When crews arrived on the scene, heavy smoke and fire poured from the home that sits a block off the intersection of Eastway Drive and Independence Boulevard.
While working to contain the blaze, a fireman fell into the roof, but was quickly pulled to safety by his colleagues.
From the Charlotte Fire Department's YouTube Channel:
A first alarm assignment arrived at 401 East 15th Street shortly after 1600 on March 16th, 2011 to find heavy smoke and fire issuing from this self ventilated single family dwelling. Ladder 1 commenced an aggressive interior attack from the rear of the structure, and in conjunction with the balance of the assignment, brought the fire under control in approximately 20 minutes. The Fire Investigation Task Force self dispatched and determined the fire to be incendiary in origin. There were no injuries reported.
The Charlotte Fire Department is one of a number of departments that uses the Internet and social media to tell its own story and is part of the presentation I will be giving at FDIC today at 1:30 PM in room 125-126. Other topics include communicating with the public when there is a major emergency in your community and when there is bad news that impacts your department's reputation. I hope to see you there.
Charlotte, North Carolina condo fire: Posted to YouTube by the Charlotte Fire Department – “On Monday January 10, 2011 at 5:03 pm members of the Charlotte Fire Department were dispatched to a working structure (2-story Condominiums) fire at 7317 Winery Lane. 60+ FF’s Firefighters needed to knockdown fire in 1 hour; (2) felines & (2) K-9 rescued; The Greater Carolinas Chapter of the American Red Cross assisted nine people displaced by the fire.”
FireTruckBlog.com by Glenn Usdin is on top of yesterday’s crash of a fire engine in Charlotte, North Carolina that injured three firefighters. Click here for that story.
In case you missed it, Glenn had another Santa sighting that was particularly touching. Despite losing Firefighter Edward Stringer last week, Stringer’s fellow firefighters at Engine 62 still followed through on a Christmas Day tradition of carrying Santa to a local children’s hospital. Click here.
On Thursday I told you about the new site FireTruckBlog.com by Chief Glenn Usdin. The site has actually been up for a little bit and there are a couple of stories previously posted that I think you might be interested in.
My favorite is the video taking you inside the shop that makes and maintains the San Francisco Fire Department’s wooden ladders. If you have never seen this shop in operation you will probably find it quite interesting. Click here for the story.
Another is the story about the crowding out of FDNY fire trucks by the city’s bike lanes. Click here.
There was also a nice video from a North Carolina Thanksgiving Day parade that featured rigs from many different eras of the Charlotte Fire Department. Check it out.
House fire in South Jordan, Utah: This fire occurred Thursday. The caption indicates the home also housed a small business.
Five injured in three-alarm fire in Charlotte, North Carolina: This fire occurred before 6:00 Saturday morning on Tremaine Court. A number of people were hurt jumping from the building. Some of the injuries were described as potentially life-threatening. Read more.
Fire in Urbandale, Iowa: Fire Saturday at the Plumwood Terrace Condominiums.
Fire at the Lake: This is a fire from May 12 in Schuykill Haven, Pennsylvania at Lake Wynonah.
Crews were still on the scene into the late hours of the night finalizing repairs to the railroad track. According to the DOT they had to replace about a block long portion of the track. They were able to remove the train around 9:00 p.m. Thursday night. They’ll take the train to a maintenance yard in Raleigh. DOT crews expected to have the railroad open to traffic sometime Thursday night.
Click the image for more pictures from WGHP-TV.
Passengers aboard an Amtrak involved in a wreck are starting to reflect their experiences from Thursday morning.
Emergency crews were called to the track on 5th Street and Center Street in Mebane around 8:00 am.
An Amtrak train, Train No. 73, which was headed from Raleigh to Charlotte, hit a tractor-trailer carrying a CAT brand excavator. The engine of the train caught on fire. The locomotive and three coach cars derailed.
The truck driver, Barry Lazaro, of Wake Forest, claims the lowboy trailer was stuck on the tracks. The driver was able to escape. The truck carrying the equipment belongs to Lazaro Contracting Incorporated Demolish and Clearing.
NCDOT says there are warning signs in the area and the truck should not have been trying to cross the tracks. Investigators estimate the train was going about 70 mph when it hit the tractor-trailer. There is no sensor system at this location to alert engineers of an obstruction.
Click here for more early pictures from WFMY-TV.
