My friend Ron Gardner (a former and great TV news anchor) in Idaho posted the above video on his Facebook page today. It is one of the many videos from Japan that gives you the close-up ground view as the tsunami obliterated towns. It gives you an idea of the task ahead for the search and rescue teams from the U.S. They are now in Japan. Firegeezer has a bunch more videos for you.
Below are some videos, courtesy of WUSA9.com, of the arrival of Virginia Task Force 1 (VATF-1 out of Fairfax County) and California Task Force 2 (CATF-2 out of Los Angeles County) in Japan. There they have met up with a British team. (Note: I am aware the audio on the last two videos is out of synch. It was fed to WUSA9.com that way.)
Here is some information contained in a press release from the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department:
The team arrived at Misawa Air Base, Sunday, March 13, 2011, by commercial aircraft. Approximately 31 tons of equipment and supplies, including four inflatable boats, was transported separately by military airlift.
The self-contained, heavy task force of 74 personnel has technical search and rescue specialists, search and rescue canines, structural engineers, a medical component consisting of physicians and paramedics, and other critical support personnel. VATF-1 will travel to Ofunato, a seaport city of approximately 41,000, and establish a base of operations.
While enroute to Japan, VATF-1 stopped in Los Angeles, California, and joined with California Task Force 2 (CATF-2) for the trip to Misawa Air Base. Both teams will be working under the direction of the Tokyo Fire Department.
We have a new sponsor at STATter911.com this month: TURK. It’s an invention by Greg Turnell, a lieutenant and 25 year veteran with the fire department in our Nation’s Capital. Through his career Greg has been assigned to Engine 33, Rescue Squad 1, Truck 8, Engine 6, Truck 13 and Truck 11. TURK filled a need that had become evident in recent years for any company assigned to RIT on the fireground. But rather than have me explain I asked Lt. Turnell to provide a guest column about TURK. Besides giving you more info on TURK, I thought this might be helpful for any firefighter with a product they’ve come up with, or is thinking about it, to hear first hand from someone who has been in their shoes.
TURK
“There’s got to be a better way Lieu!” ………Those words were expressed more than once when my men had to deploy the RIT basket to the front of a burning building. And generally there were a few more colorful words added to the statement. Watching four of my five man truck team navigate this 150lb basket down the street, sometimes a couple blocks, seemed impractical for several reasons:
Manpower. A one person device could free manpower to run other equipment such as ladders.
Fatigue. I’d much rather have my men conserve their energy and stamina for an actual RIT deployment than exhausting themselves while hand carrying a basket down the street.
Safety/Injury. In one incident we had a firefighter lose his footing and fall, subsequently bringing the basket and a few of his comrades down with him.
Our new SOPS thoroughly explained our new RIT procedures and the equipment we had to have at the ready in the event a MAYDAY was declared. How we got that equipment to the building was up to us. Identifying a capability gap is an easy thing to do; it’s done every day in the sitting room of most firehouses. However, filling that gap with a viable solution is the challenge. We toyed with different methods but they all proved to be problematic and inefficient. We had to come up with a solution that was simple to put in operation and fast to deploy. Being an avid kayaker, I remember while shark fishing at Assateague one summer, spotting a fellow pulling his kayak down the beach with a device made of PVC pipe and two tires. It appeared the device was binding with the kayak holding it in place while the unit rolled down the beach atop a set of tires. It was a simple concept that I felt with a few adjustments could be emulated and applied to a stokes basket.
