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Funeral arrangements for Worcester Firefighter Jon Davies & Mount Vernon Firefigher Kevin Townes.

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Thanks to The Secret List for passing along arrangements for the two firefighters who died on Thursday.

Firefighter Jon D. Davies Sr, Worcester Fire Department

The funeral for Firefighter Jon D. Davies Sr. will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday in Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, 24 Mulberry St.

As you know, Firefighter Davies, a 17-year veteran of the Worcester Fire Department, died in the Line of Duty yesterday after he and his partner went back into the burning building at 49 Arlington St. to search for another person believed trapped inside.

The building collapsed, killing Firefighter Davies and injuring his partner.
Calling hours at Mercandante Funeral Home, 370 Plantation St. is 3 to 8 pm Wednesday.

Firefighter Kevin Townes, Mount Vernon Fire Department

Funeral arrangements have been set for Firefighter Kevin Townes, the City of Mount Vernon firefighter from Pleasant Valley who died of an apparent heart attack while responding to a blaze Thursday morning.

Calling hours will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Camelot Funeral Home, 174 Stevens Ave., Mount Vernon.

The funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at Grace Baptist Church, 52 S. Sixth Ave., Mount Vernon.

Posted by on December 10, 2011 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Fires, IAFF, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, News • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

UPDATED – Fireground audio: Worcester, Massachusetts fire & collapse killed Firefighter Jon Davies. Firefighter Brian Carroll injured. Raw video from press conference.

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Earlier coverage of this fire

Worcester Fire Department

IAFF Local 1009

Mt. Vernon, New York Firefighter Kevin Townes also died today at the scene of a house fire. Click here for details.

Firefighter Davies

From WBZ-TV:

One firefighter was killed and another was seriously injured when part of a burning apartment building collapsed in Worcester early Thursday morning.

John (local paper has it as "Jon") Davies, a 17-year veteran of the department, was killed when he and another firefighter went back to search for a missing person inside the burning building at 44 Arlington Street after 4 a.m.

Firefighter Carroll

From Worcester Telegram & Gazette:

Firefighters initially cleared 12 occupants from the building. One of the building's occupants told firefighters that there was another person who may be trapped in a rear back bedroom.

Video above from Michael Brogan.

Firefighter Davies, a 17-year veteran of the Worcester Fire Department and father to three sons, and his partner, Firefighter Carroll, a 14-year fire veteran, went back inside to search for that victim. The building collapsed on top of them. Firefighter Davies was killed, and Firefighter Carroll was trapped for almost an hour until his colleagues could free him from the rubble.

The above clip includes video from Matthew Gregoire, Providence Fire Videos.

From NECN:

There is still an active search for an occupant believed to be trapped inside the building.

The scene must be stabilized, the chief (Gerard Dio) said.

Additional equipment has been brought to the scene.

The fire occurred nearly 12 years to the day that six Worcester firefighters were killed in a massive warehouse fire.

Posted by on December 8, 2011 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Dispatch & Communications, Emergency Communications, EMS Topics, fire, Fire Dispatch, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, Fires, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, Major Incidents, News • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Court rules against white firefighter’s claim promotion denied because city caved into Vulcan pressure. Judge says Mount Vernon, NY case a ‘far cry’ from Ricci.

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By Timothy O’Connor, LoHud.com:

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a white Mount Vernon firefighter who said he was passed over for promotion because of his race.

Calling it a “far cry” from a case where the City of New Haven, Conn., was found by the Supreme Court to have engaged in reverse discrimination, U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel rejected the lawsuit filed by Joseph Carroll.

Carroll, 50, sued the city in December 2007, five months after his upgrade to lieutenant was stopped when the Vulcan Society of Westchester, a black firefighters’ group, opposed his promotion as violating a federal decree aimed at increasing the number of African-Americans in the department.

In his lawsuit, Carroll claimed he was denied his promotion by the city because the city caved into pressure from the black organization.

His lawsuit appeared to get a lift last year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of a predominantly white group of New Haven, Conn., firefighters whose promotions were rejected after the city threw out the results of a 2003 Civil Service test.

The court ruled 5-4 in Ricci v. DeStefano that New Haven officials wrongly tossed the test after black firefighters did not score well enough for promotion, and the city feared a potential lawsuit.

But Seibel said in her 17-page ruling Friday that unlike New Haven officials, the City of Mount Vernon did not take any steps designed to deny a promotion to Carroll, who was a 19-year veteran of the department.

Mount Vernon officials waited for the city Law Department to evaluate the Vulcan Society’s complaint regarding the consent decree. The Vulcans’ protest came four days before the 2004 test list for promotion expired.

The Law Department did not respond before the list expired, necessitating the use of a 2007 list where Carroll placed lower. The first two firefighters promoted to lieutenant from the new list were white.

“There is no evidence that the delay occasioned by consideration of the Vulcan Society’s objections was a pretext for discrimination,” Seibel wrote, adding that there was no evidence the Law Department deliberately dragged its feet as the old list approached its expiration.

Posted by on May 4, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Courts, EMS Topics, fire, Fire Rescue Topics, News • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,