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During yesterday’s inaugural Hero Rush event in Clarksburg, Maryland participants saw smoke in a distance. These three videos show you what people saw up close.

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Previous coverage here and here

Some interesting developments in the news about plans to change the structure and authority of volunteer fire commissions in both Prince George's County and Montgomery County.

In PG, County Executive Rushern Baker, in hopes that a compromise can be worked out, pulled back emergency legislation yesterday that would radically change the Prince George's County Fire Commission. The original plan would have Baker appoint commission members who live in the county and add career firefighter and civilian members to the panel. Currently, the all-volunteer commission is elected by the volunteer departments. The latest version keeps those changes but the commission would maintain control of its budget.

Here's more from Daniel Leaderman at Gazette.net:

“The fire chief has advised the county executive that due to the tremendous efforts of our volunteers … they should be given an additional opportunity to come to a consensus on this reorganization, ” Brad Frome, Baker’s deputy chief of staff, told the council Tuesday.

A new executive order that maintains the residency requirement and changes to the appointment process but does not revoke the commission's authority over the $12 million in budget funds, was to be introduced Tuesday afternoon, Frome said. That order would not go into effect until March 1, which the administration feels is ample time to reach a compromise and alter the legislation as needed.

In Montgomery County, County Executive Isiah Leggett appears to be not quite as passionate as Chief Richard Bowers about removing the commission's veto power over the chief's orders.

Here's more from Victor Zapana at The Washington Post:

“I agree with the sentiment of trying to provide some level of conformity and some level of direct manning and control and having the chief far more supported than he is today,” said Leggett, who did not attend the public hearing. “There’s still a question that this bill might be able to do that.”

Leggett said he has heard of alternatives but declined to say what they are. Both Bowers and Marcine D. Goodloe, president of the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire-Rescue Association, say they remain firm on their stances. Bowers: chuck the veto entirely. Goodloe: keep it as it stands.

Read The Herald-Mail articles on fire service funding in Washington County, MD

As the funding for fire departments and everything else continues to decrease around the country we have seen an increase in the number of news stories asking very tough questions about how the money that is available is being spent. The call for financial accountability has taken a toll on the reputation of a large number of fire departments around the country. It has become an important factor behind the image problem the fire service is experiencing.  

The issue is usually pushed by the public and political leaders or generated by a news organization's investigation (or a combination). While sometimes these citizens, politicians and reporters solidly hit the mark and uncover a real problem, there have been other cases where the data is flawed or someone's agenda took precedent over the facts.

A series of articles this week in The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown, Maryland looks closely at how money is distributed and spent by the Washington County Volunteer Fire & Rescue Association and the individual volunteer fire companies. The fire companies are funded by the county budget, municipal budgets, state funding, federal grants, the association and private gaming (click here for the article on funding sources). 

The headline on the main article is Where is the accountability?. It documents how financial reports the fire companies provide each year to the Washington County Division of Emergency Services, as a requirement for receiving money, are rarely examined. Director Kevin Lewis says the staff isn't available to scrutinize the reports either before or after the money is distributed. The other big issue in the articles is how the association distributes its portion of gaming money and how much it keeps.

The issue of financial accountability is currently being used elsewhere in Maryland as one of the reasons behind efforts to change the makeup of volunteer controlled fire commissions in Prince George's County and Montgomery County.

This is far from a volunteer issue. Locally, we had the story of questions being asked about the expense of take home cars for the command staff at the Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department in Virginia. Across the country, the combination of pensions and salaries for career firefighters has people outraged over what they see as excess compensation at a time when revenue continues to shrink.

My purpose in bringing all of this up is not to pass judgment on the facts in any of these examples but to ask are you as a fire chief, union president, volunteer president or association head ready to effectively deal with such scrutiny of your department, your firefighters and your finances?

I am far from expert in financial matters (I can barely balance the checkbook, even with Quicken), but I think I know a few things about dealing with your image and reputation based on my experience as a reporter and following the clear pattern of these stories across the country for the last three years or so.

Here are some tips (far from comprehensive and in no particular order).

Get your house in order. Deal with problems that will likely cause distraction from the real issue and give your enemies ammunition. For example, sick leave abuse allegations that could crop up at a time you are dealing with pension issues, or videos showing up on YouTube that cause reputation problems while you're trying to hold on to funding or authority.

Be proactive. Don't wait until you are under attack. Anticipate what the issues will be and start dealing with them now. If needed, do your own audit or investigation. Find out what the financial problems are and deal with them before someone else does it for you.

Don't defend the indefensible. No one wants to hear "that's the way we've always done it", or "it's tradition", as an argument when the financial picture is bleak. Cut your losses, move beyond the things you can't win and focus your political capital where it can be effective.

Have good solid arguments and justification for your positions. Focus on public safety and firefighter safety.

Don't just reach out to the public and the press for help when the going gets tough. You should have a communications strategy that helps you build reputation equity in your community each and every day. The public needs to know who you are, what you stand for and how you are relevant in their lives if they are going to come to your defense when you are under attack. The reporters also need to know who you are and that you're an honest and credible broker of information.