Several prototypes and months later I came up with a device that I patented and named the TURK. Some thought the name derived from the 1985 movie “TURK 182”with Timothy Hutton and Kim Cattrall but it was much simpler than that: Turnell. Universal. Rescue. Kart. The TURK was evaluated by the local 36 safety committee and was accepted as a practical device to be used by the DCFD. It was during the TURKs 90 day trial period that it was put to use on the METRO train accident on June 2, 2009. Faced with the dilemma of having to move heavy hydraulic tools down the track to the train, RS-2 squad wagon driver along with T-6 technician loaded 500lbs of hydraulic tools into a stokes basket. With the TURK the two were able to move the equipment approximately 1000 feet down the track bed to the train. The TURK continues to be a proven asset on the fire ground, mass casualty incidents, and just recently in underground mines. The TURK has been a welcomed device among many fire departments and mine rescue teams because it possesses two important attributes: it’s fast and simple. The fact that firefighters continue to discover different uses for the TURK beyond the initial intention of what the device was designed to do is testimony to its simplicity. Today, watching a team deploy the RIT basket with the TURK is uplifting. However the greatest pleasure I receive is when a firefighter or miner comes to me and says, “Hey, thanks for doing this, it makes it a lot easier”. That makes it all worthwhile.
This, to me, is quite interesting and I am not sure what to make of it. In the WUSA9.com report above by Surae Chinn is a brief video by a motorist who happened upon a burning tractor-trailer on the Capital Beltway in Forestville, Maryland (I-95 South at D’Arcy Road in Prince George’s County). The person who shot the video is in a vehicle returning from the University of Maryland Baltimore County around 11:00 last night. The fire was the result of a three vehicle crash that left the truck driver dead on the scene.
What I find fascinating (and I know I shouldn’t be surprised) is, looking at the raw video, the people in the car with the camera see the fire under the bridge ahead, drive past six police vehicles on the right side of the road (by my count) and then continue under the burning overpass anyway so they can get their pictures and get where they are going.
Obviously, we don’t know how long the police had been on the scene at the time this video was taken and what they were up against. I imagine a priority would soon be to keep others out of harm’s way (particularly those who aren’t thinking clearly enough to do it themselves).
The fire extended from the truck cab to the underside of the bridge. Sheets of plywood and wooden supports had been previously installed on the underside of the bridge to prevent crumbling concrete to fall onto the Beltway. Brush fires ignited and travelled up the embankments towards Darcy Road. Firefighters were successful in stopping the fire extension into the trailer portion of the 18-wheeler. The trailer was about 25% loaded with bags of sugar.
Incident commanders immediately requested additional resources to the Beltway and to Darcy Road to deal with the fire. A total of 60 firefighters and medics were on the scene on-board 10 pieces of apparatus and numerous command and support vehicles. Both loops of the Beltway and Darcy Road were shut down while the fire was being extinguished which required about 45 minutes.
NEW VIDEO: Above is fairly early video just posted from our regular contributor Bill Rohrer at NewsWorking.org. Besides a neighbor’s cell phone video below, it seems to be the earliest close-up view of the operation.
STATter911.com previous coverage, including fireground audio, here & here
According to relatives five people, including an infant, were killed in the apparent natural gas explosion in Allentown, Pennsylvania last night. The official death toll is at three. We’ve posted additional video from various sources.
A couple in their 70s and a 4-month-old were among those killed, Lehigh County Coroner Scott Grim said. The child’s mother and great grandmother were also killed, according to a family member.
The owners of a home destroyed at the epicenter of the blast died, their daughter-in-law confirmed this morning.
In all, the 10:45 p.m. explosion and ensuing fire destroyed eight row homes near 13th and West Allen streets in Allentown, city fire officials.
A UGI official said the gas company is investigating a cause for the explosion. The utility had been doing no recent work in the neighborhood, said Robert Beard, a UGI vice president.
Besides the eight homes destroyed, 16 were damaged. Heavy equipment was being brought in just after 8 o’clock as a backhoe dug for gas leaks behind the Halls’ home, where the blast originated. The house was obliterated.
Fire destroyed the Contract Glass Service building on Andover Street in Wilmington, Massachusetts in the middle of the day Wednesday. It was reported as a small electrical panel fire that employees tried to contain. First arriving firefighters found fire through the roof.
Wilmington Fire Chief Ed Bradbury says it didn’t help that the structure was built before sprinkler systems were required.
