A house exploded this morning at 2816 Center Road in Poland, Ohio just as firefighters arrived for a reported gas leak and headed inside the home. Here are excerpts from a WYTV-TV article:
“We immediately had fire throughout the house, and within a very short period of time, the entire front of the house collapsed.”, says Fire Chief David Comstock, Jr., Western Reserve Joint Fire District.
When the first crews got on scene they opened the front door to the home and immediately smelled gas. That’s when they shut the door and say the home exploded, literally blowing firefighters away from the house and into the snow bank, trapping a few of them underneath the porch, which collapsed.
A handful of firefighters were taken to the hospital with minor injuries from battling the blaze, and being trapped under the debris. Chief Comstock says,
“Three were released, two are still being evaluated but they were very fortunate, I have to say the Lord was looking down on them, because it could have been very serious.”
Luckily, no one was inside the home when it blew up. Neighbors say the family who lived there had trouble with their furnace earlier in the week, and reported a possible gas leak to Dominion East Ohio. Apparently they had come back to check on their home right before it exploded.
Fire crews spent the rest of the morning dousing flames and smoke. The Chief says gas is the primary suspect, and the home is a total loss. The State Fire Marshal’s Office and local Metro Arson Strike Force continue to investigate.
For the fourth time in as many days we are telling you about a firehouse that has been greatly damaged or destroyed due to fire, collapse or both in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware. This time it is the Sykesville Freedom District Fire Department in Carroll County, Maryland.
News reports indicate the roof over the social hall collapsed and then sparked a gas fed fire. This happened around 8:45 AM.
By 10:00 AM the fire had gone to a third-alarm plus additional equipment.
Below is the early fireground audio from FireSceneAudio.com.
Yesterday, two other firehouses were destroyed. Baltimore County Fire Department Station 6 in Dundalk caught fire around 2:45 AM. That fire went through the roof. The brand new Engine 6 was among the fire and EMS rigs lost in the blaze. Click here for video of the damage and here for our earlier coverage.
Later in the day, heavy snow brought in the roof of the Townsend Fire Company in New Castle County, Delaware. Seeing that the roof was compromised, crews were able to get the apparatus out of the building before the roof came down. Click here if you haven’t seen the video of the roof collapse.
Early Monday morning heavy snow collapsed the flat roof at Fairfax County’s Station 410 in Bailey’s Crossroads. Eighteen firefighters inside escaped without injury. That firehouse is destroyed and a ladder truck, engine, EMS units and a boat were under the rubble. Here is our coverage of that incident.
There is also a sagging roof at Station 408 in Annandale three miles away. For now, at both stations the apparatus is outside in the elements. In Annandale, crews are sleeping in tents inside the bingo hall. 9NEWS NOW’s Greg Guise spent some time during the blizzard yesterday with the crew at Station 408. That story is below.
Concerns about the roof at Alexandria’s Station 206 three miles east of Bailey’s Crossroads resulted in the evacuation of that station Monday night. Snow was removed from the flat roof and a structural engineer gave the okay to return to the firehouse on Tuesday.
Deaths and a large number of injuries are reported in an explosion at a power plant in Middletown, Connecticut. Most sources are saying about 100 injured, but WFSB-TV is citing sources saying as many as 250 people have been hurt.
Here are a variety of links and news reports from a story that is developing in Middletown, Connecticut.:
From the AP:
Police are reporting a gas explosion and fire at a power plant in Connecticut.
Several ambulances and fire trucks responded to the explosion on at the Kleen Energy Systems plant in Middletown on Sunday, and witnesses say black smoke was visible for miles.
No details were immediately available, but police advised people to avoid the area.
Reached by phone, plant general manger Gordon Holk said he was enroute to the plant, and did want to speculate on the number of injured. He said the plant is a 620 megawatt gas-fired power plant.
We’re hearing reports of an explosion of a gas line by the Kleen Energy plant on River Road. All of Middletown’s fire departments are working at the scene, and Durham, Middlefield, Portland and Cromwell fire departments have been called in to assist.
There are reports of numerous casualties.
Four ambulances and a Life Star helicopter have been called to the scene. Most of River Road has been blocked off. Flames were shooting out of a pipeline at one point, but the gas line has now been shut off.
From WVIT-TV.
The incident, which happened around 11:30 a.m., shook most homes in Middletown and as far as Portland.
Former Common Council member Earle Roberts called and left a message that about 11:15 an explosion nearly rocked his house off of it’s foundation on nearby Bow Lane. Roberts said that the force of the explosion nearly tore the roof from his house, and sent a cloud of brown debris into the air above the plant which is under construction, and was scheduled to come on line later this year.
I felt the explosion myself at my house on Pearl Street. It sounded as if something had fallen off of my roof, and onto my porch.
We hope to have more details later today on what sounded like a frustrating incident in Fairfax County last night. A house burned in Great Falls and the snow greatly prevented access to the scene. (Also, don’t forget to check the player to the right for the latest videos from WUSA9.com.)
The Joshua Temple Church in DC was one of a number of buildings that collapsed Saturday in Washington area.
Earlier in the day, I watched a relatively minor version of the same problem. Two trees in front of my house were smoking, thanks to the top of a utility pole and a tangle of power lines that were down in the street just to one side of my driveway. I still had power, as did most of my neighbors, but the service to my house was looking none to good with the line draping down from the meter and across our snow covered lawn to the street.
Not having the scanner with me (what kind of reporter is that?) I figured the half-hour or so delay after calling 911 was just from a back-up of higher priority calls. It turns out Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department Engine 418 was dispatched immediately. It just took them a few tries to get into the neighborhood. Before long Capt. Michael Istvan and his crew were trudging down my street, wisely leaving the engine at the top of the hill.
