Note: As a reporter I had many conversations with Dorothy Brizill and was the recipient of a lot of good information that she uncovered about the DC government, including its fire department. My thoughts are with Dorothy and her husband Gary Imhoff through this difficult time.
On this page are three video clips of the early stages of the fire at 1337 Girard Street in Northwest Washington, DC posted to YouTube by jrowedc.
The fire was first reported about 4:45 p.m. Over 80 firefighters, two engines and one truck were dispatched to combat the two-alarm blaze, according to D.C. Fire and EMS. Only one injury has been reported—a firefighter who suffered from smoke inhalation.
Though we’re still awaiting details on the cause of the fire, the house has been a target of neighborhood curiosity and complaints. The house—built in 1870—came under the watchful eye of the D.C. Board for the Condemnation of Insanitary Buildings in 2007, according to a 2008 City Paper article. In 2002, the structure was put on the list of vacant and abandoned properties. There’s nothing yet indicating that today’s fire and any past problems are related.
Brizill and Imhoff, under the name D.C. Watch, have been deeply engaged as local government watchdogs for more than two decades. Notably, Brizill in 2002 raised questions about ballot petitions submitted by former Mayor Anthony A. Williams, which led the Board of Elections and Ethics to strike his name from the Democratic primary ballot. Williams ended up winning as a write-in candidate. More recently, Brizill raised concerns about the voting record of a top aide to Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D), leading to her resignation.
Their home, built in 1870, has garnered the attention of city authorities in the past decade for its sometimes dilapidated condition.
State Fire Marshal Butch Browning retired Tuesday, but there a lot is more to Browning’s sudden departure than what was officially announced.
Among the complaints confirmed by Channel 4, Browning has been seen on multiple occasions wearing military ribbons, even though he never served in the military.
Channel 4 learned about the state investigation last month. By that time the inspector general and office of state police had been looking
“We’ve been informed that Mr. Browning never served in the military, yet he was wearing military ribbons awarded to every branch of the military service that span World War II, the Korean war and the Kosovo campaign,” Goyeneche (Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission) said. “That’s problematic.”
In a telephone interview with WAFB in Baton Rouge, Browning acknowledged the ribbons, saying he received them from the Gonzales Fire Department, where he once served as chief. But he said he was unaware of a state investigation.
The headline of one Daily News & Analysis reads "Bangalore fire department commits murder during drill". As you might imagine there is outrage over a drill conducted on Friday at a garment factory. The woman was apparently following fire department instructions when she tried to lower herself from a rope third floor of the building.
The Fire department admitted to the lapses on their side after a 22-year-old woman died in the fire mock drill conducted in Bangalore on Friday.
Nalina Reddy, and employee of Bombay Rayon Fashion Limited in Yeshwantpur died after the rope by which she was coming down a 3-storey building snapped.
Nalina, a labour welfare officer at Bombay Rayon Fashions Limited (BFRL), fell from the third floor after her rope harness snapped. The rope was purchased by the fire department some four years ago and some employees of BFRL had pointed out to firemen prior to the drill that it did not look fit to take the load. Nevertheless, the fire department went ahead with the live demonstration with untrained employees.
Nalina was only the second employee to be lowered after her male colleague, Keerthi, descended to the ground, about 50 feet below. There were at least 800 BRFL employees who had gathered for the drill which started around 11.30 am, according to KT Kannan, production manager of Unit 14, BRFL.
Nalina climbed out of the window and was supposed to be lowered using the coir rope. As soon as she was suspended in the air, the rope snapped. The smart guys at the fire department had forgotten that a rope tends to snap because of friction — and they had not installed a pulley to lower the volunteers.
She was rushed to Panacea Hospital in Basaveshwaranagar, where she was declared ‘brought dead’.
Amidst public outcry over the death of a 24-year-old woman during a mock fire drill, a top official today admitted there were no standard operating procedures in place while conducting such an exercise even as a probe was ordered into the incident. "Nalini died because there were no safety procedures followed by the fire officials," IGP (Fire) N Shivakumar told reporters, referring to the death of the garment factory worker who died yesterday. "There was no safety net at the ground," he said. Nalini had fallen to her death from the third floor of the factory when the rope by which she was coming down snapped. The drill was being conducted by the Fire Department in the premises of Bombay Rayon Fashion Limited in Peenya Industrial Area in north Bangalore to test the preparedness of factory workers and fire officials during a fire.
The Roosevelt Hotel burned a little more than 48 years ago in Jacksonville, Florida. While I was vaguely aware of the fire I had never seen this footage before. It is more than 11 minutes of film, apparently shot by local TV crews on Sunday, December 29, 1963. The fire left 22 people dead and injured more than 100, including 20 Jacksonville firefighters. Among the dead was Assistant Fire Chief James Romedy, who apparently suffered a heart attack while directing rescue efforts. The film was uploaded yesterday to the YouTube Channel for IAFF Local 122. The union dedicated it to Chief Romedy.
