Ten families were left homeless today after an early morning fire broke out at an apartment complex off Old Nyack Turnpike across the street from where fire damaged a separate house the night before.
Investigators don’t know if the two fires are connected.
Three firefighters were injured battling the blaze today at Sleepy Hollow Gardens apartment on Lunney Court.
The fire apparently started in Apartment 34 sometime after 6 a.m. It spread to the attic and then to adjacent units, Spring Valley fire Chief Ken Sohlman said.
Michael Choinski, 16, who lives in the apartment next door to where the fire broke out, said his mother was awakened by the sound of windows shattering from the fire. Choinski helped get his family out of the building and then ran to the other apartments in the building.
“I was banging on the doors — telling everyone to get out,” he said.
All residents, including the women and her three young daughters who lived in the unit where the fire started, were out of the building by the time firefighters arrived.
It took firefighters about an hour to bring the fire under control. Firefighters from Spring Valley, Hillcrest, Monsey and Tallman were at the scene along with Spring Hill and Ramapo Valley ambulance corps.
Thursday night, Spring Valley firefighters were called to a single-family house at 123 Old Nyack Turnpike, directly across the street from the Sleepy Hollow Gardens apartments, shortly after 9:30.
It took them nearly two hours to put out the fire, which caused extensive damage to the house. No one was injured.
Investigators are trying to determine what caused both fires.
The Red Cross was being asked to help residents relocate.
A Kanawha County firefighter was lost and presumed dead in Raleigh County overnight, after the boat he was in capsized.
The firefighter, whose name was not released Saturday morning, was in the Bradley area on a rescue mission when a boat that he and several other firefighters were in turned over.
“It appears that he was lost when his boat capsized,” Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said Saturday morning. “They are hoping they can find him. We’ve got a Blackhawk helicopter, other people from Kanawha County, the National Guard … they’re all out there looking.”
The other firefighters who were in the boat are OK, he said.
Monica Bowens stood in the cold with tears in her eyes, hugging herself and watching her family’s apartment building and all the family’s possessions burn.
“The most important thing is that we are here, but we have nothing,” the 39-year-old said Thursday evening, shaking her head.
She and her three children were among the 12 families – 48 people – left without a home by the four-alarm fire that started around 4:30 p.m.
The blaze started on the rear porches of 66 Elliott Ave. and spread to the roof, Yonkers Fire Commissioner Anthony Pagano said at the scene.
“There were no reported injuries and no one was reported missing,” Pagano said. “There were people who were trapped inside, but they were brought out.”
As clouds of black smoke blew down the street, people watched, took pictures with cameras and cell phones, cried and prayed.
Some of the displaced residents said they heard that the fire started after a group of children set a cat on fire.
“I heard that too,” Bowens said. “But, I don’t know.”
A fire official said Thursday night that the cause was not yet known.
Bowens said she was lying down when a friend told her that there was a fire in the building. She said she had tried to go out the back door, but her nephew told her it was a “serious fire.”
An alarm activation around 1:00 this morning sent police in Rockville to the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service logistics and supply building at 701-C Dover Road. Assistant Chief Scott Graham, a department spokesman, says three 17-year-old firefighters from the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department were caught in the act of stealing equipment. Their names have not been released, but all three have been charged with theft and illegal entry by officers from the Rockville City Police Department.
The three are assigned to Station 3 at 380 Hungerford Drive and have now been suspended from the department. Sources indicate police are investigating the possibility the teens were able to get a key from a Knox Box to enter the building. The sources, who are not authorized to speak on this matter, said the firefighters had gathered up Halligan bars and personal protective gear. Officials have not indicating why the young firefighters wanted the equipment.
The arrests came two days after nine other members of Station 3 were suspended when police discovered them inside a locked community room at the Fenestra Apartments at 20 Maryland Avenue. The apartments are across the street from Station 3. No charges have been filed in that case.
Sources indicate that firefighters had been allowed access to the room in recent weeks, but on Tuesday evening a door had been forced to gain entry. The room has a pool table and other amenities. Sources indicate there had been alcohol use. Some of the volunteer firefighters discovered by police are under 21 years of age. The sources also say others, besides firefighters, were in the party room.
Eric Bernard, the president of the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department, referred STATter911.com to Assistant Chief Graham for comments about the two incidents.
Graham said, “Whenever such incidents occur, whether it involves career or volunteer personal, it leaves a black eye on the fire service as a whole. We take this very seriously and are disappointed in the actions and behavior of the personnel involved.”
Asked about the supervision of teenaged firefighters, Chief Graham said they are properly supervised when inside the fire station and involved in other fire department sanctioned activities.
Three people were seriously hurt after a crash involving Rescue Squad 1 at 14th Street and Constitution Ave in Northwest Washington.
DC Fire & EMS Department spokesman Pete Piringer says the crew was responding to a report of a fire at a library at George Washington University when it was involved in a crash with two other vehicles around 7:30 AM today. Three people in the two cars were taken to a hospital with serious injuries. No firefighters were hurt.
The fire at the library ended up being a small fire in the heating and air conditioning system. Piringer says it was quickly contained.
DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Dennis Rubin testified Friday before the DC City Council’s Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary. This was a scheduled oversight hearing. It included discussion of the recent death of two-year-old Stephanie Stephens. A criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Branch is determining if there was criminal neglect by a senior paramedic when the decision was made not to take the little girl to the hospital after her mother’s initial call to 911 in the middle of a blizzard on February 10.
Kenneth Lyons, president of AFGE Local 3721 representing civilian EMS workers, gave indication to reporters that the transport decision was a mutual one between Stephens’ mother and the paramedic. Numerous sources have confirmed the medic failed to get a signed release or fill out an electronic patient care report after the response.
In his opening remarks at the hearing Chief Rubin said, “The department is revising our non-transport policy to include the addition of a mandatory supervisory verification that assures all patient protocols were followed prior to the unit leaving the scene.”
On numerous occasions during the hearing Chief Rubin took full responsibility for the failures in the Stephens case. Here is an excerpt from his prepared testimony:
Before I begin, I must offer my most sincere and heartfelt apology to the parents and family of Stephanie Stephens for her death. I am the father of three children and grandfather of one and I cannot begin to imagine how I would feel if placed in the same position. I can only say that I was profoundly shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the circumstances of this case and since learning of them I have devoted almost all of my time to investigating and reviewing this Department’s actions. My heart goes out to the parents and family of this little child and if there was anything I could do to change what occurred, I would act immediately to make it happen. That said, and as the Fire and EMS Chief for the District of Columbia, I must accept responsibility for the actions of our employees. Public responsibility for failure in this case will be mine and mine alone and I do not intend to share this responsibility with others. Good leadership begins and ends at the top and I can only hope that my testimony today will reassure this community that the emergency medical services system in the District of Columbia is not broken and does not suffer from a lack of sound judgment and responsible actions by the vast majority of our employees.
Here’s more on the hearing from 9NEWS NOW’s Audrey Barnes:
A day after DC police launched a criminal investigation into a decision by a senior paramedic not to transport a child who later died, Fire Chief Dennis Rubin was summoned to a council hearing to explain some recent department missteps.
Like the case of Stephanie Thomas, who testified that she called paramedics to her home last spring when her nine-year-old asthmatic son was having chest pains and trouble breathing.
“I requested transport to Children’s Hospital,” Thomas says. “The paramedic told me that wasn’t necessary, to put him in the shower with some steam, and if I needed them later, call back.”
Within an hour, she says her son’s condition worsened, so she drove him to the hospital herself. The first question she was asked was, “Why did I take so long to bring him in?”
Thomas’ son survived. The case is eerily similar to that of Stephanie Stephens, who died the day after one crew refused to take her to the hospital to treat her breathing difficulty, and suggested steam as a treatment.
“The buck stops with Chief Rubin,” the head of Local 3721 Kenneth Lyons says. “He knew about these other cases and tried to cover them up, blaming it on semantics, while families grieve.”
Rubin says he accepts the blame and will investigate the Thomas case. He says he just learned about it.
“We will get to the bottom of this,” Rubin says. “We’ll get it resolved.”
The council’s oversight committee expects to release its findings soon.
Vacant car dealership burns, firefighter hurt: The firefighter hurt his knee helping homeless squatters get out of this vacant building in Vallejo, California yesterday morning. The fire went to three-alarms. Read the details.
NEW – DC Rescue Squad 1 involved in serious collision: On the way to a reported of a building fire in Northwest Washington, DC Fire & EMS Department Rescue Squad 1 collided with a vehicle that then hit another vehicle. It happened just after 7:30 this morning at 14th and Constitution, NW. Spokesman Pete Piringer says three civlians were hurt, listed as traumas by mechanism. No firefighters were injured. We will have more later.
Was paramedic criminally negligent?: That’s the question the Special Victim’s Unit of the Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Branch has been charged with determining following the death of two-year-old Stephanie Stephens. The mayor, fire chief, police chief and attorney general of the District of Columbia contend there is enough information about the actions of the paramedic in charge when the decision was made on the initial 911 call not to transport the little girl that detectives specializing in the deaths of children need to take a closer look. Here’s the story.
DC’s former fire chief now says fire & EMS should be separated: Former DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Adrian Thompson now believes EMS in the District of Columbia should be a third service. Thompson tells Matt Cella of The Washington Times, “It’s not working. It’s a cultural issue. They’re not going to change the culture of this department.” Here are more excerpts-
The former chief, who is black, said white firefighters with generational ties to the department largely have been less accepting of the job’s evolving responsibilities, particularly an increased emphasis in recent decades on providing pre-hospital care.
“They want to be firefighters and firefighters only,” he said, adding that black firefighters have entered the department in significant numbers in only the past 20 or 30 years and largely have been more open to other responsibilities if it meant securing a job.
Deputy Chief Kenneth Crosswhite, a spokesman for Chief Dennis L. Rubin, who is white, called Mr. Thompson’s conclusions “totally ludicrous.” He estimated that the department has about 45 percent non-minority employees and 55 percent minority employees.
“For someone to make an assertion like that is totally, totally out of touch with today’s reality,” he said. “Leadership starts at the top. If he had that notion during his tenure, he should have solved the problem.”
Chief Thompson was in charge of the department in January, 2006 when former New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum was murdered. Thompson initially told reporters that his review of the case found no problems in the care provided to the dying man. An inspector general’s report discovered many issues in how first responders and Howard University Hospital dealt with Rosenbaum.
