Video by MetalMatt CCRock of a two-alarm house fire around 9:00 Friday morning at 994 Autumn Oak Circle in Concord, California’s Crystyl Ranch neighborhood.
Firefighters arrived to find heavy smoke and flames coming from the garage, said George Laing, Contra Costa County fire inspector.
The blaze, controlled about 10:45 a.m., quickly spread to the attic and two bedrooms above the garage. It took about 70 minutes for crews from the Walnut Creek, Concord, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, and Lafayette fire departments to contain flames shooting up through the roof that eventually caused it to collapse.
According to Laing, one of the three men in their mid-20s who lived in the home entered the garage after it was engulfed in flames to try to save his truck. While he managed to pull the truck out of the garage, the man’s hair and scalp were burned, and he inhaled a significant amount of smoke, fire officials said.
Three alarms in Vancouver, BC: A large $6 million home burned Friday at Angus and Granville.
Joint funeral set in San Francisco: Saint Mary’s Cathedral at 1111 Gough St. in San Francisco will be the site of a joint funeral for firefighter Anthony Valerio and Lt. Vincent Perez. Firefighter Valerio died Saturday following the fire Thursday that had taken the life of Lt. Perez. Services are tenatively scheduled for 12:30 PM. Firefighter Close Calls tells us that San Francisco Fire Fighters Local 798 has established trust accounts at the San Francisco Fire Credit Union. Donations can be made to SFFCU, 3201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94118. Condolence messages can be sent to Fire Station 26, 80 Digby St., San Francisco, CA 94131. Click here, here & here for previous coverage.
Stratford, Connecticut's woes continue: Glenn Usdin's FireTruckBlog.com has an update on the fire department in Stratford trying to recover from January's wrecks on I-95 that took out two pumpers. Here's the latest.
Chiefs make more than governors: The Washington Examiner takes a look at what fire and police chiefs make in and around the Nation's Capital. Click here.
Seven years in Bret Tarver death: Christopher Benitez gets a seven-year sentence, minus 699 days already served, for negligent homicide in the 2001 Phoenix supermarket blaze where Firefighter Bret Tarver died. Here's more.
The controversy continues in Alameda, California: Alameda County disputes the Alameda Police Department's statement about a mutual aid request to assist in the water rescue that never happened. Here's that story. Some Alameda citizens have been adding their thoughts to our comments section as the discussion continues over an incident that has, as expected, become an enormous image problem for firefighters. Click here, here & here.
Remembering Mark Falkenhan & others: The Maryland Fire-Rescue Services Memorial Foundation held its annual ceremony yesterday at the Maryland Emergency Services Memorial Park in Annapolis. Mark Falkenhan's name was added to the Wall of Honor. Falkenhan, a member of both Lutherville VFC and Middle River Rescue Company in Baltimore County, died during an apartment fire in January. Anne Arundel County Fire Department Chief John Robert Ray was the keynote speaker. Jim Brown from MIEMSS took the picture to the right.
Getting paid just for showing your face: A man who didn't call the fire department in Colorado Springs, Colorado is upset over a $700 bill he received after firefighters showed up at the scene of a car crash. Their services were not needed. Firegeezer has the story.
Amazing Grace & Mickey Mouse ears: A most unusual firefighter funeral in Concord, New Hampshire as those remembering Robert Bottcher donned Mickey Mouse ears in tribute. Here's the story.
Restaurant critics?: Two suspicious fires early this morning at fast food restaurants in the Toledo, Ohio area. Here are the details.
Busy morning on Detroit's East Side: One dwelling fire at Joseph Campeau and Ferry and then two more homes burn at 3475 Garland Street.
Newark, New Jersey house fire: Another one from allhandsgoingtowork. This is from November 17 at 414 South 18th Street. Part 2 is here.
CBS Sunday Morning crew shoots interview with Kelly Walesh and Lexus Koeser at the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial on October 3, 2010.
CBS Sunday Morning looks at volunteer firefighters: Peter Greenberg, a volunteer firefighter from Long Island, gave the CBS Sunday Morning audience a look at the nation’s volunteer firefighters. In our role with the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation we hooked producer Kay Lim up with Kelly Walesh and Lexus Koeser at the 2010 Memorial Weekend in October. They are the survivors of Firefighter Steven ‘Peanut’ Koeser of Wisconsin and were featured in the CBS story. If you haven’t seen it yet, click here.