Chief Bradbury said, “Lack of sprinklers here allowed this fire to essentially go unchecked until we arrived.”
The chief says because of the extensive damage large equipment had to be brought in to dismantle the building so crews could put out all the hot spots.
Chief Bradbury said, “What became a real big problem for us was the roof had collapsed down and created protected areas that we had to get at in order to fully extinguish the fire.”
The AP reports as many as six people missing after a suspected natural gas explosion destroyed eight homes at 13th Street and Liberty Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At 5:30 AM Mayor Ed Pawlowski told reporters the number six may be a little high for fatalities. Another briefing is scheduled for 11:30 AM.
There are a number of people injured including a firefighter who was slightly hurt durting the operation. The initial explosion occurred at the home of an elderly couple at 544 North 13th Street. At least two homes were leveled by the blast with six others destroyed by fire. More than 20 other homes were damaged. Numerous utility poles were knocked down by the explosion that was heard over a large area.
More than 250 people have been taken from the neighborhood to Agricultural Hall, the mayor said. The Associated Press is reporting that number could be as high as 500 to 600. Channel 69 is reporting nearly 200 residents of the Gross Towers highrise have been allowed to return to their homes.
Fire and UGI officials worked through the night to shut off the gas and put out the fire, Pawlowski said. The mayor said “from what we can determine” natural gas caused the explosion.
The gas leak was under control by 4:30 a.m. and crews began returning residents to portions of the towers. The two houses on the southwest corner of 13th and Allen streets were destroyed and the remaining six houses on the block were a complete loss, Scheirer said.
Fires from underground gas lines joined the conflagration, emergency radio reports said. The blast broke nearby glass-enclosed porches and downed dozens of power lines, leaving about 150 area residents without power as of 2:30 a.m., according to PPL Electric Utilities.
In 1994, Gross Towers was at the epicenter of another huge explosion in Allentown. An excavation crew bent a natural gas line leading to the complex on May 23, 1994, while removing a buried heating oil tank. The company left the pipe uncovered and unsupported until damaging it again June 9.
That night, a gap in the gas line caused gas to flow into Gross Towers, triggering two explosions and a fire at the apartment building for the elderly. The accident killed one person and injured more than 60 others. The cause of Wednesday’s explosion is not yet known.
Above is a taped report and links to live coverage of a fire at the Enterprise Products facility in Mont Belvieu, Texas about 35 miles east of Houston. The fire was reported around 12:30 PM local time
Witnesses say the heat is intense, and trucks in a nearby parking lot exploded as a result. Other callers to FOX 26 News report having heard explosions.
FOX 26 News briefly spoke with Enterprise Products company spokesman Rick Rainey, who said there are no reports of any injuries at this time.
“We store natural gas liquids at the plant, which comes out when natural gas is produced out of the ground,” said Rainey. “I am getting an operations report very shortly. All I can confirm is that we have a fire at the West Storage Facility at the Mont Belvieu plant. I’ve not heard of any injuries. We are still trying to confirm all of this. We are a part of Mont Belvieu mutual aid, and we have trained firefighters at all facilities who help fight the fire. In addition to the local firefighters, we have plant workers in the mutual aid network trained.”
FOX 26 Chief Meteorologist Dr. Jim Siebert says winds in Mont Belvieu are moving at 14 miles per hour out of the southeast, pushing smoke from the fire over Crosby.
According to its website, Enterprise Products operates 49,100 miles of natural gas, NGL crude oil, refined products and petrochemical pipelines around the world. Its company headquarters are located in downtown Houston.
An explosion and fire, captured on video by a TV crew, killed a gas company worker in the Tacony area of Philadelphia last night and injured five others including a Philadelphia firefighter. It occurred while crews were trying to repair a break to a high-pressure gas main. WCAU-TV reports the body of a PGW employee was discovered after the fire was controlled. An evacuation of a two block area took place before the explosion happened. Three-alarms were called to handle the fire and deal with the injured.
