Parts of Interstate 81 and Route 22/322 in Dauphin County are closed due to a fiery crash.
A tanker overturned and caught fire on the ramp from I-81 northbound to Route 22/322 westbound about 6 a.m.
The truck, which was coming from Carlisle, was filled with diesel. The driver, a 52-year-old man from Dover, suffered minor burns and after he got out, the tanker exploded multiple times.
State police Trooper Robert Hicks said the crash occurred at 6:10 a.m. when the tanker, fully loaded with diesel, overturned on the I-81 northbound ramp to 322 West near mile marker 67.
The truck then caught fire and multiple explosions occurred.
The driver, a 52-year-old man from Dover, was able to escape the truck with minor burns. He was taken to Harrisburg Hospital, Hicks said. His name was not immediately released.
The truck was coming from Carlisle, and no other vehicles or people were involved. The crash is still under investigation.
The tanker was on fire for about 45 minutes on the 22/322 overpass.
Video above and immediately below by Billy McNeel (Billy McNeel) from this evening’s wind whipped building fire in Laurel, Maryland. Additional video below by Laurel PIO Pete Piringer (the headline of this story really should have been that Pete knows how to take video and upload to YouTube).
The fire was at the Laurel Oil and Heating Company. Just before 9:00 PM PGFD Chief Marc Bashoor tweeted the following:
On scene Laurel Fuel Co fire – no hazmat ACTUALLY involved. Under control
Firefighters battled a fire at the Laurel Fuel Oil and Heating Company on Wednesday evening that caused significant damage to the business. At around 7:00 pm firefighter/medics were alerted to a building fire at 101 Main Street. Fire/EMS units arrived on the scene to find a 2-story building with offices on the first floor and an apartment on the second floor with an attached 100 X 75 garage with fire showing from the garage.
A “Task Force” was sounded bringing additional firefighters, support vehicles and incident commanders to the scene.
It was quickly determined that the garage housed three home heating oil delivery trucks. First arriving firefighters attempted an initial interior attack on the fire and then evacuated the building to regroup. The bulk of the fire was knocked down from the exterior using master stream devices before returning to an interior attack. It required about 45 minutes for 75 firefighters to knock down the fire. Firefighter/Medics from Prince George’s, Montgomery, Howard and Anne Arundel Counties operated on the fire ground.
One firefighter sustained a shoulder injury while battling the fire. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
The cause of the fire is under investigation with a preliminary fire loss estimated at $750,000 for the building and it’s contents.
A large fire broke out in a garage at a Laurel oil and heating business Wednesday evening, forcing authorities to shut down parts of Route 1 in the city, officials said.
Firefighters responded to the Laurel Oil and Heating Company in the 100 block of Main Street about 7 p.m. and found heavy fire in a garage that houses fuel trucks, said Mark Brady, a Prince George’s County fire department spokesman.
The business was closed at the time of the fire. No injuries were reported.
From City of Laurel spokesman Pete Piringer (description with Pete’s YouTube clips above & below):
Just before 7p on Wednesday, March 6, units from the Laurel VFD and Laurel Rescue Squad were dispatched to 101 Main St for a building fire. Approx 100 firefighters from PG, Montgomery, Anne Arundel & Howard Counties responded. There were no injuries. The fire involved a garage area attached to the Laurel Heating & Fuel Company. Damage is significant.
Jeff Gray from WHNT-TV in Huntsville, Alabama had the camera rolling this morning when an explosion at a house fire on Highway 431 in New Hope knocked down three firefighters. Gray reports the firefighters were shaken but not injured.
A caller first reported the fire at the North Arlington warehouse at 29 Ewing Ave. at around 11:30 a.m. on Jan. 23. Fire and medical units from North Arlington, Lyndhurst, East Rutherford, Rutherford, Moonachie, East Newark and Belleville responded. Carlstadt and Wood-Ridge trucks were requested to cover the North Arlington fire house.
