to the scene. A DCFD jeep with a portable generator had a floodlight focused on the corner of the smaller section of the building. About 2 am I was in the crowded Krispy Kreme, listening to conversations.
I had two things on my agenda today and both played a role in the above video being posted. The first was a visit to Baltimore for the International Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference presented by the IAFC. Tim Butters and Chris Hawley were kind enough to extend an invitation for the chance to look around. I also attended an interesting class by Mike Hildebrand and Greg Noll.
From there it was a trip to Channel 9 to start the process of dealing with my own hazmat situation. Much of the rest of the day was spent trying to clean the toxic dump that is my desk in anticipation of my departure in less than two weeks. Should have contracted with Hildebrand and Noll Associates to handle this one.
Somewhere in that pile was a tape that caught my eye because it had the words ”hazardous materials” highlighted in yellow. Rather than fight it, I went with the theme of the day and checked it out. It is a story from September 7, 1988. Inspired by a series of hazardous materials incidents on and around the Beltway, a much skinnier me took a quick look at the training being done in the area.
The video includes interviews with the late Warren Isman, who was then chief in Fairfax County, Virginia, and current STATter911.com reader Pat Walsh, who was a lieutenant in Washington, DC.
With luck I will have a few more gems for you before I lose access to the archives.
Virginia firefighter hears call dispatched for own home. Blames Sparky for starting the blaze.
1 commentGlenn Ross was about to sit down to dinner at Alexandria Fire Department Station 206 Tuesday evening when he heard a familiar address come across the radio. Other Alexandria and Fairfax County stations were dispatched to a report of a house fire at the firefighter’s Franconia home.
There were lots of thoughts going through the mind of Glenn Ross, with the most important being to get home. Battalion Chief Joe Hoffmaster decided the safest way to get him there was aboard Engine 206.
Discovering that his wife was at not home, Firefighter Ross then thought about his two dogs who spend the day in the kitchen. When he pulled up, Sparky and Brownie were on a neighbor’s lawn, unconscious. They were wearing pet oxygen masks and being treated by Fairfax County paramedics. Firefighters found the dogs under a table in the burning kitchen.
The kitchen is gutted and the Ross home has significant smoke and water damage.
Investigators believe the fire started because of a box left on the stove top ignited. What was in that container leaves a big clue into the leading theory of how this blaze began. It was a box of dog biscuits.
Glenn Ross believes that one of the dogs, most likely Sparky, jumped up trying to get the treats and accidentally turned on a burner.
Dr. Katy Nelson at Alexandria Animal Hospital and Veterinary Emergency Service is treating both Brownie and Sparky for smoke inhalation and corneal burns. Dr. Nelson says both dogs are recovering nicely.
Dr. Nelson agrees with Firefighter Ross. In her professional opinion, the fire starter is clearly the always hungry Sparky, a beagle.
Ross says the hero of the day is a five-year-old neighbor who saw smoke coming from the home while playing outside. The boy ran in to get his grandparents who called 911. The early call apparently meant the difference between life and death for Sparky and Brownie.
Ross says the lesson learned is one that is basic in his business: Never leave anything combustible on or near the stove.
Glenn Ross says he is also learning what it is like to be on the receiving end of all the brotherhood the fire service has to offer. According to Ross offers of help have come in from his brother and sister firefighters across Northern Virginia.
Pennsylvania apartment fire: This fire was reported at 1:45 Monday morning at the Willow Creek Apartments in Ephrata Township (Lancaster County). Two alarms were sounded. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries. It is a fairly new sprinklered building, but news reports indicate the fire began outside, on the balcony of a third floor apartment. Read more.
Chief Tom Carr’s announcement: A difficult one to report for those of us who are fond of Charleston Fire Chief Tom Carr. Yesterday Chief Carr told his staff and the citizens of Charleston he is dealing with Parkinson’s disease. The chief plans to continue running the department. Click here to read his message to Charleston’s firefighters and watch the press conference. Read Billy Goldfeder’s words about his friend Tom Carr.
Update on Baltimore’s Jeffrey Novack: The Baltimore City firefighter continues to recover from many broken bones and serious burns following the April 7 fire at 3910 Liberty Heights Avenue. Jeffrey Novack’s home town paper in Pennsylvania talked with his firefighter/radio reporter dad Al, who provided a lot more details about his son’s condition. Here’s the story.
Ammo takes firefighter’s eye: That’s the latest on Ventura County, California Firefighter Paul Torres. You may recall he was hit on April 5 by exploding ammunition during a house fire. Read and watch the story.
Brain drain in Fairfax County: Darryl Louder is the latest assistant chief leaving the Fairfax County Fire Rescue Department for a chief’s job. Chief Louder is getting about as far away as he can get from us. He’s been picked to run the Contra Costa Fire District in California. Read more. By contrast, Assistant Chief Dave Rohr is staying about as close as he can get to his old office. It was announced earlier in the month Chief Rohr is walking across the street to take over as chief of the City of Fairfax Fire Department.
Video from substation fire: Click here and here for good video of a Pinellas County, Florida electrical substation burning last night and a foam truck moving in to put out the fire.
