Glenn Usdin’s FireTruckBlog.com looks at the lawsuit filed by an insurance company in connection with the January 2009 death of Lt. Kevin Kelley. Lt. Kelley was killed when Boston Fire Department’s Ladder 26 lost its brakes and slammed into a building. The company insures the Mission Hill apartment complex the rig hit. The suit is against the City of Boston and six truck maintenance shops. Lt. Kelley’s family has also filed suit against the same inspection and repair shops. Click here for the coverage from FireTruckBlog.com.
Something tells me there isn’t going to be a lot of sympathy on this forum for the man being wrestled to the ground by firefighters from Boston’s Ladder 26. That man, identified by friend Nicholas Duncan as James, is accused of stealing a helmet from the rig and then pushing a firefighter in the chest as he tried to flee.
According to WFXT-TV, Nicholas Duncan says that James was injured when he was roughed up by firefighters who slammed his head into the pavement. A police report says the injuries came when James ran into a pole. WFXT-TV says that Duncan does not dispute who stole the helmet. According to Duncan the helmet ended up in his backpack after James and another man took it.
Jodie Smith, a bystander who took the video, claims a firefighter confronted and pushed him.
Apartment fire in Spokane, Washington: This is from a fire yesterday at the Houston House Apartments in North Spokane. News reports confirm what the video shows that it started on the second floor and had spread to the roof by the time firefighters had knocked the fire in the original apartment and the one above. The fire went to three-alarms with no injuries reported. Click here for four more video clips.
Must see video: It’s a week late, but you should see this video of arcing & sparking lines on top of a beer truck with the driver still inside. More lines came down trapping an ambulance crew. Click here for the story from Cottonwood Heights, Utah.
The battle over ambulance fees in Montgomery County, Maryland: Hours away from Tuesday’s election, The Washington Post’s Michael Laris tries to sort out all of the charges and counter-charges in the divisive fight over whether Montgomery County can bill insurance companies for ambulance service. Here’s the story.
Pikesville, Maryland house fire: Michael Schwartzberg was on the scene at a fire in Baltimore County early Sunday morning that left one occupant burned. Watch the video.
Child & adult dead in collision with fire vehicle in Delaware: DelawareOnline.com reports the two deaths in Felton Sunday evening after a crash on Dupont Highway with a utility vehicle from the Harrington Fire Department. A Delaware State Police report says a 29-year-old man and an 11-year-old boy were killed when their vehicle used the median to pass an SUV driven by a Harrington FD member and then struck the SUV before hitting another vehicle heading in the opposite direction on the highway.
Fire building with a checkered past: In Kalamazoo, Michigan Saturday evening a fire destroyed part of the 88-year-old former Checker Motors complex. The fire has been called suspicious. Checker was famous for its distinctive taxis. Read more.
Mississippi house fire: Video from a fire Saturday in Kosciusko, Mississippi. Click here.
Professional wrestling and amateurish handling of the emergency: Dave recalls his youth watching wrestling matches at the Baltimore Civic Center as he looks at a four-year-old video of a fire during a televised wrestling event. Check it out.
Detroit sees increase in fires over Halloween weekend: Certainly far from the 800 fires on Devil’s Night in 1984, but the three day total was at 129, 10 more than last year. Read more.
EMS chief accused of being drunk at scene: An interesting story from Gloucester Township, NJ where the head of the EMS Alliance was arrested at a barricade scene. Here’s the story.
Update on close call with Boston’s Ladder 26 and power lines: Firefighter Close Calls has an updated and detailed account of the recent incident that caused an electrical shock to a Boston firefighter. You will want to read it.
The parrot in the house fire becomes the canary in the coal mine: No smoke alarms in a York, Pennsylvania home that caught fire early Thursday morning. But two people made it out thanks to their squawking pet parrot. Here’s more.
Behind the scenes during Backdraft filming: A look back 20-years to Ron Howard and company shooting in Chicago for Backdraft. Click here.
Turmoil at Texas fire company: The chief quit in disgust, an assistant chief stepped down and at least one other firefighter has left the Noonday VFD. The problem started when a repo man tried to snatch a firefighter’s vehicle. The claim is firefighters tried to prevent the repo man from doing his job. Read and watch the details.
