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Pre-arrival video: Two-alarm residential fire with firefighter brick toss in Quebec.

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It looks like videographer Pascal Marchand was close when this alarm was dispatched around 7:30 PM Wednesday on Île-de-France Street in Longueuil, Quebec. According to news reports the structure is a triplex.

At 2:22 in the video a pair of firefighters take turns throwing bricks (or possibly another item) at the building. I am not sure if this was an attempt at ventilation or maybe just a firefighter ritual in Canada I am unaware of. Possibly it is just a way to keep warm with the temperature at the time of the fire at minus-32 degrees Celsius.


Raw video: Roof team uses ladder to bridge gap to adjacent building to make escape at duplex fire in Montreal.

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Click here for video from CTV Montreal

Video above from Pascal Marchand of a three-alarm fire in a duplex on Wednesday that took the life of a teenaged girl in a building at 15th Ave and Crémazie E in St-Michel in Montreal. (Video below from Vincent Ashby.)

Here’s an excerpt from the description:

After burning for over an hour firemen were told to evacuate the building. Some were trapped on the roof and had to escape to the next building with the help of a ladder.

CTV Montreal

“At one point, we had to retreat,” said Montreal Fire Department fire chief Martin Farmer.

Once the fire was under control, firefighters performed an exhaustive search of the home.

They discovered someone unconscious in a room on the first floor toward the back of the house. Firefighters believe the blaze broke out on the first floor.

Judge rules firefighters made warehouse fire worse. Orders city to pay insurance company $3.7 million.

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The City of Laval, north of Montreal, Canada has been ordered by a judge to pay almost $3.7 million to Factory Mutual Insurance Company because Laval firefighters made a warehouse fire eight years ago worse by starting a second fire. The original fire was in a storage room at the Dyne-a-Pak foam plant on September 25, 2004. According to SunNews, firefighters using a saw, accidentally started a second fire:

They used a chainsaw to cut a hole in a ceiling across the hall from where the fire was raging. Sparks from the saw ignited rolls of polystyrene, causing a second fire.

It took 11 hours to put out the blaze, and the warehouse was heavily damaged.

In a Dec. 13 ruling, Judge Andre Roy agreed the chainsaw caused the second fire.

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Must see video: Ground ladder gives way dropping vertical vent crew to the ground.

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This was a fire Saturday at  1685 Rue Notre-Dame in Saint-Sulpice, Quebec. The two firefighters on the garage roof come crashing down at about :50 into the video. No word on their injuries. Thanks to a STATter911.com reader Mike St. Clair for sending this one our way.

Here are some details about the fire.

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Quick Takes

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Golf course fire in Quebec: This fire was on October 23.

Fire department connection surfaces in FBI probe of Prince George’s County: The name of a former top official of the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department has made the news following yesterday’s arrests of three PGPD officers and others. The Washington Post reports that a liquor store the FBI has moved to confiscate is partially owned by former PGFD Lt. Col. Karl Granzow Jr. In September of 2008 STATter911.com and WUSA9.com reported the FBI searched Granzow’s home and his office in the fire department’s headquarters building in Largo. Granzow and others who were targeted in the 2008 raids have not been charged with any crimes. Federal law enforcement officials say that yesterday’s arrests are connected to the charges brought Friday against Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson and his wife Leslie. Read and watch the 2008 story and the latest on the investigation.

Must see video from the deadly fire in Shanghai: It is hard not to feel the tension as a man slides across a ground ladder used to bridge the gap between burning scaffolding and a tower ladder to narrowly escape the fire in China yesterday that raced through a 28-story building. Scores are dead and injured. Click here for the video. There is more from Firegeezer on the updated death toll and arrests.

Paramedics say they are whistleblowers: Two paramedics in Detroit say they are being disciplined after making comments to a TV crew that rode around with them. The pair testified before the Detroit City Council last night. Watch their story.

Arrangements for Firefighter Chance Zobel: SConFire.com has the details on the funeral for Columbia Fire Department’s Chance Zobel who was killed over the weekend after being struck by a vehicle while fighting a brush fire. The driver charged with striking Zobel and Firefighter Larry Irving does not have a valid U.S. driver’s permit. Read more.

