It isn’t like we live in California. Us East Coast folks aren’t so sure what that rumble means. Even if no one is hurt or property damaged, we need reassurance we aren’t alone. My former colleague from Channel 9 Scott Broom listened to some of the calls that came into the 911 Center in Montgomery County, Maryland just after 5:00 this morning. Here’s what he wrote:
Callers to 911 in the moments after the 3.6 magnitude earthquake that shook the capital region were bewildered by the shaking while equally surprised operators kept their cool.
“Yea, we felt it too,” a 9-11 dispatcher told one confused caller before asking to make sure no one was injured or needed medical help.
Another dispatcher told a caller asking if the shaking was an earthquake: “We’ve taken a lot of calls for it and we’re still trying to figure that out.”
No injuries or medical conditions were reported.
“So there was not an explosion or anything?” asked one caller who said he’d had experience with tremors. “I work for FEMA and I’ve been through an earthquake before, and I think that might have been an earthquake!”
Many of the calls to 911 started with a startled statement: “My house just shook!”
Jerry, back in the day. Click the image to watch the other side of Mr. Engle.
In May of last year Jerry Engle told me he did not set fire to the vacant house at 5413 Riverdale Road on March 17, 2008, but instead blamed it on other firefighters Engle had turned in to Prince George’s County fire investigators. My guess is that those familiar with the long saga of Mr. Engle won’t be surprised to learn that Jerry didn’t tell me the truth that day (I know I am not surprised).
This morning the 46-year-old Engle entered a guilty plea on second-degree arson. Besides his time at Riverdale VFD (when the fire occurred), Engle had previously been a long-time member of Kentland VFD. After leaving Riverdale he ran with both Bladensburg and Riverdale Heights.
Co-defendant James Martinez, who was also a Riverdale volunteer and a career firefighter in Montgomery County, is scheduled for trial in a month.
Rather than tell the whole story of Jerry Engle again (even I get tired of that stuff) you can listen to the interview (sorry, only Part 1 is available online) and follow the links to the extensive file available on STATter911.com.
Below is the press release from the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney:
Prince George’s County State’s Attorney, Glenn F. Ivey announced today that volunteer firefighter, Jerome Engle, 46, of Bowie, pleaded guilty to second degree arson in connection with setting fire to a building located at 5413 Riverdale Road, Riverdale, MD on March 17, 2008.
Mr. Engle was a firefighter with the Riverdale Volunteer Fire Department.
As part of the plea agreement Engle faces up to 10 years in prison but could receive the guideline recommendation from the sentencing commission of 1 year in jail. The State’s Attorney will seek $200,000 restitution from Mr. Engle on behalf of the property owners.
“We expect our firefighters to battle blazes not burn buildings. Mr. Engle not only violated the public trust but also put property and people at risk. We are holding him accountable with today’s conviction,” said Glenn F. Ivey.
A sentencing and restitution hearing is set for July 1, 2010 in front of Judge Graydon McKee who oversaw today’s proceedings.
The co-defendant in the case James R. Martinez of Damascus is set for trial on July 22.
Investigation of this and similar incidents is on-going; anyone with information should contact the Prince George’s County Fire Department at 301-77ARSON.
Statement from Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department Chief Eugene Jones:
“As the Fire Chief of this Department, I fully support the work of the States Attorney’s Office in reaching a guilty plea in this case of arson. I commend their staff as well as the Fire/EMS Department’s Fire Investigators for their due diligence in compiling evidence and building the case. I also want to acknowledge the volunteer leadership of the Riverdale Fire/EMS Station for their support and cooperation during this difficult period.
To the citizens and residents of Prince George’s County; this heinous act is a result of the actions of individuals and should not be a systemic assessment of our Department. Our combination, volunteer and career, Fire/EMS Department strives to provide the very best in fire and emergency medical services possible and are dedicated and committed to keeping our County safe from the perils of all hazards.
One person has been deemed guilty for his actions and a second person is soon to have his day in court.“
Early video from Edmonton house fire: A neighbor got to the scene with a camera before firefighters arrived at this house fire on Manning Drive in Miller. Click here for Part 2 which shows the initial attack.
Virginia USAR dog is injured and dies during training: The news just came out yesterday about an incident Friday during training of Virginia Task Force 2. A search dog known as Win received a puncture wound while looking for a “live” victim. Win died later in the day. Here’s the sad story.
Fire Station One just opened in Silver Spring, Maryland. It is the old firehouse at 8131 Georgia Avenue (the new one is across the street). The restaurant held a fundraiser last night for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF). Click the image to read more about the eatery & brewery that is the dream of Jeremy Gruber, a retired Montgomery County Firefighter/Paramedic. Full disclosure- In his "retirement" Dave is doing work for NFFF. More on that later.
Fire & explosion cuts power for thousands: Lights flickered all over Denver Monday evening. We have news coverage and home video from the electrical substation explosion and fire. Click here.
Dramatic rescue video: A TV news crew was rolling when citizens and a rescue team got a man out of an SUV in the Nisqually River in Mt. Rainier National Park. Watch the rescue.
Florida firefighter isn’t good around lightning, or is he?: We mentioned this yesterday, but you can now listen to the story of Mike Brasol a Volusia County firefighter who for the second time in his life had a close call with lightning. Watch the story.
Demotion after claiming female firefighters are ”OTWOS”: That stands for “oxygen-thieving wastes of space” and it is why a part time station officer in Whyalla, Australia was demoted. George Dunbar lost his appeal. Here is an excerpt from WhyallaNewsOnline-
He was also reported to have referred to women as “cannon fodder”, made remarks about the size of their bottoms and allegedly stated that they should “self-explode at a certain age”.
Flying hydrant: In Meyersdale, Pennsylvania the message came over the radio during a house fire yesterday, “I lost the hydrant, she blew boys”. It was one of two holes in the ground from a main near the fire on High Street. No one was injured from the airborne hydrant. Click here to read the story.
No hydrants, flying or otherwise: Firegeezer Bill Schumm takes a look at the water-supply problems in Booneville, Iowa during a fire Sunday night. Read Bill’s story and watch the video.