Spend a few minutes watching the film, particularly the daring ladder rescues with ground ladders used to extend the reach of the ladder trucks. One of the ground ladders comes crashing down at 3:55 in the film.
This fire occurred a little more than a month after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The hotel was packed with guests in town for the Gator Bowl held the day before the fire, where the University of North Carolina beat the Air Force Academy 35-0.
The fire started shortly before 7:30 am in the ballroom ceiling on the first floor of the 13-story, 300 room luxury hotel. Firefighters arrived on scene to find people hanging out of windows by tied-together bed linens. The United States Navy suppled eight helicopters for rescuing victims trapped higher than aerial ladders could reach. These victims were air lifted to neighboring parking garages for treatment by rescue personnel. A Second Alarm was struck at 7:47am, followed by a Third Alarm at 7:50. A Fourth and General Alarm was sounded at 7:57am.
The fire was extinguished within two hours. In all, 475 people were rescued. 21 people were found dead in their beds during a secondary search of the hotel.
Among the distinguished guests in the hotel at the time were Norm Sloan, the head basketball coach at the University of Florida, and 1963 Miss America Donna Axum. Axum was treated for smoke inhalation and burns to her throat and nose. She was bed ridden for several days.
This was a case of safety inspectors seeing a picture in the newspaper of a fire inspector doing his job and not liking what they were seeing.
Toby Rey, a veteran firefighter, has spent the last six years in the fire marshal's office in Santa Rosa, California. One part of his job, according to The Press-Democrat, is "to ensure solar panels on roofs comply with setbacks designed to keep firefighters safe."
In August, a picture of Rey was made the front page of The Press Democrat to help illustrate a story looking at conflicts that arise as Rey and others enforce the new solar panel rules (here's the August article).
When folks from Cal-OSHA saw the picture they noticed that Rey was 24-feet off the ground on the roof with no safety equipment. They issued the fire department a $2700 fine that Rey thinks is ridiculous and his bosses are trying to deal with.
When firefighters fight fires, they are exempt from Cal-OSHA rules regarding heights and other risk inherent in doing their jobs, said Dean Frye, a Cal-OSHA spokesman. But inspections fall under the same requirements that apply to anyone doing construction.
In this case, a harness or other fall protection measure has to be worn by employees “whose work exposes them to falling in excess of 7½ feet from the perimeter of a structure” or other unprotected edges or steep slopes, according to the code.
Rey said he knows what kinds of roof surfaces to avoid, noting he did not go on a tile roof that same day because of the risk of slipping.
No details on when or where in Milwaukee this fire was. I do like the firefighter who provides prevention material to the neighbors while the house is still belching smoke. You certainly have them thinking about that topic. Talk about striking when the iron's hot.
I would like to tell you that STATter911.com has an enormous influence in the world of news. That, like Reggie Jackson, we are the straw that stirs the drink. Not with the Yankees, of course, but in our sphere, which is the giant media industrial complex.
I admit that probably isn't the case and it is just wishful thinking on my part. Though, we were the first to point out an important fact about an earth shattering … actually, make that ear shattering … story that rocketed across the news landscape on Tuesday evening.
I know many of you will long remember where you were and exactly what you were doing when NBC's Brian Williams delivered the news with the damn fire alarm sounding in the studio at 30 Rock. We all sat on the edge of our seats, in tears, fearing for Brian's safety.
I know what I was doing. I wasn't watching NBC Nightly News (sorry Brian). But I do remember exactly what I was doing when I first became aware of this tragic incident about an hour after it occurred. I was searching for the usual fire porno that makes this website so beloved in the fire service. That's when I came across the video of the event that horrified a nation.
What I noticed as I read stories about the ordeal at 30 Rock is that not one article mentioned Brian Williams' checkered past, which I thought, using the instinct that only comes from being a washed-up, has-been newsman, quite relevant to the story.
So, I posted the video and became the first to remind people that Brian Williams had been a volunteer firefighter as a teenager. I also mentioned that there will be some in the STATter911.com audience who will criticize him for not setting a good example to the public in staying put while the fire alarm sounded (though I did try to come to his defense a bit in our comments section).
It was interesting that many stories the next day suddenly mentioned Brian's firefighter past. But it wasn't until last night that this aspect of the story became big news when it was picked up by our real newscast of record, The Daily Show.
Did Daily News anchor Jon Stewart mention which news organization first uncovered this crucial part of the story that's gripping the nation? Well, actually no.