An interesting argument: Should an FDNY lieutenant, forced to retire after many days on the pile following the 9-11 attacks, be an active volunteer firefighter on Long Island? The New York Daily News and John Brown’s former volunteer chief don’t think so. But Brown makes the case that the doctors for the New Hyde Park Fire Department have cleared him for duty while the FDNY docs thought differently and forced him out. Click here for the story.

Indictments in Massachusetts EMS re-certification scam: Five people, including a Boston firefighter, have been indicted in connection with the EMS recertification scandal that has touched a number of jurisdictions in Massachusetts. Click here for the latest.

Closing arguments in case of man charged with Bret Tarver’s death: A verdict is expected this week in the trial of the man accused of setting the supermarket fire in 2001 that killed the Phoenix firefighter. Read more.

Principal refuses to let ambulance drive onto field to get to football player with a concussion: After first denying it happened, a school official confirms a principal blew the call when she failed to let an AMR ambulance drive up to an injured football player. A San Jose Fire Department report details confirmed the information. Instead, the crew had to wheel the gurney three-quarters of the length of a football field to get to the 14-year-old patient and travel the same distance back to the unit. Here’s the story.

All fall down: The Fire Critic has some interesting video from a sudden collapse of a burning home and firefighters who barely got out of the way.

Frederick County, Virginia chief makes his exit: Firegeezer has an update on the story of Tim Welsh who is leaving after a drunk driving arrest. Click here.

The big tuna: Read the story and see the picture of a retired federal firefighter from San Diego and a 345.2-pound yellowfin that he caught.

New chief for Loudoun County, Virginia: We are late in congratulating our old friend Keith Brower who has been picked to be the new chief of the Loudoun County Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management. Brower has been the acting chief since earlier this year, a role he has filled a number of times. Chief Brower was recently featured by the NFPA in one of its Face of Fire videos (above). Fire Marshal Keith Brower was also featured in this 2007 story that has become one of the most requested since the start of STATter911.com.

Quick Takes

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Early video of Santa Rosa fire: A neighbor captured this one, posted it to YouTube but didn’t say where the fire occurred. We were able to trace to a fire in vacant units in a  Santa Rosa, California complex late Monday night. Here are details and photos of the aftermath

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Zone911.com has the pictures from a tanker that ran off the road in Levis, Quebec. This is the same fire department that had wrecks with two quints a few weeks apart in October and November and October of last year. Click the image for more from Zone911.com

Zone911.com has the pictures from a tanker that ran off the road in Levis, Quebec. This is the same fire department that had wrecks with two quints a few weeks apart in October and November and October of last year. Click the image for more from Zone911.com

Breaking news – 3 children pulled from DC fire:  A fire just before 6:30 this morning has sent three children to the hospital. DC Fire & EMS Department PIO Pete Piringer reports all three were rescued from 1920 Naylor Road, SE. At least two of the children are reported in critical condition. The fire was on the second floor in an apartment kitchen and according to Piringer is under control. The children were found in a bedroom.  Check in with WUSA9.com through the morning for more. The address is a 3-story apartment building. Click here for the Google Maps Street View.

Acting chief says fire protection is wholly inadequate and tragedy is inevitable: Harsh words from Brian Murphy who took over running the Lawrence Fire Department in Massachusetts a month ago. Murphy says the city is lucky no one died in the late Monday morning fire in a three decker just six doors from the firehouse that was closed in August. Thirty-years-ago when Murphy joined the department there were 44 to 48 firefighters working each shift. Now there are about 20. Read more from Chief Murphy’s comments. Click here for video of the fire.

PGFD on the rescue beat: It has been a busy two days in Prince George’s County. We have video of a couple of unusual rescues. One involves a man who decided he just wanted to stand in the middle of a frigid waterway. It required police to suit up to help the firefighters. Prior to that it was down a 100-foot ravine to rescue a teen who had taken a tumble. You will find those stories here.  Also, more information on the ravine rescue can be found in this story from WUSA9.com’s Lindsey Mastis.