911 calls from Austin plane crash into IRS office: Austin police released the recordings of the calls about the fiery plane crash into the building housing the IRS on February 18. WUSA9.com’s Emily Cyr loaded them into our player (at the upper right of the blog). You can listen to the calls here, here, here, here, here, here and here. We also have the calls made about the fire at pilot Joe Stack’s home here, and here. Read more.
NIOSH wants Massachusetts to require seat belts for firefighters: One of the recommendations following the January, 2009 crash of Ladder 26 that killed Lt. Kevin Kelley. Read the report.
Also in Boston, Globe wants the pay raise slashed: Editorial writers at the Boston Globe are urging the City Council to reduce the 19-percent raise for firefighters over four-years cleared by an arbitration panel that also ordered mandatory drug and alcohol testing. Read the view from the paper.
Two go through the floor in Columbus, Ohio: We have the fireground audio from FireSceneAudio.com and video of yesterday morning’s fire that took the life of a woman and injured two firefighters. Click here.
Audio from Houston crash: You have likely seen the pictures of Houston Fire Department’s Engine 13 following Monday’s crash into the underside of a freeway overpass. Here’s the radio traffic.
Firefighter and son could face murder charges: Now that a 55-year-old man has died from an April 8 beating, a Philadelphia firefighter and his son are expected to be charged with murder. The pair are accused of attacking Mark Wallace and fleeing the scene after Wallace walked in front of their car. Here’s the story.
Sunday’s 4-alarm fire in Union, New Jersey: You have probably seen lots of pictures and video from the weekend wind swept fire in Union that spread to four buildings. This version is from our friend Paul Bassett. Make sure you check out Paul’s still pictures by clicking here.
New battery-powered, portable subway response vehicles are the 1st in U.S. DC’s Metro based them on London’s carts. View assembly & operation.
3 commentsThe Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) along with the the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Fire Chiefs Committee unveiled the subway system’s new battery-powered, portable response and recon vehicles today. The emergency management types at WMATA have been telling us for some time about this new capability and their efforts to train area fire departments on the use of the new carts.
We have posted four videos showing and describing the Mobile Emergency Response Vehicles (MERVs). Below, are clips of the vehicle being assembled and a ride on the rails photographed by 9NEWS NOW’s Greg Guise. At bottom, is raw video of the press conference with Arlington County Fire Department Chief Jim Schwartz.
At top, is the story for 9NEWS NOW by Bruce Leshan. That story includes Vito Maggiolo video and 911 calls from an April, 2000 incident where a train filled with 250 pasengers was sent to check out a report of smoke in a tunnel. They became trapped by an electrical fire. Bruce also wrote the article that follows:
Firefighters from across our region are showing off a new battery-powered rail cart that could make all the difference if there’s another Metro crash.
The $20,000 carts were designed in Britain to speed firefighters to emergency scenes deep inside the London Tube. The DC region is the first in the U.S. to get them.
Firefighters say there have been many incidents when they could have used the carts in Metro.
“We can’t breath!” a desperate passenger pleaded to rescue workers 10 years ago, while hundreds of passengers were stuck in a stopped train in smoky Metro tunnel.
“It took about an hour for the firemen to get there,” Susan Little told 9NEWS NOW.
Firefighters say the 26 “Mobile Emergency Response Vehicles” will help them speed into crises far faster.
“The other day, they put it together and had it going down the tracks in one minute and four seconds,” said one Arlington firefighter, as he watched the cart zip down a rail line at a Metro Yard in Alexandria.
Firefighters have carts now, but you have to push them. Loaded down in turnout gear, it can take them an hour to get to a scene. With the cart, they can go twelve miles an hour and get to a scene in minutes.
After the Sarin gas attacks 15 years ago in the Tokyo subway, British security officials asked rescue workers to invent a vehicle to get passengers out from deep under London in the tube.
The carts were used extensively after the terrorist attacks on the London subway in 2005.
Arlington Fire officials say they sure could have used one in a drill that had a train stuck under the Potomac between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom.
“In that one, it took 45 minutes to an hour to get to the victims,” says Arlington Battalion Chief James Daugherty, who’s been leading the project. “With a cart like this, five to ten minutes at most.”
In London, firefighters are actually drilled on driving the subway trains, so that if the operator is incapacitated in a poison gas attack, the rescuers can pull up in the cart and drive the train passengers to safety.
The carts were paid for with a $860,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security.
Fire in Calgary: This was the scene yesterday afternoon on Millrise Drive. One firefighter was injured and five police officers were treated for smoke inhalation. There is more video here, here and here. Read the story.
With cameras everywhere, napping (or more) in uniform can be a problem. Especially at a stranger's front door. Image from NY1.
On St. Patrick’s Day everyone is a fireman and everyone else has a camera: “St. Patrick’s Day ends with shoeless man in a firefighter’s uniform passed out on Brooklyn doorstep”. That’s the headline at the New York Daily News with the picture showing the “firefighter” out cold. The question is if this is in fact a current active firefighter, someone who is retired, or just a citizen with the uniform. Read the story and see the picture. Watch the video from the resident who couldn’t get in her front door.
Firefighter charged in fatal crash with fire engine that was caught on video: We ran this story in September from Luton, north of London, as a camera caught the collision of a fire engine responding to a 999 call. The driver of the car died a month after the crash. The driver of the fire engine is now accused of causing death by dangerous driving. Click here for the video and here for the latest.