Two of the gas workers were in critical condition and one was rushed to the Temple University Hospital Burn Unit. Another PGW worker and firefighter were in stable condition with unknown injuries, sources said.
It happened around 7:36 p.m. in the middle of Disston Street near Torresdale Avenue (click here for Google Maps Street View of neighborhood) as crews worked to fix both the gas leak and a water main that was possibly damaged due to pressure from the break in the 12-inch gas main.
Firefighters were called around 7:20 due to an obvious smell of gas. They arrived on the scene at 7:26 and called for hazmat crews and police officers to assist.
Around 7:30 gas was bubbling through the pavement, officials said.
The explosion and ensuing blaze took down one building and partially destroyed another, Ayers said.
Gas officials shut off the gas as firefighters battled the blaze. By 10:30 p.m. the blaze appeared to be dying down and it was officially under control just before 11.
The blast could be felt as far away as Palmyra and Pennsauken across the river in New Jersey.
Engine 52 O/L reported a gas main break in the street, evacuation in progress. Battalion 12 arrived and requested a box to be transmitted with a haz-mat response, as the gas was emanating over multiple blocks. A command post was then established, covers assigned. PGW employees were O/S attempting to mitigate the break.
At 20:35 hours, a 2nd alarm was transmitted by D/C 2 when an explosion occurred. Numerous medic units were detailed to the assignment. D/C 2 reported a 12″ main that had exploded, reported fire in at least 2 buildings, requested the collapse unit to the scene. Several PFD members injured as well as PGW employees.
The 3rd alarm was transmitted at 21:00 hours, as large scale evacuations were being made to a nearby shelter. At 22:55 hours, B/C 12 placed the fire U/C. One (1) PGW employee was found dead under the rubble.
The New York Daily News says as many as a dozen firefighters were injured in the fire that started Monday night and burned well into Tuesday morning at a Jamaica, Queens ironworks business. Earlier it was reported seven firefighters were hurt. The most seriously injured firefighter suffered second-degree burns to his head and face. The eight-alarm fire was at 95-20 150th Street and began around 6:00 PM. Here are excerpts from the Daily News article:
“The flames were shooting 50 to 60 feet in the air. There were two or three explosions,” said Alan Grossman, who owns a business next door to the burned warehouse.
Nearly 500 firefighters had a hand in fighting the eight-alarm blaze. Roughly 60 firefighters are called in for each alarm.
The warehouse, which stores materials for an unidentified company in the metal business, is deep and long. The dimensions allowed the fire to spread, causing portions of the roof to collapse.
That forced firefighters to change their tactics on the fly, resulting in the need to call in more manpower, FDNY Division 11 Deputy Chief Vinny Mandala said at the scene.
“They initially started with an interior attack, and then after they had some structural issues, they pulled everybody out,” Mandala said. “It will remain an exterior attack for the remainder.”
He (Grossman) said firefighters put so much water on the fire that a loading bay alongside the warehouse filled with about 5 feet of water.
At one point, a firefighter fell into the water-filled bay, but emerged unharmed, Grossman said.
One firefighter was seriously hurt and and at least six others have lesser injuries from an eight-alarm fire at the one-story JS Ornamental Iron Works in Queens. The fire at 150th Street and 95th Avenue in Jamaica was reported around 6:00 PM yesterday and was brought under control at 4:30 this morning.
The building is filled with hazardous materials, causing the fire to grow rapidly overnight.
Fire officials say insulation and melting tar may also have fed the flames, which spread to an adjacent building.
Firefighters were pulled from the building when it became too dangerous to fight the flames from inside.
The building was also too deep for hoses to reach all the burning spots, according to fire officials.
“There’s no life hazard other than our own, so we’re not going to risk anybody’s life to try to put this out from the inside,” said New York City Fire Department Deputy Assistant Chief James Sudnik.