By the way, many new videos will show up in the player to the right even before I get to write about them. Emily Cyr and Jillian Coyle at WUSA9.com often post fresh fire & EMS videos from the Washington, DC area and around the country. Please check them out. The player is always filled with 30 of our most recent stories.

With friends like this: In an article at AJC.com about DeKalb County’s departed chief,  the point is made by some that David Foster had clashed with his bosses over staffing and was looking to leave before the scandal surrounding the January 24 fatal fire. One politician who indicates he is a Foster supporter might want to choose his words more carefully when describing the chief’s legacy-

“We learned about this after the media. We didn’t know he was going to leave,” said Commissioner Larry Johnson, the presiding officer. “Since he came in, Chief Foster built several fire stations and increased response times.”

Memphis firefighter fired: The focus of a number of news reports in the last two weeks, Memphis Fire Department’s Lawrence Batiste has been fired. A convicted felon when he took the job (after being fired from adjacent Shelby County), Batiste ran into more problems. Here’s more.

Firefighters charged in more than 20-year-old assault against colleague inside firehouse: This story is from Australia where seven firefighters are facing charges in a case from 1989 that allegedly occurred inside a Sydney fire station. A male firefighter claims he was “sexually assaulted, bullied and harassed” and superiors did nothing about it. Read more.

24-on and 48-off was a non-starter in Lancaster, Pennsylvania: We told you yesterday how the mayor pinned the layoffs of four firefighters on the union not providing concessions. Now,  the union responds. Click here.

Cops say firefighters got a better deal: An interesting dynamic in Tulsa where firefighters saved 147 jobs and agreed to concessions while the police took a different route. Now police union officials say the firefighters received a better deal from the city. Click here for the story and  here for an editorial on the issue from Tulsa World.

L.A. dog out of pound: Spikey has successfully complete his quarantine and is back with his owner. He’s the dog rescued from the Los Angles River by LAFD’s Joe St. George. Spikey’s teeth left the firefighter with a broken thumb and a lost fingernail (plus some great video to show the grandchildren someday). Here’s the update.

Another cop makes a poor choice in dealing with a man intent on setting himself on fire: Firegeezer recently had the story of the Portland, Oregon officer who thought she was using a fire extinguisher on a man who set himself on fire. Instead, it was a large canister of pepper spray. Now Bill takes us to Perth, Australia where a police officer was trying to subdue a man who was splashing gasoline around the house and himself. The man  had gone into the kitchen for matches. He really didn’t have to bother, because a police officer used a Taser. Here’s the story.

Quick Takes

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What's Missing? Fire service press does what Google couldn't.

What's Missing? Fire service press does what Google couldn't.

Offensive use of fallen firefighter’s picture is removed:  Score one for the fire service online community. When I spotted the story by WFTV-TV about the misuse of Volusia County fallen firefighter John Curry’s image on a blog in Australia, I had little doubt that the fire service community would be outraged and attempt to do something about this problem. The original article indicated that Google was unable to provide help without a court order. Firehouse.com soon picked up the story and I alerted Billy Goldfeder, knowing full well that his outrage would turn into a message on The Secret List. One of Billy’s readers noted that the blogger hadn’t uploaded the image but essentially embedded it from FireEngineering.com. That person and Billy were instantly in contact with PennWell. Late yesterday PennWell simply removed the picture from its site where it was being very legitimately used. This automatically removed it from the Australian blog where John Curry’s image had been posted to illustrate an article about a former firefighter who is a sexual predator. STATter911.com readers alerted me late last night and early this morning it was gone. Thank you Bobby Halton and company. Click here to read our original story (interview with Kristen Currry now added) and here for the posting on the Secret List.

Fire Engineering Magazine’s Editor-in-Chief Bobby Halton sent in this comment about the removal of the image- 

Dave,

We here at Fire Engineering were very upset to learn how inappropriately this link was being used. It did take considerable effort and a few hours to get it done given the way all this electronic gadgetry works however we got it done. I have never seen a more offensive use of photo in my entire career. Thank you for the kind words however we here at fire engineering felt we had a moral obligation to remove this more than anything else.