Report about that shopping center explosion caught on video: NIOSH makes the case for more staffing in Prince George’s County, Maryland in its report on the explosion ten-months-ago at the Penn Mar Shopping Center. The report also indicates PGFD didn’t follow its own SOGs and had the potential for making a bad situation worse by flipping breakers and uncoordinated venting while natual gas was still filling the buildings. But that blast didn’t happen until firefighters made sure 45 people were out of seven stores at the strip mall. A department spokesman says they had been working closely with NIOSH and are already addressing the training and many of the other issues. Here is our TV story on the report. Click here to read the NIOSH report.
A Danny Olewine picture from a two-alarm fire in Annandale, Virginia at the Sunoco in the 7200 block of Little River Turnpike. Fairfax County officials says there were no injuries in the fire around 1:30 AM on Thursday. Click the image for more pictures.
Noose in firehouse: In Moss Point, Mississippi the highest ranking black member says he found a noose in his sleeping quarters. Captain Rodger Mann tells reporters it is the second time this has happened. Read and watch the story.
New recruit isn’t: In Hall County, Georgia there is the rather bizarre story of a guy showing up at a firehouse and presenting himself to the lieutenant as his new firefighter. The lieutenant wasn’t born yesterday and started making some calls. The guy bolted but not before he had told his “fellow” firefighters where he lived. Here’s the story.
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.
In our player in the right hand column today wusa9.com‘s Emily Cyr has added video from Virginia Task Force 1 mobilizing, California Task Force 2 getting ready, firefighters in Chile already dealing with a massive rescue operation fight a fire started by looters at a market in Concepcion, and the story of a thank you for an animal rescue by firefighters in Arvada, Colorado. That and more are over here >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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.
If you would like to see how the public perceives this one check out the 200 comments already posted at the Detroit Free Press site.
Fire Sunday night in Frederick County, Virginia destroyed the Carter Family Store in Middletown. Click the image to read and watch the story/
Must see video: Click here for the firevideo.net clip of the smoke explosion in Chicago caught on camera by a neighbor almost two weeks ago.
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.
By the way, Gary Sharp, who has in the past blamed me for his blogging addiction, referred to me as the “old guy” when linking to our coverage from Fairfax County. Despite that discriminatory slam, I urge you to check out Gary’s blog, firespecialops.com and his posting on the California crew.
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.
UPDATED: Two Fairfax County firefighters struck by EMS supervisor’s SUV at crash scene. Radio traffic from the scene.
12 commentsSlideshow from crash scene
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.
More video from Baltimore fifth-alarm: A large, mostly vacant warehouse burned Sunday morning in the Clipper Mill Industrial Park along the JFX. Firefighters used the highway as a vantage point to lob water onto the fire. The video above is from Michael “FirePix1075″ Schwartzberg. His still pictures can be seen here. We also have more details and news video posted. Click here for our coverage. Also, as we first mentioned while the fire was burning, the industrial park is where Firefighter Eric Schaefer died in 1995 after a wall collapse during a nine-alarm fire. The Sun’s Peter Hermann looks back at his coverage of that tragedy.
Fatal fire in Bailey’s Crossroads, Virginia: The way relatives describe it, firefighters weren’t likely to save 52-year-old Andy Wang from Saturday morning’s house fire on Paul Street, no matter how fast they got there. Wang’s nephew tells STATter911.com, he smelled smoke and traced it to a basement bedroom where he saw his uncle sitting on the bed on fire. The nephew made sure six other relatives escaped the house. The closest firehouse to Paul Street is Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department Station 410 about 1.3 miles away. At the end of last week, Fairfax County decided not to staff that station overnight following the collapse of the roof over the bay area two weeks ago. For much of the two weeks, Engine 410′s crew had been using the Rehab Unit outside the station as its quarters. The engine is now with Truck 410 at Station 428 during night time hours. The Seven Corners firehouse (AKA Buffalo Ridge) is about two miles further away from the house on Paul Street. Officials say it took five minutes for the first unit to arrive on the scene. Firefighters we have talked to are very eager to again have coverage within Bailey’s Crossroads 24-hours-a-day (they spend most of the daylight and early evening hours in the first-due). Spokesman Dan Schmidt says the hope of county fire officials is that most of the living area at the Bailey’s Crossroads firehouse can be occupied during the next week or two, with a tent outside for apparatus. Click here for the fireground audio from Sunday’s fire.
This sure is different – chief cites grant competition for not allowing newly promoted career captain to be volunteer firefighter: This is a really interesting article from Fargo, North Dakota. The Fargo Fire Department recently promoted Joe Mangin to captain, but Mangin was told to accept that position he would have to resign as a member of the Casselton Volunteer Fire Department (where he had previously been assistant chief). The reason given is that Casselton competes with Fargo for grant money. At least three other Fargo captains are volunteers in North Dakota departments, including two who are chiefs of their departments. The explanation is those departments don’t compete with Fargo for funding. Here’s the story (may require log in).
Steve Skipton and Ron Trout have lots of photos of the two-alarm fire at Philadelphia International Records. Click the image to take you to PhillyFireNews.com.