And it continues: The Boston Globe is urging the City Council to hang tough against firefighters and vote against anything that has the city paying for the right to do random drug testing. Click here for the editorial. The impasse continues in this four year journey for a contract. Here’s the latest.
More lawsuits in Charleston: As the third anniversary of the Sofa Super Store fire approaches four more former firefighters file suit over the trauma of losing their nine colleagues. Glenn Smith has the latest in the Post and Courier.
You have watched and read the battles concerning EMS in the Nation’s Capital over the last three years here at STATter911.com. I have been covering the very same issue from my first days at Channel 9 25 years ago and before that at WTOP Radio. But the problems precede my reporting.
The video above has two stories from the late Bob Strickland in 1976 reporting on difficulties during the early stages of providing ALS in Washington, DC.
Below is a half-hour special (in two parts) by reporter Steve Gendel that takes a wider view. Besides the District of Columbia it covers the suburbs in Maryland and Northern Virginia. When you look at the credits you will see the name Tad Dukehart as the photographer for the broadcast. Tad retired from Channel 9 and is now a volunteer firefighter in Wisconsin.
You will also see the name Rich Adams. Up until his death in 1996 Rich was a columnist on EMS issues for Firehouse Magazine and was a member of the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad. Rich was also the editorial director at Channel 9. In that role Rich helped pushed the fire and EMS community to improve EMS in the region. There were many other similar public safety issues where I believe my friend Rich left a lasting mark. He is greatly missed.
The best fire safety system?: This video was shot Monday morning at a fire in the largest market in Yangon in Myanmar. Hundreds of shops were destroyed. There were no injuries reported despite the people who appear to have been trapped on the roof. The fire raged for 10 hours. At one point it was thought to be under control but gas tanks in a fourth floor restaurant then exploded. In February an official declared the building had the best fire safety system. Read that story. Also check out 3:30 in the video. It is a place where they still ride the back step.
Chief saves family and firefighter calls for evacuation just before the collapse: If you haven’t seen it make sure you check out the story from a fire early yesterday in Everett, Massachusetts. Click here.
One of the notes left to throw off investigators looking at a string of fires set in the Swansea, South Carolina area. Investigators say Lexington County volunteer firefighter Larry Williamson has confessed to the fires. Click the image to read and watch the story.
Memories of the way we were: If you really want to laugh check out the standup from Dave during a 1985 PGFD hazmat story. Some familiar faces are in the video. Just don’t look at it while you are eating breakfast. Click here for the video.
North Carolina POV response fatal crash results in charges: The Union Fire Department volunteer involved in the fatal crash Sunday that killed a 76-year-old woman returning from church is facing charges. Forty-one-year-old Terry Allen Moore has been charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle. Witnesses told Trooper C.F. Rogers of the North Carolina Highway Patrol that Moore had passed a number vehicles as he drove his pickup to a medical call. As he passed another vehicle the woman was making a left turn into her driveway. Here is more from the Salisbury Post:
Rogers said while Moore had a flashing red light in his vehicle, it gave him no authority to break state motor vehicle laws.
Rogers said drivers aren’t required to move out of the way for a firefighter in his or her personal vehicle with a red light, although most drivers do as a courtesy.
Chief down but not out: Firegeezer has the update on the story we brought you few weeks ago from Carlisle, Iowa where Fire Chief/Paramedic Scott Burger is accused of showing up intoxicated at a medical call. The chief is getting a six-month vacation. Click here for coverage from the Geezer.
Fire Station One: My son and I walked by the old firehouse on Georgia Avenue in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland about six weeks ago and wondered when it would be opening. This week is the soft launch of the new restaurant in the old Silver Spring VFD building. Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service Station 1 is now across the street from Fire Station One, the restaurant. Click here to read details.
Volunteer says he will resign over ambulance fee: Speaking of the Silver Spring VFD, one of its members says he is resigning because Montgomery County is implementing an ambulance transport fee. Darian Unger says it is wrong to charge for what he provides for free. The volunteer association is working on a petition to put the issue before voters. Read more.
Getting the word out about burglar bars: WTSP-TV’s Reginald Roundtree plays the victim behind burglar bars as he waits to be rescued from a house fire by St. Petersburg, Florida firefighters.
Early video of house fire in Tinley Park, Illinois: A neighbor boy with a camera catches this one before firefighters arrive. Listen to the questions asking where is the fire department (did they call?). You can read a few more details about the fire here.
Fire engines, but no fire department: I urge you to take a few moments to watch the videos and read the information about the state of fire protection on Mudge Island in British Columbia. It is a place with two fire trucks and no real fire department. But the citizens have taken the matter, and the hose lines, into their own hands. Some of our readers find what they see inspiring. Other think it is ridiculous. Either way it sure is interesting. Click here.
Another police chief makes the case for taking over the fire department: In Auburn, Maine the acting fire chief feels the bosses showed disrespect toward him and the fire department for failing to include the fire service perspective in the city’s study of combining the police and fire departments. That job went to the police chief who says it could work just fine having public safety officers showing up at fires, putting down their weapons and going in to fight a fire. Watch the story.
Bourne’s back: For a while the Bourne Fire Department in Massachusetts just stayed in the news as the department dealt very publicly with a series of problems (click here and scroll down). The recent quiet from Bourne has now been broken. Two paramedics are claiming an on-call firefighter drove his personal vehicle recklessly through a crash scene on the way to a fire call. The medics says they were almost struck while tending to a patient. Here is the story.
Probation in hazing incident: A judge has given a year probation to three Connecticut firefighters and another person after a hazing incident we had told you about. This is where a 14-year-old member of the Quaker Hill Fire Department, who had pulled a chair out from underneath a firefighter’s girlfriend, found himself bound to a backboard, gagged and shot with an air gun. Here’s the update.
Consulting firm fired because it had never recommended layoffs: In Palo Alto, California a consultant was dropped midway through a staffing study of the fire department. Council members were shocked to learn the firm had never recommended layoffs in any of its previous studies. According to MercuryNews.com, some on the council were hoping the study would pave the way for cut backs. The official reason for the dropping of the consultant is a “conflict of interest”. Check out this line from the article – “they were surprised to learn at an April 20 finance committee meeting that consulting firm Emergency Services Consulting International was affiliated with an international fire chiefs union.” I knew those fire chiefs would eventually unionize.