Be passionate about what you believe in but lose some of the emotion. Make a strong, believable case, but be very careful about using threats and attacks. They can and will backfire. In most cases it isn't going to work anymore to say stuff it, we're firefighters, then make a personal attack on the opposition and hold your breath until you turn blue.  

I am sure there are many more tips and ideas for weathering these storms. Certainly there is enough experience out there in recent years from those who have dealt first hand with these problems. Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

Read Prince George's County press release about Fire Commission changes

It is an interesting time in the neighboring counties of Montgomery and Prince George's in Maryland. Each county has bills readied that would significantly alter the relationship between the fire commission and the fire chief. Both proposals would shift power away from volunteers and to the career chief. This morning, The Washington Post's Victor Zapana has an article looking at the issues in each county.

Below is an excerpt, But it does not do justice to the article or the topic. Click here and take the time to read the whole thing.

On Tuesday, (Montgomery County) Council members Marc Elrich (D-At Large) and George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) will propose legislation that would take away the veto power of the commission, which has volunteer, union and civilian members.

The bill is the latest salvo in the struggle over how volunteers fit in local communities that were once once largely rural but now are mostly suburban and even becoming urban.

Montgomery County is not alone in grappling with the issue. Next door, Prince George’s County is considering changes, too.

On Tuesday, County Executive Rushern L. Baker III (D) will present the Prince George’s County Council with two bills to remake the county’s fire commission and strip it of supervisory and budgeting powers.

In both counties, the volunteers oppose the bills.

About a month after the events of September 11, 2001 I was asked by journalist Allison Gilbert to contribute my experiences at the Pentagon on that day to a book called Covering Catastrophe: Broadcast Journalists Report September 11. While I knew I was only one of many TV and radio reporters and anchors who would be contributing to the book, and Allison would only be using a couple of blurbs, it was an opportunity for me to write a chronology of the day and put a few thoughts down. 

Below is that account. It is a view of September 11 through the eyes of a TV reporter who arrived on Washington Boulevard in front of the Pentagon helipad six-minutes after impact. YouTube has some of the TV coverage from that day broadcast by my colleagues at WUSA-TV in Washington. I have added those clips at the appropriate times.

I conclude with a postscript written 40-days after the attacks that looks at the public's perception of firefighters following the sacrifice made by 343 members of the Fire Department of New York.

September 11, 2001

8:52 AM: Spending time with my son is always the best way to start the day. Sam, almost two years old, is eating his breakfast.  I bring my toast into the den to sit with him.  The television is on so we can do what we usually do in the morning, watch my wife, Hillary Howard, Sam’s mom, do the weather on WUSA-TV.  Instead of the “Early Show” ending to make way for local news, I see the open to a “CBS News Special Report”.  I turn the sound up, but don’t need Bryant Gumbel to tell me that something is very wrong at one of the World Trade Center towers.  The thick, black smoke pouring out of many windows and from the roof makes it very clear this is a major disaster in the making.  Gumbel says there is a report that a plane hit the building.  Those words send me out of the room and upstairs to quickly finish getting dressed.  

9:03 AM: I occasionally glance at the TV upstairs. A little slow to comprehend some of what it going on, it dawns on me that this appears to be a crystal clear day.  I am starting to wonder if this plane crash is really an accident.  As I think about calling the newsroom to suggest we might be dealing with a terrorist attack of some sort, any doubts I had are immediately erased.  My head quickly turns toward to the TV as I hear a woman say to Byrant Gumbel, “Oh, there is another one! Another plane just hit!  Oh, my gosh! Another plane has hit! Another building! Flew right into the middle of it.  Explosion.”

It hit me instantly that our lives have suddenly changed.

9:05 AM: On the phone to the station, I talk to Dave Roberts, our news director. I am convinced that if the people who did this were organized enough to quickly hit two targets like the World Trade Center towers, Washington would be next.  We decide I will head into town to start looking around for increased security measures and be ready if another attack occurs.

9:10 AM: No time for our normal goodbye ritual.  I give Sam a quick kiss and hug. Sam says something about “Jay Jay”.  “Jay Jay the Jet Plane”, Sam’s favorite TV show, comes on soon.  Not knowing what he may have already seen on TV this morning, I tell him calmly that “Jay Jay” is having a bad day.  With the uncertainty of what was ahead, I didn’t want to leave Sam.  I knew, though, he was in good hands with Glenda, the woman who takes care of him while we are at work.

9:15 AM: Realizing my good friend, Dan Patrick, our night assignment manager, is probably asleep and has no idea what is going on, I wake him.  Dan doesn’t believe me when I describe the events of the morning along with my concern that Washington is next.  Certainly I would have thought this was one of his sick practical jokes if the situation were reversed.  Hanging up, I’m not sure he is convinced that this is for real.

9:25 AM: My first stop, the State Department.  I circle the block and notice some extra officers being deployed around the building. Other street activity appears normal. Checking out the Pentagon never enters my mind.