The Philadelphia sound is a little smoky: It is where Chubby Checker recorded “The Twist”. It is also where songwriters Gamble and Huff developed the Philadelphia sound. A fire severely damaged the offices of Philadelphia International Records on Broad Street Sunday morning (see picture at left). Firefighters did their best to save Gold Records on the walls and other memorabilia. Read more about this legendary company at Philly.com. I am assuming their knowledge of the music industry surpasses their understanding of the fire service, considering this line in the story – “More than 100 fire personnel from Ladder 5 and Battalion 1 at Broad and Christian Streets responded to the two-alarm blaze … “. Damn, that is one crowded firehouse.
Lost ambulance reports: The Anne Arundel County Fire Department has been dealing for some time with lost ambulance reports from a now abandoned computer database and is also having problems with the software that replaced it. The impact includes failing to provided monthly patient-care reports to the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS). MIEMSS provides free software to the large majority of Maryland’s counties that does the same job. Here’s the story from The Capital in Annapolis.
Four-alarms in Orange, New Jersey: A fire Saturday damaged nine homes. We have lots of video.
Detroit report and more: NIOSH has released its report into the death of Detroit Firefighter Walter Harris inside a vacant home in November, 2008. We put a bunch of links up with the report to give you some perspective on the city’s unbelievable problems. This includes a wonderful compilation of pictures by Paul Bassett. Click here for all of that. Since we posted that entry, our friend Steve in New Jersey came up with the video of Firefighter Harris that I couldn’t find and a very touching article about Harris and Engine 23 two months after his death.
New York Rent-a-firefighter idea receives mixed reaction: Suburban fire departments don’t seem to be in line asking for Syracuse firefighters to handle their calls. A look at the reaction to this potential money making idea by the Syracuse Fire Department.
Arrests in Texas church arsons: Firegeezer has the details on two people charged with setting as many as ten churches on fire east of Dallas. Click here.
FDNY firefighters honored: A group of Bronx firefighters already receiving recognition for their multiple rescues on Pelham Parkway. This is the one we told you about with the infant dangling from a window. Here’s the latest story.
Reverse Ricci now before the Supreme Court: 6000 African-Americans sued following a 1995 test for the Chicago Fire Department unfairly screened out minority applicants. Their case was thrown out because they may have waited too long to file suit. That issue and more is now before the Supreme Court in a case that had already been before Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Read the story.
Allentown, PA second-alarm: This is from 10:30 last night at 614 Walnut Street. NewsWorking.org shot the video and has the details.
‘You’ve got to get out of your truck and you got to go there’: No, this isn’t a comment about the DeKalb County, Georgia house fire that cost firefighters their jobs. This is the public safety director talking about Pittsburgh EMS. A pretty unbelievable story where an EMS crew wanted the patient, a man who died following 10 unsuccessful calls to 911 over three days, to walk to them during a snow storm. City officials believe Curtis Mitchell would still be alive if things had been done properly. Here’s the story.
Two-alarm school fire in Fairfax County: A fire Tuesday morning destroyed a pre-school attached to the Highview Christian Fellowship Church in West Annandale. Twenty children along with teachers escaped the fire. Two of the staff suffered minor smoke inhalation. We have the fireground audio from FireSceneAudio.com. Click here for a slideshow and here for my story.
Fatal fire in DC: Click here for details of a duplex fire on East Capitol Street at 5:30 this morning. Click here for an interview with Deputy Chief Kenneth Crosswhite.
PGFD animal rescue: Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department video and pictures from a rescue operation in a storm drain that brought a dog to safety. Click here.
Must see mayday video: This is a follow-up to a story we brought you at the end of January of a firefighter bailing out of a second floor window during the search for an elderly woman at a Randolph, New Jersey house fire. Helmet-cam video of the firefighter’s escape is now posted. Check it out.
Going out in style: A UK firefighter on the final day of his 25-year career rescues a woman from her burning bedroom. Read the story.
The fireground audio that goes with the picture of the day: If you have seen the picture of the infant being dangled from a window of a Bronx apartment building, you will want to listen to the radio traffic that goes with it. Click here.
‘We cannot continue to pay them at the rate we are paying them’: The words of Clark County, Nevada Commissioner Steve Sisolak who says firefighters make too much. He says on average benefits and salary equal $180,000. Click here for the story.
Boston lieutenant in road rage has past: We first told you yesterday about what police believe was an alcohol fueled road rage incident involving off-duty Boston Fire Department Lt. Paul Souza. Boston.com reports this isn’t a first for Souza.
Riding with Engine 16: Reporter Surae Chinn gets a close-up view as DC firefighters try to navigate the snow clogged streets of the Nation’s Capital. Here’s the story.
Two-alarm fire in Fairfax County, Virginia: 9NEWS NOW’s Greg Guise shot these pictures from the fire Thursday night at an abandoned Chi Chi’s at Springfield Mall.
That was the week that was: I hope we don’t see another like this one soon. As you may have noticed the output from STATter911.com was greatly reduced this week. There are a number of reasons. Most all of them had to do with the close to 40-inches of snow dumped on and around our World Headquarters in two storms this week. Rather than bore you with all of the details (some of them are rather personal about the blog’s editor feeling rather old trying to recover from a spill he took early in the week), the key factor over the last two days has been the restringing of the FIOS cable we mentioned earlier in the week that had been sitting in the middle of the street working just fine from Saturday until Thursday. Putting it in its proper position put us out of business. But hard working Verizon crews finished stringing a new cable at 10:30 Friday night and everything is working just fine waiting for next week’s storm. Cell service is almost non-existent here at headquarters, so my computer’s air card, when it does work inside, is slower than dial-up.