The business listed at the address is Par-Metal Products Inc., which sells metal chassis for electronics.
Firefighters had to deal with icing, frozen gear and water supply concerns while battling four-alarm fire through single-digit temperatures at a metal shop in Bergen County, N.J.
The cold weather made it tough for crews responding to the blaze on Ewing Avenue in North Arlington, a dead-end industrial road near Schuyler Avenue. Fire officials on the scene said water supply, frozen gear and firefighters’ comfort and safety were big concerns.
Gloucester County’s alleged negligence in hazardous materials equipment maintenance is “completely unacceptable” and “not the first incident,” claim Washington Township firefighters who responded to the Paulsboro train derailment and chemical spill last month.
In a letter (below) signed by seven Hazmat-trained firefighters on the county’s hazardous material team, responders detailed the “lack of proper equipment” on board the county’s CBRNE-1 mobile unit on Nov. 30 when they were dispatched to the rail accident.
The derailment caused the spill of vinyl chloride, and the week-long evacuations of more than 200 Paulsboro households near the scene. The county’s Hazmat team — including the seven Hazmat-trained Washington Township firefighters, and one Deptford fireman — were among the first responders at the scene.
The firefighters from Washington Township are members of a hazmat team run by Gloucester County. The county is in charge of maintaining the equipment. But the township’s fire chief says several of the meters that monitor air quality didn’t work. The batteries were dead. And he says none of his guys had access to working canister respirators, to help them breathe clean air. Alarming, considering vinyl chloride can cause cancer. “We don’t know what’s going to happen five years from now,” Hoffman said. “Do we have firefighters in our organization who were exposed to this product unnecessarily? Who are going to be sick?”
So Sam Micklus wrote a letter to Gloucester County, saying he was pulling his nine firefighters out of the hazmat team, until things changed. “They really want to be part of this team,” Micklus said. “They’re trained for it, they’re enthusiastic about it. They just no longer trust the way the team’s managed and organized.”
So what’s Gloucester County saying? No official would give Fox 29 an on camera interview. But the county released a statement this afternoon, saying officials are reviewing the matter. And they say despite the withdrawal by Washington Township, the county hazmat team remains adequately staffed in the event of another disaster.
This is apparently video shot a little earlier than the previous one we shared with you from Friday’s tanker crash and burn near Liberty Township, Pennsylvania (Tioga County). That video, posted here very early Sunday morning, and this video, were taken by Lonny Frost, who appears to shoot and report a fair amount of fire activity and other news in the region.
From remarks via Facebook on STATter911.com and with this video, Lonny Frost is not happy with some of the comments made by our KICs (keyboard incident commanders). Here’s what he wrote on Facebook:
I cannot believe people like all you putting down departments after viewing a 6 minute video clip that was taken some time after the tanker crash and fire. How rude to think all you are better qualified than anyone from Tioga County. Look into the facts of our county’s emergency workers, the hours, training and how many lives they have saved. Ignorance is all I am reading on this STAT911. A bunch of firemen sitting around bashing another before they even know what agency is already on scene and focusing on one firefighter, whom many of you believe is not doing his job correctly. Again that is your opinion. I dont mind comments or suggestions, but when did other firemen tear others apart? I thought there was a botherhood in firefighting. You are there to give advice, point out o ther possible solutions in future cases like the one you are negatively attacking. That fireman was never in any dange, to himself or others. Had anyone been in the “wrong” they would of been comfronted and removed. I have seen many of these companies save lives from situations others would not even enter. How aweful to have such ruthless and invaluable comments. Thanks for sharing your ignorance with your fellow self righteous critics.
For a while after this comment the video in question was made “private” on YouTube. As of this writing it’s back up.
With the posting of this latest video, Lonny Frost added these comments to the description on YouTube:
If you are going to write mean spirited comments about the volunteer fire departments, I will simply block you. If you want to post suggestions or polite informative statements or comments please do so. As a correspondent reporter these clips are posted to let local people see a glimspe of what occured. It is not for some of you to use to bash me or the firemen & women who volunteer to help those in our county.