Life sentence for man who killed Delaware’s Michelle Smith: Joseph Taye was give his sentence yesterday for running down Firefighter Smith as she tended to the victim of a motorcycle crash near the Wilmington airport. Taye, a paraplegic, apologized in court for the harm he has done. Click here for the story.
Black firefighters talk about race relations in Chicago: As the Supreme Court deals with a case that hinges on hiring practices, some firefighters give their views on the state of race relations in the Chicago Fire Department. Click here and here.
Late assault report between firefighters in North Carolina: In Elon a fire captain is accused of assaulting a firefighter who was welding at the firehouse after some initial horseplay over keys. Here are the details.
The Metropolitan Police Department is now handling the investigation of a paramedic who was in charge of the care for two-year-old Stephanie Stephens when a decision was made not to take the little girl to the hospital in the early morning hours of February 10th. A second crew transported Stephens to Children’s National Medical Center about nine-hours later. She died the next day at the hospital. Her family says the girl had pneumonia.
Officials have not said why the girl wasn’t taken to the hospital after the first call, but Mayor Adrian Fenty, flanked by his attorney general, police chief and fire chief said at a press conference there is enough concern that a criminal review of the unidentified veteran paramedic’s actions is warranted. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says that investigation will be handled by the homicide detectives in the Special Victim’s Unit. Lanier says the detectives specialize in dealing with the deaths of children.
The family of the girl has indicated an EMS crew member pointed out the difficulty of traveling on snow clogged streets in the middle of the second of two back-to-back blizzards to hit Washington.
Sources have indicated the paramedic crew failed to get a signed release from the girl’s mother or fill out an electronic patient care report. Fire Chief Dennis Rubin indicated there is a specific protocol on handling an incident where the patient is not transported to the hospital.
Attorney General Peter Nickles says the criminal review only involves the paramedic and not the EMT who was her partner on the call.
In today’s Washington Post an editorial is critical of the progress made by the city since the death of former New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum in 2006. It echoes a recent letter to the editor by a top doctor at Children’s National Medical Center.
When asked about such criticism, Mayor Adrian Fenty points to the more than 140,000 EMS calls in the city that are handled without incident. When asked by a reporter, Fenty says he has full confidence in Dennis Rubin who is about to celebrate his third year as chief.
Investigation into why firefighters couldn’t reach woman in time who was on phone with 911: A tragic story from Spotsylvania County, Virginia. A 911 call taker listened to Sandy Hill’s last breaths as firefighters tried desperately to find her on the second floor of the burning Cape Cod. By the time they get to the woman it was too late. STATter911.com/9NEWS NOW had filed a FOIA for the fireground & 911 audio in this case, but we were scooped by the local paper. The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star’s Dan Telvock takes a close look at this story and has the recordings. Click here.
DC crew received disciplinary action after failing to take woman to the hospital: This is a case from December with strong parallels to the investigation on-going into the death of a two-year-old girl during the second blizzard in February. In both cases it took a second 911 call to get a ride to the hospital. And in both cases the initial crews failed to get a signed release or file a patient care report. Click here for our coverage.
Five firefighters injured in Brooklyn fire: Five firefighters were hurt around 4:00 this morning battling a fire on Concord Street. Two are reported to be in serious condition, but the injuries aren’t considered life-threatening. Here’s more from WCBS-TV.
Driven to distraction: Back in the day I used to find it a challenge when going driver only to a call, keeping the hands on the steering wheel, shifting gears, talking on the radio and blowing the siren. Now you have computers, GPS and other electronics to distract you in the front seat of an emergency vehicle. The New York Times looks at the growing concern that first responders may be distracted by all these bells and whistles. Check out the article.
Fiery multiple-vehicle crash on the highway: Firegeezer has the story and video from Indianapolis. Click here.
Another blue light special: In Martinsville, Indiana a volunteer firefighter didn’t like the way a woman was driving. He pulled her over and yelled at her. His blue light is now history for six-months. Read more.
Firefighter is canned after two women come to blows: The two women squared off after a city council meeting in Johnston City, Illinois where layoffs and pay cuts were dealt with. A man, who is a firefighter and part-time dispatcher, says he was fired because of the fight. Click here for the story.
Drawbridge rescue: Raw video from yesterday’s rescue of four workers in Pompano Beach, Florida. Check it out.
Houston considers furloughs: Houston’s mayor is the latest big city officials to talk about furloughs for fire and police to help balance the budget. Read more.
An investigation is underway after firefighters in Spotsylvania County, Virginia failed to find a woman who was on the phone, trapped in her house, while firefighters were inside searching. It apparently took repeated attempts and more than 20 minutes before firefighters finally found 43-year-old Sandy Hill on February 5.
Firefighters were able to rescue another person trapped in the fire. According to Dan Telvock with the Frederickburg Free Lance-Star, Hill was on the second floor of the 2000 square foor, four bedroom, Cape Cod. The paper has the fireground audio, audio of part of Sandy Hill’s conversation with 911 and transcripts of her calls.
Carl Maurice, a Spotsylvania resident who spent 32 years with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, is the only expert who listened to the recordings and also viewed the exterior of the house.
“If someone presented this scenario to me in theory, I would have expected the victim to survive,” Maurice said. “The question everyone has to ask is ‘Why didn’t she?’”