Looking at this, I’m not sure how they did it, but neighbors say they rescued an elderly woman from this burning pile of rubble that used to be her home. The explosion occurred last night on in Cinnaminson, New Jersey. According to neighbors the woman was badly burned, but conscious.
This was the home that was destroyed last night. Click the image for Bing's Bird's Eye View.
“They were watching the Flyers game, everything came off the shelf in the house, it blew out a couple windows across the street, it was bad,” neighbor Jackie Larmanis said.
The surrounding homes suffered significant damage and authorities say those residents may be displaced for some time.
Public Service Electric and Gas is investigating the cause of the explosion. They are looking into whether it was a gas explosion.
Action News viewers called into the newsroom shortly after the explosion saying they felt the effects from as far away as Northeast Philadelphia and Columbus, New Jersey.
An elderly woman and here dog were at home when the blast happened and were rescued thanks to the quick thinking of neighbors including Ron Ruppert.
“I went and looked and I saw the older ladies house on fire,” Ruppert said.
“I knew she was in there,” Ruppert said. “We tried to get through the front but there was too much fire so me and another guy… we ran to the back of the house and she was standing towards the back of the house with the dog.”
Something exploded in this vacant building as firefighters battled a fire Monday night in Cairo, Illinois. A photographer for television station K-F-V-S was rolling when the blast occurred and also caught the collapse a short time later..
The local fire chief says the fire started when four men were inside the building, looking for things to steal.
The fire chief says the blaze probably started when the men were cutting metal with torches.
Tuesday morning Cairo Police Chief Gary Hankins said the fire at 8th and Commercial Monday night was not arson.
According to the chief, the fire started when four men were in the vacant building stealing things. Chief Hankins says a two pickup trucks were found behind the building with material from inside. The trucks belonged to two of the men.
At one point something in the fourth floor appeared to explode, followed by the collapse of at least half the building.
Police and fire investigators are on the scene of a car explosion in Arlington.
Lt. Ed Hughes with the Arlington County Fire Department tells 9NEWS NOW the explosion occurred in the trunk of a white sedan parked in a residential neighborhood on South 9th Street between Courthouse Road and Veitch Street. The fire department was alerted to the incident around 8:30 A.M.
Lt. Hughes says no one was injured in the blast.
Hughes says they are still in the early stages of the investigation.
An explosion around 2:00 this afternoon at a munitions plant known as Kinematics Research in Oakland, Tennessee (about 30 miles northest of Memphis) has left one worker dead and a firefighter injured. A report from the scene indicates the firefighter was hurt after being hit in the head as projectiles continued to explode.
Oakland Police Chief Rick Jewell said one person, an employee, was trapped in the plant after the explosion. Authorities later confirmed that person was killed.
A firefighter was also injured, and transported to a local hospital.
Witnesses reported hearing a series of explosions. Jeremy Heidt, a spokesman for the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, said there also was a fire.
At 2:15 p.m., Jewell said munitions inside the plant were still exploding. A large plume of smoke was billowing from the plant.
There was great promise in the 102-year-old Levoy Theater. Just last week there were numerous articles about the gutting of the building with its facade left in place and new steel trusses for the roof. The new Levoy was supposed to be a centerpiece for downtown Millville with a scheduled reopening in July. The Levoy is now a pile of rubble.
According to news accounts there were multiple collapses. The first collapse occurred around 3:00 PM. A dozen people working on the site escaped injury. The collapse damaged nearby gas meters causing a natural gas leak.
The fire fighter, whose name has not been released, was by the front walls of the theater and neighboring tea room when the rest of the building gave out.
The workers had noticed plaster along the north corner beginning to separate which left a 6-to-8 foot gap in the corners.
They managed to evacuate before the entire face of the building, then most of the side walls, came crashing down 20 minutes later.
The rear wall remained standing though neighboring buildings suffered damages in the collapse.
The tea room next door was damaged and all the gas meters for the apartments in the Fath building, on the other side of the Levoy, were ripped off, causing a gas leak.