Did Brian Williams, who shared with me his inner most personal thoughts about being a volunteer firefighter when we both worked the mean streets of Washington as reporters almost 30-years-ago, write to STATter911.com to answer some of the criticism from our readers? The answer again, sadly, is no.
Did Brian Williams, instead, make an appearance on The Daily Show? That answer would be yes, with an explanation.
Now for that explanation. Here's why Williams went on Stewart's show but dissed Statter. It has to do with all of the appearances by Brian Williams in recent years on shows like SNL and 30 Rock?
Brian Williams has finally learned that news is not really his strong point (I tried to convince him, unlike me, he had no future in the business back in 1983). But he has a knack for comedy and loves doing it. In addition, Brian Williams secretly craves the prestige and influence that goes with Jon Stewart's job.
I will go a step further and predict when the investigation into this near catastrophe at 30 Rock is completed you will find the fingerprints of one man and one man only all over that fire alarm. Brian Williams pulled that alarm not only to get his mug on The Daily Show but to have something for his resume reel to put him in a better position to slide right into the anchor seat when this Walter Cronkite of the 21st Century, Jon Stewart, decides to step down as America's most trusted newsman. I rest my case.
At least two teachers are dead and 46 others have been injured from a fire on Saturday at the Baraim Al-Watan all-girls school in Saudi Arabia’s coastal city of Jeddah.
As the fire ate its way through the three-storey building from an underground level, girls dangled themselves from windowsills on the top floor before dropping to the ground in a bid to save themselves from the flames.
According to media reports, emergency rescue teams managed to help evacuate more than 840 students and employees from the structure, which houses a pre-primary, primary and middle school.
The incident has triggered criticism of how emergency situations are dealt with in Saudi Arabia, and prompted several parents to demand improved safety standards for the country’s public and private schools.
You may recall the story we ran in 2008 about Habitat for Humanity International supporting the National Association of Home Builders in opposing residential sprinklers. At the time Elizabeth Blake, senior vice president of advocacy, government affairs and legal with Habitat for Humanity said, "Our affiliates build all across the country and around the world. Mandating fire sprinklers fails to recognize their varying needs, and runs the risk of requiring something that may be impractical for some of our partner families. Habitat's mission is to provide simple, decent and affordable shelter for families. Each home we don't build due to an added and unjustified regulatory requirement such as this can leave yet another family in substandard housing."
Some state affiliates of Habitat have not followed the International's lead and have embraced sprinklers have had them installed in Habitat homes. Apparently that's not the case in Maryland and firefighters are taking a stand. Here's the story from the AP (with special thanks to my former colleague Jessica Glasser for sending us the story):
Some western Maryland firefighters are refusing to help Habitat for Humanity build a house meant to honor them unless a sprinkler system is added to the plans.
Volunteer firefighter Blaine Snyder said Wednesday that sprinklers save lives. The fire and rescue association wants local governmental bodies to require them in new homes.
Washington County and the city of Hagerstown require sprinklers for some new construction but not for single-family detached homes like the "Heroes House" that Habitat is planning.
Local Habitat official Sherry Brown Cooper says the "Heroes House" project will proceed, with or without the fire and rescue association's help.
Looking at the video above and numerous others from last night's concert by Rihanna at the American Airlines Center, a little talk between the Dallas Fire Department and arena officials about evacuation procedures i probably in order. Something caught fire in a light grid area above the stage (one news account has it as a light and wiring and another quoes a fire captain saying a chair was burning). Concert goers say the fire broke out after on-stage pyrotechnics (this video shows some of the fireworks).
Whatever the source and the material burning it is clear that they had a bit of fire burning overhead with not a small amount of embers dropping below and smoke starting to billow through the arena. Guess who they made sure got out of there right away? Here's how WDFW-TV describes it:
Rihanna, dressed in a floor-length, canary-colored gown with bejeweled black and white neckline, quickly exited the stage. The light was fully on fire at that point.
Rihanna "ran off the stage," according to Elizabeth Teller, who attended the event.
Guess whose safety, based on the videos I have seen, was not a priority during this fire? Listening to and watching the video above the first announcement to leave comes almost five minutes after that video began rolling and after someone had used a fire extinguisher on the fire.
The video immediately below begins just as the last chord of what turned out to be the final song of the night was played. It has a much closer view of the activity and flaming debris that was falling. And below that are more angles including an on scene report from a citizen journalist.
A five-minute or longer decision making progress when fire is burning above an audience in a packed arena seems a bit excessive and potentially dangerous to me.
One thing the lawyers for the company that owned the TV station where I used to work drummed into our heads was what to do if you made a mistake in a story. The answer was pretty basic and pretty smart, clearly correct the record and apologize immediately. It won't always make all problems vanish but it sets you in the right direction for cutting your losses and getting the problem behind you. And more important, it's the right thing to do.