Kevin Dillard, the administrative chief and spokesman of Chancellor Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department, initially sent an e-mail a few hours after the fire praising the 45 volunteers involved for an “awesome job.”
But this week, after learning more about the response, Dillard said he thinks an investigation is warranted.
Dillard said he knew few details when he sent the e-mail. Only after after some volunteers criticized the response two weeks ago did he begin to realize “serious” problems related to the response, he said.
For example, thermal imaging cameras that could have helped locate Hill and the teenager were available at the scene but were not used.
Dillard said a ladder was never deployed to Hill’s bedroom windows, and the crews seemed to be confused with the layout of the house and where Hill was trapped.
Dillard said ventilating the house to remove smoke came late in the process because there was a delay in announcing that the fire had been extinguished.
This incident seems to have a lot of similarities to a fire in Fairfax County in May, 2007 where firefighters were unable to find 49-year-old Debra Chiles on the top floor of her small townhouse. Chiles was in the bathroom on the phone with 911 as firefighters pulled up to battle a kitchen fire. The acting chief of the department admitted at the time that Chiles should have been found.
Click here, here and here for previous coverage of Stephanie Stephens case
DC Fire & EMS Department officials confirm an EMS crew has been disciplined for failing to take a woman with trouble breathing to the hospital after she called 911 on December 22. Kimberly Kelsey of the 900 block of Rhode Island Avenue, NW was transported to a hospital only after she called 911 a second time, about 56 minutes after her first call.
According to Kelsey, crews from a paramedic engine company and an ambulance refused to take her to the hospital because they determined she was not symptomatic.
On the second response, a paramedic supervisor treated Kelsey for her chronic asthma and accompanied the woman to Georgetown University Hospital. Kesley says she was put into the intensive care unit and spent a week at the hospital.
Department spokesman Pete Piringer confirms that supervisor immediately followed up on Kimberly Kelsey’s complaint. According to Piringer, the supervisor counseled the crew and disciplinary action was taken.
Piringer also confirms there was no patient care report filled out on the initial response.
This incident has parallels to the case of 2-year-old Stephanie Stephens who died on February 11 at Children’s National Medical Center. An investigation is still underway into why a medic crew did not transport Stephens to a hospital after her mother’s first call to 911 a day earlier. It was about nine hours later that a second call to 911 resulted in the little girl being taken to the hospital by paramedics.
The call to the little girl’s apartment occurred in the middle of the second of back-to-back blizzards in Washington. Stephens’ family said the girl died of pneumonia.
A paramedic and EMT have been removed from field operations while the probe continues. Numerous sources confirm, like the December case, the EMS crew failed to fill out a patient care report or get a signed release from the girl’s mother.
STATter911.com has been provided internal department emails showing regular notifications to supervisors about missing electronic patient care reports. The emails from January and November each show at least 30 missing reports. The department has not been able to tell us the percentage of reports that are missing because of technical issues versus those that first responders failed to submit.
Four workers are safe after being trapped on a drawbridge stuck in the up position Wednesday morning.
Broward Sheriff’s Office rescuers saved the workers from the bridge in the 2900 block of east Atlantic Boulevard.
City spokeswoman Sandra King said hydraulics failed on a bridge under reconstruction, causing it to rise while Department of Transportation workers were still on it.
Three workers were harnessed and brought down easily, but a fourth was left trapped in the air over the Intracoastal Waterway.
One of the more interesting videos I have seen recently: Have to give Jason Thomas at Firefighter Spot credit for finding this. The photographer springs into action and moves a police car blocking the way as firefighters in Maple Shade, New Jersey pull up to a motel fire on Sunday. In Part 2 you will see where the cops were. Check out the third floor as they break out windows, apparently looking for victims.
A top doc socks it to DC Fire & EMS over child death: It is only two paragraphs long, but Monday’s letter to the editor in the Washington Post from Dr. Joseph Wright packs a wallop. You will want to take a look at the doctor’s credentials in the field of pediatric emergency medicine as it relates to EMS. Dr. Wright not only questions what happened in the recent death of 2-year-old Stephanie Stephens, he is critical of how the system generally provides pediatric pre-hospital care. The DC Fire & EMS Department stands on its record of improvements since Mayor Adrian Fenty’s task force provided an outline for the future of EMS following the 2006 death of former New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum. Dr. Wright looked at Stephens’ death as a “pediatric Rosenbaum”. Click here for our coverage.
Long Island fire chief & FDNY member accused of “vigilante” justice: Hempstead Fire Department Chief Michael Charles. who is a retired NYPD detective, and FDNY’s Brian Schuck from Ladder 111, are accused of stopping and searching a pedestrian at gun point and then letting them go. The men were in the fire SUV. The incident happened after shots rang out near the Hempstead firehouse. Schuck has been suspended without pay. Read and watch the story and here.
Pay attention to this report and you can get rid of STATter911.com: The Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association is trying to put this blog out of business and I am helping them. It is called reputation management and the CVVFA folks put together a special report on how some firefighters are tarnishing the image of the fire service. They even asked me to give them some insight on the awful stories I cover. Forget my role and just read the document. Here it is.