9:38 AM: East bound on Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House, I turn north on 17^th Street.  At that moment the scanners in my car come alive.  On numerous police and fire radio frequencies, people are yelling that a plane hit the Pentagon.  Making a fast U-turn, I see the smoke rising across the Potomac River.  I get the assignment desk on the phone.  It’s a bad connection.  I yell into the phone, “Pentagon, Pentagon, Pentagon.  Send everyone to the Pentagon. I should be there soon."

I carefully bust a few lights on southbound 17^th Street.  Making a right turn, traffic is light on westbound Independence Avenue.

9:41 AM: Anchors Mike Buchanan and Andrea Roane break into CBS coverage to report that there has been an apparent plane crash at the Pentagon.  They have distant, but clear pictures of the Pentagon ablaze from our rooftop camera in Rosslyn. 

9:43 AM: There is also little traffic heading outbound on the Memorial Bridge. Across the river, I now have a distant view of the Pentagon. The very black smoke I am seeing is surely caused by the fuel, now burning, that was in the plane’s tanks.  I call the control room to try and get on the air, but the call cuts out as the anchors lead to me.

9:44 AM: Somehow I end up on southbound Washington Boulevard directly in front of the Pentagon helipad. That is good news, but for the moment it does me no good because there is wireless gridlock.  I am unable to get a phone call out.

9:46 AM: I have my home video camera out and on the tripod, rolling off a few shots. The phone still isn’t working.

9:48 AM: Walking down Washington Boulevard is Heather Cabot a recently hired reporter for WUSA.  She tells me her phone isn’t getting out either.  I ask her to take over my camera and I will work on trying to get a phone call to the station. Heather tells me she is with photographer Mike Trammel.  I look back to see Trammel and put my camera away.

9:52 AM: Heather’s phone finally gets through.  I describe the scene as firefighters from Ft. Meyer and National Airport put the first water and foam on the burning Pentagon. Some people are looking at the sky, making sure another plane isn’t approaching. I suggest to Heather, that it is probably a good idea for us to do the same. Amazingly traffic on northbound Washington Boulevard has not been blocked and drivers are just whizzing by the burning Pentagon as they head to work.

A familiar red van pulls a few feet past us. It is one of our microwave vans with Bruce Bookholtz at the wheel. I am a bit amazed that, with no communication, we all end up at the same spot.

We hear a number of small pops and explosions. I am guessing those are tires popping from the vehicles that were parked against the building and are now burning, or possibly some small canisters exploding. Among the vehicles on fire is the new crash/rescue fire truck, belonging to the Ft. Meyer Fire Department. It is stationed at the Pentagon and is routinely on hand for helicopter landings and takeoffs, in case of an emergency. It is a fire truck designed for just this rare event, a plane crash, and it can’t be used.   

9:55 AM: Heather tells me to look down on the street around us. I was so intent on watching the burning Pentagon, I hadn’t noticed there are what appear to be small pieces from the airplane at my feet. I had already seen the large amount of debris scattered on the Pentagon lawn, but so far no piece is large enough to be easily identified as an airplane part.

9:57 AM: Our first live video is on the air. You see flames crawling up the familiar face of the Pentagon along with some of the first victims as they are carried away from the building.

9:59 AM: I am on the air with Michael Kelly, an eyewitness Heather pulled out of the crowd. Kelly was driving on nearby I-395 when he saw the plane take aim on the Pentagon.

10:00 AM: Anchor Andrea Roane interrupts me, “Dave, Dave, Dave. We want to break in, because we want to go back to New York, where Dan Rather is anchoring our coverage, where one of the towers at the World Trade Center has collapsed”.

These words stop me in my tracks for a moment.  I have no TV monitor to see this for myself.  Just Andrea’s words.  It doesn’t compute in my brain.  I had been a firefighter.  I had studied high-rise firefighting.  There had been a number of major high-rise fires throughout the world that burned for many hours.  To my knowledge there had never been a catastrophic collapse of an entire building.  This was just one of many things happening today that no one has ever had to deal with. 

Knowing how aggressive New York firefighters are, I realize there must be scores of dead rescuers. The last pictures I saw out of New York were from an hour ago. Even then it was pretty apparent, from the amount of fire, that anyone at the impact points and above had little chance of survival.

10:05 AM: They come back to me for our first interview with someone who was in the Pentagon at the time of the attack. Two or three men on stretchers pass by us. It is our first close-up look at the injured and they are severely, if not critically burned over a good portion of their bodies.  These victims are flown out by helicopter to a hospital burn unit.  Their lives will never be the same.

10:10 AM: A Virginia State Trooper starts moving everyone back.  There is concern another plane is coming toward the Pentagon. We don’t move.

10:15 AM: As they come back to our live shot, five floors suddenly collapse around the jet's impact point. There is now a large gash on the west side of the Pentagon.