Amtrak says 36 passengers were onboard the train. The engineer was not seriously injured and did not have to be transported to the hospital.
Kyle Buckner, Chief with Alamance County Rescue, says emergency crews treated people on the scene. WFMY News 2′s Justin Quesinberry says he saw at least three people on stretchers.
Mebane Police say 11 passengers and one crew member taken to area hospitals following the crash.
One person is still listed in serious condition at UNC Hospitals, two others were released from there.
All seven patients at Alamance Regional Hospital were discharged. Two people were taken to Duke Hospital, the hospital will not release word on their conditions.
The Piedmont Carolina Chapter and the Greensboro Chapter of the American Red Cross are responding to those in need. They are providing snacks, beverages and meals to emergency responders. Over the next few hours they will be deploying their mental health and spiritual care volunteers to support victims and their families.
One of the more interesting videos I have seen recently: Have to give Jason Thomas at Firefighter Spot credit for finding this. The photographer springs into action and moves a police car blocking the way as firefighters in Maple Shade, New Jersey pull up to a motel fire on Sunday. In Part 2 you will see where the cops were. Check out the third floor as they break out windows, apparently looking for victims.
A top doc socks it to DC Fire & EMS over child death: It is only two paragraphs long, but Monday’s letter to the editor in the Washington Post from Dr. Joseph Wright packs a wallop. You will want to take a look at the doctor’s credentials in the field of pediatric emergency medicine as it relates to EMS. Dr. Wright not only questions what happened in the recent death of 2-year-old Stephanie Stephens, he is critical of how the system generally provides pediatric pre-hospital care. The DC Fire & EMS Department stands on its record of improvements since Mayor Adrian Fenty’s task force provided an outline for the future of EMS following the 2006 death of former New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum. Dr. Wright looked at Stephens’ death as a “pediatric Rosenbaum”. Click here for our coverage.
Long Island fire chief & FDNY member accused of “vigilante” justice: Hempstead Fire Department Chief Michael Charles. who is a retired NYPD detective, and FDNY’s Brian Schuck from Ladder 111, are accused of stopping and searching a pedestrian at gun point and then letting them go. The men were in the fire SUV. The incident happened after shots rang out near the Hempstead firehouse. Schuck has been suspended without pay. Read and watch the story and here.
Pay attention to this report and you can get rid of STATter911.com: The Cumberland Valley Volunteer Firemen’s Association is trying to put this blog out of business and I am helping them. It is called reputation management and the CVVFA folks put together a special report on how some firefighters are tarnishing the image of the fire service. They even asked me to give them some insight on the awful stories I cover. Forget my role and just read the document. Here it is.
Speaking of reputations – it doesn’t look like Chicago’s mayor is ready to help salvage the fire commissioner’s image: The Chicago Sun-Times is reporting Mayor Richard Daley “conspicuously refused today to give embattled Fire Commissioner John Brooks a vote of confidence”. Brooks, accused of sexual harassment, made this memorable statement to the Sun-Times:
I do not proposition women. I don’t have to. Women usually proposition me. God has blessed me like that.
Los Angeles City Council has second thoughts on cutting ambulance service to save money: The plan is to stop using 10 of the department’s ambulances during night time hours. But after hearing testimony the council is getting cold feet. Here is the story.
Smoking ban for new firefighters rejected: In Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin the police and fire commission is bucking the trend and said no to a new tobacco free policy for newly hired firefighters. Check out the story.
Exploding cell phone: It wasn’t even plugged in, according to a family and firefighters in Seffner, Florida. Here’s the story.
Fire chief lays down the law over convicted arsonist/bomber: Read the story from North Haledon, New Jersey about a convicted arsonist/bomber who was participating in fire department activities.
Fire chief lays down the law over accidental fire: Actually that’s this chief’s name, Jonathan Law. He’s the chief of Oklahoma’s Nescatunga Fire Department. Chief Law told the Alva Review/Courier, “I will not stand for such kinds of incidents” after a firefighter accidentally started a small grass fire. Here’s the story.
The Fire Critic has lost his mind: Where The Fire PIO yesterday had one of the more interesting blog postings I have seen in a while, our friend in Roanoke has gone far in the other direction. There will be nothing socially redeeming in Rhett’s Top Ten Best/Funniest Firefighter Dance Videos, but I am sure you will get a few laughs. That also pretty much describes my first encounter with Rhett at the blogger meetup on Friday. Click here to see what I am talking about.
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.
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