Lonny Frost is far from alone in criticizing the comments that are posted on STATter911.com or even criticizing me for providing this forum. There are a lot of people who feel this way. I understand why they feel the way they do. I even respect such opinions and don’t take any criticism of the comments on this site, the site itself or of me personally. I try to learn from it all. And, by the way, if you look at what Lonny Frost is saying, even if you think he is greatly misguided, it’s hard not to note that his heart is in the right place by standing up for firefighters (that’s more than some people believe about the publisher of this rag).
I have dealt with people who are offended by the comments section since almost day one of STATter911.com more than five-years-ago. Some of the complaints came from my closest and oldest friends in the fire service. I listened to what they all had to say and made the decision to keep the comments and censor as little as possible. I continue to stand by that decision and amazingly my friends still stand by me. Not that it doesn’t cause me great pain at times when I see personal bashing and comments that are more vindictive than constructive. To me, the forum works best when there is an adult discussion of issues and tactics with the egos left at the door (I know … I’m a dreamer).
In this particular incident in Tioga County, the comments came in rather fast and furious. The overall theme was one questioning what many believe are serious safety issues with this operation. While some said it more nicely than others, the comments almost all were about the same concerns.
As regular readers know I leave all of the commenting about firegound tactics and safety issues to others. But I do have some general observations about all of this.
First of all, I believe it would be nicer and more civilized if we could just tell people directly our concerns in a more private way. But the cameras everywhere, digital nature of life in the 2000s seems to have changed that dynamic forever. It isn’t just the fire service. In almost everything today we all have to deal with the instant analysis of our actions, whether it’s because of something we innocently wrote on Facebook or the video our neighbor took of us walking around our backyard in our underwear.
The question I toss out to the crowd is this: Are you being more of a “brother” by not pointing out an important safety lapse in one of these videos so you won’t hurt that brother’s feelings or is brotherhood making your thoughts clear on an actions you see that could injure or kill your brother firefighters?
According to state police, Jeffrey D. Krout, 27, of Wellsboro, was traveling south in a fully loaded 2005 Peterbilt fuel tanker in the right lane, when he served across the left lane and onto the shoulder of the road.
The truck, which was carrying about 4,600 gallons of diesel fuel, then swerved back across both lanes of travel, left the roadway, traveled onto the right side berm and overturned.
Krout extricated himself from the vehicle just before it caught fire.
Krout reportedly sustained a minor leg injury and he refused medical treatment. Krout will reportedly be charged with careless driving and rollover violations of the Pennsylvania Vehicle Code.
PennDOT members were diligent in not allowing anyone near the scene of the crash, including members of the media. By the time a Wellsboro Gazette reporter could get near the scene, the truck and burnt wreckage were being towed away.
Video above and below show a number of explosions at a fire yesterday at a car storage facility in Odgen, Utah. Thanks to loyal STATter911.com reader Barbara Jeffries for alerting us to this video.
Fire investigators are trying to figure out what sparked an intense fire at a car storage facility. The building and six cars were destroyed in the Monday afternoon fire.
Ogden Fire spokesman Deputy Chief Eric Bauman says fortunately the fire started when no one was inside the 7th and Wall Avenue building. “A worker had just gone outside when the worker heard an explosion and then turned around and saw the flames.” Bauman says when firefighters arrived the building was “fully engulfed.”
A warehouse that stored, among other items, tanks filled with natural gas, was destroyed in an explosive fire Monday.
Just before 1:30 p.m., crews were called to C & G Global Inc., in the 700 block of Wall Avenue, on a report of a large fire, said Ogden Deputy Fire Chief Eric Bauman. An employee working in the building had stepped outside to load a truck, Bauman said. While outside, he heard an explosion from inside the building.
As firefighters battled the fire, there were several explosions inside the large warehouse because of the natural gas tanks, Bauman said.