Blockage in vent requires extrication: Martin Grube at Fire Rescue TV had an up close and personal view of an unusual extrication in the exhaust system of a Virginia Beach, Virginia restaurant. Click here for the video.
Garages on fire in Millville, Massachusetts: Matt Gregoire at Providence Fire Videos caught this one on Saturday afternoon.
It looks like money may not be the only obstacle in telling the story. In late July Mayor Dave Bing fired Warren Evans, his police chief of a year. Among the reasons cited by Mayor Bing is Evans’ decision to be featured in a reality show called “The Chief”. According to the Detroit Free Press, “The footage showed the chief holding an assault rifle and declaring he would do whatever it takes to clean the city’s streets.”
Mayor Bing also recently canceled a two year relationship with the A&E series, “First 48″. This one shadows homicide detectives in a number of cities. More from The Free Press:
Critics of Detroit’s participation have said that officers may be showboating for the cameras. They point to the use of a flash-bang grenade in some raids, including the one early May 16 that left 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones dead from a police officer’s bullet.
After that incident, Bing nixed the A&E tagalongs.
It is all about image. Mayor Bing thinks these reality shows (and even an ABC police drama based on Detroit homicide detectives) could be portraying Detroit in a negative fashion. The Free Press article quotes a spokesman for the City of Baltimore who says they are still dealing with negative image problems from the HBO series “The Wire”.
All of this is now apparently having an impact on efforts to feature the Detroit Fire Department in the documentary “Burn”. Crain’s Detroit Business reports that getting permission from Detroit officials could be a problem:
We are re-evaluating our policies and practices as it relates to film opportunities, citywide and inclusive of (the Detroit Police Department),” Karen Dumas, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing’s chief communications officer, wrote in an e-mail to Crain’s. “We look forward to having practical guidelines in place soon.”
I admit it is a dilemma when you are talking about something as important as a city’s image. But to me it always seems a better idea to fix the problems rather than spend the time, effort and money to manipulate and sanitize the message. While you certainly don’t want showboating for the cameras and having the film alter the reality of something as important as public safety, don’t you think in some cases you will also be preventing a very positive message from being heard and seen by the public?
What I often see in these ride-alongs from Detroit and elsewhere is, despite all of the decay and heartbreak surrounding them, there are still dedicated public servants who get the job done with expertise and compassion. I think of the video a Detroit journalist shot while riding with Engine 23 and the great interviews with the firefighters like Walt Harris, who died in the line-of-duty before the year was out (the video does not seem to be online anymore). Similarly, Firehouse USA’s up close and personal views that included those phenomenal moments with Boston’s Lt. Kevin Kelley, who died last year in the crash of Ladder 26. To me the world would be a little less tolerable without those videos bringing a little sanity and understanding of the bureaucracy and chaos of city life.
Remember, it is what it is. You aren’t going to change it by hiding behind a curtain. And a major TV series or movie shot in city brings money and even jobs. Both, if I am not mistaken, are things that are desperately needed in Detroit, Michigan.
Pennsylvania apartment fire: This fire was reported at 1:45 Monday morning at the Willow Creek Apartments in Ephrata Township (Lancaster County). Two alarms were sounded. Three firefighters suffered minor injuries. It is a fairly new sprinklered building, but news reports indicate the fire began outside, on the balcony of a third floor apartment. Read more.
Update on Baltimore’s Jeffrey Novack: The Baltimore City firefighter continues to recover from many broken bones and serious burns following the April 7 fire at 3910 Liberty Heights Avenue. Jeffrey Novack’s home town paper in Pennsylvania talked with his firefighter/radio reporter dad Al, who provided a lot more details about his son’s condition. Here’s the story.
Ammo takes firefighter’s eye: That’s the latest on Ventura County, California Firefighter Paul Torres. You may recall he was hit on April 5 by exploding ammunition during a house fire. Read and watch the story.
Brain drain in Fairfax County: Darryl Louder is the latest assistant chief leaving the Fairfax County Fire Rescue Department for a chief’s job. Chief Louder is getting about as far away as he can get from us. He’s been picked to run the Contra Costa Fire District in California. Read more. By contrast, Assistant Chief Dave Rohr is staying about as close as he can get to his old office. It was announced earlier in the month Chief Rohr is walking across the street to take over as chief of the City of Fairfax Fire Department.