Gas to three buildings was shut off and fumes were to be cleared before the scene of the collapse could be reopened.
The final step of demolition at Levoy Theatre in Millville signals continuing strides to reconstruct the historic theater.
Crews worked from scissor lifts Thursday, using pneumatic chisels to break loose the building’s massive interior wall, brick-by-brick. The dismantling process includes the proscenium arch around the original stage.
“This is the final piece to be removed before it is all moving forward,” said Phillip Van Embden, a member of the theater’s board of directors.
The 102-year-old theater has already been gutted, with only the original exterior walls remaining, and the building received new steel trusses for the roof and improvements to the foundation.
Van Embden said deconstruction of the wall should continue through early next week, with the bricks headed to the Palace of Depression in Vineland – a renowned Depression-era home built by George Daynore using an assortment of scrap materials. Volunteers have undertaken the task of restoring the abnormal attraction after it was torn down more than 40 years ago.
A family-owned furniture store in suburban Detroit exploded and collapsed in what appeared to be a natural gas explosion Wednesday, trapping three people in the rubble. Rescuers pulled the store’s owner from the debris and he is in critical condition, Wayne City Manager John Zech told a news conference. Search and rescue teams continued to hunt for two others, who police said are employees at the William C. Franks store.
“They’re dealing with a lot of debris,” said Inkster Deputy Police Chief Hilton Napoleon, who was assisting other officers in below-freezing temperatures at the scene. “They’ve got to be careful so they don’t cause any more explosions. You don’t know if there are any other flammables in there.”
Paul Franks, the owner of William C. Franks Furniture in Wayne, is in critical condition at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor after a suspected gas explosion leveled the store, Wayne City Manager John Zech said at a news conference this afternoonTwo other people believed to be employees are still inside the building, Zech said, but their names are not being released until family members are notified.
“It’s a sad day in the City of Wayne,” Mayor Al Haidous said at a news conference held early this afternoon.
Click the image to tour the neighorhood via Google Maps Street View.
Howard Stuedemann, 56, was in the hardware store across the street from Franks Furniture when it exploded around 9 a.m. today, just after it opened for the day.
Stuedemann said he ran to the store at 2945 S. Wayne Road in Wayne and saw a man on fire and covered in rubble.
“He was screaming and yelling,” Stuedemann said.
Stuedemann said bystanders worked to free the man. It is unclear if that man was Franks.
Irene Yaklin was working the cash register at the Marathon gas station at Glenwood and Wayne when the explosion hit, causing signs to fall from the drop ceiling.
“I saw the fireball,” she said. “The whole building shook.”
Consumers Energy got a call about a possible gas leak between 6 and 7 a.m. today about two blocks from William C. Franks Furniture, company spokesperson Debra Dodd said. An employee was in the area responding to that report when the building exploded, she said.
The company is now working to shut off the flow of gas in a two-inch steel line below ground, she said. It needs to be dug up. Once that occurs, Consumers Energy employees can get into buildings and start investigating. They don’t have a time line on when the gas will be shut off.
Franks is being treated in the trauma burn unit, hospital spokeswoman Shantell Kirkendoll said.
A violent house explosion rocked a Chantilly neighborhood Sunday night, leaving one family without their home this holiday season.
Officials tell 9 NEWS NOW Fairfax County Fire and Rescue were called to home home on Lees Corner at Pennsboro Court shortly before 9:00 p.m. for a report of a gas leak. While fire crews were on their way to the call, the house suddenly exploded. When firefighters pulled up to the scene, they found the home on fire.
Officials say two adults and two children live at the residence. Luckily, no one was home at the time of the incident and no one was injured.
All that’s left of the structure is a burned-out shell. Deputy Chief Chuck Ryan with Fairfax County Fire and Rescue, says it took hours to put out the flames, but there is no threat to anyone in the neighborhood.
Houses on either side of the explosion were also damaged.