Anne Arundel County, Maryland loses lieutenant in off-duty Thanksgiving Day crash: The Anne Arundel County Fire Department is in mourning following the death of Lt. Elizabeth Nahory. Lt. Nahory died on Thursday in a car crash near her home in Dublin Township, Pennsylvania. Read more here. IAFF Local 1563 has the funeral arrangements posted.
Arson at mosque attended by Oregon bomb plot suspect: A small fire was set at the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center in Corvallis, Oregon. It is the same mosque once attended by 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud, accused in the plot to bomb the Christmas tree lighting ceremony in Portland. Read more.
Maryland firefighters rescue dog and owner: Thanksgiving night found firefighters from both Montgomery County & Prince George’s County rescuing a Belgian Shepherd and its owner from the bottom of a ravine. Here’s the video & the story.
In the middle of all the stupid stuff there are a few gems on the topic of firefighters using social media in the latest STATter911.com animation. Click the image to check it out for yourself.
Dave enters the carnival with his social media policy & so much more (or less): This is my first entry into the First Due Blog Carnival. I figure it will be my last because they will likely ban me for life. They wanted suggestions for a fire department social media policy. I turned this one over to my animated staff. There is actually a serious policy in there somewhere. You just have to wade through the usual conflict that comes with a STATter911.com animation. On top of that there is a response from Roanoke and some investigations into STATter911.com. These have uncovered some dark secrets of my empire, including a recent visit to a Roanoke area hospital (HIPAA rules preclude me from providing more information) and some very interesting pictures from my past. Click here for a complete waste of your time.
What a picture, plus radio traffic: In case you missed it last week, we added radio traffic to the picture of the Detroit fire engine that was squashed went it went under an over pass that was a little too low. Here it is.
Firefighter says he sees dead Marine brother on his turnout coat: There is a most unusual story from Weymouth, Massachusetts. Firefighter Jason Farrar says after hanging up his dirty gear after a fire a week ago an image appeared on the back of his coat. Some may see smudges of dirt, but Farrar, his family and fellow firefighters see the image of Farrar’s brother Andrew, a Marine sergeant killed in Iraq five-years-ago. Check out the story.
Faulty chimney blamed for Hollywood Madam’s Thanksgiving Day fire: Heidi Fleiss escaped her Pahrump, Nevada home on Thursday and was seen walking around with a bird on her shoulder. Click here for the raw video and here for the local TV report.
Change of plan on stubborn debris pile fire: In Concord, North Carolina firefighters are no longer going to just let a debris pile that caught fire last week burn itself out. That could take a month. Click here to read and watch the updated plan.
Two-alarm house fire in South Bend, Indiana: A fire that was reported about 5:30 Sunday morning in the 700 block of South Bend Avenue. No injuries reported. Click here for more on the fire.
East Great Plain Fire Chief Patrick Daley said firefighters found the fire in the building’s attic, where it moved horizontally across the structure.
Firefighters with axes and power saws cut holes in the roof as flames shot through the crown of the building. Other firefighters made their way into the smoke-filled structure.
“The most damage from the fire was in the attic,” said Daley, who said he did not consider the fire suspicious. “The main problem was getting firefighters up through the ceiling and into the attic.”
I don’t know if this a trend and Friendly’s is becoming the Dollar Store of the restaurant business (see Firegeezer) but a month earlier, on October 2, a Friendly’s burned to the bround in Concord, New Hampshire. The aftermath is below. Click here to read and watch more about that fire.
This rescue of a woman who escaped an overturned car in a canal occurred on Sunday in Contra Costa County, Califronia. It was perforned by a California Highway Patrol air unit working with Contra Costa County Fire District Engineer Dave Manzeck, a rescue swimmer.
Crews resumed their search on Monday for a male passenger also seen floating down the canal from the wreckage. The driver was found dead in the vehicle. Here are details from the AP:
Authorities are resuming the search for the body of a man presumed dead in the swift current of a Walnut Creek canal where his car plunged.
The car landed upside down in the water after it veered off a downtown road Sunday evening in heavy rain. The crash also left the car’s driver dead and a female passenger hospitalized in critical condition.
The coroner identified the driver Monday as 40-year-old Tim Hogan of San Diego. Authorities say Hogan was trapped inside the car and his body was found inside.
A man and a woman managed to escape the car, and rescuers were able to reach the woman miles downstream in Concord. She was taken to the hospital unconscious.
Authorities had to suspend their search for the other man at nightfall.
The cause of the single-vehicle crash remains under investigation.
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