They did exactly what I expected them to do and taped off the area so no one got zapped. While they were doing that we heard a little sizzle and a loud pop and that was the end of the power for most of the street (tree stopped burning too, imagine that). So far my natural gas fed generator is powering things well and we have become the most popular family in the neighborhood. I am guessing it will be a few days before the lines are restrung. This also means that we won’t likely see a snow plow on our street for a while.
The firefighters from Station 418 had been dispatched to a call around 8:00 AM that sounded a bit more exciting than the 911 response I generated. They were headed to Dulles International Airport where a hangar had collapsed due to the weight of the snow.
No one was hurt, but it sounds like some private jets took a beating. There is video and an interview above, and radio traffic from the incident below.
There was also a collapse of a hangar at Manassas Regional Airport around 1:30 PM. City of Manassas Fire & Rescue Department Chief Fire Marshal Francis Teevan describes it as a 24,000 square foot hangar owned by Dulles Aviation, Inc.
The building at 5180 Dale Blvd. is a total loss, owner Bill Hutzler said. Skaters practicing inside had been evacuated before the collapse and no one was injured.
“We had some speed skaters on the ice this morning, then a beam on ceiling started to twist and … we got everybody out,“ said Hutzler, who bought the rink in March 2008. The rink was built in 1996.
A hazardous materials team was called to the scene due to high amounts of ammonia in the building, which is used to keep the ice fresh.
In the District of Columbia a tree limb and the weight of the snow brought down the 100-year-old Joshua Temple Church in Northeast. Again, no one was hurt.
This is video from a junk yard fire on Route 1A in Wrentham, Massachusetts. The fire was reported at Armitage Auto Parts near the Wrentham Village Outlet Mall around 1:00 on Thursday afternoon. Columns of black smoke from the blaze could be seen from as far as Pawtucket, R.I. No injuries were reported.
Officials say one person died, two emergency responders were hospitalized and nine others were treated after being overcome by carbon monoxide in central Kansas.
Fire Marshal Roger Williams says a woman called authorities after finding her friend unconscious inside his Salina town house Wednesday evening.
Williams says a paramedic and firefighter who went into the home collapsed and had to be rescued by other firefighters. The two were hospitalized.
Williams says seven Salina Fire Department personnel, a police officer and the woman who called for help were treated at Salina Regional Hospital for elevated carbon monoxide levels.
The hospital reported that one of them died, but no name or details were released.
Williams says the carbon monoxide came from a car that had been left running in an attached garage.
Flint Journal photo by Sarah A. Miller. Click the image for more pictures and details.
For the second time in about 24-hours a Michigan auto salvage and parts business has burned, setting off numerous small explosions. Friday’s fire in Detroit, went to three-alarms and kept firefighters busy for 10 hours.
The fire Saturday was reported just after 4:30 PM about 90-minutes after Inter-City Auto Parts closed for the day. The business is at 2308 Toronto Street. The salvage yard and two buildings are surrounded by railroad tracks and a neighborhood of single family homes.
On the two video clips on this page you can hear numerous explosions. A battalion chief told a local TV station there were at least 50 such blasts from propane and acetylene tanks. Shrapnel from one of the tanks smashed a window of a fire truck on the scene.
The fire is reported to have started in the office of the business and spread to the nearby warehouse. The tanks that exploded were stored inside that warehouse.
No injuries were reported.
WEYI-TV image of metal that went though the window of a Flint fire truck. Click above for more pictures.
Fire engulfed several commercial buildings on the city’s west side late Friday night, including an auto parts yard with dozens of cars that set off a series of small explosions.
The fire started around 9 p.m. Friday in the office of Saad Auto Parts on Schaefer Highway near Plymouth. Owner Mohamad Saad said he and his staff tried to put it out with a fire extinguisher, but “it was just too quick.”
Dozens of firefighters battled the blaze with two aerial ladder trucks, despite low water pressure because of the cold temperatures. Second Deputy Commissioner Fred Wheeler said crews from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department arrived on the scene to address the water pressure problem.
Hazardous materials crews also were on site because of explosions from the cars’ gas tanks. Large plumes of smoke filled the night sky as some nearby residents stopped to watch the blaze.
As of late Friday, the only injury was a firefighter who was hurt when a piece of metal fell on his leg. Homes in the area appeared to be unaffected.
Two STATter911.com readers alerted us to this video from Liege, Belgium (but Statter wasn’t alert enough to get it on the blog a little faster). The collapse occurred about five hours after the intial explosion gutted much of the building. Below are details from the AP:
A five-story apartment building caught fire and collapsed Wednesday after an apparent gas explosion, injuring at least 21 people, including a teenager who was pulled from the rubble, officials said.
The blast occurred at about 2 a.m. (0100 GMT) and as darkness fell Wednesday night firefighters were still digging through the rubble looking for other survivors since two separate voices had been heard from within the wreckage, officials said.
Smoke and small fires were making the search difficult, especially for the sniffer dogs being used. Bricks and twisted metal remained piled piled yards (meters) high.
Belgian King Albert II visited the site to show his support for the rescue workers and his sympathy for the victims, including the teenage girl who had been rescued from the wreckage.
“It is likely there was a gas explosion,” Liege Mayor Willy Demeyer said. There had been a gas alert in the building over the weekend, but no leak was discovered, he said.
Immediately after the blast, a fire raged through the building and thick smoke billowed into the air. The blast shattered windows in nearby City Hall and spread debris and dust throughout the adjacent streets in downtown Liege.