10:18 AM: People start running away from the Pentagon. This time, FBI agents are telling us another plane is just minutes out.  They order us to move immediately.  I am able to get in a few quick words, attempting to explain to Mike and Andrea what is happening, before the transmitter is turned off and the live truck’s mast starts coming down.

10:28 AM: We move just a short distance off Washington Boulevard and down the ramp to Columbia Pike.  As Bruce tries to re-establish a signal, I hear through my earpiece that the second tower in New York has collapsed.  I just can’t imagine what it going on in Manhattan.  The death toll must be staggering. I recall my wife once telling me her grandfather hauled truckloads of steel used to build the Twin Towers. Now those buildings don’t exist. 

10:32 AM: We are again feeding live pictures of the burning Pentagon.

10:36 AM: Witnesses are giving different descriptions of the plane that hit the building. Some say it is an American Airlines 757, while others believe it was a business jet. The fire is still burning out of control.

10:38 AM: Mike Buchanan asks me if I have seen any large pieces of an airplane at the scene. As I answer this question, he interrupts me,“Hold on Dave. Hold on just a second. We’ve got a bulletin from AP. A large plane has just crashed in Western Pennsylvania.” 

Mike also reads an AP report about a car bomb going off at the State Department. We are just across the river from State and we didn’t hear an explosion. 

10:42 AM: An F-16 makes a low pass near the Pentagon. That, along with the plane crash in Pennsylvania, makes me think there was something to the threats that forced us move away from the building. I notice a large group of people huddled under the Washington Boulevard overpass.

10:52 AM: A Lt. Colonel with Air Force Public Affairs passes our location.  We snag him. He urges people to keep far away from the Pentagon. If you have loved ones you can’t account for, he asks that you not come to the Pentagon.  He has no idea of the number of dead or injured.  Not much in the way of information, but it is the first official word.

WUSA anchorman Gordon Peterson, who was originally sent to nearby National Airport for a flight to New York, arrives at our location.

10:54 AM: Mike and Andrea confirm there was no car bomb at the State Department. A little bit of good news.

11:06 AM: Gordon interviews Mike Walter, a television reporter for “USA Today Live”.  Mike, on his way to work in Rosslyn, witnessed the Pentagon crash and offers the most vivid description so far. 

11:10 AM: We are again ordered to move our live truck further away from the Pentagon.

11:31 AM: Our shot is back up.  This time, from a hill in front of the Quick Mart.  This Citgo, looks like a normal service station, but it is exclusively for use by military personnel. 

11:39 AM: The fire is spreading.  Suddenly there are flames showing in a number of windows far from the point of impact.

People again start moving quickly from the Pentagon. There is more talk of another hijacked plane heading our way. 

11:52 AM: Again, more people rush from the Pentagon.

12:16 PM: I listen to Dan Patrick, with a phone report, describe his attempts to get from Northern Virginia to the TV station in Northwest Washington.  Dan says he had to show identification to a police officer and explain his business in the city. Only then was he allowed to cross Key Bridge into Georgetown. The city is in lockdown.

12:18 PM: Gordon notices an ambulance convoy from the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Rescue Squad pull up along Columbia Pike. It was a repeat of a scene I had witnessed, just on the other side of the Pentagon, almost 20 years earlier. The same Maryland squad sent a similar contingent after Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14^th Street Bridge on January 13th, 1982.

12:20 PM: If I am not convinced how much turmoil there is in the country from these attacks, this does it.  Mike and Andrea announce Disney World is being evacuated.

12:28 PM: A Navy public affairs officer officially confirms what has been painfully obvious. Besides the dead on the aircraft, Pentagon workers are dead inside the building. He has no idea how many people didn’t get out. 

12:32 PM: Talking on the air with Mike and Andrea, it still isn’t clear which of the four hijacked jets smashed into the Pentagon.  Right now, American Airlines believes the hijacked flight from Dulles crashed into one of the towers in New York.

Police move everyone, including the news media, off the hillside. Bruce pulls the truck around to the other end of the service station lot. This fourth move winds up being our last. It becomes home for the better part of two weeks.

1:19 PM: The first official briefing from the Pentagon. Rear Admiral Craig Quigley, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, announces that this was “a full assault on the United States of America”.  The admiral says there was no way to prepare for an attack like this. I am shaking my head at the fact that the spokesman for the military headquarters of the United States of America is forced to talk to the world from a service station parking lot.

1:30 PM: CNN Pentagon Correspondent Jamie McIntyre joins me on the air for a few minutes. Our first time working together was at WTOP radio, 20 years ago, covering the Air Florida plane crash. Jamie says they always anticipated a terrorist attack at the Pentagon, but figured it would be on the other side of the building where all the top brass is located. 

Off camera, Jamie tells me that just yesterday his son’s class in middle school had a discussion about the bombing in Oklahoma City.  Jamie’s son told the class he always worries about his dad being hurt by an attack like this, because his dad works at the Pentagon. Jamie tried getting word to the school to let his son know he was okay. 

1:50 PM: Andrea announces that the Urban Search and Rescue Team from Fairfax County, known as Virginia Task Force 1, has been activated and will be at the Pentagon shortly. 