Video from substation fire: Click here and here for good video of a Pinellas County, Florida electrical substation burning last night and a foam truck moving in to put out the fire.
911 calls from Austin plane crash into IRS office: Austin police released the recordings of the calls about the fiery plane crash into the building housing the IRS on February 18. WUSA9.com’s Emily Cyr loaded them into our player (at the upper right of the blog). You can listen to the calls here, here, here, here, here, here and here. We also have the calls made about the fire at pilot Joe Stack’s home here, and here. Read more.
NIOSH wants Massachusetts to require seat belts for firefighters: One of the recommendations following the January, 2009 crash of Ladder 26 that killed Lt. Kevin Kelley. Read the report.
Also in Boston, Globe wants the pay raise slashed: Editorial writers at the Boston Globe are urging the City Council to reduce the 19-percent raise for firefighters over four-years cleared by an arbitration panel that also ordered mandatory drug and alcohol testing. Read the view from the paper.
Two go through the floor in Columbus, Ohio: We have the fireground audio from FireSceneAudio.com and video of yesterday morning’s fire that took the life of a woman and injured two firefighters. Click here.
Audio from Houston crash: You have likely seen the pictures of Houston Fire Department’s Engine 13 following Monday’s crash into the underside of a freeway overpass. Here’s the radio traffic.
Firefighter and son could face murder charges: Now that a 55-year-old man has died from an April 8 beating, a Philadelphia firefighter and his son are expected to be charged with murder. The pair are accused of attacking Mark Wallace and fleeing the scene after Wallace walked in front of their car. Here’s the story.
Sunday’s 4-alarm fire in Union, New Jersey: You have probably seen lots of pictures and video from the weekend wind swept fire in Union that spread to four buildings. This version is from our friend Paul Bassett. Make sure you check out Paul’s still pictures by clicking here.
A board of inquiry says a number of factors, including lack of an adequate preventative maintenance program, contributed to a deadly fire truck crash in Boston.
Lt. Kevin Kelley was killed in January 2009 when the ladder truck he was riding on lost its brakes on a steep hill and slammed into a building.
In a 127-page report released on Monday, the board cited 15 “causative factors,” including inadequate funding for preventative maintenance, insufficient manpower in the fire department’s maintenance division, and the installation of improper parts by outside vendors working on fire equipment.
The investigation was one of several into the accident
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino says the department has already implemented recommendations from previous reports, including the hiring of certified civilian mechanics.
Security camera image as Ladder 26 busts through fence before hitting the building. More pictures like this in the report.
We have a winner! The very first entry into our top stories contest for 2009 correctly guessed the top story of the year. Even though the rest of that person’s top five weren’t on target, it gave me hope for you people and this contest. Once again, Statter was wrong.
Many of you were blinded by our extensive coverage of PGFD and one man in particular, who at last look was still in the Prince George’s County Detention Center. You will have to scroll way done to number 14 to find his picture on this page. Other entries, including one from a person who should know better, focused way too much on our coverage of the District of Columbia Fire & EMS Department. Only one DC story made the list (but it was a big one at number two). In fact, only eight of the top 20 were local stories from the Washington, DC area. Remember that for next year’s contest. We are global in scope here at STATter911.com (yeah, right!).
To get a winner we had to go deep down to someone who guessed two of the top five. While he had the two top stories in reverse order, author and fire service veteran from Baltimore County Chris Hawley was the only entrant to get more than one out of five. The good news is the two Baltimore boys should have lots to talk about when this one buys lunch.
Our rankings are based on the number of pageviews between January 1 and December 31, 2009 according to Google Analytics. If a story had multiple postings we only counted the top one for our list.
The interesting thing is that the bottom two stories and the 21st story were just nine clicks apart. Their rankings kept changing up until the closing hours of 2009. In the end, a somewhat odd, but newer story from Montgomery County, Maryland moved up, knocking off one of my personal favorites from earlier in the year. Number 21 is the story of Alexandria Fire Department (VA) veteran Doug Townshend who, while off duty, rescued his brother Mike from a burning home. Click here for that story.