What happens in Las Vegas may be shared with Clark County: With both Nevada jurisdictions in battles with firefighters over budget issues, leaders hope to share services like hazmat and heavy rescue in an effort to save money. Here is the latest.
CFSI: The Congressional Fire Services Institute’s National Fire and Emergency Services Dinner and Seminars start today. Click here for details.
It is Bonanza time: May 7 is the start of the two day Bonanza Extravaganza put on by the Professional Firefighters of Hagerstown, Maryland (IAFF Local 1605). This event, involving music, gaming, big money prizes and much more has become a real happening. The union says, through a foundation set up to handle the profits from the event, firefighters have given away hundreds of thousands of dollars to non-profits in the community and ”a $40,000 donation to Children’s Village that funded every second grader in Washington County to be able to attend a two day fire and police safety educational program”. Click here to read more background information on the event. Here’s the website.
Another fired DeKalb County, Georgia firefighter makes the case for reinstatement: William Greene goes public in his efforts to get his job back after being fired with four others following a botched response to help an elderly woman who said her house was on fire. Greene says he was not given complete information by dispatchers. Read the story.
Mayor’s fund raiser attracts firefighters: We have shared with you a number of stories about the relationship between North Providence Mayor Charles Lombardi and his firefighters (click here and scroll down for a recap). If you have read any of them you know that if a large group of firefighters showed up at a fund raiser for Lombardi it wasn’t because they were invited. There were about 250 firefighters with picket signs outside the restaurant last night. Click here for the story. Watch the video.
Three-alarm church fire threatens hotel: The two buildings are connected in Portland, Oregon. Firegeezer has the story.
How sad: During a retired firefighter’s funeral in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, burglars broke into the home the firefighter shared with his brother. Read more.
Union called out for stealing story of 1953 fire: A paranormal researcher who had written a story in 2008 on the 55th anniversary of a nursing home fire that killed 33 people says IAFF Local 2427 reposted that same story on its site. The author says her name wasn’t on the story but credit inhstead was given to someone affiliated with the union. Here’s the story about the story, that we are crediting to TampaBay.com.
Man’s duck story apparently doesn’t hold water: The man admits he set the fire inside the Ride the Ducks building in Seattle. But the story about why he did it might quack you up. (Seriously, what kind of an idiot writes this junk?) Here’s the story.
NIST staffing and response study out this morning: I am not sure NIST’s efforts will have much meaning on Mudge Island (see here), but a lot of fire chiefs are hoping it will help put things in perspective when the boss says cut. We spent a frigid day in January of last year at the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service Training Academy when this study was first publicized (above). Christopher Naum has one of the more detailed looks at what it is all about on his Command Safety blog. Expect more at Command Safety (and here) later today.
One firefighter was transported to the hospital with what are described as non-life threatening burns following a house fire this afternoon in Montgomery County, Maryland. The fire was reported just after 2:00 PM in the 4900 block of Jamestown Court in Glen Echo.
Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service Captain Oscar Garcia says there was a report of children trapped, but that proved not to be the case. The initial search was conducted by an EMS crew that was first on the scene.
A firefighter was injured early Saturday while fighting a blaze in a Rockville home that caused more than $1 million in damage and displaced three adults.
Assistant Chief Scott Graham of Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Services said 70 firefighters were dispatched at 12:36 a.m. to 10107 Lakestone Place. Firefighters found heavy fire on the second floor and going through the roof.
A firefighter suffered minor injuries when a ceiling collapsed, and she was transported to a local hospital.
Firefighters were forced to evacuate the home and fight the two-alarm blaze from outside.
The Red Cross assisted the three displaced adults.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) along with the the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) Fire Chiefs Committee unveiled the subway system’s new battery-powered, portable response and recon vehicles today. The emergency management types at WMATA have been telling us for some time about this new capability and their efforts to train area fire departments on the use of the new carts.
We have posted four videos showing and describing the Mobile Emergency Response Vehicles (MERVs). Below, are clips of the vehicle being assembled and a ride on the rails photographed by 9NEWS NOW’s Greg Guise. At bottom, is raw video of the press conference with Arlington County Fire Department Chief Jim Schwartz.
At top, is the story for 9NEWS NOW by Bruce Leshan. That story includes Vito Maggiolo video and 911 calls from an April, 2000 incident where a train filled with 250 pasengers was sent to check out a report of smoke in a tunnel. They became trapped by an electrical fire. Bruce also wrote the article that follows:
Firefighters from across our region are showing off a new battery-powered rail cart that could make all the difference if there’s another Metro crash.
The $20,000 carts were designed in Britain to speed firefighters to emergency scenes deep inside the London Tube. The DC region is the first in the U.S. to get them.
Firefighters say there have been many incidents when they could have used the carts in Metro.
“We can’t breath!” a desperate passenger pleaded to rescue workers 10 years ago, while hundreds of passengers were stuck in a stopped train in smoky Metro tunnel.
“It took about an hour for the firemen to get there,” Susan Little told 9NEWS NOW.
Firefighters say the 26 “Mobile Emergency Response Vehicles” will help them speed into crises far faster.
“The other day, they put it together and had it going down the tracks in one minute and four seconds,” said one Arlington firefighter, as he watched the cart zip down a rail line at a Metro Yard in Alexandria.
Firefighters have carts now, but you have to push them. Loaded down in turnout gear, it can take them an hour to get to a scene. With the cart, they can go twelve miles an hour and get to a scene in minutes.
After the Sarin gas attacks 15 years ago in the Tokyo subway, British security officials asked rescue workers to invent a vehicle to get passengers out from deep under London in the tube.
The carts were used extensively after the terrorist attacks on the London subway in 2005.
Arlington Fire officials say they sure could have used one in a drill that had a train stuck under the Potomac between Rosslyn and Foggy Bottom.
“In that one, it took 45 minutes to an hour to get to the victims,” says Arlington Battalion Chief James Daugherty, who’s been leading the project. “With a cart like this, five to ten minutes at most.”