American Airlines now says they aren’t sure where Flight 77 ended up.

WUSA-TV's Mike Trammel's shot of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (third from the right) helping carry one of the injured from the Pentagon to a waiting ambulance.

1:56 PM: Admiral Quigley sets the tone for his second briefing by saying “you are going to have a lot more questions than I have answers.” Quigley doesn’t have an answer to the one question all of us are asking. He can only say, “we know there are casualties.”

He tells us Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was among the Pentagon workers hurrying from the building after the explosion.  Rumsfeld helped the injured for about 15 minutes, getting several people onto stretchers. Then he went back inside to the National Military Command Center. The command center is reportedly smoky, but not damaged. (NOTE: Approaching the one-year anniversary of the attack, CNN's Vito Maggiolo contacted me after looking at the raw video from September 11 shot by WUSA-TV photojournalist Mike Trammel. While many people had viewed that video, and all of it played out in front my own eyes, Vito was the only person to notice that one of the men carrying a stretcher with one of the first victims removed from the Pentagon was Secretary Rumsfeld.)  

2:10 PM: Virginia Task Force 1 arrives.  Normally Fairfax County’s Urban Search and Rescue Team is sent to some far off land by way of military transport.  This time it was just a quick drive down Interstate 66 to the county on its eastern border.

2:23 PM: WUSA Photographer Greg Guise is able to provide some details surrounding the hijacked jet that went down in Pennsylvania.  Greg grew up a few miles from the crash site and has business interests in the community.  Greg relays a description of the scene from a radio engineer friend in Somerset County.

2:43 PM: For the past few hours we’ve seen no ambulances leave the area with lights and siren. We’re pretty certain that anyone alive is already being treated.  Now reporter Jennifer Ryan, at the Virginia Hospital Center, confirms no more victims are expected from the Pentagon.

2:49 PM: Mike and Andrea report it’s now fairly clear the plane wreckage at the Pentagon is from American Airlines Flight 77 out of Dulles.

2:55 PM: Rear Admiral Stephen Pietropaoli, U.S. Navy Office of Information, tells us that in the recently renovated wedge of the Pentagon, where the attack occurred, there is blast resistant glass on the windows. In the days to come we hear from many who believe that this very expensive glass saved lives.

3:53 PM: Now briefing us at the Citgo press center, Pentagon spokeswoman Torie Clark and Defense Protective Service Chief John Jester.  Jester tells us the impact from the jet extends through to the C ring, the middle of the 5 rings of the Pentagon. All we see from our location, is that a portion of the E ring, the outer most portion of the Pentagon, has crumbled.

Clark admits she can’t confirm that all members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are accounted for. That news is a bit unsettling.  We also hear about a Navy captain who burned his hands rescuing others. Clark says that man is already back from the hospital and wants to be put to work again, helping at the Pentagon.

4:12 PM: Rumors have been spreading that the U.S. military brought down the hijacked plane in Pennsylvania.  Rear Admiral Craig Quigley says, “That didn’t happen.  I cannot explain to you the cause of the crash of the airplane near Pittsburgh, but it was not engagement by a U.S. fighter aircraft.”

The Pentagon now confirms all the Joint Chiefs are accounted for.

4:54 PM: The second Urban Search and Rescue Team arrives.  This one is from Montgomery County, Maryland.

5:04 PM: I see International Association of Firefighters General President, Harold Schaitberger and his press person, George Burke arrive at the Citgo.  I grab Harold for a live interview. Harold has been in close touch with his people in New York. We learn for the first time that more than 200 New York firefighters probably perished when the towers collapsed.  He calls firefighters “our domestic soldiers”. Schaitberger says the civilian death toll will be in the thousands.  Off camera he lets me know that much of FDNY’s command staff was lost, including the Chief of the Department and the head of Special Operations.

5:36 PM: Harold Schaitberger joins me again with the story of two Ft. Meyer firefighters who were at the Pentagon when the crash occurred.  They were standing near the fire truck we saw burning this morning. Both men were knocked down and injured by the force of the crash.  They helped rescue a group of people through some of the office windows, before the firefighters themselves were hospitalized.

6:42 PM: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfield briefs the press.  For the first time since the crash, the press conference is held inside the Pentagon.  I watch it from our van. Pushed for a body count, Rumsfeld says, “It will not be a few”.  The Pentagon “will be in business tomorrow”.

8:45 PM: New information has been slow in coming, but marching up Columbia Pike with the television lights reflecting off his orange vest is a member of Montgomery County’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Team.  Captain Scott Graham gives us the first solid information about the fire and rescue efforts.  Scott becomes a lifeline for information in the days to come.

Despite the large fire still burning, Graham says the USAR team members are always optimistic about finding people alive.  He says, “We have to look at it as a rescue effort for us. We have to look at it as a very unstable building.  And our job, pretty much, is to take the name of the Pentagon off the outside of it and go in and rescue the people that are in there”.