But too often organizations don't see that as an important first step when it is very clear someone has screwed up. Some lawyers or bosses will tell you to just shut up.
Spalding County, Georgia Captain Lee Slaughter told ABC's 20/20 that's exactly what happened when he learned one of his firefighters, Terrence Reid, had taken and distributed cell phone video of a dead woman who was in an automobile collision last July 17. The victim was Dayna Kempson and, as I am sure most of you know, that video eventually found its way to Kempson's father. Jeff Kempson went public with the story in October.
Reid was fired and Slaughter was one of seven firefighters disciplined because of Reid's actions. But according to Jeff Kempson, the apology from Captain Slaughter (in the video above) is the only official one the Kempsons have received. Congratulations to Captain Slaughter for doing what is right even when those above him couldn't find the decency to do the same much earlier in this process.
You have to ask yourself what were Slaughter's bosses and the Spalding County lawyers thinking. There was no doubt from the start that this was an enormous screw-up on the part of Firefighter Reid and the department. Knowing that, it seems to me that the one of the initial and most important steps in trying to make this right should have been to first privately and then publicly apologize to Dayna Kempson's family. Not doing so is a great insult on top of the injury the department already inflicted.
Slaughter, as acting scene commander, was chastised in the investigators' report for not properly supervising the scene and for being unaware Reid was taking the video.
Slaughter agreed to speak to "20/20" to apologize to the Kempsons on behalf of the fire department. During the investigation, he said, he was prohibited from contacting the couple.
"We never got an opportunity to tell the family," he said, "that we're very sorry that this happened and we did not, or do not condone what his young man did."
The Kempsons said that's the first official apology they've received. They're still waiting for one from Terrence Reid.
If you view the clips that follow Captain Slaughter's apology you will see 20/20 focused on an aspect of the story that is similar to what I brought up the other day about a problem in Pasadena, Texas. In that case the fire chief discovered, despite handling the issue three years ago when a firefighter took nude pictures of his wife inside the fire station and posted them on the Internet, the offending pictures are sill on the web haunting the department.
Similarly, the video of Dayna Kempson is still on the Internet and probably always will be. The other clips are interviews with experts about the legalities of the Internet and tips on how Kempson's grandparents can try to make sure Dayna's children don't stumble upon those images.
Okay, which is it? Below is a list I put together from a quick scan of the Internet. It shows various versions of one of the most common phrases the fire service tells the public. As you will see there is clear lack of agreement over how long it takes a fire to double in size.
The countdown below starts at four-minutes and goes to a few seconds. These are all from fire department, government and commercial websites. That I can see, none of these claims shows a source to back up these seemingly authoritative statements.
I'm sure there are some fire service veterans reading this who can tell me where and how this "doubling in size" idea began. I am also sure I am not the first to ask this question. But If you can, please share with the class what study originally prompted this statement and the length of time that is correct.
"Statistically, a fire in a home doubles in size about every 4 minutes." – Town of Yarmouth (ME)
"A barn fire doubles in size every 3 minutes." – FireTracker.ca
"A home fire doubles in size every 30 seconds." – City of Phoenix
"A typical house fire doubles in size every 30 seconds. Using those figures, in 5 minutes, a small trash can fire will grow to over a 1000 square feet." – Parkersburg FD (WV)
The last time I brought up this topic, I was accused of supporting a nanny state right here in my home county. This time I really have nothing to say. The video speaks for itself.
Residents in Lyndhurst, Chagrin Falls and Shaker Heights will need to change their ionization type smoke detectors to photoelectric ones.
Shaker Heights (Ohio) Fire Chief Kevin Jacobs told WKYC-TV, "We've found photoelectric smoke detectors tend to respond tens of minutes faster in a smoldering fire which are more common today than the fast burning fires."
The fire department plans to provide new photoelectric smoke detectors to residents who can't afford to make the switch.
One of the logisitical problems at the Super Bowl yesterday had to do with 400 people who had tickets but did not get to see the game live and another 850 who were moved to different seats. It was an issue of safety and it has become a bit of a controversy in Arlington, Texas.
Asked who made the final decision to close the four sections, (Eric) Grubman (NFL’s executive vice president of business ventures) said the Arlington fire and police departments were responsible for certifying the temporary structures.
“They made the decision as to what the certification was, and from there it was very easy: those seats were not going to be in play,” he said.
But last night, Arlington police spokeswoman Tiara Richard said the city’s fire marshal “played no role” in deciding that the unfinished seats would not be used because the NFL never asked the city to inspect those seats.
“That was all the NFL’s call,” she said. “The fire marshal had no participation in the seats that were not completed. The fire marshal only inspected the seats that were completed.”