In London, firefighters are actually drilled on driving the subway trains, so that if the operator is incapacitated in a poison gas attack, the rescuers can pull up in the cart and drive the train passengers to safety.
The carts were paid for with a $860,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security.
Russell Dawson admits, “It has not been a pleasant time to be chief”. Chief Dawson and the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department heard twice in two days last week from the Rockville Police Department that firefighters were found in places where they shouldn’t have been.
The most serious incident was around 1:00 Friday morning at the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service logistics and supply building on Dover Road. Chief Dawson tells STATter911.com it was quite a shock to learn that three 17-year-old probationary members were arrested. They were charged with breaking into the building and attempting to steal firefighter gear.
Dawson is asking the public not to judge the more than 200 volunteer members of the department by “the actions of these three”. But two other members remain in hot water for an incident that happened earlier in the week.
Police were called Tuesday to a party room at the Fenestra Apartments across the street from the Station 3. Dawson says one of Rockville’s volunteer firefighters lives in the apartments and had been hosting get-togethers with fellow firefighters inside the room in recent months. According to Dawson, these events are done off-duty on the firefighters’ own time.
The chief says apartment management had recently started shutting the room down at 10:00 PM. The fire department’s investigation has determined that seven of the nine firefighters didn’t know about the new rules and that entry was made into the locked room before their arrival. The suspensions of the seven have been lifted.
Chief Dawson says the firefighter who lives in the building and another volunteer, who is believed to have forced open the locked door, are still facing a disciplinary hearing.
Chief Dawson is concerned because of incidents involving “a few rogue people” the public will get the wrong impression about the Rockville Volunteer Fire Department. He says the volunteers provided more than 140,000 hours of standby-duty last year ready to respond to emergencies.
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.
No pictures and not much information on a two-alarm townhouse fire on Friday in Montgomery County, Maryland. It occurred shortly after 5:00 PM at 11,273 Columbia Pike in the White Oak area of the county. Above is the fireground audio from FireSceneAudio.com.
Our video player to the right: If you had been paying attention to the videos that pop up near the top of the right hand column you would have seen this one before I did. It is from a house fire in Montgomery County two-days-ago shot by 9NEWS NOW’s Greg Guise. Click here to read more. WUSA9.com’s Emily Cyr and Jillian Coyle are constantly adding videos that involve fire and EMS from the Washington area and around the country. Make sure you check it out. The 30 most recent stories are always in there.
Question for fire & EMS in the Washington area: Are you still finding big response problems in the aftermath of the blizzards? Especially in trying to get around on area roads. Let me know. Be specific about the problem(s). You can email me at dstatter@wusa9.com.
Fire department is tapped as solution to Pittsburgh EMS problem. Plus more on botched snowstorm response: Following the failure to get help to Curtis Mitchell during a snowstorm, Pittsburgh officials on Wednesday began routinely dispatching firefighters to EMS calls in the city. Disciplinary action is also being considered in the case. Here is the latest.
The Fire PIO has a look at the public relations end of owning up to such a controversial incident. I am a little more blunt than Jeff Bressler and don’t use a lot of the PR terms and techniques that he so nicely analyzes. As I have pointed out before, from my experience covering these situations, the only way to get out from something like this is to come clean quickly and thoroughly. If Pittsburgh officials told only part of the story and more starts dribbling out, they will likely lose any good will that came from their very direct response to the incident.
The apology by city officials in the Mitchell case reminds me of how DC handled a story I broke in the mid-1980s during the Marion Barry administration. City Administrator Thomas Downs immediately held a press conference and apologized to a family on Fort Totten Drive, NE whose son had called 911 about a dying parent. The dispatcher at one point told the boy to “grow up”. Obviously there are also parallels to DC with the latest developments. It was the inability to get DC EMS units to patients in a timely fashion (for a variety of reasons) that resulted in the fire department being dispatched on all EMS calls in the Nation’s Capital.
Snowstorm puts strain on Fairfax County: The Washington Post’s Greg MacDonald takes a look at the impact on the back to back blizzards on the budget, staff and equipment, including the loss of the Bailey’s Crossroads station after the roof collapse. Check it out.
DeKalb chief forced to resign: That’s the story from David Foster’s lawyer. Foster’s “resignation” came just after the firings following the botched response to a house fire. There is now a battle over a severance package and a lot more detail about the relationship between Foster and his boss. Click here for the story.
Union responds to overpaid complaint: We told you yesterday about a Clark County, Nevada commissioner who said the average $180,000 compensation package for firefighters was too much. Now the union responds saying the figure is inflated by overtime which firefighters have no control over. Here is the latest.
Out like Flint: What is left of the Flint, Michigan Fire Department will be even smaller in two weeks. Today, 23 firefighters are getting their layoff notices. This will leave the city with only 65 firefighters and the closing of one, if not two more, fire stations. This comes days after response questions about last weekend’s fire that left four children dead. Click here for the story.
Reducing staff in Bloomfield, NJ: Career and volunteer firefighters came out strongly against a plan to reduce minimum staffing and possibly close a fire house. Read the story.
It may be a year before Minnesota firefighter walks again: But Cory Broich is home and recovering with his wife and five kids three weeks after being struck by a car in Clearwater, Minnesota. Click here to read and watch the story.
Assistant chief fired after being found driving a stolen vehicle: I haven’t sorted through all of this one from the St. Louis area just yet, but it is a bit unusual. A man is getting back his 1995 Crown Vic more than three years after it was stolen. Pine Lawn Police say it was being driven by Northeast Ambulance and Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Robert Manuel. Manuel claims he got it from a salvage yard. Still, the chief was fired after being charged with driving with a suspended license, having no proof of insurance and displaying a tag belonging to another vehicle. Here’s more.
Tens of thousands are already without power in the Washington area. This picture by Chris Tucker taken in Bethesda shows one location where power was a problem.
If you would like to check in with how your Nation’s Capital is dealing with what is being call an epic snow storm, click above for live coverage from WUSA9.com.
Area fire departments are having difficulty getting to many locations and fire and EMS equipment is getting stuck.