“It was such a noise that we thought the explosion happened inside City Hall, even though the actual explosion was more than one hundred meters (yards) away, so the whole neighborhood was woken up and devastated,” said Demeyer. Most of the historic center of the city was closed because of the explosion.
The 21 people reported injured were more than the dozen residents who officially lived in the building. But the apartments often house university students who may have had guests sleeping over when the blast occurred.
Police say all lanes of New York’s Long Island Expressway have reopened a day after a fuel truck flipped and exploded on the highway, killing the driver.
The eastbound lanes of the highway that connects the suburbs to New York City remained closed overnight as workers repaved about 200 feet of road that had melted. Nassau County police spokesman Michael Toich says all lanes were reopened as of 4:40 a.m. Sunday.
Before & after images from News 12 of overhead sign that collapsed during the fire.
The highway was closed in both directions for hours Saturday after the intense heat melted the supports for a huge road sign, which collapsed across all eight lanes of the roadway. The westbound lanes were reopened Saturday evening.
Police say 57-year-old driver Mujahid Shah of Brooklyn was killed in the accident near the Nassau County line.
Second crew from Fairfax County, Virginia headed out: Above, a second team from Virginia Task Force 1 heads to Haiti. This is the first time Fairfax County has had two such teams deployed on the same international incident. This latest group is made up of 42 members. In case you missed it, click here for our coverage of what the first team did in Haiti yesterday.
Kentucky mayor first refuses, then changes his mind, about letting firefighters be part of Ohio USAR’s deployment: Worried that the federal government will only reimburse 70% of the overtime expenses to pay for those who would be needed to staff stations back home, Lexington, Kentucky Mayor Jim Newberry at first declined to send firefighters to Haiti. He later had a change of heart and nine firefighters are on standby. Read that story. Meanwhile, there has been some delay in getting Ohio Task Force 1 on a flight to Haiti. Here are the details. Click here for video of the Ohio team getting ready.
This calendar photo featuring a Houston firefighter has become an issue along with the chief's handling of a "team building session" on a firefighter's first day back after making racism and sexism claims.
UPDATE – Mayor scolds Houston fire chief over his welcome back for female firefighter who made accusations about graffiti: Chief Phil Boriskie decided to have a “team building session” at Station 54 as Firefighter Jane Draycott returned to the firehouse for the first time since last summer when she made accusations about racist and sexist graffiti inside the women’s locker room. The four-hour meeting with the chief, his command staff, a psychologist, Draycott and co-workers apparently didn’t go so well. Draycott says the men brought up rumors, grievances and questioned her sanity. Draycott went home. Mayor Annise Parker questioned the chief’s judgment, saying she doesn’t condone and won’t tolerate what happened at Station 54. Critics are also pointing to other concerns about sexism, including a calendar to raise money for HFD’s Pipes and Drums that has “a scantily clad and nearly bare-breasted female firefighter”. Read more. There also more about a letter read at the meeting. Click here to read and watch that story.
Rhett Fleitz at FireCritic.com has posted a completely different view of the calendar and an interview with the woman appearing in the picture at left. Click here.
Fatal ambulance crash in New Jersey: Firegeezer and Firefighter Close Calls are on top of the story from yesterday where an ambulance in Warren County, New Jersey hit a tree, killing a patient and trapping the crew.
New study questions immobilization protocols: Johns Hopkins researchers have data that shows it may not be a good thing to take the time to immobilize a gunshot or stabbing victim. Click here for the details.
More on Baltimore’s doomsday budget: We told you yesterday about Chief Jim Clack briefing some firefighters on the possibility of closing a lot more companies and laying off scores of firefighters come July 1. The Baltimore Sun has more on the issue today.
Click the image for fireground audio and raw video from yesterday's gasoline tank truck fire in Montgomery County, Maryland.
Pittsburgh union prez admits firefighters have “stumbled” tarnishing the department’s image: We have heard from management on the recent arrests of Pittsburgh firefighters for drug, alcohol and violence charges. Now it’s labor’s turn. Click here.
Detroit firefighter accused of insurance fraud after fake incident report filed: Police indicate the firefighter was trying to cover for an off-duty accident where he hit a parked vehicle and fled the scene. Investigators believe the firefighter created a fake fire department incident report to send to his insurance company. Read more.
A tanker truck carrying between 7500 and 9000 gallons of gasoline overturned and caught fire as the rig exited I-270 at Montrose Road. Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Services Assistant Chief Scott Graham tells STATter911.com the tractor trailer turned onto the driver’s side around 4:40 AM, but the driver was able to escape unharmed as the truck caught fire.
According to Graham firefighters kept burning gasoline rolling down the road in check with handlines as they let much of the fuel burn off. A foam crash truck from Dulles Airport arrived about 30-minutes into the incident and about a half-hour later was used to extinguish the fire. A second foam unit from Frederick County, Maryland was also on the scene.
Graham says the burning fuel did not appear to impact the integrity of the Montrose Road overpass above I-270 as the fuel run off generally burned away from the structure.
The first report that firefighters had been caught in an explosion Dec. 29 while putting out a dumpster fire said at least three firefighters were down and another “looks like he was blown about 100 feet from it.”
That report and others recorded by the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department detail the events of the explosion that killed 33-year-old St. Anna firefighter Steven Koeser and injured eight others. The recordings were released Tuesday to The Post-Crescent.
The transmissions are routine at first as a sheriff’s deputy radios that he has noticed a fire in a dumpster that appears to be melting the container. He asks a dispatcher to page the fire department at 7:22 p.m.
