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The original fire department dash-cam. Check out this 1927 view of FDNY.

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We think we are so smart with our technology today, but the video above proves FDNY had a dash-cam installed in a chief’s car back in 1927 (starting at 2:22 in the video). I imagine it was a bit bulkier than the ones today and I think any of us would have hate to wear a helmet-cam back then.

This film has been making the rounds on the Internet since the new year began. WorldBulletin.net refers to it as a 148-year-old film. Really? That would make this 1865. Either their sense of history or their math is a bit off.

One site talks about about how quickly the chief “zips through the city”. While I am sure the chief wasn’t letting any grass grow under him (note the trips down some sidewalks to get around traffic jams), much of the speed comes from the film maker undercranking, or running the film through the camera at a slower speed to make everything move faster. No digital effects then.

There is a lot more to the film than the chief responding, including brief tours of Manhattan Fire Alarm and Brooklyn Fire Alarm and a fire to close it out. Enjoy.

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Posted by on January 4, 2013 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, FDNY, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jon Stewart blasts Brian Williams on fire safety. But STATter911.com uncovers the real story behind near tragedy at 30 Rock & names names.

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Click here for more of our continuing coverage of Tragedy Averted at 30 Rock

I would like to tell you that STATter911.com has an enormous influence in the world of news. That, like Reggie Jackson, we are the straw that stirs the drink. Not with the Yankees, of course, but in our sphere, which is the giant media industrial complex.

I admit that probably isn't the case and it is just wishful thinking on my part. Though, we were the first to point out an important fact about an earth shattering … actually, make that ear shattering … story that rocketed across the news landscape on Tuesday evening.

I know many of you will long remember where you were and exactly what you were doing when NBC's Brian Williams delivered the news with the damn fire alarm sounding in the studio at 30 Rock. We all sat on the edge of our seats, in tears, fearing for Brian's safety.

I know what I was doing. I wasn't watching NBC Nightly News (sorry Brian). But I do remember exactly what I was doing when I first became aware of this tragic incident about an hour after it occurred. I was searching for the usual fire porno that makes this website so beloved in the fire service. That's when I came across the video of the event that horrified a nation.

What I noticed as I read stories about the ordeal at 30 Rock is that not one article mentioned Brian Williams' checkered past, which I thought, using the instinct that only comes from being a washed-up, has-been newsman, quite relevant to the story. 

So, I posted the video and became the first to remind people that Brian Williams had been a volunteer firefighter as a teenager. I also mentioned that there will be some in the STATter911.com audience who will criticize him for not setting a good example to the public in staying put while the fire alarm sounded (though I did try to come to his defense a bit in our comments section).

That point was picked up (with a little help from me) by two people whose blogs actually do have a lot of influence in the media world, Al Tompkins of The Poynter Institute and Jim Romenesko, formerly with Poynter, now at JimRomenesko.com..

It was interesting that many stories the next day suddenly mentioned Brian's firefighter past. But it wasn't until last night that this aspect of the story became big news when it was picked up by our real newscast of record, The Daily Show.

Did Daily News anchor Jon Stewart mention which news organization first uncovered this crucial part of the story that's gripping the nation? Well, actually no.

Did Brian Williams, who shared with me his inner most personal thoughts about being a volunteer firefighter when we both worked the mean streets of Washington as reporters almost 30-years-ago, write to STATter911.com to answer some of the criticism from our readers? The answer again, sadly, is no.

Did Brian Williams, instead, make an appearance on The Daily Show? That answer would be yes, with an explanation.

Now for that explanation. Here's why Williams went on Stewart's show but dissed Statter. It has to do with all of the appearances by Brian Williams in recent years on shows like SNL and 30 Rock?

Brian Williams has finally learned that news is not really his strong point (I tried to convince him, unlike me, he had no future in the business back in 1983). But he has a knack for comedy and loves doing it. In addition, Brian Williams secretly craves the prestige and influence that goes with Jon Stewart's job.

I will go a step further and predict when the investigation into this near catastrophe at 30 Rock is completed you will find the fingerprints of one man and one man only all over that fire alarm. Brian Williams pulled that alarm not only to get his mug on The Daily Show but to have something for his resume reel to put him in a better position to slide right into the anchor seat when this Walter Cronkite of the 21st Century, Jon Stewart, decides to step down as America's most trusted newsman. I rest my case. 

Posted by on December 1, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fire Prevention & Education, Fire Rescue Topics, News, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Former volunteer firefighter has his network newscast disrupted. Watch video of NBC’s Brian Williams from 30 Rock as fire alarm sounds.

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When NBC's Brian Williams was a reporter at Channel 5 in Washington, DC in the early 1980s and I was a radio reporter at WTOP we talked many times while covering stories about our days as volunteer firefighters. He in New Jersey and me in Maryland. I assume Brian was thinking a bit about that this evening when the East Coast live feed of the NBC Nightly News was disrupted by the fire alarm sounding.

It started right shortly after the broadcast opened with the story on American Airlines and continued through most of the program. But Brian Williams, ever the professional, kept his cool. The Poynter Institute's Al Tompkins has an account of the unusual newscast. Here's an excerpt:

Viewers started reacting, amazed that Williams could keep going.  Why didn’t somebody smash the alarm, they asked on Twitter?

The alarm buzzed on, through the Herman Cain story, through the lead-in to a story about the siege at the British Embassy in Iran.

Williams took a commercial break. When he came back, so did the alarm. Each time, Williams did exactly what he should do, he kept his cool, reminded viewers everything was OK and kept going, even while his voice was overwhelmed by the sound as he introduced a piece on Mexican drug wars.