But later in the day Arlington Fire Chief Don Crowson says the responsibility for closing down the section was his and that the NFL and Cowboy officials did not give him a hard time. Here is what WFAA-TV wrote:
Chief Don Crowson blamed a temporary stairwell that was not ready for use and he did not feel comfortable allowing fans to sit in those areas.
Chief Crowson said there was no way to get people out of their seat in case of an emergency. That is why he claimed he closed those sections down.
Preliminary reports also point to a contractor who did not finish the work on time, even though the crew was close to finishing the job on time.
“My job is to inspect and make sure jobs are safe,” said Chief Crowson. “The assembly of the stands is up to the owner.
This incident occurred on August 13, 2006, about nine months before I started STATter911.com. It is described as “the opening match between Eric Young and Johnny Devine at TNA’s Hard Justice pay-per-view”. I haven’t been a professional wrestling fan since elementary school when our family friend D. Chester O’Sullivan, who was the long-time head of the Maryland State Athletic Commission and a wonderful human being, would give my grandfather tickets for the monthly events at the Baltimore Civic Center. The first time we went Chester took us back to meet a very sweaty Bruno Sammartino.
I am not getting back into wrestling or changing the focus of this site, but this video is quite interesting. It reminds us how slowly the public and event organizers can react when fire strikes. In this case a burlap bag above the ring caught fire, apparently from pyrotechnics shot off a little bit earlier in the telecast. The fire suppression system kicked in, but I don’t see any quick effort to get people out of harm’s way. In fact, the match continues.
I have referred to these stories many times, but the video has not been available in recent years on the Internet. WUSA9.com’s Emily Cyr took care of that problem for us today. The videos from July, 2004 relate directly to the conflagration last Thursday in Manassas, Virginia. NIST discovered that the simple and relatively inexpensive idea of adding a fire barrier under vinyl siding makes a dramtic difference in preventing fire spread when single family homes are built with little space between the structures.
All the way at the bottom of this post is a 10-minute interview conducted on Saturday by WUSA9.com’s Surae Chinn with Loudoun County, Virginia’s Interim Fire Chief Keith Brower. Like City of Manassas Fire Marshal Frank Teevan, Chief Brower was always one of the go-to guys when I was reporting and looking for an expert on fire safety issues. Chief Brower talks at length about how residential sprinklers and the lessons learned from the NIST testing can be the difference between one home burning and a neighborhood on fire.
A 24-year-old mother and two of her children died in a fire after the woman saved her three other children by telling them to jump out the window.
Friends identify the mother recently separated from her husband as Eileen Armstrong, known as Allie. They said she had been recently facing financial difficulties after giving birth to her two month old daughter.
Witnesses watched in horror Wednesday morning as Armstrong stood inside her burning townhouse unit on the 9600 block of Hagel Circle. She told her 6 year old son and 8 year old son to jump to the ground to safety. She then saved the infant’s life by throwing her from a second floor window into the arms of a friend outside.
But neighbors never saw her after she disappeared inside to rescue her 3 year old and 5 year old sons. Flames spread too rapidly and they watched helpless.
My local fire department has been taking a beating over the last month all across the country. Its crazed fire marshals are accused of tyranny, power-tripping, and being domestic terrorists. And those are some of the nice comments.
So what awful thing did the FMs from the Fairfax County (VA) Fire & Rescue Department do? They did their jobs.
If you are not aware, on July 24th the fire marshals arrested two bartenders they caught in the act of lighting a bottle containing a flammable liquid and a wick. The bartenders are accused of then using what some might call a Molotov cocktail as a source of ignition for their fire breathing demonstration. It’s a trick they’ve apparently done for years at Jimmy’s in Herndon.
I say good job by the fire marshals. A crowded bar is not the place for anyone to play with fire.
There are many videos on YouTube showing off similar skills of ”talented” bartenders from the United States and around the world. In June I posted one to go with a story of a bartender in New York’s Chinatown who was arrested after his flaming bar tricks showed up on “The Real Housewives of New York”. In fact, one of the videos I found was from a big city bar I am familiar with. I sent the link to that city’s fire chief, who forwarded it to his fire marshal, who I am told is now a regular visitor to the bar.
So, I am glad my tax dollars were put to good use in Herndon that night. But I am apparently in the minority. Most who have written about this believe the arrests are another example of the “nanny-state”.
The owner of the bar seems to be quite politically connected. Some of our local leaders are now looking closely at the work of the fire marshals. Everyone seems outraged the bartenders were charged with felonies that could result in 45-years in prison.
Once again, I say good. From what I see there are too many bartenders playing these little fire games for their customers. Even if convicted, I am sure these guys weren’t going to jail, but an example needs to be set.
The local prosecutor pretty quickly dropped the felony charges, but the outrage over the actions of the fire marshals continues. The latest to give us his views is the man who represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003 and was the Libertarian Party nominee for President in 2008, Bob Barr.