There has been a collpase of a hangar at Dulles International Airport. Here are some details from WUSA9.com (hope to have more on this later)-
A spokesperson for the Airport Authority says the roof of a hangar housing private jets partially collapsed damaging some aircraft. The hangar is in the Dulles Jet Center in the General Aviation area. There were no injuries reported but the hangar was evacuated. No estimate yet on the amount of damage to the aircraft. The hangar has been condemned.
Michael "FirePix1075" Schwartzberg photo of Baltimore County Fire Department Medic 17 at GBMC.
There have been collapses of roofs on at least two homes in Northeast Washington.
The World Headquarters of STATter911.com is fairly inaccessible right now and we have instituted a liberal leave policy for our hard working staff. I will just have to plug along without them.
I am getting assistance from the WUSA9.com web team. They continue to add videos to our player to the right. These include some TV appearances by local fire chiefs (DC’s Dennis Rubin and Montgomery County’s Richard Bowers) and even a snowy response video from the Leesburg VFD (also added below). By the way, that player always has the 30 latest fire and EMS videos that come through WUSA9.com (locally and from around the country).
If you have video or pictures showing how firefighters & EMS crews are handling this storm you can click here to upload them to WUSA9.com. It can even be just a pretty shot of your firehouse.
Emily Cyr and Jillian Coyle will make sure they show up in the video player (and STATter911.com will find a way to show case your still photos).
House explodes and burns in Cleveland: A neighbor’s video as three people were hurt after an explosion at West 83rd Street and Madison Avenue. Click here for more details and videos.
Watch our latest videos over here >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
UPDATED – Close call in Fairfax County, VA at scene of now double fatal fire: (Click here for slideshow from fire.) PIO Dan Schmidt confirms the bodies of two men were found inside a burning home on Heming Avenue in North Springfield this morning. Earlier three firefighters from Station 422 ran into trouble when the kitchen floor began collapsing around them. Other firefighters assisted them in getting out safely. Schmidt says one firefighter has been hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries. All firefighters were accounted for. The fire was reported around 6:40 AM. We will have more later, including video.
Dead, not dead: Firefighters in Prince George’s County, Maryland thought they were doing body recovery early Sunday morning on I-95. The “body” in the burned out car started breathing and things quickly reverted to a rescue operation. We have the details, fireground audio, and a timeline. Click here for our coverage.
More PGFD news – Shake-up at the top: In November, Chief Eugene Jones said about Lt. Colonel Victor Stagnaro, “You are growing into the leader I always believed you had the capacity for” as he gave the 24-year veteran “a rare and prestigious” department award. Yesterday, Chief Jones gave Stagnaro something else: his walking papers. According to Chief Jones, Stagnaro “indicated his intent to retire”. But numerous other sources familiar with what happened at the Largo Government Center tell STATter911.com the chief’s executive officer presented Stagnaro with a letter telling him his last day is February 12. Click here for more on this story.
Close Call #1: This is the "before" picture a neighbor snapped just prior to two firefighters falling through the roof of this burning Phoenix home on Monday. The firefighters were not injured. Police say the house was set on fire by an 18-year-old who had assaulted his parents. Click the image to see more pictures and watch the story.
Two Metro workers killed on tracks in Maryland: Montgomery County firefighters were busy early this morning when two employees of Metro were struck and killed by a hi-rail vehicle on the rail system’s Red Line in the Rockville area around 1:55 this morning. Read the story here. Click here for the video. Click here for pictures.
NEW – Virginia Task Force 1 heading home Thursday: That’s the plan today for the return of the urban search and rescue team from Northern Virginia. They have been in Haiti for two weeks and are now assisting with humanitarian efforts after helping to rescue 16 people who were trapped in the rubble of the earthquake.
More from Memphis: A TV station is into its second week of reports on the Memphis Fire Department. WLMT-TV has been looking at the department’s hiring practices, the number of firefighters who have been arrested and allegations of discrimination over who gets to keep their job and who doesn’t. The latest installment is here. Click here to see what you missed earlier.
Four fire officers on leave as fatal house fire is probed in Georgia: Firefighters in DeKalb County were sent to a 911 disconnect at 1:00 Sunday morning. A fire truck was sent to investigate. The firefighters found nothing. Five hours later the house was destroyed with a woman inside. Read and watch the story. Read DeKalb County public safety director’s statement.
New talk of major FDNY cuts: Firehouses and firefighters are again being discussed for possible cuts as mayor’s staff and the new fire commissioner meet on budget issues. Read more.
911 system in DC getting scrutiny after gun is pulled on council member: A fire truck was the first on the scene to assist Council member Yvette Alexander last week when she interupted an armed robbery. There are questions about the accurate relay of information and the timeliness of the response. Read more.
Close Call #2: Three firefighters inside as explosion lifts roof off home during fire in Wells, Minnesota. The chief says he was blown 3-feet out of a door. The firefighters weren't hurt. Click the picture by Brie Cohen for details and more pictures from the Albert Lea Tribune.
Former Columbus, Ohio firefighter who killed dogs walks out of hearing because of TV camera: The latest on David Santuomo, who left the two dead dogs in a dumpster behind a firehouse in December, 2008, is that the Civil Service Commission dismissed the appeal of his firing because the former firefighter wasn’t present. News reports indicate Santuomo got up and left when he saw the camera being set up. You may recall Santuomo executed the dogs because he didn’t want to pay kennel fees while on vacation. Read more.
LAFD defends dog rescue: The Los Angeles Fire Department stands by the decision to commit resources to last Friday’s dog rescue in the L.A. River that left a firefighter with dog bites. Read more. Earlier coverage here and here.
Mayor is shocked: Paramus, New Jersey Mayor James Tedesco is also a volunteer firefighter. Responding on a call for a downed power line, the firefighting mayor touched a fence that had come in contact with the wire. He is okay. Read more.
House fire in New Jersey: This is from yesterday in Oradell in Bergen County.
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 surveillance video is clear and in color. Police say it’s of a crook claiming to be a fire or building inspector who gets open access inside businesses.
Police are hoping to quickly close this case that has turned at least 6 businesses in the region into victims.
This case is troubling to authorities because they say the imposter is so convincing.
He’s seen carrying a flashlight and a belt pouch as if he belongs there and it’s all caught on tape.
The alleged imposter is seen wearing a blue polo shirt and talking to store owner Sophad Or.