This New York Post photo by Austin Riggs on Firegeezer's site sure caught my eye. There is another picture, video and details of the underground fire that went way above ground in Manhattan. Click the image to take you to Geezer Land.
Virginia’s Bermuda Triangle: That is what I am starting to call the street in front of the headquarters building. We are located at the top of what is like a long semicircle. Coming from either direction, it is downhill to reach my driveway. The angle of descent on the curved roadway, with a gully on each side, has been a challenge for those unfamiliar with these features (and even those familiar). Starting over the weekend, and continuing through Thursday night, a long list of vehicles seemed to be magnetically pulled into one of the ditches. The first vehicle was a pickup truck on Saturday at the height of the storm (just before the utility pole came crashing down a few feet away). Since then we have had a neighbor’s Jeep, two of the large power company bucket trucks and a smaller Cox Cable company bucket truck run off the road and get stuck. Thursday night it was a Virginia State contracted snow plow that failed to navigate these troubled frozen waters. The reason I know this is that it too was sitting in the ditch with its yellow flashing light shining into the STATter911.com complex.
Let me point out that during the two fire calls on my street since last week (the burning power lines and a neighbor’s CO detector activating) the crews from both Engine 418 and Engine 428 (Fairfax County) knew the area well enough to park at the top of the street and walk in. I think for the next blizzard, I will set up a camera just like the guy at the Gregson Guillotine in Durham.
The truth shall set you free: One of the newer blogs in the FireEMSBlogs group we are a part of is called The Fire PIO. It is written by Jeff Bressler, the PIO for the Smithtown Fire Department on Long Island. I have been reading it with a great deal of interest. There is a lot of useful information and Jeff gives his perspective on some of the topics we have long been interested in, like the role of social media and citizen’s armed with cameras. I also liked his look at the Los Angeles County PIO response vehicle.
But there is one posting where I think Jeff left out something extremely important. It is titled, Nothing to Say Says Volumes. Jeff is no doubt right that a no comment when the news is bad probably doesn’t serve you well. But Jeff goes on to give various ways to say no comment or to avoid answering the question the reporter is asking. This is advice I have seen given out in many PIO training classes and it is used by numerous public officials and their spokes people (and in private industry too). My question for Jeff and all of the others who believe this is the way to deal with the press and the public is this: Do you really think you are fooling anyone with evasive answers to direct questions? What happened to the truth? Isn’t that what you owe the public and isn’t it the very best way to handle the crisis created by bad news? It isn’t my job to teach newsmakers how to deal with the press, but from my experience the most effective handlers of crisis communications get the facts out quickly and clearly in an effort to get the story behind them and move on. The ones who blow it let the story drag on in the news for days or weeks. Jeff talks about disarming reporters. You want to disarm a reporter, tell them the truth when the news is bad.
Here is an example from this past week. Last Sunday there was a fire in Arlington where the house started burning when Dominion Virginia Power restored electricity to the neighborhood. That night a Dominion spokesperson said they had no details on the fire but to call them later in the week. I figured I would have to get the truth from the Arlington County Fire Department. I was wrong. Arlington County still hasn’t provided me with details on the cause and I have no idea why. But guess what, a follow-up call to the power company brought me the answer within about two hours. That answer was pretty plain and simple. It basically said it was a rare occurrence, but a crew on the scene screwed up and set that woman’s house on fire. Spokesperson LeHa Anderson explained how it happened and told me how the company was working with the victims to correct the situation. I certainly can’t speak for Ms. Anderson but I imagine she knew this was the only way to get this story behind them.
It has happened again in Memphis: A Memphis firefighter is being questioned about the shooting of his former girlfriend and it isn’t the first time Frank Graham has dealt with this type of issue. Here are the details.
Is it just me, or are we seeing a pattern here?: Click here for some new damage pictures from Wednesday’s devastating fire at Baltimore County Station 6. We have also added a couple of interesting details connected to the history of the firehouse. I count four fire stations in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware pretty much destroyed (though at last word Sykesville’s apparatus bay is usable) and the loss of three engines, a ladder truck, four ambulances, a brush truck, a boat and various other equipment. Pretty soon we are going to be talking big money. In our comments section on the Station 6 fire some point to the hypocrisy of the fire service preaching sprinklers for others, but not leading the way by insisting on them in their own buildings even when they aren’t required. Others wonder about how they are constructing fire stations. Isn’t the local fire station one of the key buildings in your community that you want to survive a natural disaster? One person wrote in a comment, “It should be built stronger than your average retail mega-store”. Are too many corners being cut to save money or is this just a run of bad luck? . Here’s our run down of the lost fire stations.
Snow advice from Wyoming: After writing about the Frederick County, Maryland firefighters whose rig was stuck in a 12-foot snow drift (they were rescued by snowmobile), we received an interesting comment. It comes from a Wyoming firefighter who doubles as a snow plow driver (and isn’t getting much work this season). Click here and scroll to the bottom.