Click the Popeye cartoon to see what used to pass for a year-end review at STATter911.com.
By the way, I did this type of year end review, rather than the more humorous (at least I thought so) version of the two previous years, because I thought it would be easier to manage. I am writing this at 4:00 AM on New Years Day, so now I am not so sure. If you miss the old one, here it is (I am sure most of it is still true today anyway).
Obviously isn’t just us taking a look back at 2009 and ahead to 2010. Other fire service sites beat us to the punch. Paul Peluso at Firehouse.com says 2009 was the year of the video (look below for proof). FireRescue1.com has a host of characters writing lots of words under its year in review banner. Billy Goldfeder has a message for the new year at FirefighterCloseCalls.com. Paul Combs has a great thought in his December cartoon at FireEngineering.com. I am sure Bill Schumm will have something to help bring in the new year Firegeezer style and so will many others who share the FireEMSBlogs.com site with this rag. .
And Rhett Fleitz at The Fire Critic, who is a great inspiration and supporter to all of us who blog, has a contest that is better than mine. Rhett is looking for the Fire/EMS Blog of the Year 2009 (now you know why I said those nice things about him). Rhett’s is better because he is promoting it as the contest with the prize where you don’t have to sit across the lunch table from Dave Statter.
Thank you to all who entered our contest. Thank you to all who read and comment each day. Thank you to all who link to STATter911.com and carry our stories. Most important, a happy and safe 2010 to all of you and especially those out there protecting us each and every day.
So, drum roll please! We present our 20 most popular stories from 2009:
This was the story that dominated 2009 on STATter911.com. Not only did the posting on May 30 (our fourth posting on the topic) bring in 43 percent more pageviews than our number two story for the year, three other stories on the confrontation would have taken places two, three, and four. When you add up the clicks for the almost 20 stories we posted on this topic they account for about five-percent of the overall traffic on the blog for 2009.
There have been more than 700 comments (actually a lot more than that, but many we couldn’t publish). A couple of comments still arrive each week.
I think the reason for the high numbers, besides being a hot topic, is that we apparently reached way beyond our normal fire and EMS service audience on this story. It helps that the YouTube video above, which has more than two million views, has our link in its description.
As much grief as I get for carrying too many negative stories on the blog, the only reason the world knew about this one is because I was trying to do a good deed and post some positive news. On Wednesday, October 7 there were two sprinkler demonstrations scheduled in the National Capital region. One at Gallaudet University and the other at the University of Maryland (at MFRI). My goal was to get to both of them, but the Maryland one was the priority because of the release of a study about Prince George’s County’s mandatory residential sprinkler law. I never made it to DC and no one said anything to me about a problem during that demonstration.
As I was about to leave work the following evening I was feeling guilty the DC sprinkler video didn’t get any play in my story the day before (there had been a photographer on the scene from LNS, the local news service run by my station and two others in Washington). I pulled the video up with the intention of editing something for the blog and possibly WUSA9.com. Of course, as I watched the video, I immediately realized there was a little bit more to this demonstration.
This entry had 128 comments. More comments came in after Chief Dennis Rubin, when talking about what he saw, used the term “comedy act”.
Firefighter Will Gregory exits the home with his PPE on fire. Photo by Brian Haney, The Daily Record.
This was a late entry for the year. It came about because FirefighterCloseCalls.com first put out the story of the close call based on the newspaper article by Brian Haney at The Daily Record in Dunn, NC. Figuring that there might be more than one photo, I called Mr. Haney and he told me he had shot 210 images from that fire. Brian sent a bunch to STATter911.com and gave us permission to use the photos.
Until a day or two ago, this was in the number three spot for the year. In my heart I wish it was number one. I was blogging away on the Friday afternoon that Ladder 26 wrecked trying to keep up with the developments from Boston. Later in the evening when we learned that Lt. Kevin Kelley was the firefighter killed, it didn’t take long to find his appearances from Firehouse USA on the web. How can you not smile when you watch these?
While I get a lot of stories and videos from your tips, this is one I found all by myself. Going through fire related YouTube videos on a Sunday evening I happened upon this clip. I usually don’t run controlled burning type training exercises, but this one looked different. After picking my jaw off the floor upon seeing the unusual PPV via the leaf blower, I decided this was one worthy of a wider audience.