When the St. Anna Fire Department’s Truck 17 and Engine 11 arrived on the scene, flames were visible from the dumpster.
At 7:41 p.m., one voice reported “a large explosion. I am checking on all the firemen that were hit.” The department calls for mutual aid and a tanker from New Holstein, and at 7:43 calls for ambulances.
“We need an ambulance down here. Send a couple of them while you’re at it,” one caller said.
As ambulances responded and a ThedaStar helicopter were dispatched to a landing zone at the fire station, more reports came through.
“Send whatever you have for ambulances,” one said.
“One (is) in and out of consciousness. One (was) blown — entire body injuries. One with facial and burn injuries.”
Above is the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department radio traffic.
One of our postings in recent days that has drawn a few comments is the story from Sonoma, California where a 16-year-old Boy Scout Explorer was hospitalized from exhaustion. It appears the boy was involved in interior firefighting operations at house fire. An investigation is underway.
It turns out that in Wisconsin, at the site of the explosion that took the life of Firefighter Steven Koeser, a 17-year-old and a 15-year-old were injured. The younger teen, like the teenager in California, is a Boy Scout Explorer.
Capt. Adam Schuh of the St. Anna Fire Department said there were 17 firefighters on the scene when the explosion occurred at Bremer, W2002 Highway Q in St. Anna, an unincorporated community straddling the Calumet and Sheboygan county lines.
“We had the guys scattered around all over, they were manning hose lines, doing whatever they could and the explosion occurred … and we went into a triage mode,” Schuh said. “It was find our guys that were down and help them first. At that point, the fire didn’t matter any more. It was rescue and save our own.”
Six of the eight firefighters injured in the blast are in good condition, “a few of them stiff and sore yet,” Schuh said. Two firefighters that were hospitalized overnight were out of the hospital and able to attend Saturday’s funeral.
“Stiff and sore, and they were both there today and walking around and talking,” Schuh said. “It’s going to take some time for them.”
Among those injured were 17-year-old Chase Fritsch and 15-year-old Joshua Scott. Fritsch, who is Schuh’s stepson, is of legal age to serve as a firefighter, with parental permission. Scott is a fire department explorer, a training program for teens aspiring to become firefighters. Scott was never in the actual danger zone on Tuesday night, Schuh said.
Schuh said he didn’t know whether the department’s explorer program would be re-evaluated following the blast.
“I don’t want to scrap it because it’s a good way to recruit new members,” he said.
Schuh said St. Anna department members are still in a bit of shock about what happened at Bremer, and added that, “personally, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with.”
The bronze, miniature statue of a firefighter outside of St. Ann Catholic Church felt almost too cold to touch in Saturday’s near-zero temperatures.
Winds pushing wind chills to 20 below zero raced up the hillside to the church, situated in the Calumet County community of St. Anna, and kept the statue’s metal frigid.
For five hours, hundreds of firefighters climbing the steps to the church saw the chilled statue and felt a chill run through their own hearts.
Firefighter Steven Koeser.
All knew the statue, a miniature version of a life-size statue at the Wisconsin State Firefighters Memorial in Wisconsin Rapids, meant one thing — another firefighter had died in the line of duty.
Firefighters from around the state gathered Saturday in St. Anna to pay final respects and bid farewell to fellow firefighter Steven “Peanut” Koeser.
An industrial explosion killed Koeser, 33, and injured eight other St. Anna firefighters on Tuesday.
During Saturday’s funeral for Koeser, fire departments from as far away as Beloit, Ashland, Milwaukee and Tomahawk came to St. Anna — one department every 15 minutes through the day.
“No matter if you are a full-time, professional firefighter or a volunteer, you are part of one big family, the brotherhood of firefighters,” said St. Nazianz Fire Chief Fred Koeppen. “When a department loses a man, it is devastating to the entire firefighting family. It’s especially devastating in St. Anna where the fallen firefighter was a volunteer and didn’t get paid.”
Bringing the bronze statue to St. Anna was a difficult emotional task for Ron Naab, who serves on the board of directors of the state memorial.
“We take it to the funerals of all our line-of-duty deaths,” said Naab, noting the life-sized statue in Wisconsin Rapids is dedicated to all state firefighters who have lost their lives.
“We have 289 names on the memorial’s black, granite wall. Steve will be the 290th name and the first this year,” Naab said.
Firefighters from Green Bay and Milwaukee served as honor guards during the funeral. Aerial ladder trucks from the Kiel and New Holstein fire departments formed an arch draped with a large American flag, and a St. Anna fire engine carrying Koeser’s body from the church to the cemetery, passed large groups of firefighters, some in full gear, some in ceremonial uniforms and wearing windbreaker jackets, seemingly oblivious to the cold.
Another in Allentown: Our friends at Newsworking.org have been so busy with fires in Allentown and elsewhere around Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley in December we have been unable to keep up. This is a house fire from Sunday.
More about the death of Steven Koeser: We have a lot more details from Calumet County, Wisconsin about the life of the St. Anna Fire Department firefighter and how an exploding dumpster killed him Tuesday evening. New pictures of the apparatus damaged in the explosion have been added. Click here for our coverage.
Aptly names store burns in Indiana: Video from Pyromaniac Fireworks burning in Ft. Wayne. Check it out.
Dealing with a dozen fires in 75 minutes: A closer look at how top fire officials and other city bosses dealt with the arson spree in Northampton, Massachusetts. Read the story. In case you missed it Sunday, click here for the fireground audio and the scramble to cover so many fires.