Knowing my audience, I am sure some of you will say that he should have set a better example for the public and evacuated 30 Rock when the alarm went off. A good point, but somehow I don't think that was likely to happen. The show must go on.

 

Posted by on November 29, 2011 • Filed under: must see video, News, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A closer look at the damage in Dundalk. Pictures from Baltimore County Station 6 & two links to the station’s history.

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MD Baltimore Co. Dundalk 1

Click here for more pictures of the damage to Station 6

STATter911.com coverage of Wednesday’s fire

A STATter911.com reader tell us about one recovery made from the rubble of Baltimore County Fire Department Station 6:

Station 6 Gamewell 15 Inch House gong was successfully removed by John Bryan (see Paul Ditzel’s Book Fire Alarm Chapter 5)after safe recovery of Engine 6 and Medic Unit. Gong dates back to old Station 6 CIRCA 1919. Gong was wet and snow covered and received slight darkening from fire, inside works excellent shape. Gong was dried off and preserved for future generations of Station 6 Firefighters.

Lost in the fire was a brand new Rosenbauer pumper (picture & specs) intended to be the new Engine 6, an older pumper, two ambulances and a National Guard Humvee. Peter Hermann of the Baltimore Sun interviewed the man who ordered the new fire engine. Here’s an excerpt:

… David W. Wolfe is in mourning. On Wednesday, he stood in the blowing snow, holding an umbrella and staring into the front bay of what remained of Station 6.

He quickly scanned the headlights of the Humvee – the only part visible under a mound of debris – and the charred remains of an ambulance. He focused on the Rosenbauer Pumper, and the only words the purchasing supervisor for the Baltimore County budget office could muster were: “I purchased that.”

Wolfe spends most of his days in an office cubicle, lost in a world foreign to the men and women he serves. Here is a sample of what Wolfe buys for county offices: “Tyler Special Operations Platform” and a “Mobile Vehicle Lifting System.” He doesn’t often find himself at a fire scene as firefighters pick through the debris.

Wolfe spent two years negotiating the bureaucratic procurement and bidding maze required of such large purchases, he said. The damaged pumper was one of nine engines recently bought by the county, custom-made and capable of spraying 1,500 gallons a minute.

When the new engine arrived, neighbors had watched and commented as a driver carefully backed it into its space.

“It was brand-spanking-new,” Wolfe said at the fire scene, shaking his head. It had just been christened Engine 6, the primary truck at the station.

You may recall in October we looked back at the Shillers Furniture fire 25-years earlier that took the lives of three Baltimore County firefighters from Station 6. One of those firefighters was James A. Kimbel. Peter Hermann and others report it was Kimbel’s nephew, Firefighter Thomas Kimbel Jr. who helped make the one rescue from the firehouse, getting Engine 61 out of the burning building.

Posted by on February 12, 2010 • Filed under: Baltimore County Fire Department, EMS Health & Safety, fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Fires, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, Major Incidents, News • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quick Takes

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House fire in Millersville, Pennsylvania: This is from last Friday. No more info.

NEW – Virginia Task Force 1 makes rescue in Haiti: Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department’s USAR team arrived in Haiti at 4:00 PM yesterday and set up camp at the American Embassy. Lt. Mike Davis tells CNN that a UN worker has been rescued from a collapsed area by the team. Details later.

More drastic cuts coming in Baltimore?: Baltimore City Fire Department Chief Jim Clack told firefighters it is possible that a loss of state money could mean the closing of 9 to 14 companies and a loss of 200 to 250 jobs come July 1. Click here to read and watch the story.

Layoffs and staffing in Cleveland: A judge has issued a temporary restraining order keeping the Cleveland Fire Department from implementing a staffing plan to account for Monday’s layoffs. Here’s the update.

Goldfeder has a lot to say on a few recent stories: The story we ran yesterday from Monroe Township, New Jersey where the volunteer deputy chief has been suspended for six months after sending around a petition to save the jobs of the department’s two career firefighters caught the attention of The Secret List. Combined with the other recent story about the replacement of Buffalo’s fire commissioner, Billy Goldfeder is talking about how tough times make some people stand up and be counted. Read his commentary.

Then there is the issue of training in Arizona. With state funding cut for certification and accreditation that had been done by the State Fire Marshal’s office, Goldfeder is wondering if some priorities are wrong in Arizona and on the federal level. You can read that one here.

Federal judge says FDNY discriminated:  “A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that New York City intentionally discriminated against black applicants to the Fire Department by continuing to use an exam that it had been told put them at a disadvantage.” That’s the opening line in an article by Al Baker in The New York Times. Read more.

Discrimination & retaliation claim in Philly: “A white Philadelphia firefighter who settled a racial-discrimination case against the city last year filed another federal lawsuit yesterday, saying the fire commissioner and his top aides had retaliated against him for going to court.” That’s how an article by Robert Moran begins in the Inquirer. Read more.

TV station does background check on Pittsburgh firefighters: Pittsburgh’s mayor and chief have vowed to do something about the recent arrests of firefighters. WTAE-TV  is looking at the same issue and shows there are some other problens.

Firefighters respond second time for fire in the same house, but it definitely wasn’t a rekindle: Firefighters in East Hanover Township, Pennsylvania recognized the house that was burning in front of them Wednesday morning. They had fought a fire in the same house five-years-ago. Click here for the story.

Fire in Stoughton, Massachusetts: Firegeezer has video and details from a fire that burned a large 1890s era home and the efforts by neighbors to save an elderly woman who lived there.

A big time out: A broken sprinkler line forced the evacuation of FedEx Forum during the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers game Monday night.

Posted by on January 14, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Baltimore City Fire Department, Command & Leadership, Courts, fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Fires, News, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,