9:52 PM: Another familiar face shows up at the Citgo. Ed Plaugher is the fire chief of Arlington County.  The Pentagon is in Arlington County, Virginia and Chief Plaugher is the man in charge of the fire and rescue operations.  None of the other reporters nearby seem to know who Plaugher is, or if they do, they don’t care.  Ed joins me live at 10:00 PM with the first solid news about the loss of life at the Pentagon.  There are no figures as of yet, but the Pentagon has given him a range to work with.  Plaugher says it is believed that anywhere from 100 to 800 people work in the area where the impact occurred.  While that is fairly large range, it lets us know that the death toll will likely be in the hundreds at the Pentagon, as compared to the thousands presumed dead in New York.  Plaugher’s guess is, when it is over, the number at the Pentagon will be in the low hundreds.

Plaugher later receives some heat when his statements are taken out of context.  Some news reports claim Plaugher estimated the death toll at 800.  Days later we learn that 125 were killed on the ground and 64 perished aboard Flight 77.

On another topic Chief Plaugher says, “To be honest with you, we always were afraid of the Pentagon as being a target, but never in our wildest dreams to this extent.  I am still in disbelief.”

11:03 PM: Fire has broken through in at least four places along the Pentagon roof.  Chief Plaugher says aggressive interior firefighting operations will cease until daylight.  But, crews overnight, will continue to pour in water from the outside to keep the fire from spreading further. 

I relay a phone conversation with Scott Graham a few minutes before our 11:00 PM newscast.  Scott and most of the USAR team members from Montgomery and Fairfax Counties worked very closely with Deputy Chief Ray Downey from the Fire Department of New York.  Downey, commander of  FDNY’s Special Operations, is unaccounted for after the towers collapsed.  Scott says Downey commanded all the USAR teams in Oklahoma City after the bombing there.  He says Downey wrote the book on urban search and rescue. Skills Downey taught will be utilized in New York and Arlington by hundreds of rescuers in the difficult days to come. His voice cracking, Scott tells me, “We lost a damn good man”.

We lost a lot of good men and women today.

 

October 27, 2001

11:15 PM: As I am looking back at September 11^th, I have just spent a week covering the deaths of two Washington, D.C. postal workers, from inhalation anthrax. Others are hospitalized because of anthrax that was sent through the U.S. Mail. No one knows how this story will play out.

There is a lot of uncertainty since September 11^th.  Our war efforts, our security in public places, our ability to travel safely by air, our economic future. Like all parents, Hillary and I worry over what this will mean for our young son. 

This much I’m sure of.  Through the thick smoke hanging over New York and Washington, it became clear that some remarkable people walk among us.

Some are just ordinary citizens who put other people’s lives ahead of their own. Staying behind, trying to make sure everyone gets out. 

Others are paid to protect us. But I don’t think anyone believes for a moment that a police officer, paramedic or firefighter’s modest salary is enough to encourage someone to walk into the places that these men and women did on September 11^th.  It takes much more than money. It takes heart, and courage, and a belief you can make a difference.

I know firefighters the best. Six years in a busy volunteer company during my youth, and almost 30 years making the fire service my beat as a reporter, have given me some perspective.

In many big cities, including our Nation’s Capital, the fire departments have long taken a back seat when it comes to funding.  Citizens who can tell you how many times the police patrol car comes down their block, or how many officers are walking the beat, have no idea how many firefighters are on duty in the neighborhood fire station.  Political leaders know this to be true and through the years have made drastic cuts in fire protection, often without protest from the public.

Through the years, I have reported many stories where citizens and firefighters have died because of these cuts. Just last week an understaffed ladder company became an issue in Houston, Texas, after a fire captain died in a high-rise apartment building fire.

Firefighters are can-do people. Their skills at making things work under adversity often hides from the public the shortcomings in their staffing, equipment and facilities.

Some of the good that has come from the sacrifices made by the 343 members of FDNY who died on September 11th, is the recognition, by the public, of what firefighters really do.

A recent trip to Arlington County Fire Station #2 brought this home.  The firehouse is covered with cards and letters from all over the world.  Many are from school children, with drawings of the firefighters in action at the Pentagon and World Trade Center.  All say thanks. 

Veterans of more than 20 years in the fire service are astounded by the reaction these days as they drive through local streets.  People stop and wave. When the firefighters walk into a building in uniform, they are applauded.

On October 7^th, I was at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  Just two hours before military action in Afghanistan began, President Bush told the stories of some of the 99 domestic soldiers who died in the line of duty in the United States last year. I watched as spouses and children received a flag and a red rose, and heard a bell toll in honor of their loved one, our hero.

I have forced myself on most days since September 11^th to read the New York Post, Daily News and Times and the accounts of the daily funerals of New York firefighters. It is difficult to read about the pain their wives and children are going through. It is the least, though, that we can do. It is important to remember this unbelievable sacrifice.

My hope is that people all over the United States are paying very close attention to these same stories of heroism.  My hope is that they don’t forget these stories when someone is trying to save a little money and close down their local firehouse.

