August 12 vehicle fire story and photos are here and here

Newspaper photos last month of a  firefighter dousing a vehicle fire without SCBA and his chief standing behind him with no PPE have caused quite a dust up in Friday Harbor, Washington. SanJuanJournal.com reports Chief Vern Long, seen in the middle of the three photos above, was suspended for two days and then went on medical leave on the day he was to return, August 18. Town Administrator King Fitch “said Long indicated at their disciplinary meeting that he had medical appointments scheduled.” The firefighter in the picture was not disciplined.

On August 12, the day the photos were published, a letter of no confidence in Chief Long was sent from two captains, two lieutenants and firefighter. All five volunteer members of the department have since resigned. 

Here are excerpts from an article by Journal of the San Juans editor Richard Walker (who shot the car fire photos):

In Long’s absence, Assistant Fire Chief Tom Eades is serving as acting fire chief, Mayor Carrie Lacher said. Eades is a dispatcher from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m., so District 3 Fire Chief Steve Marler and Assistant Chief Brad Creesy are supporting the town fire department’s volunteer duty officer.

Lacher said she spoke to Long when he went on medical leave and “urged him to get better.” She attended a Monday night drill and spoke to firefighters before they drilled on the new fire truck.

“They’re shook up. They’re concerned that the firefighters who left chose to express their concerns in this way,” Lacher said. She said firefighters told her they believe Long is “an outstanding administrator.”

Lacher said she also spoke with two of the firefighters who submitted the “no confidence” letter, and said their concerns went beyond how the car fire was handled.

On Aug. 12, SanJuanJournal.com posted a story and a series of photos of a car fire at the ferry landing that day. The photos show a firefighter with hose working to extinguish the fire; he is not wearing breathing apparatus, which Fitch said is standard procedure. In one photo, the firefighter is crouching next to the front bumper, spraying water under the car, as smoke billows out. In another photo, Long is standing behind the firefighter, holding the hose, not wearing gear.

In their declaration of no confidence, the signers said they have “no confidence in the leadership, management, organization or training abilities” of Chief Long, and requested his “immediate removal and replacement.”

“As volunteers, we contribute our time and effort to preserve and protect the health and property of others — a responsibility we undertake willingly but take seriously,” they wrote. “The FHFD needs strong leadership from a chief and assistant chief who will promote, support and comply with standard guidelines and procedures; assess, utilize and improve the skills and abilities of its volunteers; and advance the competence and knowledge of all department members through training and education. The size of the department, small geographical area, limited calls and/or financial constraints are no excuses for requiring or expecting less than full commitment from any member of the department, including staff officers, nor are they reasons to disregard requests for training and assistance, or ignore generally accepted and statutorily required fire ground practices.”

A long standing dispute between Stockton, California and San Joaquin County has forced city firefighters to stop providing paramedic services. Starting yesteday, for the first time in 34-years, it is BLS only until paramedics arrive from a private ambulance service. Black tape is covering up the word paramedic on fire trucks and uniforms used by the Stockton Fire Department. California investigators are double checking, making sure that the firefighters aren’t providing ALS.  

This may an oversimplification of a complicated issue, but the city and county have been in court for a while over who provides 911 services and EMS. This has kept the two jurisdictions from renewing an agreement that is required for the city to have paramedics.

More on this in excerpts from an article by Zachary K. Johnson in The Record:

City and county officials say they want an agreement to bring Fire Department paramedics back.

State and county officials said that the people of Stockton were safe Wednesday: firefighters provided basic emergency medical care and worked in tandem with paramedics arriving with responding ambulances. It’s a model used in other California cities.

But there was one instance Wednesday that shows what was lost, according to Stockton Fire.

In that call, firefighters arrived at a scene before an ambulance, but the firefighters were barred from giving the patient medication because that falls under the advanced-life-support list of techniques.

According to the county, an ambulance was delayed to a call because Stockton provided incorrect information to dispatchers. It was unclear Wednesday if these two incidents were the same.

Investigators from the California Emergency Medical Services Authority stationed themselves in teams of two to interview ambulance crews outside emergency rooms to ensure Stockton was not violating state rules by operating paramedic services without an agreement, said June Iljana, deputy director of the state agency. But things ran smoothly, and the investigators wrapped up early, she said. “We’ve just seen great cooperation.”

After the Stockton City Council decided to temporarily suspend paramedic services Tuesday, firefighters began removing advanced-life-support supplies before Wednesday’s 7 a.m. deadline, Deputy Chief Paul Willette said. “We did what we had to do to comply.”