A fairly wild scene at a warehouse fire in Florence, New Jersey (Burlington County) that began late Saturday night and lasted until early this morning. On these videos you will see and hear multiple blasts and ignition of gases that appear to come from a variety of sources. As you will see from this link to an article in The Trentonian there was pretty much nothing left of the structure this morning.
Flames broke out at a warehouse in Florence, NJ just after 11:30 Saturday night. Flames leaped into the air as several explosions went off inside. Part of the roof collapsed, making the fire harder for crews to fight.
Officials at the scene Sunday morning declined to comment on the extent of the blaze, but a lid that was buckled outward for a 55-gallon drum, on the property adjacent to G.J.P. Enterprises and fire fighters pointing to a truck that had also received fire damage across the street tell the tale. The wild late-night fire that raged for five hours until it was placed under control at 4 a.m., though at 11 a.m. some pockets of fire still remained as demolition crews sifted through the wreckage with a large backhoe.
G.J.P Enterprises is a Trenton area business that specializes in distribution of import and export freight that serves all of New Jersey.
The Trentonian was unable to obtain comment from the Chief of the Florence Township Fire Chief at the scene and the cause remains under investigation.
A full shift of firefighters fell ill with symptoms of chemical exposure after working a fire earlier in the day, according to D.C. Fire and EMS.
All eight from the station at 1342 Florida Ave. NE had to be relieved by other fire crews. Those who fell ill complained of respiratory problems, vomiting, dizziness and burning eyes.
They were taken to a clinic for observation and D.C. Fire and EMS declared it a hazmat incident.
The firefighters became ill after fighting an apartment fire at about 11 a.m. Wednesday in the 3700 block of Hayes St. NE, according to officials. They did not begin showing symptoms until evening. Sources told 9News Now the firefighters may have been affected to a home drug lab while fighting the fire Wednesday morning.
D.C. Fire and EMS declared a mass casualty hazmat and took the firefighters to the police and fire clinic for observation.
The firefighters could be ill from a fire they fought about 11 a.m. in the 3700 block of Hayes Street NE, officials said. It’s possible it was a PCP lab.
The firefighters work at Engine 10 in the 1300 block of Florida Avenue NE and complained of the symptoms when they were at the station about 8:30 p.m., said Battalion Chief Brian K. Lee, a spokesman.
It was not clear what may have caused the firefighters’ dizziness. But three sources with knowledge of the probe said authorities are investigating the possibility that drug-making chemicals were inside the apartment building during the fire.
This is from the afternoon of Sunday, April 29 in the Brooklyn neighborhood known as DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). Video taken by neighbor Chris Frank. Thanks to Vito Maggiolo for alerting us to the video.
Residents reported that they felt their buildings shake.
Con Ed spokesman Chris Olert denied there was an explosion, however. He said a fire broke out in a piece of reactor equipment in the station, located on 89 John Street.
An FDNY spokesman tells us the fire was brought under control at 6:39 p.m., mostly using foam. A Con Ed spokesman confirms there were no injuries, and no customers were affected with outages as a result of the fire, which broke out around 5:15 p.m. Witnesses reported hearing an explosion, which the spokesman attributed to the sound of oil igniting. The cause remains under investigation.
Above is earlier video and some fireground audio from the chemical plant fire we told you about in Quick Takes that occurred this morning in South St. Louis. Three firefighters received minor injuries.
Investigators are trying to determine what started a five-alarm fire in St. Louis that shut down a portion of Interstate 44 and forced hundreds of nearby residents to evacuate.
The fire happened at Chemisphere Corp. around 2:30 a.m. in an industrial area of the 2100 block of Clifton. Storage tanks were damaged, but only about 15 percent of the facility was affected.
About 500 residents living within a three block radius were evacuated. Police went door to door in the middle of the night and requested that they leave. Many went to nearby parking lots in their pajamas and waited for the all clear.