Mayor going in a “different direction” in Buffalo as fire commissioner gets the boot: On the same day his police commissioner, whose job may also be on the chopping block, collapsed and is hospitalized, Mayor Byron Brown got rid of his fire commissioner. The mayor wouldn’t say why Mike Lombardo is no longer on his team. It is known Lombardo has clashed with administration officials over doing more with less and has been under fire for overtime spending. Lombardo, who was a department captain when he took the job, goes back in the field as a battalion chief. Click here for details.
Reason much clearer for dismissal of chief in Eunice, New Mexico: Some thought Ron Grogan should have been gone last summer when he lost his paramedic credentials over an incident with a woman in the back of an ambulance. But it took his arrest (along with some of his firefighters) on charges of stealing a radar detector from a car involved in a collision to seal his fate. Read the story.
And another job opening: $27,000 used on fire prevention giveaways did in Chief Robert Rylie of the Occurn VFD in Norwich, Connecticut. Apparently there were other priorities that the money had been budgeted for. Read and watch the story.
IAFF local president gets to keep his job: A recall petition against the president of IAFF Local 112 in Los Angeles has been invalidated. Pat McOsker has been battling city budget cutbacks, but for now, will not have to deal with the fight on the inside. Read the article from the Los Angeles Times.
Don’t consolidate, don’t play: A situation that may be more complicated than our simple headline about the situation in Stowe, Pennsylvania where the lone holdout in a three way fire company consolidation is told to stay home when the alarm sounds in the township. Read the details.
A fire captain described the scene of a deadly explosion at a foundry as “chaos” and said fellow firefighters yelled “We need ambulances” after the blast.
Photo by Sharon Cekada Post-Crescent. Click the image for more pictures.
The dumpster explosion Tuesday night outside Bremer Manufacturing near St. Anna killed volunteer firefighter Steven Koeser, 33, and injured eight others.
“I heard the boom, but to me it didn’t seem very loud,” Capt. Adam Schuh of the St. Anna Fire Department said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.
Schuh was one of about 20 firefighters who arrived a short time before the blast. “I saw the flash and you could feel the wave hit you,” he said.
Authorities said water from a fire hose triggered a burning container holding metal byproducts to explode. The foundry, at W2002 County Q, is located about one mile west of the unincorporated community of St. Anna not far from Fond du Lac and Sheboygan counties. The facility makes aluminum sand castings for various industries.
The injured firefighters:
Brad S. Woelfel, 28, was flown to Theda Clark Medical Center in Neenah for treatment of non-lifethreatening injuries. Megan Wilcox, a spokeswoman for Appleton-based ThedaCare, said Woelfel, of Chilton, was released from the hospital Wednesday afternoon.
Michael W. Fromm, 27, was taken to Calumet Medical Center in Chilton for treatment of burns and was released.
Jeffery L. Fliss, 31, was taken to Calumet Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries and was released.
Matthew J. Winkel, 28, was taken to Calumet Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries and was released.
Joshua P. Mertens, 31, was taken to Calumet Medical Center for treatment of a sore back and was released.
Kurt P. Kelling, 30, was taken to Calumet Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries and was released.
Chase J. Fritsch, 17, was taken to Calumet Medical Center for treatment of minor injuries and released.
Joshua Tyler Scott, 15, was taken to Calumet Medical Center for treatment of ear-ringing and was released. Schuh said the blast damaged much of his department’s equipment, including primary and secondary pumper trucs. The crew will be out of service until early next week.
“More than anything, it’s emotional injuries for everybody,” Schuh said. “Even when we are physically ready to be up and running again, I don’t know if we are going to be emotionally ready.”
Schuh said his department has received offers of support from around the state, including help from grief counselors. Late on Wednesday morning, firefighters from the Mt. Calvary Fire Department arrived to loan equipment.
Calumet County Sheriff Jerry Pagel said the state fire marshal and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were helping investigate.
Pagel said one of his officers on patrol saw a fire on the Bremer grounds about 7:20 p.m. and called for the St. Anna Fire Department to respond. About 20 firefighters arrived at 7:41. The dumpster was one of several located about 50 feet from the highway.
No employees were at the foundry at the time of the fire.
Koeser was pronounced dead at the scene, said Calumet Sheriff’s Lt. Brett Bowe.
Koeser, nicknamed “Peanut,” had been with the volunteer force for 15 years, officials said.
“He will be missed by all firefighters and the community,” Schuh said, reading from a prepared statement Wednesday afternoon.
Bremer president Tom Dolack told The Associated Press the company was “just devastated as a result of the death of a fireman and the injuries. It’s overwhelming for us as I’m sure it is for their families. This is a very close-knit community.”
Alice Thome, who lives about a quarter mile from the foundry, said she heard an explosion some time before 8 p.m. “It sort of shook everything,” she said.
David Boll, who lives about a half mile from the site, said he heard the blast at about 7:50 p.m.
“It rocked the house,” he said.
Boll immediately drove to the scene to see what happened.
“There was a large plume of white smoke in the sky,” he said.
Boll said he left after he saw firefighters were already on the scene. He said officials blocked off about a one-mile stretch of County Q.
Bill Braun, who lives about 500 feet from the blast, said he was home with his wife, Linda Suda, at the time. He thought something had exploded inside his house.
“It just shook everything,” he said. “Things fell off the wall. It just rocked the house. It was just a bad explosion.”
Braun said he went to the blast scene and the front of the Bremer building did not appear to be damaged.
“You wouldn’t think the building would still be standing. This was a real bad explosion,” he said.
Suda said she thought a car had hit their house. “We have cracks in the wall that we didn’t have before,” she said. “It was massive.”