Right now when Sam sees a fire truck he says, “Evan”.  “Revvin’ Evan” is the animated fire engine on that “Jay Jay the Jet Plane” cartoon show he loves.  When Sam is old enough, I will make sure he knows a lot more about firefighters.  I will make sure Sam understands exactly who those people were climbing up the clogged, smoke filled, stairways, as he sat in his high chair, watching the first pictures transmitted from New York, at 8:52 AM, on September 11^th, 2001.

 

Watch raw video of rescue

From Matt Jablow at WUSA9.com:

Montgomery County Fire and Rescue have released the 9-1-1 call from Monday's amazing river rescue after a woman was thrown from her kayak on the Potomac.

We still don't know a lot about the woman, except for the fact that she's 31-years-old and lives in Woodbridge.

But Wednesday, we have a much better idea what she was going through when she was suddenly separated from her kayak on a fast-moving stretch of the Potomac near Dickerson, Md.

The call was made by a bird watcher who was standing on the banks of the river and saw the whole thing happen.

Slideshow from water rescue

Recent rains in the Washington area have sent the Potomac River out of its banks. The two big stories so far are the rescue of a woman caught on video in Montgomery County, Maryland and the flooding of the Georgetown waterfront in DC.

Story by Jay Mishkin at WUSA9.com:

Montgomery County firefighters rescued a woman clinging to a tree in the Potomac River.   The woman was stuck near Darnestown.

Officials say she was kayaking and lost control of her boat.  A fire department spokesman says they are taking her to a local hospital.

There have been several rescues in that section of the Potomac today, as high waters have created dangerous conditions.

Slideshow from Georgetown flooding

Also from WUSA9.com:

DC Fire/EMS units are on the Georgetown waterfront helping with evacuations after significant flooding in some buildings.

The affected area includes waterfront restaurants in the 3000 K Street, Northwest. 

Cars were towed from flooded parking garages.

From The Washington Post's Patricia Sullivan:

Some businesses in the Washington Harbor area of the Georgetown waterfront were evacuated as a precaution about 10 a.m., said Pete Piringer, a spokesman for the D.C. fire department. The department shut off gas and electric utilities between 8 and 9 a.m., as rising water flooded the basement and parking garage, submerging some parked cars.

Katherine Siahaan, who works at Gelateria Dolce Vita and arrived about 7:30 a.m., said “We didn’t think it was going to be any trouble, but the water kept rising.” By 10 a.m., barstools and a cash register were floating around inside the shop.

Tony and Joe’s restaurant sustained the most damage, Piringer said. Most of the damage could have been avoided had the floodwall been in place, he said.

“We were quite surprised when we arrived on the scene and the floodwall wasn’t erected,” Piringer said. Around noon, with the help of a crane, the floodwall was raised.

Read March 18th statement by Burtonsville VFD

STATter911.com previous coverage

Mike Ward at Firegeezer.com provides insight from thewatchdesk.com

A spokeswoman for the Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Department has told Gazette.net, "As of 0700 hours Sunday morning, we suffered the most devastating loss of leadership in the history of the department. Both our chief and our president have resigned, [and] the majority of our operating officers have resigned their positions as well."

This is the latest development in the battle between the leadership at Burtonsville and Montgomery County Chief Richard Bowers.

Here's more from the article by Jeremy Arias:

Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Chief Robert E. Ryan and four other senior volunteer officials resigned from their posts as Burtonsville volunteers Saturday while also requesting demotions from the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service that oversees both career and volunteer firefighters countywide.

The move came in response to county fire and rescue service Chief Richard R. Bowers' Feb. 24 decision to transfer command of the Burtonsville station to career firefighters following complaints that the station's volunteers were mistreating their career counterparts, even urinating on the door handles of career firefighters' vehicles, said county fire and rescue spokesman Assistant Chief Scott Graham. Volunteer officials contested the complaints, saying those that were found to be substantive had been investigated and dealt with while also arguing that Bowers' action was illegal, said Burtonsville Volunteer Firefighter Department spokeswoman Tami Bulla.

Since Saturday, a steady number of volunteers have shown up to help the department staff its emergency response vehicles, according to both Graham and Bulla.

At least two command-level volunteers, a captain and a lieutenant, remain active with the Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Department, Bulla said, but the long-term future of volunteers at the station is uncertain.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Nine firefighters hurt in Calvert County, Maryland: We have details, lots of video and links to still pictures from the fire that started in a chimney late Saturday night in Huntingtown, Maryland. Two of the firefighters went to the burn unit. One has inhalation burns. Click here for our coverage. Christopher Naum at CommandSafety.com has a good before look at this mega-McMansion and diagrams the location for us. Click here.

FiretruckBlog.com’s Antique of the Week: Check out the video of this 1916 American LaFrance that Glenn Usdin posted.