They were allowed to return around 6:45 a.m.
Air quality was not a concern during the fire.
St. Louis Fire Chief Dennis Jenkerson said three firefighter was injured at the scene. They were transported to an area hospital for treatment of minor injuries. They were released a few hours later.
The fire forced a four-mile stretch of Interstate 44 to close between Kings Highway and Jamieson. The eastbound lanes reopened at times and then were closed again around 6:45 a.m. The westbound lanes reopened about two hours later.
A homeowner was injured in this two-alarm house fire on Avenue I near Arizona Street in Boulder City, Nevada on Sunday. The fire was reported around 12:30 PM. Neighbors say the fire started in the man's boat and spread to his pick-up, SUV, garage and house. Along the way it sounds and looks like it took out power lines, ammunition and various other things that go pop and bang.
Looks like there is no shortage of fire paparazzi on the scene. Counting the person shooting this image I see eight cameras just in the alley on one side of the burning home.
There is not a lot of information on this one other than it is in what is described as a science and technology business park known as Tehnopol in Tallinn, Estonia (at least that's what I think I have discovered about the place). The only other thing I know is that the numerous explosions coming from the burning second floor of this structure are quite impressive and the firefighters don't seem to be in any hurry to get up close and personal with this one.
A fire first reported around 11:00 PM last night destroyed Taylor Ace Hardware in Cowarts, Alabama. Ammunition and chlorine in the building caused concerns for firefighters and the sheriff's deputies who arrived first on the scene. Reports indicate some nearby homes were evacuated. Click here to read more about the fire.
The New York Daily News says as many as a dozen firefighters were injured in the fire that started Monday night and burned well into Tuesday morning at a Jamaica, Queens ironworks business. Earlier it was reported seven firefighters were hurt. The most seriously injured firefighter suffered second-degree burns to his head and face. The eight-alarm fire was at 95-20 150th Street and began around 6:00 PM. Here are excerpts from the Daily News article:
“The flames were shooting 50 to 60 feet in the air. There were two or three explosions,” said Alan Grossman, who owns a business next door to the burned warehouse.
Nearly 500 firefighters had a hand in fighting the eight-alarm blaze. Roughly 60 firefighters are called in for each alarm.
The warehouse, which stores materials for an unidentified company in the metal business, is deep and long. The dimensions allowed the fire to spread, causing portions of the roof to collapse.
That forced firefighters to change their tactics on the fly, resulting in the need to call in more manpower, FDNY Division 11 Deputy Chief Vinny Mandala said at the scene.
“They initially started with an interior attack, and then after they had some structural issues, they pulled everybody out,” Mandala said. “It will remain an exterior attack for the remainder.”
He (Grossman) said firefighters put so much water on the fire that a loading bay alongside the warehouse filled with about 5 feet of water.
At one point, a firefighter fell into the water-filled bay, but emerged unharmed, Grossman said.
This is from an incident Saturday two blocks east of The White House. The video above is from someone staying in the W Hotel who began rolling before the arrival of the fire department as cops blocked off the 1400 block of F Street, NW.
Still frame from Vito Maggiolo video showing Treasury Department in the background.
Some of the fire video in the story below is from DC Fire & EMS photographer Vito Maggiolo who also sent along the still image.
Fire from an underground electrical transformer forced the evacuation of two hotels near the White House on Saturday night.
No injuries were reported. Pete Piringer of DC Fire and EMS said the fire, at 14th and F Streets, began at 7:45 p.m. and was under control in about an hour. Flames shot 20 to 30 feet high and dark smoke could be seen for miles, Piringer said.
The W hotel and historic Willard were evacuated. Several streets were closed and power was lost in the area.
The fire spread underground and shot through several manholes and grates in the area. More than 125 firefighters responded to the scene.
I had two things on my agenda today and both played a role in the above video being posted. The first was a visit to Baltimore for the International Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference presented by the IAFC. Tim Butters and Chris Hawley were kind enough to extend an invitation for the chance to look around. I also attended an interesting class by Mike Hildebrand and Greg Noll.