You have to admit this one was different. The 160-foot Spirit of Washington squeezed the 72-foot John H. Glenn Jr., putting a big gash in the Glenn’s hull and sidelining the boat for many months. The collision also crushed a small FBI boat at an adjacent dock.
This is a rather simple story of a rescue in that it was popular despite there being no video of the event. Firefighters saving the day when it looks like that might be impossible.
Here’s how WZZM-TV’s Lambrini Lukidis described the story:
Kelysse LaBelle is full of energy today. But when fireman Scott Campau rescued her from the bottom of Fisherman’s Landing in Muskegon last week, Kelysse was purple, her eyes were gray and lifeless.
“The stroller was actually sitting up-right on its wheels on the bottom of the lake and she was unconscious,” said Campau.
“She wasn’t breathing, no heart rate,” said Battalion Chief Ken Chudy who lead the team on the call. “She was lifeless when we pulled her out of the water,” said Fireman Kevin McMillan also assisted by firemen Chad Horn and Scott Hemmeslbach.
Eight Prince George’s County firefighters were hurt when an explosion occurred while they were investigating a natural has leak at a shopping center in Forestville.
Truly one of the great stories of the year. John and Joel Rechlitz received national attention for their off-duty rescue of a young boy from a burning car. Their efforts didn’t stop after the rescue. The firefighters remained close to D.J. Harper and his family. Click here.
In December, 2008 Continental Flight 1404 ran off a runway and burst into flames at Denver International Airport. This was the audio as the airport tower controllers directed firefighters to the scene.
The fireground audio provided by Erie County Fire wire was very difficult to listen to as these two men responded to a call for help inside the burning building on Genesee Street.
Layoffs and budget cuts were THE story of 2009. We saw a lot of stories like this one, but for some reason the Flint fire got more attention than the others.
What more can I say about this frequent subject of STATter911.com stories. In the interview Jerry Engle told us all about an arson ring involving firefighters. Later in the year Engle and another former volunteer from Riverdale were both charged with the fire Jerry told us about. If you haven’t read enough about him, click here for our Jerry archive.
A touching tribute to firefighters who were lost 50-years earlier. The incident is believed to be the first time the term BLEVE was used to describe the rupture and rocketing of a flammable liquid container during a fire.
It took teamwork and a lot of guts as a dispatcher and engine company worked to save a woman trapped in an apartment fire started thanks to a neighbor’s meth lab. Video shows Chad Meyer from Engine 26 basically walking through fire to bring out Nikki Cain.
This entry from Montgomery County had to be one of the more unusual stories of the year. A firefighter’s date spent the night at the firehouse and got lost on the way to the bathroom.
What this means is that, even though Kyle Wilson died in a house fire in April, 2007 and the report was released nine-months later, firefighters are still interested in learning from this tragic situation. Enough people searched, found and apparently read that entry in 2009 to make it part of our top 20.
BC house fire: From Surrey on Sunday at 96th Avenue and 154th Street. Read details.
Deputy chief gets what burned firefighter couldn’t: More on the Sarasota County, Florida fire chief who is still on the rolls of the District of Columbia Fire & EMS Department. No one is yet saying who made the deal to allow Chief Kenneth Ellebee to remained employed in DC while working in Florida. Also, a look at a critically burned firefighter, Joe Morgan, who couldn’t get such a deal. Read more.
A detailed police report from a recent investigation of a fatal Boston firetruck crash concludes that a Fire Department contractor installed the wrong parts on the ladder truck’s brakes several months before the crash and that firefighters who were not licensed mechanics repeatedly adjusted the brakes in violation of national safety guidelines.
The contractor replaced a brake chamber and brake pads on Ladder 26 with “unsuitable’’ parts in spring 2008, which decreased stopping power significantly, according to a copy of the report obtained by the Globe.
Support for silenced union prez: There was a protest last night in Johnson City, New York over the suspension without pay of Captain Marty Meaney. Meaney is accused by the mayor of insubordination after speaking to the press and at a public meeting. Read the story.
A sad day in Grand Rapids: Twenty-two firefighters are losing their jobs. Plans are already underway to try and soon bring back at least some of them. Click here for the latest.