Suda said this event will be difficult for residents.
“It’s a really close-knit community,” she said. “Everybody knows everybody, and everyone is related.”
After the explosion, the New Holstein and Kiel fire departments relieved St. Anna firefighters at the scene. Also responding were New Holstein first responders and the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department.
A Fort Wayne fireworks store broke out in flames, causing numerous loud booms and heavy smoke as bottle rockets and other items exploded inside.
Fire Chief Pete Kelly says the Pyromaniac Fireworks store was closed when the fire broke out Wednesday morning and that he knew of no injuries.
Fireworks continued exploding more than two hours after the fire started, even as crews poured water on the leveled building from aerial trucks. A cause of the fire on the city’s south side wasn’t immediately know, but Kelly said no other buildings appeared to have been damaged.
Dave Umber says he walked out of his hardware store about a block away and saw flames going perhaps 20 feet in the air.
Off-duty firefighter makes rescue at Chicago high-rise: Fifteen months on the job, Jason Durbin was working part time at an ambulance company on Sunday afternoon when he spotted the fire at Bryant House on Chicago’s North Side. Durbin says he climbed 28 flights to find a burned woman on a hallway floor. The firefighter carried her down. Click here to read more about the fire.
Statter blew the story of the Florida chief still on the DC payroll: Back during the second week of June, STATter911.com received a couple of tips that DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Kenneth Ellerbe was days away from being named as the new chief of the fire department in Sarasota County, Florida. That proved accurate when the announcement was made on June 17. The other part of that tip included information that Chief Ellerbe, at age 49, was about a year short on qualifying for a benefit that would allow him to start receiving his retirement pay at age 50 instead of 55. A significant amount of money (now reported at about $600,000) would be left on the table. Our tipsters told us that a deal was in the works to help out Chief Ellerbe in this matter. We contacted the administration of Chief Dennis Rubin to confirm such a deal was happening. We were told emphatically and on the record by department officials that there was no deal and there wouldn’t be one on Chief Ellerbe’s retirement. Well, shame on STATter911.com for not following-up on that story. As David C. Lipscomb reports in The Washington Time today, Chief Ellerbe is still an employee of the DC Fire & EMS Department while still serving as Sarasota County’s chief. Chief Ellerbe is officially on “leave without pay” until his birthday in April. Department PIO Pete Piringer (not on staff when our initial calls were made) tells Lipscomb, ”He had the years [of service] but not the age. They’re waiting for him to get to 50.” Here’s the story.
One fire engine and one firefighter apparently not enough for this house fire: In Millville, California a woman is is asking for changes after it took about 15-minutes for the first engine to arrive after her home caught fire in October. That engine showed up driver-only and three of the woman’s neighbors (two former and one current Cal Fire employees) handled the hoses. Read more.
Off-duty firefighter shot during apparent road-rage incident: A Milton, Massachusetts firefighter and his girlfriend were driving through Quincy when there was a reported confrontation with the driver of another car. The word is that the driver of a sports car kept hitting the brakes while in front of Firefighter Joseph Fasano’s car. Police say the two men got out of their cars and into a confrontation where Fasano was shot once in the abdomen. Read and watch the story.
State association is rallying around union president suspended over speaking out: The New York State Professional Firefighters Association wants firefighters from around the state to show up at the Johnson City Village Board meeting on Tuesday. They are protesting the suspension without pay of Captain Marty Meaney. Meaney is charged by the mayor with insubordination in comments to the press and at a public meeting. Here the latest. Here’s the earlier coverage with the charging documents.
Wife’s free spending causes hazmat: A woman in Rockland, Massachusetts was trying to hide her spending from her husband. She just didn’t let her daughter in on the plan. The confusion brought a hazmat response to the daughter’s home. Click here for an explanation.
Cumberland union still in a battle over reorganization: In Western Maryland, Cumberland officials are having to deal with the union to change the make up of the fire department. While the idea of going to a volunteer force seems dead, there are still serious issues, including bumping lieutenants back to fire engineers. Click here for the latest.
A ferry tale ending: Stranded on the Potomac River. Sixteen cars, drivers and passengers, aboard the General Jubal A. Early. A tree caused White’s Ferry to come to a halt for about four hours on Thursday evening. Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service crews were about to begin a rescue operation to bring the people to shore when the vessel suddenly came free of the tree. All are well.
NEW – “I had the ambulance and I had a pretty good time driving it”: The words of Mindy Jones from a must see interview. Jones was in handcuffs when she told a reporter about her joy ride in a stolen ambulance. It was taken from Oklahoma’s Shawnee Regional Medical Center. Click here to watch the story. Trust me you don’t want to miss this one.
Former Maryland volunteer is charged with setting a man on fire: You may have seen the story of Joshua Mashburn. He was arrested in Little Rock, Arkansas after being accused of using gasoline and a candle to set a man on fire in Frederick, Maryland. It turns out Mashburn, until August of this year, was a member of the Burtonsville VFD in Montgomery County. Read more.
Local 2 points to fire in debate over staffing levels: Yesterday’s fire in Chicago is already making its way to the negotiating table. Read the details.
Firefighter shuts valves to propane tank as fire burned: Pictures and the story from Norfolk, Nebraska after fire shot from a 30,000 gallon propane tank following a ruptured pipe. Click here.
Commercial fire in South St. Louis: This fire was yesterday at 3100 South Jefferson Avenue. The building had both a business and apartments.
Reported backdraft in Maryland: The Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department says this picture by FF/PM Joseph A. Gegor was taken minutes before an explosion blew firefighters more than 15-feet from the front door. No one was injured in what is being described as a backdraft. Click the image for more photos and details.