Bob Barr thinks the person who originally tipped the fire marshals to the bartenders’ antics is a “busy-body”. Well Bob, then I guess I am also a “busy-body”. Not only did I rat out a bar doing similar stupid bartender tricks, I have called fire departments on locked exit doors at public facilities and even brought the fire marshal of the Nation’s Capital to a grossly overcrowded restaurant at the very moment Barack Obama was being sworn in. (Before the words “So help me God” were spoken Chief Gary Palmer, another “domestic terrorist”, had the restaurant cleared, doors unlocked and the manager’s head swimming.)
Mr. Barr, would I have been a “busy-body” if, at around 10:00 PM on February 20, 2003 I had been a customer in The Station nightclub, noticed the band Great White setting up their pyrotechnics and called in the West Warwick, Rhode Island authorities?
I am sure a person with views similar to yours would have looked at me as a party-pooper or being, as you call it, ”freedom unfriendly”. If someone at The Station had been able to make such a call that night I am certain there would have been some other unpopular fire marshals. There also would have been 100 lives saved.
By the way, here’s the video from The Station I would like you to watch. After a few viewings let me know what you think about open flames in a nightclub or bar. Maybe we could set you up to talk to some of the relatives of the people whose faces you will see about your definition of “freedom”.
Mr. Barr, you accuse Fairfax County officials of wanting to “arrest as many average, law-abiding citizens as possible in order to ensure as little fun as possible”. I’m sorry, but I just don’t look at playing with fire like this as ”fun”. I see it as a potentially lethal activity. I also see my local fire marshals as heroes for trying to put a stop to it.
Maybe it’s my background as a reporter that makes me sensitive to this issue, but I can’t understand why someone goes to the trouble of sharing with the world via YouTube video of a neighbor’s house burning or some other event and doesn’t bother to tell anyone where it occurred. Often you will see something like, “There was a fire on my block overnight” without the person even posting what state they live in, much less the street, county or city. This video is another one of those generic house fires that I have to try and figure out. That’s what I did this morning while my family slept in our hotel room in Hot Springs, South Dakota.
The main clue on this one is the W.F.F.D. on the two pumpers, Engine 1 and Engine 3. Was it the Wake Forest Fire Department? How about the West Frankfort Fire Department? What about the Westview-Fairforest department? Could it be the Wappingers Falls Fire Department? It was none of the above.
A check of the websites and a look at apparatus photos brought me to the conclusion that this was from Texas and the Wichita Falls Fire Department. After that I found an article at timesrecordnews.com with details on this fire. It occurred last Monday morning and left a resident burned. Neighbors reported hearing an explosion.
I guess I really do like the challenge of tracking these down. Thanks for listening. I feel better now.
25 firefighters treated at White Plains, NY commercial fire: A half block of downtown White Plains burned yesterday and during the fire a nearby manhole exploded. The firefighters suffered from smoke inhalation, heat exhaustion and heart palpitations. Click here for details and pictures of the fire.
Looks like they are going to have lots to talk about on C Shift at Station 1: Some baseball fans expecting to see a foul ball drop down from the sky instead saw a firefighter do just that. FF/PM Tyler Morris of the Lake Cities Fire Department in Corinth, Texas fell 30-feet while trying to grab a ball during Tuesday night’s game. Co-workers with Morris at the game say he is going to be okay. Nolan Ryan was among the visitors at the hospital. Check it out.
No life safety problem, no fire protection: Many property owners on Bradford Island in California were under the impression they had fire protection when a fire took hold of multiple homes. They were wrong. The East Contra Fire Protection District responded a number of times but is not authorized to spring into action unless there are people in immediate danger. There’s a lot more to the story. Click here.
Must read stories about a Montana firefighter who faced two emergencies on vacation, saved a brother firefighter and now may lose his job: Whitefish, Montana FF/PM Ben Parsons was in Oregon for the Father’s Day Test of Endurance race. After a strong finish in the race he spotted a grill on a wooden porch that was about to catch a home on fire. Parsons did what he could and asked a friend to go to the fire truck parked around the corner and alert the firefighter to the problem. The friend then told Parsons to respond to the rig because the firefighter who was with it was in cardiac arrest. Thanks to Parsons and others, the firefighter is alive. That’s part one of the story that you can find here. Returning home Parsons now has to face reality about his career choice. Ben Parsons may lose his job by the end of the month due to budget cuts. Read that story. Thank you Butch Weedon for alerting us to this story.
Man arrested for getting physical over his complaint about fire tactics: In Greeley, Colorado earlier this week a man began shoving one firefighter and knocking the facepiece off another because he didn’t like the way they were fighting the fire. The chief says they were concentrating the limited water supply from a dead end hydrant on protecting what wasn’t burning. Read more.