Police at the scene say there is still a gas leak in the area, however no one has been evacuated from their homes. According to Ryan, gas lines run under the street and into the structures in the neighborhood. Ryan says the explosion may have ruptured the gas line under the street level and that’s what could be causing gas to continue to flow freely.
Crews from Washington Gas Company are on the scene. Officials say surrounding homes do have gas service at this time.
This is a video from PropTalkMagazine’s YouTube channel of yesterday’s boat fire at Turner’s Marine in the 300 block of Chester Avenue in Eastport, Maryland (On the Chesapeake Bay just across Spa Creek from Downtown Annapolis). The fire was reported on board Monoponson II, a 45-foot Chris Craft, at 8:18 AM. It is 12-minutes of raw video, sped up and condensed to three minutes.
The Capital reports that 26 firefighters and the Annapolis fireboat responded. There were no injuries.
In Bialystok, Poland today two freight trains collided and caught fire. This resulted in a large explosion involving cars carrying oil and fuel that was caught on video (story above, raw video below). Here is more from SkyNews:
It is understood 17 out of 32 tanks travelling in convoy through the Polish city of Bialystock caught fire – but, amazingly, only two people were injured.
The footage shows the burning crash wreckage suddenly erupt, sending massive flames and clouds of black smoke shooting into the air.
More than 30 fire engines were scrambled to the scene and extra firefighters brought in from other provinces.
Firefighter Jan Gradkowski said: “When we arrived at the site we found a lot of burning tanks.
“The last tank derailed and collided with a locomotive moving in the opposite direction.
Not sure how we missed this dramatic video from a week ago. It occurred in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. The downed power lines not only trapped the driver of this beer truck it caused other lines to topple, including one that trapped an ambulance crew. In the end everyone stayed put until the power was cut and no one was hurt. You can read and watch more here.
Sky Team 11 Capt. Roy Taylor reported a huge backup of traffic during rush hour all the way back to the Beltway. Drivers will have to use Interstate 895 or an alternate route to get home.
Taylor reported that drivers stuck inside the tunnel were evacuated. He said that one person, believed to be the bus driver, suffered minor injuries. No other injuries were reported.
PGFD house fire: A basement fire shot by Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department PIO Mark Brady yesterday at 15 Bannington Drive in the Largo area. No injuries. Damage estimated at $60,000.
IAFF backed candidates win top spots in DC and Prince George’s County: Yesterday’s elections will have significant impact on the fire service locally. Incumbent District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty lost to challenger Vincent Gray, the current City Council Chairman. It was a decisive win by Gray who had the backing of IAFF Local 36 and many other labor unions the Fenty administration clashed with. There isn’t anyone who sees the election as good news for the current leadership of the DC Fire & EMS Department.
In Prince George’s County, Maryland IAFF Local 1619 played an early and significant role in the campaign of Rushern Baker. Baker appears to have run away with the Democratic Primary. Observers expect another major shift in the balance of power between career and volunteer forces in PGFD.
Note: In the two heavily Democratic jurisdictions the primary is traditionally the important and decisive election.
Firefighter apparently caused large Colorado fire: Investigators believe a 71-year-old volunteer firefighter accidentally caused the Fourmile Canyon fire that took the firefighter’s home and many others. Click here to read and watch how it started.
Calling in sick, playing golf and posting your scores on the Internet: That’s what WFMZ-TV reports one Allentown, Pennsylvania firefighter did on three of four consecutive days that he missed work. Read the details.
Here’s another golf story from a wife who knows the score: In Chico, California a woman called the fire department to help retrieve her husband’s driver that ended up on the roof of a neighbor’s house. It slipped out of the man’s hand when he was taking some practice swings at home just before playing a round. Dorothy Cornie knew she had to act fast because when her husband returned from the golf course he would go up on that tile roof. The firefighters handled the problem keeping 91-year-old Lynn Cornie on the ground and ready to swing another day. Here’s the article.