Speaking of reputations – it doesn’t look like Chicago’s mayor is ready to help salvage the fire commissioner’s image: The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting Mayor Richard Daley “conspicuously refused today to give embattled Fire Commissioner John Brooks a vote of confidence”. Brooks, accused of sexual harassment, made this memorable statement to the Sun-Times:
I do not proposition women. I don’t have to. Women usually proposition me. God has blessed me like that.
Los Angeles City Council has second thoughts on cutting ambulance service to save money: The plan is to stop using 10 of the department’s ambulances during night time hours. But after hearing testimony the council is getting cold feet. Here is the story.
Smoking ban for new firefighters rejected: In Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin the police and fire commission is bucking the trend and said no to a new tobacco free policy for newly hired firefighters. Check out the story.
Exploding cell phone: It wasn’t even plugged in, according to a family and firefighters in Seffner, Florida. Here’s the story.
Fire chief lays down the law over convicted arsonist/bomber: Read the story from North Haledon, New Jersey about a convicted arsonist/bomber who was participating in fire department activities.
Fire chief lays down the law over accidental fire: Actually that’s this chief’s name, Jonathan Law. He’s the chief of Oklahoma’s Nescatunga Fire Department. Chief Law told the Alva Review/Courier, “I will not stand for such kinds of incidents” after a firefighter accidentally started a small grass fire. Here’s the story.
The Fire Critic has lost his mind: Where The Fire PIO yesterday had one of the more interesting blog postings I have seen in a while, our friend in Roanoke has gone far in the other direction. There will be nothing socially redeeming in Rhett’s Top Ten Best/Funniest Firefighter Dance Videos, but I am sure you will get a few laughs. That also pretty much describes my first encounter with Rhett at the blogger meetup on Friday. Click here to see what I am talking about.
As the investigation into the death of Stephanie Stephens continues, a top official at Children’s National Medical Center has made his views about the case known. In a letter to the editor in Monday’s Washington Post, Dr. Joseph Wright said, “The decision not to immediately transport a 2-year-old with respiratory symptoms is inexcusable.”
Dr. Joseph Wright from Children's National Medical Center website.
Dr. Wright is referring to the crew from DC Fire & EMS Department’s Medic 33 who did not take the little girl to the hospital after her mother’s first call to 911 on the morning of February 10. It wasn’t until another 911 call, about nine-hours later, that a different crew from Medic 33 took the girl to Children’s. She died the next day. The family told 9NEWS NOW Stephanie had pneumonia.
Dr. Wright, a senior vice president and pediatric emergency physician, pointed out in his letter that he believes the city has made little progress since the controversy surrounding the inadequate care provided to dying former New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum. Wright wrote to the Post, “It was only a matter of time before a pediatric Rosenbaum case surfaced.”
According to Dr. Wright’s biography, he is a founding director of the hospital’s Institute for Prehospital Pediatrics and Emergency Research and “provides state-level leadership as the EMS Medical Director for Pediatrics within the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems”. Wright is also a senior investigator and medical director with “the federally-funded Emergency Medical Services for Children National Resource Center.”
DC Fire & EMS Department spokesman Pete Piringer disputes Dr. Wright’s claims. In an email to STATter911.com Piringer said, ”During the past few years significant progress has been made in many areas concerning the state of EMS in the District of Columbia.”
Piringer points to the implementation of the large majority of the goals from the task force ordered by Mayor Adrian Fenty to provide a blueprint for the future of EMS following Rosenbaum’s death in 2006. According to Piringer, “As of today, the Department has completed 39 of those 50 action items, most well ahead of schedule, and is making substantial progress on completing the remaining 11 items.”
Chief Dennis Rubin headed the the task force. Rubin is about to celebrate his third anniversary in command of the DC Fire & EMS Department. Critics, like Kenneth Lyons, president of the union representing civilian EMS workers, point out that Chief Rubin is now in search of his third medical director and is on his fourth crew to lead EMS training. Lyons calls the lack of continuity ”schizophrenic”.
While Lyons believes Dr. Wright is premature in judging the EMS crew in the Stephens case, he concurs with Wright’s claims there are problems in providing pre-hospital care to children. In his letter Wright said, “I have stated often for the public record before the D.C. Council Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary just how little attention D.C. Fire and EMS has paid to preparing its workforce in the care of children.”
Lyons tells STATter911.com that Dr. Wright has long been an advocate for improved training and protocols in dealing with children who are ill or injured and has offered to assist the city in making these improvements.
The public relations staff at Children’s National Medical Center was unable to schedule an interview with Dr. Wright on Tuesday.
We need to start this posting with some full disclosure on what some may see as a possible conflict of interest for me. I generally don’t report on stories I am involved in. I leave that to others. You need to know that I had a small role in the fact finding phase of this new report from the Cumberland Valley Firemen’s Association and you will see my name listed under group members.
At the request of Steve Austin, I spent two days in Emmitsburg last year talking with the other group members about the various stories that I cover that can be seen as damaging to the repuation of the fire service. I am almost always willing to talk to anyone about what I do and why I do it.
I find it to be a compelling topic and an important issue for the fire service, despite my role (or maybe because of it) as the conduit for much bad news. This is something that has been discussed on STATter911.com many times, particularly as it relates to social media. What I had to say on the topic echoes what I have posted on the blog and my responses to readers in our comments section since I began writing Statter911.com in May of 2007.