No drinking on the job for firefighters apparently needs to be legislated: It is in a charter amendment proposed in San Francisco along with one to increase a firefighters work week from 48.7 hours to 52. Read more.
Lots of stuff at Geezer: The Firegeezer and the Fossil Medic have been posting like crazy so far this week. Check out lots of interesting items.
Friendly comment reminder: I have had to kill a number of long comments in recent days because of expletives. I know you spent a lot of time writing to STATter911.com and I appreciate it Most of it was nice reading for me, but if you want others to see your comments, leave out the $%#3# four-letter words. Also, I promise I won’t pick up a hose or ladder (as if I could without ending up in traction) if you don’t do the reporting. State your opinion on the stories all you want. If there are new facts, send them in as tips and I will see if we can get to them. Thanks.
House fire in Turlock, California: WARNING!!! A warning that the neighbor/photographer narrates this one with some pretty salty language. A lot of expletives.
Third alarm in Allentown, PA: This is from NewsWorking.org. Here’s some of what they wrote about the Wednesday morning blaze at 903 N. Penn Street- Engines 6, 4 (reserve E5), 9, 11 (acting Ladder 2), 10 (RIT) and Battalion 4 (Grim) respond on the box. Engine 6 arrives and reports heavy fire in a 3-story M/O/R. Crews stretch a handline and find fire on all floors of the house. BC 4 strikes the second alarm. Engines 14, 13, air 1 and Cars 40, 46, 47, 48 respond. The fire spread to the ‘Delta’ exposure on the third floor of 901 Penn Street, which is the End of Row (E/O/R). Chief 40 struck the third alarm, bringing in Engine 11 (reserve E8) and Truck 1. A may-day was called for a downed firefighter on the second floor of the original fire building around 0954 hrs activating the R.I.T. The firefighter was taken to the hospital (at 7:48 on the video) with minor injuries. the fire was declared under control at 1100 hrs by BC 4.
Station fire report questions aggressiveness of U.S. Forest Service. Forest Service fights back. Read entire report: Click here to read the complete report from Los Angeles County into the Station fire that took the lives of Captain Ted Hall and Firefighter Arnie Quinones. It has sparked a battle between the county and the U.S. Forest Service. The report says the federal agency should change its policy to allow night water drops and make better use of local resources during fires in the Angeles National Forest. The Forest Service points out when it did its own report into the fire Los Angeles County officials did not voice those concerns. Read more from the Los Angeles Times.
Charles Scott Doyle: A firefighter from Montgomery County Maryland who was injured while BASE jumping died yesterday. We told you about Scott Doyle shortly after his accident in May as firefighters worked to bring him home from Idaho. Click here for details on arrangements.
An idea that is spreading: A while ago we told you that the idea of replacing career firefighters with volunteers was being floated in Cumberland, Maryland. Yesterday it was the surprise suggestion from the mayor of La Crosse, Wisconsin. And now there is Johnson City, New York where the mayor wants to save money by recruiting volunteers to replace full time staff.
Selectmen are now investigating union allegations over issues with Lt. Kelli Weeks. Click the image for the latest from Bourne, Massachusetts.
Guilty plea for Pennsylvania firefighter who used firetruck to steal fuel while drunk: Forty-six-year-old Michael Gorr admits he was drinking when caught driving a firetruck up to the Upper Macungie Township municipal pumps and filling up some fuel containers for his own use. Apparently he had done this at least 10 other times. Gorr also had been charge with breaking into a south Allentown home. He is the second firefighter caught stealing fuel. Read more.
Probe into hidden account may force Baltimore to return cash to Washington: Do you recall the Baltimore Sun investigation in 2007 about breathing apparatus, some hidden accounts and unauthorized purchases by the training academy? It came under the administration of former chief William Goodwin. Now it appears Baltimore may have to return $164,000 in DHS grant money because of the mess. Click here for the details.
Union opposes new chief: That’s the story from Robbinsville, New Jersey where the chief’s position will now have the title of director. Union officials says the person picked has never run a career department and doesn’t even have EMT. Here’s the story.
Three-alarm fire last month in Lynn, MA: This is from October 9 at 144 South Street.
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