FDNY can hire, but there’s a catch: A federal judge has given the FDNY until Friday to pick from a number of quota-like hiring procedures in order to allow a recruit class to be hired. Here’s the latest.
Now that’s some strong coffee: Sounds like there may have been a coffee BLEVE in the UK yesterday. An exploding coffee machine in a supermarket injured seven people. Click here for a picture and the story.
Do they know the way to San Jose?: Or, can they get there in times of trouble? After the San Bruno explosion another California city is questioning how it could quickly call back off-duty firefighters in case of a major emergency when so many of them live so far away. Here’s the story from San Jose.
An Emergency! emergency: Firegeezer has been a dealer of late for those old junkies trying to get their fix on the show that started many of them on this damn fire service addiction. It looks like the Geeze’s supply has dried up. But there’s some binge viewing going on just before everyone has to go cold turkey. Check out Firegeezer’a daily Emergency! before it’s too late.
Three firefighters charged with exposing themselves: In Rockland County, New York the accusations against a 29-year-old firefighter and two members of the Piermont Fire Department who are teenagers is they exposed themselves to a 16-year-old member and told him to touch their genitals. Read more.
Former fire chief is mad as hell and isn’t going to take it anymore, so he tells his own story: In Kelowna, British Columbia there has been a lot of news coverage over why and how Chief Rene Blanleil left his job. Along the way, the coverage has asked a lot of questions about money. The chief came out swinging with his own YouTube video bypassing reporters. Watch the video and read the story.
At least they don’t have that idiot who spoke last year: The 8th Professional Development Seminar of the Fairfax County Professional Fire and Rescue Officers Association is in less than a month. Lot’s of good stuff for a reasonable price in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Click here to sign up.
Dave is pitching products: Two of our loyal readers have some new fire related items to sell. One is Will Wyatt in Texas who has a wonderful book about his time in the fire service. Click here.
The other is Steve Roth from Pennsylvania. Steve’s calendar is hot off the presses. And we mean hot. Check it out.
The daring young man on the flying tower ladder: One gets the idea that Jason Nolan probably likes to work without a net. Maybe that’s why he went from trapeze artist to Decatur, Illinois firefighter. Here’s his story.
Bronx 2nd-alarm: Here’s the description with this fire from yesterday- “Box 3394 address of 2696 Marion Ave. fire on 2nd & 3rd floors of a 3 story PD., 4 lines stretched 3 in operation.”
On the same day Fire Scene Audio posted the fireground radio traffic from last week’s massive pipeline explosion in San Bruno, California, surveillance camera video of the blast has surfaced. It comes from a service station near the scene. You can watch it in the clip above.
Below is the radio traffic as the first fire units spot the fireball and arrive on the scene. As you probably heard earlier, everyone was initially convinced it was a plane crash. The first firefighters found many dead hydrants due to the blast taking out water mains. The bottom video is from a neighbor shortly after the explosion occurred.
A Southern California surgical team on Friday amputated the arm of a freight train engineer to free him from the wreckage of locomotive that rear-ended a slow moving freighter on tracks 50 miles east of Los Angeles.
Two people on the train, including the engineer, who is in critical condition, were hospitalized at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center.
The westbound Union Pacific train struck a slower-moving train in the Fontana at about 11:55 p.m. Thursday, San Bernardino County fire spokesman Maurice Moore said. Several cars derailed and the locomotive wound up on top of a freight car. The slower freight train was hauling I-beams that pierced the locomotive of the faster train, trapping the engineer, Moore said.
Firefighters were unable to get the trapped engineer out of the wrecked Union Pacific locomotive and a surgical team was called in to amputate his arm, Moore said. The engineer is expected to survive.
The other hospitalized railroad worker had moderate injuries.
The wreck alongside eastbound lanes of Interstate 10 at Cherry Avenue created a traffic crush for more than four hours.
Emergency vehicles used the freeway to access the wreckage and it was feared hazardous materials might be leaking from a rail tanker, Moore said. It was later determined there were no dangerous materials in the wreckage.
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