Now that you know my role, rather than characterize the report any further, I going to let you be the judge of what this is all about. The link to the report is above and the press release is below:
Reckless Conduct Endangers America’s Fire Service –
Fire Service Reputation Management White Paper Examines Issue
Hagerstown MD, March 10, 2010- Reckless and inappropriate conduct by a small minority of the nation’s fire service is eroding the high moral ground occupied by firefighters says a White Paper sponsored by the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association, (CVVFA) a century-old organization dedicated to enhancing communication and continuing education among the fire service.
The contents of the White Paper represent a distillation of several fire service leadership meetings that identified a series of social, cultural, and ethical issues impacting the fire service nationwide that demand increased awareness.
The White Paper is intended as a wake-up call to the fire service. The detrimental impact from fire service members that engage in unethical, immoral, inappropriate, criminal, or other activities reflects back not just to these individuals, but to their departments and communities, and to the fire service as a whole.
Recognizing that the actions of a small minority of bad actors can have grievous widespread consequences, the fire service as a whole must be increasingly vigilant in policing itself. Through a combination of enhanced and improved internal controls, increased vigilance, and greater acceptance of personal responsibility perhaps including, but not limited to, abiding by a Code of Ethics, the fire service can ensure that it remains true to its roots and heritage of protecting and serving this great nation.
The Fire Service Reputation Management White Paper clearly identifies these individuals and behaviors in a clear and cogent manner, articulates some excellent solutions, and clamors for a Code of Ethics as the next logical step for our profession. We may never have the opportunity again, and I urge all fire service leaders to develop, establish, disseminate, abide and enforce a Fire Service Code of Ethics” said Kelvin Cochran, United States Fire Administrator.
Copies of the White Paper are available at www.cvvfa.org . In the next several weeks the CVVFA will launch www.firefighterbehavior.com a website that will chronicle inappropriate conduct by members of, the fire service. The website will serve to raise awareness of danger to the reputation of the fire service and will advocate for a code of ethics and standards for proper behavior.
About the Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association: Established in 1901 the CVVFA provides firefighters and other emergency responders with Training, Leadership, and Fraternalism. The Association created the Emergency Responder Safety Institute in 1999 to address dangers responders face on the roadways. Much of that work is carried out through its nationally recognized website www.respondersafety.com.
Twice in eight hours: Edward Malik reports Gary, Indiana firefighters responded for two fires yesterday in a vacant home in the 4700 block of Washington. One was a day time fire, the other at night.
One of the more interesting postings I have ever seen on a fire & EMS blog. Make sure you read it: To me the worst blogs are those that spout some company line, refuse to publish comments that disagree with the blogger’s point of view, usually state the obvious, believe the answer is always black or white with no gray area and stay away from anything that might smack of controversy because it might be perceived as critical of what fire and EMS crews do (I think I just described my own blog). The exact opposite of this is the most recent posting by Jeff Bressler at The Fire PIO. It is titled, A PIO’s ethics dilemma: Spinning a point he does not believe in. A fascinating look at the problem facing a PIO for a Long Island fire department. It looks critically at whether a fire department can justify spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a motorized drill team. The article shows how a public information officer may have to be the public face of a policy they disagree with. This is the reality of being a PIO. It isn’t just responding to fires and getting your mug on TV. I am eager to read more columns like this from Jeff.
A closer look at the death of Boston’s Lt. Kevin Kelley: A board of inquiry released a 127-page report looking at the January 9, 2009 crash of Ladder 26. Click here to read the report.
FDNY not allowed access to Freedom Tower to assist with injured worker: Some tension at Ground Zero between the Port Authority and FDNY. News reports indicate most of the FDNY units were not allowed access to the site when a worker fell two stories. Read more about the dispute.
Firefighter passes out behind the wheel of fire engine: In Nevada County, California they are saying the problem was one of dehydration when a firefighter on the way to a hospital to pick up his partner blacked out. Read the details.
Accused firefighter arsonist has charges dropped: We covered this odd story from Indiana when charges were placed a little more than a-year-ago. A Lafayette firefighter was accused of setting his Battle Ground home on fire in October, 2008 and then ripping a firehose out of the hands of firefighters and knocking off the helmet of a firefighter. Now, the arson charge has been dropped. Eric Tendam was fired a month after the charges were filed. Read the details.
Arson charges placed against firefighter: In Penn Township, Pennsylvania a farmhouse fire is being blamed on Eric Penska, a volunteer from Irvin Borough, and two others. Read the story.
Old home burns in Maryland: One firefighter from Montgomery County suffered a second degree burn to his leg fighting this fire yesterday in a late 1800s home in Poolesville. Check our player at the top right for more videos from the Washington area and around the country.
A board of inquiry says a number of factors, including lack of an adequate preventative maintenance program, contributed to a deadly fire truck crash in Boston.
Lt. Kevin Kelley was killed in January 2009 when the ladder truck he was riding on lost its brakes on a steep hill and slammed into a building.
In a 127-page report released on Monday, the board cited 15 “causative factors,” including inadequate funding for preventative maintenance, insufficient manpower in the fire department’s maintenance division, and the installation of improper parts by outside vendors working on fire equipment.
The investigation was one of several into the accident
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino says the department has already implemented recommendations from previous reports, including the hiring of certified civilian mechanics.