And even more assaults on first responders: In a late July 4th entry, Firegeezer reports on how firefighters and police were assaulted by fireworks in Alton, Illinois Sunday night.
On the mend: One of four Sacramento firefighters injured in a house explosion has been released from the hospital. Read details. Also home from the hospital, a North Charleston, SC firefighter injured when the roof collapsed at a house fire. Here’s more.
Sprinklers in Baltimore County: Now that I am no longer a reporter, I can come out of the closet on one bias of mine. STATter911.com is very much pro-residential sprinklers and will work on behalf of that goal where I can. That’s why we are happy to report Baltimore County is the latest Maryland jurisdiction to require sprinklers during a vote of the County Council yesterday. Great work by the Baltimore County Fire Department, the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office and others. Read the unbiased version of the story here.
FDNY gets a perfect score in annual double dipping probe (and that’s a good thing): In New York you can’t get a government pension and a government salary at the same time. The latest review found no firefighters in violation. Click here for the story.
Ft. Lauderdale museum: Martin Grube’s FireRescueTV takes a trip south to visit The Fort Lauderdale Fire & Safety Museum inside Station 3. Here’s the video.
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).
“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.
Raw video from two-alarm fire in Frederick, Maryland: This is from around 7:00 Wednesday evening on South Carroll Street. Click the image for the video. Firefighters were pulled from the building about 15-minutes after attempting an interior attack. Eventually the roof and a wall of this Civil War era building collapsed. You can read more about the fire at WUSA9.com.
Raw video from a tragic and controversial fire that occurred 16-years-ago: Someone uploaded to YouTube the amateur video shot in Edmonston, Maryland during a 1994 house fire that took the lives of a pregnant woman and two children. The Emerson Street fire is one of the most controversial in PGFD history after an order by the incident commander that firefighters were not to enter the burning home, despite bing told people were trapped. Dave has been debating with himself for a month over whether to rehash this painful episode, but where he wimped out others forged ahead. Click here for the video and details.
I think they made their point about the dangers of fireworks: In California, Jeff Granberry, the Redding Fire Department’s fire prevention specialist (and recent firefighter of the year), was demonstrating the dangers of fireworks for the news media (I am guessing you already know where this story is going). Granberry lit a roman candle that then malfunctioned. Despite wearing eye protection and protective clothing, Granberry suffered minor burns to an eye and his face. Read more.
UPDATE & correction to the Boise ladder crash: Boise Fire Department officials say they are looking at a “malfunctioning rear steering unit” that caused a ladder truck to swing wide and heavily damage a police department SUV and another vehicle on Tuesday. STATter911.com originally reported that this was a tiller truck. We were wrong. A source who asked not to be identified tells us, “It was a Pierce rear-mount platform with All Steer rear steering. The suspicion is that there was a glitch in the automated rear steering, but all of that is under investigation.”
Fire engine driver says he’s not guilty in cow stampede case: A not guilty plea from U.K. Firefighter Julian Lawford accused of starting a cow stampede with the siren on his fire truck. The cows crushed and killed a 75-year-old farmer. Here’s the latest.
Midland, PA firefighter charged in death of motorcyclist: Investigators say there was no emergency call when Jonathan Hogue “responded” with lights and sirens, speeding and passing cars last August. With a friend in the car, Hogue’s vehicle struck a motorcycle and two cars. The motorcyclist was killed. Firegeezer has the update.
Charges against one FDNY firefighter dropped in bar brawl: The prosecutor says Firefighter Michael Reilly was trying to be a peacemaker during the now infamous fight at a Brooklyn bar that included as many as 11 firefighters. At the same time Firefighter Ryan Warnock was indicted on two misdemeanor counts for the January melee at the Salty Dog in Bay Ridge. Here are details.
Baltimore firefighters take to the streets: Firefighters and cops showed up at a fundraiser in Mt. Vernon last night for Baltimore City Councilman Bill Cole. They carried signs claiming the City Council turned its back on them by reducing pension benefits. Here’s the story.
A day at the races: Make sure you sign up for the July 17th event at Gateway International Speedway in St. Louis supporting the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Click here for the details.
Citizen provides play-by-play of five-alarm fire in Brooklyn: Decent pictures from the fire in Bushwick at a kitchen cabinet warehouse that caught fire Thursday around 6:00 PM. The best part, as usual, is listening to the volunteer “reporter” provide the narration and do the interviews. More on the fire from the union news team at WCBS-TV. Aerial view here.
Several apartments were destroyed or damaged in a Thursday afternoon fire that occurred on a farm owned by U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett.
Mike Dmuchowski, spokesman for the Frederick County Division of Fire and Rescue Services, said 14 apartments were affected in the 2 p.m. blaze. About 75 firefighters were dispatched to the scene in the 4300 block of Buckeystown Pike, and no injuries were reported.
