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Scores of off-duty DC firefighters wearing the workplace banned DCFD logo showed up at the Historic Sixth & I Synagogue in Northwest Washington for Mayor Vincent Gray's State of the District address. The firefighters are getting attention after they walked out in unison before the question and answer period following Chief Kenneth Ellerbe's speech on January 24 discussing the state of the DC Fire & EMS Department.

A verbal directive received in numerous firehouses on Saturday told firefighters to behave tonight or face punishment. Spokesman Lon Walls, who wrote that the January 24 walkout was a 'racist act' on his personal social media accounts, told The Washington Post's Mike Debonis yesterday that the order did not come from the chief:

Lon Walls, an FEMS spokesman, said “there was no directive” and explained a lieutenant who is also a union member “misconstrued” departmental discussions.

Andrea Noble at The Washington Times reports the Facebook post and Tweets by Lon Walls that brought up the issue of race in connection with the earlier protest were removed shortly after Noble questioned Walls about the comments Monday night. According to Noble, those in the chain of command above Walls, did not respond to questions about this issue:

Reached by phone Tuesday and asked whether he shared his spokesman’s view that the walkout was racist in nature, Chief Ellerbe said he could not talk because he was heading into a meeting. He would be available later but did not respond to subsequent calls.

A spokesman for Mayor Vincent C. Gray also did not respond to messages left Tuesday asking how the mayor regarded the protests and Mr. Walls‘ comments.

The video above and story below by ABC7/WJLA-TV reporter Sam Ford were filed prior to the Mayor Vincent Gray's speech this evening:

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray is set to deliver his yearly State of the District address–but he may have some unhappy guests at the speech.

As city staffers prepared for the mayor's State of the District address, questions lingered if D.C. firefighters would walk out on Gray as they did with Fire Chief Kenneth Ellerbe last month. In a tweet, Fire Dept. spokesman Lon Walls called it racism and disrespect.

Many are expected to show up for Gray's address.

On Tuesday, neither Ellerbe nor union president Ed Smith would comment on the tweet, but Smith said Fire Dept. brass have warned that any walkouts tonight will be punished.

"We've received numerous reports there have been various journal messages given in firehouses across the city," Smith said.

At issue is Ellerbe's proposal to shift D.C. firefighters from working one 24-hour day followed by three days off–as they have done for decades–to 12 hours on, 12 hours off.

"It's an EMS department with a few fires," said Kenny Lyons, D.C. ambulance union president.

Lyons said the vast majority of calls nowadays are ambulance calls and firefighters are running the vast majority of the ambulances and that a 24-hour shift endangers patient care."What's best for patient care should reign supreme here, not what's best for individuals or groups of individuals," Lyons said.

But the change to 12 hour shifts would force many firefighters to lose other jobs thy have or quit the department.

Emotions are high, but their union leader wants only professionalism Tuesday night in Washington.

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Last night's story on order over firefighters appearing at Mayor Vincent Gray's speech

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There is another aspect of the ongoing dispute between DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Kenneth Ellerbe and many of his firefighters. After firefighters wearing the banned for work DCFD logos walked out of Chief Ellerbe's speech on January 24, his spokesman, Lon Walls, wrote about it on Twitter and Facebook. What he wrote is the subject of an article today by Andrea Noble in The Washington Times:

Mr. Walls, in one of at least three separate comments on the subject posted on his personal Facebook and Twitter accounts, described the walkout as a “racist act.”

“Just witnessed a blatant display of racism and disrespect shown to an African American leader,” Mr. Walls wrote in a Twitter post on Jan. 24, shortly after Chief Ellerbe’s address concluded.

In a subsequent post, Mr. Walls referred Twitter followers to his Facebook page, where he linked to a news story about the walkout and wrote that “the response depicted in the news story was the most blatant, ignorant and racist public display of disrespect I have ever seen.”

The walkout consisted mostly but not exclusively of white firefighters.

Asked Monday to verify the authenticity of the accounts, Mr. Walls noted that the comments were made on his personal, rather than government-related, accounts.

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Read entire letter from IAFF Local 36 President Ed Smith

More from Washington City Paper's Alan Suderman in Loose Lips blog

A new issue appears to be on the table in the ongoing problems between DC Fire & EMS Department Chief Kenneth Ellerbe and some of his firefighters. It revolves around a verbal order transmitted Saturday through the chain of command to DC firehouses. It addresses the possibility of protests at Mayor Vincent Gray's State of the District speech to be delivered tomorrow night at the Historic Sixth & I Synagogue in Northwest.