Security camera image as Ladder 26 busts through fence before hitting the building. More pictures like this in the report.
A two-alarm fire last night destroyed one Rochester home, damaged another and caused the deaths of two dogs.
Flames were showing on the front and rear of a two-and-a-half story wood-frame house at 156 Ackerman St. when firefighters arrived about 10:25 p.m., said Rochester Deputy Fire Chief Ron Mendolera. Firefighters had to attack the fire from the exterior.
The fire got into the second-floor eaves of a house at 150 Ackerman St. and damaged the attic. Mendolera said that house also sustained some exterior exposure damage.
Mendolera said the house at 156 Ackerman St. was razed to extinguish the fire and because the building’s structural stability was in question. Two tenants, whose dogs died, are being helped by the Greater Rochester Chapter of the American Red Cross.
Ackerman Street is off Bay Street in northeast Rochester.
This is clearly a mistake: In the spot where you normally would find a compelling fire video, I am giving you a bunch of talking heads this morning. Some are people you may know by name or the blog they write (you will see that most, like me, have a face for blogging). They were all at Friday night’s fire and EMS bloggers meetup at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor as part of EMS Today. Besides the bloggers (they had a special area taped off just for us, but I think it was meant to keep us from mixing with the sane people), it was nice to hang out with the folks from JEMS, FireEMSBlogs.com and George Washington University who sponsored the event. If you want a complete run down of who was there and all of the scoop, check out the posting from a man of great stature in the blogging community (don’t be fooled by the pictures), The Fire Critic, Rhett Fleitz. After almost three years of communicating via some sort of electronic means, the hardest working man in the blogosphere and I were finally in the same room. But I was immediately a great disappointment to Rhett, when I was unable to make good on my promise to introduce him to one of the “VIPs” in the room. The person kept avoiding me, which fits with Rhett’s quote that “some love to hate Dave” (I’m not sure I like me either). Well, enough of us patting ourselves on the back and let’s get on with the news.
UPDATE – Bensalem, Pennsylvania medic Daniel McIntosh dies while dealing with suicidal patient: From Bucks County, Firefighter Close Calls and The Trentonian report the medic was stabbed while dealing with a suicidal patient during a call around 7:00 PM last night. But there are also some possibly conflicting reports about what happened, including a police officer indicating no weapon was involved. The latest information from Philly.com is that McIntosh had a head injury received while chasing after the mentally ill man. But the cause of death will not be released until the autopsy has been completed. We do know the 39-year-medic later died. He leaves behind a wife and two young daughters. McIntosh was a medic for the Bucks County South SWAT Team. He also recently took a job as a part time police officer for Hulmeville Borough. Read and watch the story here, here and here. Also, check JEMS Connect, PhillyFireNews.com and Bensalem EMS.
The razor’s edge: If you haven’t read the story from the Florida Keys about one of the most unusual causes for a vehicle collision, you will want to. Truly a classic that will be retold for generations. Check it out.
One giant leap by Dave Statter: I somehow made a connection between the above must read story to the must see video from Erie, Pennsylvania where an SUV’s left turn took priority over a fire engine responding to a call. Probably poor taste and not journalistically sound, but I did it. So watch the video.
And then there’s this quote: We never really had a quote of the week category, but we started it on Saturday and we are already retiring the trophy. If you haven’t checked it out you will want to see Chicago Fire Commissioner John Brooks public defense to a sexual harassment charge. Click here.
Enough of the silliness, now back to the stuff that matters - watch the wires!!!: There were two incidents in two days were a ladder and a tower made contact with power lines injuring eight firefighters. One in Delavan, Wisconsin and one in Houston, Texas. Everyone survived. In the Wisconsin case two chiefs disagree over whether there should be an investigation. We have details, pictures and video on both, plus a look back at two other incidents. Here is our coverage.
Static electricity behind fatal car fire: Fire at a gas pump in Lower Allen Township, Pennsylvania is being blamed on static electricity. No sign of cell phone use. Smoking was also ruled out. Here is the story.
Philly recruiter denounced for email outlining plan to break rules in efforts to increase minority applicants: Captain Troy Gore says he immediately sent out an email denouncing his own scheme to allow minorities to apply to be a Philadelphia firefighter after the deadline closed. Despite that, Captain Gore is now on paid leave and has been denounced by the Valiants Club Inc. , the African American firefighters organization that has long challenged the department’s hiring practices. In fact, the president of the Valiants, Kenneth Greene Sr., leaked the email to the Philadelphia Inquirer. It also turns out that Gore had planned to challenge Greene in the next election. Read more.
How it is supposed to work – citizen sings the praises of first responders even though the had a 45-minute response time that stretched to almost three-hours before transport: We have already heard horror stories about questionable EMS responses in Pittsburgh and Washington, DC during the recent blizzards. Here is a different view, where fire, EMS and private citizens in Loudoun County, Virginia beat the expectations of the public in their response through five-foot snow drifts in an effort to help an elderly woman who had fallen and broken her hip. Check it out.
See, I told you: I have no clue if it is true, but I saw this coming. You may recall what I wrote last week about how the current goings on in Clark County, Nevada fit a pattern all over the country as overtime is targeted by political leaders looking to cut budgets. Part of that pattern is a claim of abuse of the system by firefighters. That piece of the puzzle was detailed yesterday in the Las Vegas Sun where there are claims firefighters are “gaming the system” with sick leave abuse translating into more overtime. Click here for the latest.