Three alarms equals 10 firefighters: In East Liverpool, Ohio one firefighter was hurt when the floor gave way during a house fire. He was just one of two firefighters on the first engine. Three alarms were sounded bringing a total of ten firefighters to the scene. Click here for the story and click here for a little history from FirefighterCloseCalls.com on East Liverpool’s staffing issues.
“Spontaneous combustion” and “freak accident” may not be the best explanations for an explosion in Vineland, New Jersey at a high school pep rally bonfire on Wednesday. But those terms were used by a police official after the blast that could be heard seven-miles away sent pallets flying and injured a firefighter. The fire department admits to using diesel fuel and another accelerant to start the fire. And the many pictures taken by APP.com’s Craig Matthews show just that. Click the image to read more.
Dozens of cats die in house fire: The fire had burned itself out by the time the pet sitter arrived to find smoke in the Fairfax County, Virginia home. Click here.
Captain delivers Santa and winds up in the hospital: Lancaster, Pennsylvania Captain Ken Barton was seriously injured as he fell about 12 feet from Truck 2. Reports indicate it happened as the ladder was being bedded following its use to pluck Santa off the roof of a building and deliver home to the waiting crowd below. Click here for more.
Cameras rolling before fire engines arrive at gas explosion: One house was destroyed and another damaged in Bushnell, Illinois. Check out the early video.
Steelers’ owner’s defense saves the day: A runaway fire engine in Florida hits the property of a prominent citizen. Click here for details.
Dave has screwed this story up twice, but it still is interesting: In my haste to head out of town early Thanksgiving morning I twice misidentified exactly where this story is unfolding (but I was still very pleased with my headline). It is a legal battle in Heath, Ohio over whether businesses can be forced to have a key box for fire department entry. Read the arguments.
The future of firefighting?: Not quite robots, but the idea is the same. Let the machine take the heat and apply the wet stuff. Two videos for you.
Crash and fire: Some Baltimore County action Saturday evening courtesy of Michael “FirePix1075″ Schwartzberg. It happened on Liberty Road at Kelox Road just down the street from the STATter911.com boyhood home (I believe there is an historical marker). In fact it is quite possible my initials may be on the retaining wall seen in the video, as my friends and I were playing around it when the concrete was being poured. But I digress. One person was trapped with a total of five people hurt. Details can be found on the Pikesville VFC website.
“Thanks to all our friends and family for all that they’ve done for us.”
Words cannot express how Bradley Thompson and his wife Megan feel after they lost everything they own when their home exploded Wednesday afternoon.
Bradley was home when he started smelling natural gas. At first he shrugged it off, because contractors were doing work right outside and the smell wasn’t so strong, but things took a turn for the worse. He said the smell got stronger, a gurgling sound was coming from his kitchen sink, and he started to get a headache.
“I decided to take the puppies and go to the garage where the odor wouldn’t be as strong,” Thompson said.
Not too long after he had reached his garage, his home exploded.
“There was an incredible force, and thankfully I was able to escape when the garage door was blown open,” he said.
“A very loud explosion.”
That’s what Bushnell fire chief and neighbor Brent Glisan heard Wednesday afternoon. Glisan lives right behind the Thompsons. He said the entire house was engulfed in a fireball and debris and household items scattered all over the lawn. The fire was so intense, it spread to a neighboring home, gutting it and damaged another. The
The town was also on alert after gas was detected in several homes, prompting an evacuation. Contractors working on a water main, cut a gas line, causing it to leak. That triggered the explosion.
Residents who lived near the Thompsons were given the all clear to return home. A representative from Bushnell’s municipal department was not available for comment. But Fire Chief Brent Glisan tells us the incident is under investigation by the Illinois commerce commission.
Lots of fire and lots of video: A Sunday afternoon fire that burned well into Sunday evening in Jonesville, Michigan. The fire spread from a restaurant to a furniture store. Click here for much more video.
James R. Beavers of Elgin, Illinois after his run-in with firefighters and the man who took this picture, Bill O'Neill at Elginet.com. Truly a story you don't want to miss.
Must see video of accused arsonist fighting with firefighters who just saved his child: Firefighters in Elgin, Illinois rescued a toddler who was in a high chair inside a burning home. The child’s dad, James Beavers, is seen on the video giving grief to firefighters as and after the kid was brought out of the home. Firefighters appeared quite restrained as Beavers started doing a little pushing and shoving. Police arrested Beavers and then charged him with arson. Click here for our coverage.
More must see video – Workers caught in explosion at Utah refinery: The U.S. Chemical Safety Board has shut down the Silver Eagle plant. They released multiple videos of the blast. Click here to watch the clips.
Three-year-old boy pulled his burned sister from a fire: Pretty unbelievable story. The mother of the children died in the same blaze in Arizona. Click here to read the story.
Things changing quickly in New York: The deadly fire was on Wednesday in Crown Heights, killing a father and his two children. By Thursday morning union leaders were again blasting city officials for a delay in the dispatch, calling it another example of what happens when you cut fire dispatchers out of the call taking process and leave it to the police. They called for the 911 recordings to be released. The city denied there was a problem and released the audio on Friday. By Friday afternoon it was announced fire dispatchers would be brought back into the process to “consult” with police department workers who were taking the 911 calls. This concept begins tomorrow. The New York Times has a report and Billy Goldfeder gives his analysis at FirefighterCloseCalls.com.