More DC Metro problems: This time is was a derailment that sent the DC Fire & EMS Department to the Red Line. There were three minor injuries at the Farragut North station. Click here for the coverage.
Oh, what a week! Sykesville, MD is the latest of 4 Mid-Atlantic fire stations greatly damaged or destroyed. Fireground audio, pictures, & recap of the destruction.
8 comments
- Click the image for the Bing Bird’s Eye View.
Helicopter video from WJZ-TV
Slideshow from WMAR-TV
You can listen to the fireground operations live by clicking here
Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department website
Click the image for more pictures from WBAL-TV.
For the fourth time in as many days we are telling you about a firehouse that has been greatly damaged or destroyed due to fire, collapse or both in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. This time it is the Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department in Carroll County, Maryland.
News reports indicate the roof over the social hall collapsed and then sparked a gas fed fire. This happened around 8:45 AM.
By 10:00 AM the fire had gone to a third-alarm plus additional equipment.
Below is the early fireground audio from FireSceneAudio.com.
Yesterday, two other firehouses were destroyed. Baltimore County Fire Department Station 6 in Dundalk caught fire around 2:45 AM. That fire went through the roof. The brand new Engine 6 was among the fire and EMS rigs lost in the blaze. Click here for video of the damage and here for our earlier coverage.
Later in the day, heavy snow brought in the roof of the Townsend Fire Company in New Castle County, Delaware. Seeing that the roof was compromised, crews were able to get the apparatus out of the building before the roof came down. Click here if you haven’t seen the video of the roof collapse.
Early Monday morning heavy snow collapsed the flat roof at Fairfax County’s Station 410 in Bailey’s Crossroads. Eighteen firefighters inside escaped without injury. That firehouse is destroyed and a ladder truck, engine, EMS units and a boat were under the rubble. Here is our coverage of that incident.
There is also a sagging roof at Station 408 in Annandale three miles away. For now, at both stations the apparatus is outside in the elements. In Annandale, crews are sleeping in tents inside the bingo hall. 9NEWS NOW’s Greg Guise spent some time during the blizzard yesterday with the crew at Station 408. That story is below.
Concerns about the roof at Alexandria’s Station 206 three miles east of Bailey’s Crossroads resulted in the evacuation of that station Monday night. Snow was removed from the flat roof and a structural engineer gave the okay to return to the firehouse on Tuesday.
We have been under blizzard conditions through most of the day in the National Capital area. Click above to see live coverage of our latest storm.
STATter911.com programming note: You may have noticed we didn’t send out our Quick Takes news digest for the last two days and we are a little late in providing this one. Coverage of the back-to-back snowstorms for television and dealing with the impact of the storms around the STATter911.com World Headquarters complex left our staff with little time to complete their assignments. We have admonished them and have threatened to cut their ration of gruel if they don’t start carrying their weight around here soon. Also, if you don’t see anything posted at all for a long time it probably means the Verizon FIOS line that has been sitting in the snow covered street in front of the Headquarters building finally broke. It came down Saturday with the power pole.
Baltimore County fire station burns overnight: Firefighters were able to get one of two engines out of the bay around 2:30 this morning when fire broke out at Station 6 in Dundalk. But the brand new Engine 6 is now history, along with two medic units, a brush truck and a Maryland National Guard vehicle. Click here for pictures of the damage and more details.
Another fire station is down for the count. This one in Delaware. Firefighters at Station 26, the Townsend Fire Department in New Castle County, saw the roof sagging. They were able to remove the apparatus before the roof came down. Click the picture from Esteban Parra at The News Journal for more information.
Note – In his noon briefing, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley made mention of concerns of roofs collapsing under the weight of the snow. He cited the brand new fire engine in Baltimore County as being buried under a collapse of a fire station. Yes, that is true. But Governor O’Malley failed to mention the roof came in after the fire started.
Update on Northern Virginia firehouse problems: Even under blizzard conditions, the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department is intending to keep an engine and ambulance operating out of Station 410′s parking lot following Monday’s roof collapse that destroyed the firehouse. That duty is being handled by rotating crews. The truck crew from the Bailey’s firehouse is operating out of Station 428 in Seven Corners, which used to be the home of Tower 28. There is also no cover for the fire equipment at Station 408 just down Columbia Pike three miles in Annandale. Part of that roof is sagging. My colleague Greg Guise tells me the firefighters are sleeping in tents inside the bingo hole. And in nearby Alexandria, firefighters moved back into Station 206 Tuesday afternoon after it was closed the day before due to roof concerns. Click here for our previous coverage and inside pictures of the damage at Station 410.
Power company admits they started the fire: Remember the fire I shot on Sunday where electric company crews had just turned back on the juice for the neighborhood when a home started to burn? While I have been unsuccessful, despite repeated attempts and conversations to get the Arlington County Fire Department to provide specifics on how the fire started (all the PIO would tell me is that it was electrical), there is someone taking responsibility for the fire. Dominion Virginia Power spokeswoman LeHa Anderson told me yesterday afternoon a crew on North Lexington Street, working hard to restore electricity, made a very unusual and costly mistake. According to Anderson, they got their wires crossed, accidentally energizing the neutral line. As you can imagine the power company is now working closely with the elderly woman and her daughter who lived in the house. Here is our previous story.