The warning of potential punishment comes following the walkout by firefighters at Chief Ellerbe's January 24 speech on the state of the department.

Here's the description of the latest issue from a letter posted today by IAFF Local 36 president Ed Smith:

Washington City Paper's Alan Suderman, who writes the column Loose Lips, say he has pictures from a half dozen log books from city firehouses documenting the verbal order that came via Deputy Chief Larry Jackson. But the word from the department spokesman denies the involvement of Chief Ellerbe:

Ellerbe spokesman Lon Walls says the whole episode is "much ado about nothing." Walls says that while Ellerbe expects his troops to behave professionally at the mayor's speech, he did not send out "any kind of directive like that."

"There's not been any message," says Walls.

The Washington Post's Mike Debonis has more from spokesman Walls in his District of Debonis blog:

Lon Walls, an FEMS spokesman, said “there was no directive” and explained a lieutenant who is also a union member “misconstrued” departmental discussions.

Walls said the department “respects their right to freedom of speech,” but declined to say that firefighters who wished to protest could do so without fear of discipline. “It would not be appreciated,” he said. “It would be frowned upon.”

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Audio from PhillyFireNews.com

The link above has audio from a fire just before 6:00 this morning at 1618 N. 20th Street in North Philadelphia. You will hear the evacuation ordered at 5:28 in the audio, followed by the call for additional medic units for injured firefighters.

UPDATE from philly.com:

(Commissioner Lloyd) Ayers identified the seriously injured firefighter as Lt. Marvin Melvin, a member of the department since 1999. He is assigned to Engine 27, located at 19th and Master streets.

Melvin was in critical but stable condition Sunday night in the burn unit at Temple University Hospital. Ayers said he was alert and talking to his family, and "doing well."

Bill Gault, president of Local 22 of the firefighters' union, said Melvin was burned on both arms and his back.

From KYW-TV:

According to Philadelphia Fire Deputy Chief Michael Wahl, the call for the house fire came in at 5:58 a.m. at 1618 North 20th Street. Upon arrival initial reports were of heavy smoke and a couple trapped inside.

Upon entering the home, firefighters rescued two people while two others escaped on their own. Three women and one child were taken to Hahnemann hospital for treatment and were in stable condition.

Details on injuries from PhillyFireNews.com:

Three firefighters were injured while rescuing the trapped victims. One member with first and second degree burns to his arms. Two other firefighters were transported with minor injuries. Four civilians were also transported with smoke inhalation.

From the AP:

Fire officials say a blaze in a north Philadelphia row home injured seven people, including three firefighters, one critically.

Authorities say the fire in the three-story building was reported just before 6 a.m. Sunday. Arriving crews have reported heavy black smoke pouring from the third floor. Firefighters battled the flames for about an hour.

One firefighter has been taken to a hospital burn unit in critical but stable condition. Two other firefighters are reported to be in stable condition.

Firefighters helped two people from the building while two others escaped on their own. All four had minor injuries that were treated at a hospital.

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Read Toledo Fire Department report

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The Toledo Fire Department issued a brief report after investigating how a January 13 fire in an apartment building was handled. The report was ordered following the discovery of the body of 35-year-old Delano Fleming after the 12-unit building was demolished. The fire was reported at 3:45 AM at 3125 Meadowbrook Court.

According to the report, the fire started on the second floor and was rapidly extending to the third floor and attic. Firefighters rescued four children and an adult from the second floor and conducted a "high risk search" of the third floor without water. An adult on the third floor was also brought out safely.

A first floor search had not been completed when the order to evacuate came at 4:07. Left unchecked were apartment 37 and apartment 38, where Fleming lived. Firefighters were given indication by neighbors that everyone was accounted for but went back into the building after new information was received. Details from the Toledo Blade:

While the building was still burning, crews were told that “someone may be in the apartment on the left,” which was apartment 37.

Two firefighters and the on-scene commander went into the building to search 37. One firefighter went into 38 — which had an open door, the report states.

“It was dark and he [the firefighter] felt some heat in the hall near the bedrooms. He was unable to see any furniture from his position due to the darkness,” the report, prepared by Deputy Chief Gary Martin, states. “He did not search the apartment because of the belief that everyone was accounted for and they were inside to check apartment 37.”

“At that time, we still didn’t have any information that anyone else was missing, other than to go back after they were pulled out to check 37,” said Lieutenant Hertzfeld.

Below is earlier news coverage of this story.