Pharaoh curses firefighters: At least it probably seemed that way to a group of Australian firefighters and their families. They were part of an annual event at Melbourne’s Luna Park when they became trapped upside down on the ride Pharaohs Curse. The firefighter’s on-duty colleagues were called, but the ride eventually decided to cooperate and brought them down after about six-minutes. Read the story.
Have you seen me? This Dalamation has been missing from Sacramento Fire Station 2 for three days. It isn't possible the pooch left on its own. Click the image to read more about the missing dog at SacramentoPress.com
I wonder if he fights with himself at the scene about whether to clear the roadway?: The new fire chief for South Carolina’s Clearwater Fire Department is Aiken County Sheriff Michael Hunt. Read more.
Definition of firefighter came into play as killer gets life sentence: In case you missed it on Friday, a judge has found Joseph Taye guilty of first degree murder. Taye, a paraplegic, ran down Firefighter Michelle Smith at the scene of an accident in Delaware last year and left the scene. Because the judge ruled that Smith was a firefighter at the time, even though she was handling EMS duties, it is a mandatory life sentence for Mr. Taye. Read the latest.
Video from DC second-alarm: Chris Oliphant sent us video from Saturday’s house fire on 47th Street, NW. Click here.
Philly fire injures 14: Five-alarms needed for the large apartment buildingfire Sunday morning in Lawncrest. Check it out.
Just aim for the lights: Firegeezer has the story of a suspected drunken driver hitting an ambulance head-on. No one was hurt in the Knoxville, Tennessee collision.
Boardwalk blaze: Click here for video and pictures of a three-alarm fire on the Boardwalk in Atlantic City. (But it took the better eyesight of Firegeezer Bill Schumm to notice the business next to the one with all of the red stuff coming out of it had a sign saying Hot Spot.)
Frustration in Maine over firefighter/arsonists: We told you about two firefighters in Maine charged with arson a few days apart. WCSH-TV takes a look at the bigger picture.
Surveillance camera video shows a 100-foot fireball ripping through a Utah refinery during a gas explosion that knocked a nearby home off its foundation earlier this month.
The footage captured at the Silver Eagle refinery briefly shows a white cloud, which investigators say is hydrogen escaping from a ruptured pipe that erupts into a massive explosion.
The Nov. 4 blast damaged 100 homes in the Woods Cross area — though not all of them seriously. Four workers were thrown to the ground in the blast but were not seriously hurt. Another worker had been next to the pipe that exploded just minutes before, federal investigators said.
“I think it’s a miracle that this didn’t result in much more serious consequences,” Don Holmstrom, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board’s lead inspector on the blast, said Tuesday. “This accident could have been much, much worse.”
Board investigators are focusing on a 10-inch pipe that failed catastrophically and “serious deficiencies” in the plant’s program that’s supposed make sure its networks of pipes and equipment is safe and working properly.
Company officials last week heeded a recommendation from investigators to shut down the refinery until it’s deemed safe to reopen. Board officials say it’s the first time they’ve ever recommended a plant temporarily shut down.
3-alarms in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania: Another NewsWorking.org production. The fire was at 1992 Gatewood Lane just after 10:30 last night. Here’s some of the description with the clip- Engines 6, 9, 7, Ladder 2 & 205 respond with a possible elderly female inside. Engine 6 arrives and reports a working fire in a two-story E/O/R. 205 strikes a second alarm as fire rapidly extends vertically and into the common cockloft. Tower Ladder 2 immediately goes to the roof and opens up two vent holes. But the fire already extended 4 houses in from the end. 205 strikes the third alarm while interior crews make quick work in the exposures pulling down ceilings on the second floor and darkening down the fire in the common attic. Searches came up negative and the fire was put under control by 2350 hours.
A mini-van roll over in Prince George's County Thursday afternoon trapped three teenagers, including one with potentially life threatening injuries. PGFD's Mark Brady says it took about 30-minutes and two heavy-duty rescue squads to untangle the passengers from the wreckage. The picture is from firehouseguy on thewatchdesk.com. Click the image for more pictures.
Must see video of collapse during service station fire: Click here for early video of a Millburn, New Jersey Exxon that burned and collapsed yesterday morning.
UPDATE- Audio released by city in fatal Brooklyn fire: City officials respond to union claims and release audio from the 911 calls reporting Wednesday’s Crown Heights fire that left a father and two children dead. Click here to listen to the call and read the transcript. In response to the release, union officials says all of the audio was not released and believe the call takers are not capable of getting the necessary information. City Council now says it will look into the matter. Click here to read and watch the earlier story.
Plea deal for former Coatesville assistant chief accused of arson: It surprised the judge, but it appears neither side wanted to go to trial in the case of Robert Tracey. He’s the former assistant chief in arson plagued Coatesville, Pennsylvania. Tracey walked away with the 242 days he has already served after entering the guilty plea on two counts. Here’s the latest. Click here and scroll down for all of our previous coverage on Tracey, who had also been a firefighter in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
Firefighter who shot at man for bad bicycle safety enters plea: Charles Diez is the now former Asheville, North Carolina firefighter who didn’t like how a child was being towed behind a bicycle. So Diez fired a gun at the child’s father’s head. It cracked the guy’s bike helmet and now has left Diez with a 120 day jail sentence. Click here.
Union claims another dispatching error caused delay in deadly fire: New York officials disagree and say that was not the case in Wednesday’s fire that killed a father and two children in Brooklyn. Read here and watch the story. City Council now says it will look into the matter.
It’s a skill that might have served him well as fire chief: Hartford’s fire chief retires to get degree in psychology. Read the story.
Union claims layoffs only saved $21,000: A dispute in Akron, Ohio, over how much money has been saved by the layoff of 38 firefighters.
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