9NEWS NOW caught up with the store owner of One Plus Convenience off Norfolk Ave. in Bethesda.
He says, ”Didn’t know he use trick like that and later on he wanted to see inside. I said okay. He said it’s dark I need a flashlight and I said okay. I got the flashlight and he tried to take wallet from coworker.”
The owner and his employee never suspected they were taken until hours later.
Sophad’s wife Min says she’s upset by the crime. She says, ”We never thought it would happen to us but it did. ”
Sophad says the crook is so convincing at his fake job he gets full range of the place.
Sophad Or says, “He act like he knew how to do the job… never suspect he’s a bad guy.”
‘The bad guy’ goes so far as to take the fire extinguisher to top off the heist and make him look even more legitimate.
Sophad Or says, ”He said okay I’ll take extinguisher this is bad and replace it with a new one.
The alleged thief has hit three places in Bethesda including Sophad’s store, a dry cleaner and the latest at a doctor’s office. He’s also hit three other businesses in Fairfax and DC.
Police want to catch this guy before the crimes escalate.
Corporal Dan Friz with Montgomery County Police says, “His intentions were to take property and leave but if he wanted to commit bodily harm he could it’s a concern not only for that but because we built our reputation with the fire department.”
Police are warning other businesses to make sure if someone claims to be an official to ask for their badge.
Most will wear a legitimate uniform with an emblem and their vehicle will also have identification.
Police say the suspect usually steals wallets and laptops.
They say if you have a concern you can always contact the authorities
We have a winner! The very first entry into our top stories contest for 2009 correctly guessed the top story of the year. Even though the rest of that person’s top five weren’t on target, it gave me hope for you people and this contest. Once again, Statter was wrong.
Many of you were blinded by our extensive coverage of PGFD and one man in particular, who at last look was still in the Prince George’s County Detention Center. You will have to scroll way done to number 14 to find his picture on this page. Other entries, including one from a person who should know better, focused way too much on our coverage of the District of Columbia Fire & EMS Department. Only one DC story made the list (but it was a big one at number two). In fact, only eight of the top 20 were local stories from the Washington, DC area. Remember that for next year’s contest. We are global in scope here at STATter911.com (yeah, right!).
To get a winner we had to go deep down to someone who guessed two of the top five. While he had the two top stories in reverse order, author and fire service veteran from Baltimore County Chris Hawley was the only entrant to get more than one out of five. The good news is the two Baltimore boys should have lots to talk about when this one buys lunch.
Our rankings are based on the number of pageviews between January 1 and December 31, 2009 according to Google Analytics. If a story had multiple postings we only counted the top one for our list.
The interesting thing is that the bottom two stories and the 21st story were just nine clicks apart. Their rankings kept changing up until the closing hours of 2009. In the end, a somewhat odd, but newer story from Montgomery County, Maryland moved up, knocking off one of my personal favorites from earlier in the year. Number 21 is the story of Alexandria Fire Department (VA) veteran Doug Townshend who, while off duty, rescued his brother Mike from a burning home. Click here for that story.
Click the Popeye cartoon to see what used to pass for a year-end review at STATter911.com.
By the way, I did this type of year end review, rather than the more humorous (at least I thought so) version of the two previous years, because I thought it would be easier to manage. I am writing this at 4:00 AM on New Years Day, so now I am not so sure. If you miss the old one, here it is (I am sure most of it is still true today anyway).
Obviously isn’t just us taking a look back at 2009 and ahead to 2010. Other fire service sites beat us to the punch. Paul Peluso at Firehouse.com says 2009 was the year of the video (look below for proof). FireRescue1.com has a host of characters writing lots of words under its year in review banner. Billy Goldfeder has a message for the new year at FirefighterCloseCalls.com. Paul Combs has a great thought in his December cartoon at FireEngineering.com. I am sure Bill Schumm will have something to help bring in the new year Firegeezer style and so will many others who share the FireEMSBlogs.com site with this rag. .
And Rhett Fleitz at The Fire Critic, who is a great inspiration and supporter to all of us who blog, has a contest that is better than mine. Rhett is looking for the Fire/EMS Blog of the Year 2009 (now you know why I said those nice things about him). Rhett’s is better because he is promoting it as the contest with the prize where you don’t have to sit across the lunch table from Dave Statter.
Thank you to all who entered our contest. Thank you to all who read and comment each day. Thank you to all who link to STATter911.com and carry our stories. Most important, a happy and safe 2010 to all of you and especially those out there protecting us each and every day.
So, drum roll please! We present our 20 most popular stories from 2009:
This was the story that dominated 2009 on STATter911.com. Not only did the posting on May 30 (our fourth posting on the topic) bring in 43 percent more pageviews than our number two story for the year, three other stories on the confrontation would have taken places two, three, and four. When you add up the clicks for the almost 20 stories we posted on this topic they account for about five-percent of the overall traffic on the blog for 2009.
There have been more than 700 comments (actually a lot more than that, but many we couldn’t publish). A couple of comments still arrive each week.
I think the reason for the high numbers, besides being a hot topic, is that we apparently reached way beyond our normal fire and EMS service audience on this story. It helps that the YouTube video above, which has more than two million views, has our link in its description.
As much grief as I get for carrying too many negative stories on the blog, the only reason the world knew about this one is because I was trying to do a good deed and post some positive news. On Wednesday, October 7 there were two sprinkler demonstrations scheduled in the National Capital region. One at Gallaudet University and the other at the University of Maryland (at MFRI). My goal was to get to both of them, but the Maryland one was the priority because of the release of a study about Prince George’s County’s mandatory residential sprinkler law. I never made it to DC and no one said anything to me about a problem during that demonstration.
As I was about to leave work the following evening I was feeling guilty the DC sprinkler video didn’t get any play in my story the day before (there had been a photographer on the scene from LNS, the local news service run by my station and two others in Washington). I pulled the video up with the intention of editing something for the blog and possibly WUSA9.com. Of course, as I watched the video, I immediately realized there was a little bit more to this demonstration.
This entry had 128 comments. More comments came in after Chief Dennis Rubin, when talking about what he saw, used the term “comedy act”.
