Busy in Indiana: Ed Malik has been posting quite a bit from his corner of Indiana. The video above is from a house fire a week ago in South Haven. We also posted one from Gary, Indiana where firefighters returned to the building twice within an hour over the weekend. The second time the joint was rockin’. Click her for that.
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Fire in the Bronx: Good early video from a third-alarm at 2070 Grand Concourse on Saturday evening.
Fire in Brooklyn: Vito Maggiolo alerted us to some good pre-arrival video of a fire on April 29 at a Con-Ed substation.
My favorite post from recent weeks: Check out this film from 1953 of firehouse life in Austin and some of the first black firefighters hired in the state of Texas.
Five alarms, four views: There are lots of videos posted on last weeks fire that burned townhomes under construction and threatened occupied buildings in Santa Clara, CA. We pulled out four to give you views from four sides of the fire.
Reputation issue 1 - Criminal charges for new recruit initiation: A very interesting story of three 20-something firefighters arrested after what appears to be a hazing attempt of a 16-year-old cadet in Hyde Park, Vermont. Read more.
Reputation issue 2 - Much more serious criminal charges for new recruit initiation (truly disgusting): The Paris Fire Brigade has at least a dozen firefighters charged after the initiation of a new recruit. Coming back from a gymnastics competition on a bus with 30 firefighters, police say the recruit was stripped, slapped and bitten. But the recruit protested and apparently the firefighters couldn’t allow that. So, according to police, several firefighters pinned the recruit while one raped him. Of course, you want to make sure the guy never forgets this, so someone shot video on their cell phone. Oh yes, news reports indicate a fire officer was there and failed to intervene. So sad. Here’s the story.
Reputation issue 3 - More details on the councilman versus the firefighters in Hillsdale, New Jersey: In case you missed our follow-up posting, as we figured there was more to the story between Hillsdale VFD and the councilman/fire commissioner who resigned after making comments about firefighters drinking. Check here for the departments policy on use of the firehouse bar and the details of the allegations.
Reputation issue 4 - Union VP in Hialeah, Florida speaks out on TV & STATter911.com about his Facebook page: Last week we posted the story about the complaints over, and investigation of, the personal Facebook postings of Eric Johnson. Not only has Firefighter Johnson gone on TV to defend his right to do his opinion off the clock, he has written a comment to STATter911.com saying he expects that the investigation will find that he has served the citizens of Hialeah well. Click here and scroll down.
Watch out for this, it could be coming to a city near you: We have pointed out on numerous occasions the trend across the country of city leaders suddenly claiming overtime abuse, even when there really is none, just because firefighters in many jurisdictions are legally making lots of extra money to provide minimum staffing. While there have been documented cases of abuse, often it has been because city leaders find it cheaper than hiring another firefighter. In Cleveland there has been some variation of this and a real close look and changing of policy on shift trading. But the latest newspaper story takes things a step further. It focuses on the part time jobs held by firefighters in the city and looks at how the rules are being followed. I have seen a definite pattern of these stories spawning similar ones in other jurisdictions. As I suggested long ago with the OT issue, it is probably a good idea to make sure your house is in order on secondary employment before the politicians and reporters come knocking. Here’s the Cleveland story.
New fire truck doesn’t fit in the old firehouse: We have seen this story before and it has happened again. Check out the details of a problem at an Alabama firehouse courtesy of Glenn Usdin’s FireTruckBlog.com.
Saying goodbye: Thanks to Mike Villanova for making sure we had video from Friday’s funeral for 12-year-old Kyle McGetrick of Barnegat, New Jersey. Kyle’s story touched firefighters all over the world. Click out.
The Oak Ridge boys’ video: A house fire in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
Geezer on cougars & kittens: My friend the Firegeezer may have a tiger by the tail with this story from Fort Worth, Texas. Or at least some other cats. Bill is trying to get to the bottom of a vehicle that has the trappings of an ambulance, is registered to a chiropractor, has the name DFW Cougar & Kitten Rescue on the outside and a dance pole on the inside. Check it out.
Intentional radio interference may have delayed mutual aid: In Lebanon, Maine officials say they have been dealing with what appears to be intentional jamming of radio traffic. On Saturday it appears to have delayed notification of mutual aid for a fire. Click here.
Another look at the Deutsche Bank fire: In August it will be five years since FDNY’s Robert Beddia and Joseph Graffagnino died. Martin J. Steadman in Eve’s Magazine is the latest to look at the twists and turns of this investigation and trial and makes his case on who is really to blame for this tragedy. Read the story.
New chief in Charleston: We alerted you Friday afternoon that Eugene, Oregon Deputy Chief Karen Brack is the new chief of the Charleston Fire Department. Grant Mishoe’s SCONFIRE.com has more.
Getting the bird from THE Fire Critic: That happens to me quite frequently. But this is an actual bird and an interesting rescue by LAFD caught on video. Click here.
Eight-year-old Batman moves from crime fighting to firefighting: It isn’t Bruce Wayne after all. Luke Purcell is really Batman. The boy was doing what he does most days after school, patrolling his Layton, Utah neighborhood in his Batman costume and his version of the Batmobile (his bike) when he saw smoke coming from the roof of a house. He’s credited with saving the day. Here’s the story.
Settlement in Baltimore fatal fire truck collision: This was the one where three civilians died on Park Heights Avenue after their vehicle was hit by Truck 27. Curt Varone at FireLawBlog.com has the details.
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