A kiss is still a kiss, but Dave is looking for much more meaning: Please take a moment to view the pictures from last week’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Savannah, Georgia and what I had to say about them. The images may be the most encouraging thing I have seen in a long time when it comes to the reputation of firefighters. Click here. And join me in Indianapolis on Thursday in room 125-126 at 1:30 PM for my thoughts on how to manage your reputation when news moves at the speed of light. The session is called “The PIO Reporter: Telling Your Story in a World Where “Spin” Doesn’t Work”.  

Coincidentally, at the very same time, there is a presentation scheduled on social media in rooms 134-135. The host is THE Fire Critic, Rhett Fleitz. As loyal readers know, we have taken a very special interest here at STATter911.com in the career of Lt. Fleitz and always look for ways to promote his work. That’s why we have no problem publicizing this competing session, once again. We also did it in a language that most firefighters in the United States speak and understand. If you click here you will see that THE Fire Critic has a different view on this topic. But, as always, we take the high road when it comes to Rhett. And as a public service, here’s a tip if you aren’t certain you are in the correct room on Thursday. If you just hear a voice and no one is visibile behind the podium, that will be Rhett’s presentation.

Speaking of images: Two people in the fire service who are always worth listening to have some rather serious thoughts about the image that may be presented by the 9-11 Museum. Read the column in  Human Events by Bobby Halton and Frank Ricci.

And on the topic of 9-11: The National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is holding a 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb at Lucas Oil Stadium during FDIC. It starts at 11:30 AM Friday morning. You can sign up now. The event is limited to the first 343 firefighters. Click here. You can also host your own 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb for the upcoming 10th anniversary of the attacks. Click here for details.

“Just because you’re a first responder, it doesn’t give you the excuse to drive like a maniac”: The quote from the Village of Chester, New York police chief after Kiryas Joel ambulance corps member Menachem Kramer was cited for 21 traffic violations following his response to an accident a month ago. Police say Kramer’s 1999 Tahoe forced a police officer’s vehicle off the road. From RecordOnline.com- “According to the report, Kramer drove at excessive speeds, as well as down the center of Brookside Avenue, forcing cars in the turning lanes to quickly veer out of the way — some into the path of oncoming traffic.” Police say the incident was already clearing when Kramer was responding.

Big one tips in Germany: A Bronto Skylift with a reach of almost 300 feet failed to make a turn on a roadway in Germany. Firegeezer has that story.

USAR teams back home: The teams from Fairfax County and Los Angeles County returned home from the mission to Japan. Click here and here for stories.

Union billboards its complaints: In Lancaster, Pennsylvania a recent no confidence vote in the chief has been followed by a billboard asking the citizens about safety. Here’s the story.

Woman who fled to Nigeria after deadly day care fire is coming back to Houston: Houston’s fire chief apologized to the families who lost children after a fire in a day care center. Fire investigators and the Harris County District Attorney battled over an arrest warrant while Jessica Tata left the country. We told you Saturday that Tata had turned herself into authorities in her native Nigeria. Now there is official word she is returning to Houston and should be back by tonight. Read more.

Last week’s fire in Howard County, Maryland: While traveling the last few days I failed to link to Doug Walton’s photos from Friday’s apartment fire in Columbia that left two firefighters injured. Check out Doug’s coverage.

Montgomery County, Maryland house fire: Jeff Krauss has a series of photos to go with the one to the left from a house fire Sunday afternoon on Whites Ford Way in Potomac. An 87-year-old man is reported in critical condition with burns and smoke inhalation. An 85-year-old woman suffered smoke inhalation and a firefighter had was burned on the shoulder.

Volunteer recruitment in Nebraska: Last week’s volunteer summit in Washington hosted by the IAFC is already making news back home. One of those who attended and is dealing with recruitment issues is featured in a story from the Omaha area. Click here.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Tulsa, Oklahoma apartment fire: This was a fire just before dawn on Sunday at the Monaco Park Apartments.

Coverage of 2009 incident at Burtonsville VFD

From WJLA-TV:

In a move that some firefighters said is long overdue, Montgomery County took over operations at the Burtonsville Volunteer Fire Department in Montgomery County last week.

What’s allegedly taken place over the last year prompted this drastic step: Public urination, fornication, destruction of property and delays in responding to calls, according to the Montgomery County Fire Department spokesman Scott Graham.

Some firefighters at Station 15 said the situation has become so bad that no one wants to work at the station anymore.

The head of the Montgomery County Career Firefighters’ Association put it this way: “It’s a zoo and the animals have been running the zoo.”

Above is the story on the 2009 incident where a career firefighter was urinated on by a firehouse guest.

In a memo chief Richard Bowers sent out Thursday, anyone now entering the station must report to an on-duty career officer. They must also follow any orders that officers issues.

While leadership there has been put on notice, the volunteers can still carry out their duties. The department spokesman said citizens are still safe.

The man who leads the county’s volunteer fire fighters said this is retaliation for the volunteers’ activities working to oppose the county’s failed ambulance fee proposal.

Eric Bernard, of the Montgomery County Volunteer Fire and Rescue Association, admits there was a volunteer who brought a guest who urinated in a bunk bed. But he said that was dealt with in 2009.