Firefighter Will Gregory exits the home with his PPE on fire. Photo by Brian Haney, The Daily Record.
This was a late entry for the year. It came about because FirefighterCloseCalls.com first put out the story of the close call based on the newspaper article by Brian Haney at The Daily Record in Dunn, NC. Figuring that there might be more than one photo, I called Mr. Haney and he told me he had shot 210 images from that fire. Brian sent a bunch to STATter911.com and gave us permission to use the photos.
Until a day or two ago, this was in the number three spot for the year. In my heart I wish it was number one. I was blogging away on the Friday afternoon that Ladder 26 wrecked trying to keep up with the developments from Boston. Later in the evening when we learned that Lt. Kevin Kelley was the firefighter killed, it didn’t take long to find his appearances from Firehouse USA on the web. How can you not smile when you watch these?
While I get a lot of stories and videos from your tips, this is one I found all by myself. Going through fire related YouTube videos on a Sunday evening I happened upon this clip. I usually don’t run controlled burning type training exercises, but this one looked different. After picking my jaw off the floor upon seeing the unusual PPV via the leaf blower, I decided this was one worthy of a wider audience.
You have to admit this one was different. The 160-foot Spirit of Washington squeezed the 72-foot John H. Glenn Jr., putting a big gash in the Glenn’s hull and sidelining the boat for many months. The collision also crushed a small FBI boat at an adjacent dock.
This is a rather simple story of a rescue in that it was popular despite there being no video of the event. Firefighters saving the day when it looks like that might be impossible.
Here’s how WZZM-TV’s Lambrini Lukidis described the story:
Kelysse LaBelle is full of energy today. But when fireman Scott Campau rescued her from the bottom of Fisherman’s Landing in Muskegon last week, Kelysse was purple, her eyes were gray and lifeless.
“The stroller was actually sitting up-right on its wheels on the bottom of the lake and she was unconscious,” said Campau.
“She wasn’t breathing, no heart rate,” said Battalion Chief Ken Chudy who lead the team on the call. “She was lifeless when we pulled her out of the water,” said Fireman Kevin McMillan also assisted by firemen Chad Horn and Scott Hemmeslbach.
Eight Prince George’s County firefighters were hurt when an explosion occurred while they were investigating a natural has leak at a shopping center in Forestville.
Truly one of the great stories of the year. John and Joel Rechlitz received national attention for their off-duty rescue of a young boy from a burning car. Their efforts didn’t stop after the rescue. The firefighters remained close to D.J. Harper and his family. Click here.
In December, 2008 Continental Flight 1404 ran off a runway and burst into flames at Denver International Airport. This was the audio as the airport tower controllers directed firefighters to the scene.
The fireground audio provided by Erie County Fire wire was very difficult to listen to as these two men responded to a call for help inside the burning building on Genesee Street.
Layoffs and budget cuts were THE story of 2009. We saw a lot of stories like this one, but for some reason the Flint fire got more attention than the others.
What more can I say about this frequent subject of STATter911.com stories. In the interview Jerry Engle told us all about an arson ring involving firefighters. Later in the year Engle and another former volunteer from Riverdale were both charged with the fire Jerry told us about. If you haven’t read enough about him, click here for our Jerry archive.
A touching tribute to firefighters who were lost 50-years earlier. The incident is believed to be the first time the term BLEVE was used to describe the rupture and rocketing of a flammable liquid container during a fire.
It took teamwork and a lot of guts as a dispatcher and engine company worked to save a woman trapped in an apartment fire started thanks to a neighbor’s meth lab. Video shows Chad Meyer from Engine 26 basically walking through fire to bring out Nikki Cain.
This entry from Montgomery County had to be one of the more unusual stories of the year. A firefighter’s date spent the night at the firehouse and got lost on the way to the bathroom.
What this means is that, even though Kyle Wilson died in a house fire in April, 2007 and the report was released nine-months later, firefighters are still interested in learning from this tragic situation. Enough people searched, found and apparently read that entry in 2009 to make it part of our top 20.
Our friends at FireSceneAudio.com have been cranking them out in recent days. On this page are three parts of the audio from this evening’s garden-apartment building fire in Montgomery County, Maryland. The fire was reported around 8:20 PM in the 10,200 block of Georgia Avenue at the Manor apartments in the Aspen Hill area. More than a half-dozen apartments were gutted and one 25-year-old man was taken to the hospital suffering smoke inhalation.
Important note – Make sure you listen to the exchange on Part 3 at 3:20. It goes something like this:
Command- “Command to Rescue Squad 703 evacuate that rood immediately. Do you copy?”
Rescue Squad 703- “703 copies.”
Command- “Command to Rescue Squad 703 I need to know when you are off the roof.”
Rescue Squad 703- “Roof to Command. We are off the roof. Roof is just collapsing.”
Baltimore 2nd alarm (and rally info): This fire on Ostend Street Friday morning left one firefighter with minor burns. Firefighters point out the closest engine company, Engine 55 in Pigtown, was closed for the day. The rotating closures and the budget cuts are behind today’s rally as firefighters march from the Baltimore City Fire Museum (old Engine 6 on Gay Street) to City Hall at 5:00 PM. IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger is scheduled to join IAFF locals 734 and 964 (officers) WJZ-TV has the story.
VIDEO ADDED – DC & Sarasota officials signed ageement to allow new Florida chief to remain District employee: STATter911.com now knows what happened to allow Sarasota County Chief Kenneth Ellerbe to stay on the rolls of the DC Fire & EMS Department in able to enhance his retirement pay. We even know a DC assistant fire chief and the city’s head of human resources approved Kenneth Ellerbe’s leave without pay status. What we don’t know is why this was allowed to happen, especially since Chief Dennis Rubin originally declined to sign the deal. We are also trying to determine the benefit for the city to engage in a formal personnel exchange arrangement to fill a fire chief’s slot in Florida. The DC Fire & EMS Department and the DC Department of Human Resources aren’t exactly filling in the blanks on a lot of unanswered questions. One question from a STATter911.com reader is one we hadn’t thought of: Will the DC Fire & EMS Department now offer this arrangement to every firefighter who may be almost a year short in reaching retirement age? Click here for the latest, including Wednesday’s 6:00 PM report for TV.