 Watch raw chopper video of the fire from WPVI-TV

Watch news reports from KYW-TV

More on the five-alarm fire from PhillyFireNews.com

Excerpts from Philly.com: 

The fire, at Scully Welding Supply Corp. in Collingdale, broke out about 12:50 p.m. and quickly went to five alarms. 

Image from KYW-TV.

 

“It looked like hell, like Dante’s Inferno,” said Collingdale fire marshal George Kaiser. “The fire was at least two-stories high.” 

The main fire was declared under control around 4:30 p.m., and officials began letting almost all people return to their homes shortly after 7 p.m. 

Three Scully employees were injured, including one seriously who was transported to Crozer-Chester Medical Center and was reported tonight in stable condition. Five firefighters were treated for heat related illnesses. 

Kaiser, the fire marshal, was working at the storage center he owns adjacent to the Scully plant. He said the blaze ignited his building. The fire destroyed two old Collingdale fire trucks he kept on the premises and storage units rented by 70 customers. 

Excerpts from KYW-TV: 

Officials spent hours pouring water on large propane tanks to cool them, Lovejoy said. County Emergency Services Director Ed Truitt said officials also had been concerned about the danger the flames posed to a nearby oxygen supply company. 

“If that building were to be breached, that could make life real interesting down there,” he said. 

The fire caused heavy damage to Scully Welding Supply and a neighboring business, Kaiser Automotive, Lovejoy said. The cause of the blaze was under investigation by state and local authorities, he said. A call to Scully Welding Supply rang unanswered. 

Tammy Scanlon, who lives a few hundred yards across the railroad tracks from Scully’s Propane, heard the explosions go on for about 30 minutes. 

Click here to join the fun at Dover International Speedway

The video above is from the 2009 event at Dover International Speedway honoring fallen firefighters and supporting firefighter safety. This year Rusty Wallace and NASCAR president Mike Helton are scheduled to join the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation at the hospitality tent in Dover on Sunday September 26 for the Sprint Cup Series at the Monster Mile.

Come join the fun. I’ll be there, camera in hand, shooting video for the Foundation. Get your tickets now. 

Michael Rude is trying to stay employed as a firefighter in Lawrence, Indiana. To do so he must fight for his job at a public merit board hearing where cameras are allowed. The allegations against Rude are coming from multiple female firefighters and some men. Click above to hear for yourself what they saying about Michael Rude.

Pictures from Orange County Fire Authority.

Imagine having a golf outing so bad it brings out 150 firefighters and a chopper crew to see it for themselves. That’s what happened in Irvine, California on Saturday afternoon. It appears a golfer sparked a 12-acre brush fire at the Shady Canyon Golf Course in Irvine.

The golfer wasn’t a smoker. It appears his swing was the problem. He got into a little rough off the fairway. With his next swing the man struck a rock which apparently caused a spark.

I will leave you with the words of one wise, veteran West Coast fire chief who tweeted the following: “Shudda used a wood”.

One thing we never want to do at STATter911.com is take the work of others without their permission. Our post this morning showing guys with guns putting out fires did just that. We embedded video from the YouTube account UpsetAboutSafety. Larry Steiner of BainbridgeGa.com informed me today that the videos are his property and he did not give permission to others to upload the clips to YouTube. YouTube has already removed the videos. Larry was kind enough to send us links to his original works and a few from his corner of Georgia that we didn’t use earlier.

The video above is from a fire Sunday night in Bainbridge. According to the article with the video, Bainbridge Public Safety Officers and Georgia State Patrol were in the area for another call and all responded:

As Public Safety Officers donned their fire fighting gear, Cpl Duke, Trooper Walt Landrum and Trooper Brian Palmer pulled hoses off the fire engine.  Troopers Duke and Palmer hit the fire in the front of the house and then Trooper Landrum hit the fire that had spread into the rear carport area.

Click here for the full account of Sunday’s fire from BainbridgeGA.com.

Here’s the June 16 report on the truck that burned that we reported on when it occurred.

The video above is from a house fire handled by Bainbridge Public Safety on April 7. Click here for more details.

There are other places in Larry’s coverage area where apparently cops are cops and firefighters are firefighters. Law enforcement was on the scene first of this July 9 fire (above) but it left it to the firefighters from Decatur County Fire and Rescue, Black Jack and Climax. Details are here.

 And there are times that it doesn’t matter who is on the nozzle because there is no hose or fire engine. Larry shot the clip above on July 21. Here’s more.

Early video from Alberta, Canada: This was shot in Three Hills. The description indicates it is one of two suspicious fires being investigated by the RCMP.     