From there it was a trip to Channel 9 to start the process of dealing with my own hazmat situation. Much of the rest of the day was spent trying to clean the toxic dump that is my desk in anticipation of my departure in less than two weeks. Should have contracted with Hildebrand and Noll Associates to handle this one.
Somewhere in that pile was a tape that caught my eye because it had the words ”hazardous materials” highlighted in yellow. Rather than fight it, I went with the theme of the day and checked it out. It is a story from September 7, 1988. Inspired by a series of hazardous materials incidents on and around the Beltway, a much skinnier me took a quick look at the training being done in the area.
The video includes interviews with the late Warren Isman, who was then chief in Fairfax County, Virginia, and current STATter911.com reader Pat Walsh, who was a lieutenant in Washington, DC.
With luck I will have a few more gems for you before I lose access to the archives.
Raw video & raw feelings: New video from the PA tanker fire that fueled many comments & the ire of the videographer.
44 commentsThis is apparently video shot a little earlier than the previous one we shared with you from Friday’s tanker crash and burn near Liberty Township, Pennsylvania (Tioga County). That video, posted here very early Sunday morning, and this video, were taken by Lonny Frost, who appears to shoot and report a fair amount of fire activity and other news in the region.
From remarks via Facebook on STATter911.com and with this video, Lonny Frost is not happy with some of the comments made by our KICs (keyboard incident commanders). Here’s what he wrote on Facebook:
For a while after this comment the video in question was made “private” on YouTube. As of this writing it’s back up.
With the posting of this latest video, Lonny Frost added these comments to the description on YouTube:
Lonny Frost is far from alone in criticizing the comments that are posted on STATter911.com or even criticizing me for providing this forum. There are a lot of people who feel this way. I understand why they feel the way they do. I even respect such opinions and don’t take any criticism of the comments on this site, the site itself or of me personally. I try to learn from it all. And, by the way, if you look at what Lonny Frost is saying, even if you think he is greatly misguided, it’s hard not to note that his heart is in the right place by standing up for firefighters (that’s more than some people believe about the publisher of this rag).
I have dealt with people who are offended by the comments section since almost day one of STATter911.com more than five-years-ago. Some of the complaints came from my closest and oldest friends in the fire service. I listened to what they all had to say and made the decision to keep the comments and censor as little as possible. I continue to stand by that decision and amazingly my friends still stand by me. Not that it doesn’t cause me great pain at times when I see personal bashing and comments that are more vindictive than constructive. To me, the forum works best when there is an adult discussion of issues and tactics with the egos left at the door (I know … I’m a dreamer).
In this particular incident in Tioga County, the comments came in rather fast and furious. The overall theme was one questioning what many believe are serious safety issues with this operation. While some said it more nicely than others, the comments almost all were about the same concerns.
As regular readers know I leave all of the commenting about firegound tactics and safety issues to others. But I do have some general observations about all of this.
First of all, I believe it would be nicer and more civilized if we could just tell people directly our concerns in a more private way. But the cameras everywhere, digital nature of life in the 2000s seems to have changed that dynamic forever. It isn’t just the fire service. In almost everything today we all have to deal with the instant analysis of our actions, whether it’s because of something we innocently wrote on Facebook or the video our neighbor took of us walking around our backyard in our underwear.
Taking that as a given, I’m left with this statement from Lonny Frost: “I thought there was a botherhood in firefighting.” Others (apparently firefighters) have said the same thing about some of the comments with the New Jersey ambulance fire video this weekend. This issue of “brotherhood” has long been brought up by those offended by the comments section.
The question I toss out to the crowd is this: Are you being more of a “brother” by not pointing out an important safety lapse in one of these videos so you won’t hurt that brother’s feelings or is brotherhood making your thoughts clear on an actions you see that could injure or kill your brother firefighters?