Hose wagon: One-thousand feet of 3-inch hose, a gated wye, and a 24-foot ladder adorn this Maryland National Guard 5-ton truck. This is from an early morning two-alarm fire. The Guard are at many fire stations in the Mid-Atlantic region helping the firefighters get to the emergencies. Picture from the 1229th Transportation Company of the Maryland National Guard.
Controversy over sale of New York firehouse to CNN’s Anderson Cooper: We had previously told you that the historic former quarters of Fire Patrol 2 in Greenwich Village had been sold to the CNN anchor. Now there is concern over what happened to a plaque honoring a patrol member who died on September 11. Click here for the story.
It’s just lunch (or dinner): Yes, it’s February Sweeps in my business. Firegeezer has his own juicy expose on the work of a TV reporter who spent his time checking the eating habits of Boston firefighters. Specifically he reports that they actually use their fire trucks to pick up food for dinner. Shocking. Even Commissioner Roderick Fraser, who has been at odds with the rank and file, found no problem with this practice. Film at 11 (or just click here for Geezer). BTW, on my way to work in the 11:00 AM hour a couple of times I week, I see the same fire companies at the same supermarket. Little did I know I had been passing up a TV exclusive. Clearly, I am just a hack.
Fireground audio & video from Fairfax County mayday during apartment fire. One firefighter dropped from balcony & another lost mask.
7 commentsSee inside pictures from Fairfax County fire station collapse earlier in the day
Two firefighters ran into serious trouble Monday evening at a garden apartment building fire in Fairfax County, Virginia. Firefighters were already dealing with heavy snow on the ground and water supply issues when a mayday was called for two firefighters down. This happened around the time command ordered the evacuation of the building due to a report of a top floor collapse at the building in the 4200 block of Hunt Club Circle in the Fair Oaks section of the county.
Fire officials say one firefighter came off of a balcony dropping three floors into a snow bank. A second firefighter was reported missing for a brief period. That firefighter was soon found and was taken to a burn unit after the firefighter’s facepiece became dislodged.
The snow slowed firefighters in placing ladders and accessing hydrants. Virginia National Guard members in Humvees and other vehicles have been assisting firefighters. They helped in getting at least one of the injured firefighters to an ambulance.
The injuries to both firefighters are not considered life threatening.
At least 14 apartments were damaged in the fire.
It already had been a tough day for the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department. Eighteen firefighters had a close call when their fire station crumbled around them at 3:00 in the morning. Heavy snow on the flat roof at Station 410 in Bailey’s Crossroads collapsed the roof. The fire station, the apparatus inside and vehicles belonging to firefighters parked outside have been heavily damaged, but no firefighters were hurt.
New pictures from Fairfax County fire station collapse. Alexandria fire station now closed due to roof worries.
6 commentsThis evening Alexandria, Virginia officials tell STATter911.com that Station 206 at 4609 Seminary Road has been closed due to structural concerns following the weekend’s heavy snowfall. More snow is on the way tomorrow. Firefighters and equipment have been moved to other Alexandria fire stations.
Station 206 is about three miles to the east of Fairfax County’s Station 410 in Bailey’s Crossroads. The roof over that fire station caved in at 3:00 this morning. All 18 firefighters inside the firehouse escaped unharmed. Underneath that collapsed roof are an engine company, ladder truck and other fire and EMS vehicles. The crews from Station 410 have been sent to other nearby stations, but are running a paramedic engine and ambulance out of the parking lot when possible (no ladder truck).
The closing of the two firehouses leaves a big gap in coverage along the border between the two jurisdictions. On tops of these problems, just three miles to the south of the Bailey’s Crossroads station, a sagging roof was discovered at Station 408 in Annandale. Firefighters in Annandale were operating out of the adjacent bingo hall. Having fire equipment and ambulances outside, particularly with the possibility of another foot or more of snow on Tuesday and Wednesday is also a problem at the two Fairfax County firehouses.
It is unclear at the moment what long term plans are in the works for providing fire and EMS coverage for the busy area served by these three adjacent fire companies.
The roof problems at Station 206 and Station 408 were discovered after officials ordered inspections of flat roofs at firehouses following the collapse at Station 410.
Station 410 was built in 1974 by the Bailey’s Crossroads Volunteer Fire Department. A new roof was put on in 1998. Volunteer officials were on the scene working with Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department officials assessing the damage.
UPDATE Haiti rescuers become victims of collapse. Fairfax County fire station in Bailey’s Crossroads buckles under snow. Second firehouse in danger.
5 comments
Click here for new pictures from inside the firehouse
For the people who go all around the world helping others when their buildings collapse due to natural disasters, this one couldn’t have been any closer to home. Overnight there was a collapse of the roof over the equipment bay at Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department Station 410. Now, there is a roof problem at a neighboring firehouse. Firefighters report sagging in the roof at Station 408 in Annandale, about three miles south on Columbia Pike.
Dan Schmidt, spokesperson for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, says 18 firefighters were in the bunk room of Station 410 located in the 3600 block of Firehouse Lane when they heard a loud noise coming from the bay area around 3:00 a.m. Schmidt says the firefighters discovered the flat roof over all four bay areas collapsed under the weight of this weekend’s heavy snowfall.