Fire on the 27th floor with a mayday: We have fireground audio from the fire that began last night in the historic 36-story JP Morgan Chase Building in Downtown Houston. The firefighters had to deal with standpipe issues. At least five firefighters received non-life threatening injuries. Click here for our coverage.    

Arresting the flames: A trio of videos showing uniformed police officers handling fire duties. Check it out.    

Loudoun County, Virginia company hit with resignation of chief and four others: Leesburg Today reports the sudden departure of the chief and others from the Middleburg VFD may be connected to an investigation by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. The paper says no details are being provided explaining what this is all about. Whatever the reason the actions have an impact on staffing. Here’s the story.    

It depends which way you look at it: A very interesting article that shows the San Diego Fire Department spends more per firefighter ($210,600) than any of the top 15 cities in the country. But at the same time the survey indicates San Diego actually spends less per resident on fire protection than all but two of the departments. Click here for the story and the chart comparing the costs.     

A picture by Werner Ennesser at Sunday's event in Arlington County, Virginia.

 Lots of pictures from Iron & Steel event: Despite a somewhat controversial start, by all accounts the Iron & Steel Run to the National Capital Region was a wonderful event on Sunday. Click here for video as the group went through Prince George’s County and pictures of the ceremony as the World Trade Center steel was brought to Arlington County Fire Station 5.     

Plea deal in Berkeley County, West Virginia firefighter arson: You may recall the April 2009 barn fire that left a firefighter seriously injured. Former volunteer James Blackford has entered a plea that could give him up to 20-years in prison. Here’s the latest.    

Firefighters may soon be allowed to drive ambulances: It is a controversy WIS-TV brought to light in 2008. Now it looks as if Columbia, South Carolina firefighters will soon be considered first responders and be able to get behind the wheel of Richland County ambulances. Check out the update.    

Firefighter accused of burglary at his own firehouse: Click here for the details of a break-in at the Pine River VFD in Lincoln County, Wisconsin. Thanks to surveillance video a now former 28-year-old volunteer and two 16-year-olds have been charged.    

Know your neighbors: Firegeezer has the story of the meth lab that took out an apartment building in Des Moines over the weekend.  

Dispatcher credited with save: A look at the work of a dispatcher who helped guide people to safety during a weekend apartment fire in Austin, Texas. Click here.

NOTE: The YouTube user who posted these videos did not have permission from Larry Steiner the man who owns the clips. We have reposted links to the videos with new details and additional clips thanks to Mr. Steiner and BainbridgeGA.com. Click here.

A YouTube account with the name UpsetAboutSafety posted three videos yesterday where law enforcement officers are manning the hosesand ladders. The one above (reported to be from Georgia) and below (no location or date given) are new to STATter911.com. 

The third video is one we ran back on July 19. It was a truck fire in Bainbridge, Georgia. The original video was removed shortly after we posted it. Click here to see it.

The report from the fire scene doesn’t occur until about midway through the above video.

Click here for live radio traffic from the Houston Fire Department

Much of the Houston Fire Department spent Monday night on the scene of a 4-alarm fire at the JPMorgan Chase Bank building (formerly the Gulf Building). The location is the 700 block of Main street at Capitol Street in downtown. The fire was reported around 8:00 PM Houston time.

The fire was on the 27th floor. This is now reported to be the older, smaller tower and not the 75-story newer structure that is the tallest building in Texas.

You will hear a couple of crews calling for water starting around 6:20 on this clip. The mayday is reported around 7:00.

Updates: At 9:40 PM, six additional pumpers were dispatched to the scene.

At 10:14 PM, seven additional pumpers and two ladder trucks were requested. News reports indicate the fire is under control.

From the Houston Chronicle:

The fire is confined to the 27th floor of the historic building. Firefighters said it’s primarily offices up there.

Reports of people trapped in an elevator was a false alarm, (Acting Chief Rick) Flanagan said.

 

At first, there was a problem with the building’s internal water supply – apparently a broken pipe – that HFD is solving by piping water directly into the building.

Five firefighters were taken to the hospital for smoke inhalation, said assistant chief Jack Williams. Their conditions are not considered life-threatening.

Earlier from KRIV-TV:

An official at the scene reported smoke was billowing from the 27th floor of the building.

A mayday call was sent out after several firefighters got lost in the building, but they all made it out ok.

A little history of the former Gulf Building from KTRK-TV:

The JP Morgan Chase Building has been a Houston landmark since the 1920s. It stands 430 feet high and cost and estimated $6 million to build. It was the tallest building west of the Mississippi River until the 1931, when a taller building in Kansas City was erected.