Tom Yeatman shot this video of a BP service station burning overnight in Prince George’s County, Maryland. The fire was reported at 5:30 AM at Addison Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Highway in Seat Pleasant. No injuries were reported. damage is estimated at $200,000.
I am very open-minded and try to consider all sides and options before coming to a conclusion. When I posted a must see video from Erie, Pennsylvania late last night, I failed to live up to my own standards. For that I apologize to you, my loyal readers.
I brought up what I thought were two of the most obvious options for the vehicle not pulling out of the way of the responding rig. But now that I have become aware of a story on what caused a crash in the Florida Keys I realized there are is another option that could have kept the driver from moving to the curb: Safety.
Maybe, just maybe, they were being extra cautious while they were doing some personal grooming (emphasis on personal). In Cudjoe Key a woman and her ex-husband weren’t so cautious and police say they caused a collision injuring others.
Florida Highway Patrol troopers say a two-vehicle crash Tuesday at Mile Marker 21 on Cudjoe Key was caused by a 37-year-old woman driver who was shaving her bikini area while her ex-husband took the wheel from the passenger seat.
“She said she was meeting her boyfriend in Key West and wanted to be ready for the visit,” Trooper Gary Dunick said. “If I wasn’t there, I wouldn’t have believed it. About 10 years ago I stopped a guy in the exact same spot … who had three or four syringes sticking out of his arm. It was just surreal and I thought, ‘Nothing will ever beat this.’ Well, this takes it.”
If that weren’t enough, Megan Mariah Barnes was not supposed to be driving and her 1995 Ford Thunderbird was not supposed to be on the road.
The day before the wreck, Barnes was convicted in an Upper Keys court of DUI with a prior and driving with a suspended license, said Monroe County Assistant State Attorney Colleen Dunne.
Barnes and Charles Judy were southbound in her Thunderbird at 11 a.m. when they slammed into the back of a 2006 Chevrolet pickup driven by David Schoff of Palm Bay. His passengers were a man and two women; the latter were treated for minor injuries at Lower Keys Medical Center, FHP spokesman Alex Annunziato said.
Barnes allegedly drove another half-mile, then switched seats with Judy, who allegedly claimed to be driving, Annunziato said.
“She jumps in the back seat and he moves over,” Dunick said. “It was like the old comedy bit, ‘Who’s on first?’ “
Burns on Judy’s chest from the passenger-side airbag deploying belied their story, Dunick said. The airbag in the steering wheel did not deploy, he said.
“My phone has been ringing off the hook all day, and I know there’s a funny side to this, but it’s also deadly serious. This is a scary road and a lot of bad wrecks are caused by dumb stuff like this,” Dunick said. “It is unbelievable. I’m really starting to believe this stuff only happens in the Keys.”
It happened again yesterday. A Houston Fire Department ladder truck was operating near power lines in front of Station 51 when three firefighters were shocked and the rig heavily damaged. An assistant chief says the use of the ladder on the ramp of the station is routine as firefighters check out the equipment each day. When the incident occurred the fire truck’s operation was being demonstrated to a newer firefighter.
Click the image for the Google Maps Street View of Station 51.
When the ladder briefly touched the power line, some sparks flew up and other firefighters came over to see what was going on, a Houston Fire Department spokeswoman said.
That’s when the tire exploded, causing the firefighters to suffer ringing ears and headaches.
Click the image to learn more about an August 5, 2008 incident involving Philadelphia’s Snorkel 28 in front of quarters.
In Wisconsin five firefighters from the Lake Geneva Fire Department have returned home after they were shocked when a tower ladder came in contact with a 72,000 volt power line. The tower was from the Delavan Fire Department operating at a 6-alarm fire on Friday that destroyed Mulligan’s Sports Bar and Grill in Delavan.
Click the image for pictures from the Delavan fire by Dan Plutchak at Walworth County Today.
According to news reports, Lake Geneva’s chief wants a full investigation of the incident. But Delavan’s chief says they already know what happened and doesn’t believe much could be done differently. Chief Gerald Edwards believes it was just a case of the operator of Delavan’s tower not being able to see the lines because of the smoke from the burning sports bar. Click here to read and watch the interviews with Chief Edwards and the injured firefighters.
This fire in a vacant home was on Thursday at 80 North 16th Street in East Orange. One day short of a year earlier there was a fire in a vacant house at 48 North 16th Street. Click here for pictures and to read more on that fire.
Firefighter Close Calls alerted us to this truly amazing video. It is not like I am the least bit surprised that the driver of the SUV thought making a left turn was way more important than the mission the fire engine crew was on. What surprises me is that someone actually cuaght it on video.
So, what is the real problem here? Is it that the driver was so self-centered nothing was going to get in the way of making that turn? Or, is it the driver had their head embedded into another part of their anatomy and was oblivious to everything else. Give us your thoughts.
A Vietnamese market on Main Street in Worcester, Massachusetts burned on Friday. The fire is reported to have started in the basement and was discovered around 11:00 AM. Two people in the store suffered smoke inhalation. The store had been recently renovated.
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