Also in Sarasota County, Florida, a 911 problem causing a 20 hour delay: Listen to the audio and read the details on why help wasn’t sent to a man later found dead in North Port, Florida. Click here.
Construction workers make rescue at Beltway vehicle fire: Raw video from the air, pictures from the ground and the story from Scott Broom on yesterday’s save after an SUV crashed and burned on the Capital Beltway near College Park, Maryland. Construction workers pulled a woman from the burning vehicle.
Rape charges dropped against Bourne, Massachusetts deputy chief: Paul Weeks is eager to go back to work and his bosses want him on the job as soon as possible. The rape charge against the deputy chief has been one of many dramas involving Bourne’s fire department in recent months. While the papers say they don’t identify rape victims, the victim in this case declined to prosecute citing “marital privilege”. Read more.
NEW – Developer on home confinement after off-duty firefighter shot: We were a little late in telling you about the arrest in the off-duty shooting of a Milton, Massachusetts firefighter in an apparent road rage incident. Read about the charges against a well known developer.
Anthropometry, a word Dave has never heard before: Ann who? Dave showing his ignorance on reading an interesting press release from the Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service. MCFRS will be working with NIOSH in using anthropometry to to “improve the fit and performance of equipment that interfaces with the body”. Anthropometry “is the science of measuring the human body”. Read the release.
Fire chief and city sued by landlord: Readers in Utica, New York alerted us to this story about a fire in September that killed four people, but Firegeezer already had this interesting case well covered. Click here.
Firefighters replace money stolen in Salvation Army robberies: IAFF Local 660 in Charlotte, North Carolina has donated $6000 to make up for some men going around to Salvation Army kettles trying to steal Christmas. Read the story.
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.
The Frederick County, Maryland sheriff’s office says a Frederick man suspected of setting an acquaintance on fire has been apprehended in Little Rock, Arkansas.
Cpl. Jennifer Bailey says 26-year-old Joshua Mashburn was picked up Wednesday by Little Rock police.
Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service Assistant Chief Scott Graham confirms that until August of this year Mashburn had been a volunteer firefighter at the Burtonsville VFD. He had been a member for more than three years.
Mashburn is charged with attempted first-degree murder, first-degree arson and other offenses. He is accused of dousing a 48-year-old man with gasoline and setting him on fire with a candle. The attack occurred in the victim’s Frederick home early Saturday morning. A motive for the attack has not been provided by law enforcement officials.
Graham could not provide a reason for Mashburn’s departure from Burtonsville. Calls to Burtonsville’s chief earlier in the week have not been returned.
Some must listen to fireground audio: This is from the house fire Sunday morning in Buffalo where six people were trapped. We have the dramatic fireground audio and interviews with the firefighters. Check it out. We have also links to video and pictures from the scene.
“[The suburbs] do an exterior attack. That’s why they lose most of their buildings. If we stood back and put water on, we’d feel like we weren’t doing anything”: That quote is causing quite a bit of controversy in the Chicago area. The discussion of the “Chicago way” by members of Engne 106 is part of a column by Neil Steinberg in the Sun-Times. There are a number of comments attached to the story that give a good sense of what we have also seen in emails floating around. Here is the story and the reaction.
More details on water problems at Maryland house fire that left eight firefighters hurt: The hydrant that couldn’t be pumped during the initial stages of the house fire in University Park on Sunday night tested fine. PGFD’s Mark Brady says it took three attempts and five to seven minutes to get water from the plug. Click here for the details.
An explanation on water problems at Ohio fire: Video from a neighbor and lots of questions from a reporter seem to have gotten to the bottom of water issues at a Westerville, Ohio house fire on Saturday. Watch the video and read more.
Status of former Maryland assistant chief changed from fired to retired: You may recall the story of Greg DeHaven, a Montgomery County Fire & Rescue Service assistant chief who was fired after he crashed the county vehicle into a bunch of cars and a police car on I-270. He is no longer in the “fired” status. Read more.
Two-alarm commercial fire in Cambridge, Massachusetts: This fire was Saturday at 241 Monsignor O’Brien Highway. Fire in a Meineke Car Care Center. The same building was the scene of an arson in 2006 when it was the Boston Tropical Fish and Reptile pet store. The store’s manager and two others went to prison in a fire that killed dozens of animals. This time a cat was saved. Read more.
NOTE: It was a very busy weekend in the fire news business and we are getting a late start. Below is just a recap of our stories since Friday. More to come.
A Bill McNeel picture from the fire last night in University Park that injured eight firefighters.
Eight firefighters hurt in Prince George’s County, MD: : The evac tones were sounded at two different points in the battle to bring a University Park house fire under control. All firefighter injuries are reported to be minor. We have raw video from Tom Yeatman and lots of pictures.
Video by Vito Maggiolo from two more local fires: Vito was out with his camera early Saturday morning to capture a three-alarm fire at a former movie house in Takoma Park, Maryland. The building was most recently a clothing and shoe store. Click here for that video.
The tragedy in Russia and lessons from the past: If you haven’t seen it yet, click here for the video from inside the Perm, Russia club where fireworks apparently started a blaze that killed 112 people, with many more burned. Echoes of the Station nightclub fire in Rhode Island. We have the video of the NIST re-creation from the 2003 blaze and the NIST report.
Firefighters in hot water over picture taking: One firefighter posing for another in front of a Winnipeg house fire was caught on camera by a news photographer. Now the firefighters are in trouble. Click here.
Philly firefighter accused of setting ladder truck on fire: The firefighter is accused of not listening to his lieutenant about setting papers on fire and then starting a blaze inside Ladder 2. Read the details.
More to the story on Chief Dennis Rubin’s lawsuit deposition: You may have seen our unusual story last week where DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Dennis Rubin describes in detail what he claims was an expletive filled tirade by the former lawyer for the department. That attorney, Theresa Cusick is suing after Rubin got rid of her. Cusick claims there was no tirade but instead she was moved after trying to alert the chief to a cover-up of cheating. Cusick herself has been on the other side of a complaint about a wrongful termination and news reports at the time indicate she didn’t like it one bit. Here’s that story.
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