Firehouse in Bailey's Crossroads at a better time. Click the image for Google Maps Street View.
There were no injuries.
Schmidt says a good portion of the roof is now sitting on top of the ladder truck and the engine. A full evaluation of the damage has not been made, but the damage at Station 410 is extensive.
After the collapse at Station 410 Schmidt says an alert went out to firefighters to do an evaluation of flat roofs at other fire stations. That’s when sagging was noticed at Station 408 in Annandale.
Officials say there is a two to five inch deflection in the center portion of the roof at that station. For now crews are running out of the newer bingo hall at the firehouse.
Raw video from Arlington County, Virginia house fire. Fire starts as power was brought back up to the neighborhood.
8 commentsThe people in the 2900 block of North Lexington Street had been without power for about 24 hours late Sunday afternoon. Virginia Dominion Power crews were in the neighborhood dealing with downed lines and other issues. According to neighbors, when the workers turned the power back on the smoke started coming from both the top of a utility pole and a nearby home.
Firefighters from Arlington County and Fairfax County found fire in the basement and first floor of the house. A woman in her 80s and her daughter safely escaped the home.
A Dominion Virginia spokesperson had no information on the cause of the fire when contacted on Sunday.
Officially, the Arlington County Fire Department is waiting for the determination from a fire investigator on the cause of the fire. Firefighters on the scene confirmed neighbors reports that the fire occurred at the same time power was restored.
Neighbor Cliff Cohen said the power was on for about a minute and then shut down again when the house fire was discovered.
What was left of the home’s electric meter had charring all around it.
The house suffered substantial damage. No one was injured.
Two hangars, ice rink and church among structures that have collapsed. Fires also keep DC area crews busy. More snow coverage, video & radio traffic.
1 commentClick here for an interview with an MWAA spokesman about the collapse at Dulles.
Watch live coverage from WUSA9.com
Learn more about the deadly collapse from the historic Washington snow of 1922
Send us your fire & EMS snow videos and pictures
Preliminary snow totals
Some live scanner feeds from the region: DC Fire & EMS, PGFD, Montgomery County, Anne Arundel County, Frederick County, MD
We hope to have more details later today on what sounded like a frustrating incident in Fairfax County last night. A house burned in Great Falls and the snow greatly prevented access to the scene. (Also, don’t forget to check the player to the right for the latest videos from WUSA9.com.)
The Joshua Temple Church in DC was one of a number of buildings that collapsed Saturday in Washington area.
Earlier in the day, I watched a relatively minor version of the same problem. Two trees in front of my house were smoking, thanks to the top of a utility pole and a tangle of power lines that were down in the street just to one side of my driveway. I still had power, as did most of my neighbors, but the service to my house was looking none to good with the line draping down from the meter and across our snow covered lawn to the street.
Not having the scanner with me (what kind of reporter is that?) I figured the half-hour or so delay after calling 911 was just from a back-up of higher priority calls. It turns out Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department Engine 418 was dispatched immediately. It just took them a few tries to get into the neighborhood. Before long Capt. Michael Istvan and his crew were trudging down my street, wisely leaving the engine at the top of the hill.
They did exactly what I expected them to do and taped off the area so no one got zapped. While they were doing that we heard a little sizzle and a loud pop and that was the end of the power for most of the street (tree stopped burning too, imagine that). So far my natural gas fed generator is powering things well and we have become the most popular family in the neighborhood. I am guessing it will be a few days before the lines are restrung. This also means that we won’t likely see a snow plow on our street for a while.
The firefighters from Station 418 had been dispatched to a call around 8:00 AM that sounded a bit more exciting than the 911 response I generated. They were headed to Dulles International Airport where a hangar had collapsed due to the weight of the snow.
No one was hurt, but it sounds like some private jets took a beating. There is video and an interview above, and radio traffic from the incident below.
Click here for Part 2 of the radio traffic from FireSceneAudio.com.
There was also a collapse of a hangar at Manassas Regional Airport around 1:30 PM. City of Manassas Fire & Rescue Department Chief Fire Marshal Francis Teevan describes it as a 24,000 square foot hangar owned by Dulles Aviation, Inc.
Another major collapse was at the Prince William Ice Center in Dale City, Virginia. Here’s an excerpt from InsideNova.com (where you will also find a picture):
The building at 5180 Dale Blvd. is a total loss, owner Bill Hutzler said. Skaters practicing inside had been evacuated before the collapse and no one was injured.
“We had some speed skaters on the ice this morning, then a beam on ceiling started to twist and … we got everybody out,“ said Hutzler, who bought the rink in March 2008. The rink was built in 1996.
A hazardous materials team was called to the scene due to high amounts of ammonia in the building, which is used to keep the ice fresh.
In the District of Columbia a tree limb and the weight of the snow brought down the 100-year-old Joshua Temple Church in Northeast. Again, no one was hurt.
Also in DC, Rescue Squad 3 was involved in another rescue when they arrived first to a house fire at 1314 T Street, Southeast. You can click here for the fireground audio (hope to have more from this one later).
The DC Fire & EMS Department handled more than twice its normal number of calls yesterday because of snow related issues.
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