Officials didn’t have an estimate on monetary damage yet. The American Red Cross is working with displaced residents.
Bartlett was in Washington when the fire broke out, his spokeswoman said.
The most significant damage was done to a three-story, nine-unit building that used to be a barn, Dmuchowski said. A former silo with four apartments was also affected, as well as another one-unit building.
Tire & muffler shop burns: A fire at 6708 Northeast 23rd Street in Oklahoma City on Wednesday. This is one of many videos from around the country added each weekday by WUSA9.com’s Emily Cyr. They all can be found in our video player over here >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
More on injured Baltimore firefighter: There is a nice article from his native Montgomery County, Pennsylvania that profiles Jeffrey Novack who was seriously injured in Wednesday night’s fire next to the firehouse in the 3900 block of Liberty Heights Avenue. Firefighter Novack, assigned to Truck 12, was forced to bail out of a third floor apartment after rescuing residents. He is in a medically-induced coma to treat burns and other injuries. Sources indicate the two closest engines were on other runs, and the third was closed due to staffing issues. Here is our previous coverage of the fire, including fireground audio of the mayday. Sources indicate this version of the audio, besides compacting the time by removing dead air, misses some key radio transmissions.
Is this a trend? Baltimore police halt CompStat (or ComStat) meetings: This is the famous crime fighting method started by Jack Maple, who brought it to NYPD from New York’s Transit Police in the early 1990s. Since then, police departments and other government agencies, including fire departments, have adopted it as a way to measure performance. Now comes word that the Baltimore City Police Department, which embraced its version of the statistics based management tool more than a decade ago, has suspended the meetings. There are concerns that it has evolved into nothing more than a weekly finger-pointing beat-down session (the fictional version was shown regularly on The Wire) that requires too much prep time by managers. The Baltimore Sun reports on a New York study that showed more than 100 retired high-ranking officers believe it creates intense pressure to manipulate crime figures. Here’ the story.
All PGFD, all the time: There was a time that some people claimed that was our motto here at STATter911.com. Still, this has been a newsworthy few days in Prince George’s Countyl. Here’s what’s been keeping Mark Brady busy-
Governor makes escape from fire followed by lawmakers: A celebration for new members of the Maryland legislature at an Annapolis, Maryland bar last night came to an end when fire broke out. The Baltimore Sun tells the story that Governor Martin O’Malley’s security detail may have been the first to realize the place was burning. Here’s the article.
Facebook shooting threat by firefighter against politician leads to trouble: We have been telling you about the problems in Clark County, Nevada and how County Commissioner Steve Sisolak is leading the charge to cut OT and compensation for firefighters. Sisolak is also concerned about on-duty MD fund raising. Now comes word of the Facebook posting by City of Las Vegas Firefighter Joy Sager saying she wanted ”to shoot Sisolak in the (groin)”. The mayor has called for justice. Sager, involved in the charity work, has written an apology. Read Sager’s letter. Here’s the story.
The fine print in the grant that will help Flint has some worried: Flint, Michigan is getting a SAFER grant to rehire firefighters recently let go and others. But can the troubled city meet the staffing requirements of the grant? Read the details.
An ounce of prevention is apparently not worth much in this budget cycle: What did that Franklin guy know anyway? It isn’t like he and his most famous saying about fires had to face a massive recession like we have dealt with. The latest budget proposal in Mesa, Arizona calls for the elimination of the entire fire prevention and life-safety education units. Read more.
Citizen says it is just fine to cut fire department minimum staffing: This column in a California newspaper shows the perception firefighters are often up against when it comes to budget cuts. In it, a man named Bob Moss explains why he didn’t sign a petition by Palo Alto firefighters to freeze staffing levels. Here is an excerpt-
Fact: The proposal on the table is to cut the required number of firefighters on engines by no more than one person. There will still be plenty of staff to respond to 911 calls. Cutting the number of people on an engine, say from 4 to 3, will have no impact on 911 response times — it may even be a bit faster as it will take less time for three people to get onto the engine than four.
Code thieves?: Thieves who stole radios and other equipment worth as much as $20,000 from an Edmond, Oklahoma fire truck being serviced also got the map book with the codes that allow access to gated communities. Read the story.
Fired DeKalb County captain reinstated: Tony Motes, one of those fired after a botched response to a house fire that turned fatal, won his appeal. Read what it means.
Fallout over gas company’s union negotiation in Fall River: There is debate in the Massachusetts town over whether the installation of locking devices on critical valve shut offs by New England Gas will impact its reponse to help fire crews with gas shut downs in an emergency. The company is doing this to prevent tampering during union troubles. Here’s the story.
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