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Above is a picture from IAFF Local 36 showing one of its members handing a t-shirt to President Barack Obama yesterday during an event at Arlington County (VA) Fire Department Station 105. President Obama was there to talk about his jobs initiative to help veterans find work as firefighters, police officers and park rangers. The President is now the owner of a shirt that firefighters in the District of Columbia would not be allowed to wear while on-duty because it has the DCFD insignia banned by Chief Kenneth Ellerbe. The Washington Post's Mike Debonis writing in his District of Debonis blog is on top of this story:

Ed Smith, president of Local 36 of the International Association of Fire Fighters, said there were no political overtones intended in handing POTUS the shirt.

”Those were shirts we had made up last year, before the change,” he said. “Those are the shirts we wear when we’re out in the community, attending different events. … We try to look uniform.”

Lon Walls, an FEMS spokesperson, said he wasn’t reading too much into the giveaway.

“People give stuff to the president all the time,” he said. “I’m sure he doesn’t know what all the issues are.”

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From Dallas, Texas, the news, apparently official … social media has taken over the news business. Actually this is old news. The video above has been on YouTube since 2010, but I realized I had never shared it with you. You see, those in the news business don't just make fun of you, they also make fun of themselves.

Read more about the video from KDFW-TV.

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This is what it has come to around the country. Firefighters in San Bernardino, California are so fed up with cuts and the related politics from City Hall they think the way to remove or reduce the political factor is to have an elected fire chief. While the ballot initiative IAFF Local 891 wants to propose to the citizenry is still a work in progress, what they are talking about seems to be the kind of structure that provides the kind of autonomy an elected sheriff usually has.

In recent years San Bernardino has seen 25 firefighter positions vanish and minimum staffing drop from four to three.

The firefighters will need 12,000 signatures if this idea is to make it on the ballot. Under this early version of the proposal, the first chief would be elected in the 2014 general election and would run the department without interference from the mayor or city council. The chief would also have the power to appoint some key staff members.

More details from Joe Nelson at Redland Daily Facts:

"Too often, the current administration at City Hall has injected politics into the management and operations of our Fire Department," said union President Scott Moss in a statement Thursday.

An elected fire chief, Moss said, would remove the taint of politics from decisions affecting hiring, promotions and fire protection policies at the department.

Sixth Ward City Councilman Rikke Van Johnson said he is unaware of any municipalities in California that have an elected fire chief, and that only 4.5 percent of city firefighters reside in San Bernardino.

"Out of 179 fire firefighters, there are only eight that live in the city. That's problematic to me," Johnson said.

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In Vacaville, California, Firefighter Louis Jones had a rather unique experience. Jones and his fellow firefighters responded yesterday morning to a medical call at a mobile home park in the 1000 block of Nut Tree Road. Something seemed quite familiar in the home where the emergency was located. The first thing to catch the eye of Firefighter Jones was a yellow plastic block that looked like the one he had until a week earlier. Jones' vanished, along with other items, when the home he was preparing to rent out was burglarized a week earlier.

From KXTV-TV:

"I was kind of in shock, " Jones said. "Wow, I used to have something like that, and kind of looked around and saw some of the tools laying there that looked sort of familiar."

Jones and fellow firefighters finished their call and then he called police.

It didn't take long for officers to recover Jones' washing machine and dryer, a lawn mower and a number of his personal effects.

Police arrested 47-year old Ricky Mankini, of Vacaville, and booked him into the Solano County Jail for possession of stolen property.

Unfortunately, Jones still hasn't recovered a quad he loved to ride and a number of other items, but police are still investigating.

From MercuryNews.com:

Vacaville police contacted Mankini at the hospital, wherehe was visiting his housemate, Jones said. A search of Mankini's vehicle revealed more stolen items and Mankini was arrested for possession of stolen property and booked into the Solano County jail, Lopez said.

"The only thing we recovered was the washer and dryer, a lawn mower, some paint, hinges, paint brushes and keepsakes — beer steins with firefighting related artwork," Jones said.

"Ninety percent of the stuff is still missing," Jones said. He estimates it's worth between $8,000 and $10,000.

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From CBC News:

Several businesses have been left in ruins after a blaze engulfed a three-storey building in a Surrey strip mall early Thursday morning.

The extent of the damage is not yet known and the cause of the blaze is still being investigated. Firefighters spent hours battling the blaze at 83rd Avenue and Scott Road. The fire rapidly spread through the building, devastating several businesses, including restaurants and a gym.

From CTV News:

About 10 fire trucks, three rescue trucks and 46 firefighters responded to the blaze and had it under control by 7:30 a.m., though crews remained on scene targeting remaining hot spots.

No injuries have been reported in connection with the blaze, but a BC Hydro worker who is believed to have fallen down near the scene was loaded into an ambulance.

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