Your friend, Bobby

UPDATED – Firefighter told to park his SUV elsewhere because of anti-Obama bumper sticker: This may be a slippery slope for the Hartford Fire Department in Connecticut. Deciding what kind of bumper stickers can or can not be on a firefighter’s car when parked on the firehouse property could turn into a full time job and could help keep some lawyers employed. Check out the story and the offending bumper sticker here. Once there scroll down to read the comments where the issue seems to have united some polar opposites on the political spectrum. An interview with Firefighter Mike Di’Giacomo has now been added to the story.

Second time around: Click the image for a series of Zone911.com pictures by Vincent Fradet of the latest wreck of a new quint in Levis, Quebec. This time a crew member was seriously injured as was the driver of the vehicle the rig collided with. It was less than a month ago that the other new E-One overturned.

Second time around: Click the image for a series of Zone911.com pictures by Vincent Fradet of the latest wreck of a new quint in Levis, Quebec. This time a crew member was seriously injured as was the driver of the vehicle the rig collided with. It was less than a month ago that the other new E-One overturned.

NEW- Timing is everything: In Canandaigua, New York city officials were discussing plans to cut firefighters and close stations. Around the corner an apartment fire broke out, which itself is around the corner from a fire station. Click here for the story.

Someone admits to withholding autopsy results from NIOSH: Yesterday we told you there were a lot of people saying “not me” as reporters tried to figure out who refused to turn over autopsy reports to NIOSH. NIOSH recently released its investigation into the deaths of two Boston firefighters, but without the documents could not address the widespread media reports the autopsies showed drug and alcohol use. Now the state’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner says it believes it didn’t have the authority to overrule requests from the families not to release the reports. Here’s the update.

The latest from New HavenFiregeezer has the return to court for Ricci v. DeStefano. And there is more to the update, with new complaints being filed by those from the other side of the argument. Click here.

More courts – Agility test does not discriminate against women: Lexington City, Tennessee’s requirement that candidates handle a 24-foot ladder is not discrimination, according to an appeals court. Here’s the story.

Another Bourne investigation: Officials in the Massachusetts town have hired a private investigator to try and help sort out the multiple messes. Click here for the update.

Interesting pictures from a restaurant fire and gas leak. CodeRouge.com on the scene of a three-alarm fire.

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Part of CodeRouge.com's excellent series of photos from this fire. Click the image to see them close up.
Part of CodeRouge.com’s excellent series of photos from this fire. Click the image to see them close up.

Watch CTV’s coverage of the fire

More pictures

This fire Saturday morning destroyed the Marco Restaurant in Ste. Anne de Bellevue (Montreal area). News reports indicate the fire started in the basement and was discovered around 7:45 AM.

No injuries were reported.

Anne Sutherland, a reporter with The Gazette, interviewed Ste. Anne de Bellevue Mayor Bill Tierney and Montreal Fire Department chief of operations Michel Gareau. Here are excerpts:

“I got a call at 8 a.m. and by the time I got here at 8:10 a.m., there was a lot of smoke and then the flames burst out,” the mayor said as he watched from Cunningham’s restaurant across the street. “It was very dramatic.” A pile of rubble from a collapsed wall covered the gas valve, complicating matters, said Montreal Fire Department chief of operations Michel Gareau.

A gas leak and a burning fire are a dangerous combination, and Gareau cleared everyone out until the leak could be capped.

“We couldn’t close the valve so we had to dig down and find the pipe to shut it off, and in doing so we broke the gas main,” Gareau said.

A before picture of Marco Restaurant. Click the image for the Google Maps Street View tour of the neighborhood.

A before picture of Marco Restaurant. Click the image for the Google Maps Street View tour of the neighborhood.

The restaurant occupied the basement and the first floor of the two-storey brick building. No one was on the premises when the blaze broke out.

Quick work by firefighters saved the adjacent building, a pharmacy, which sustained only smoke and water damage. “In this case, a fire wall did its job and stopped the fire,” Tierney said.

The fire was under control by 10:30 a.m.

 

Quick takes

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Chester City Firefighter Bob Butler. Photo by Rikard Larma via Metro International. Click the image to read his story.

Chester City Firefighter Bob Butler. Photo by Rikard Larma via Metro International. Click the image to read his story.


The American flag controversy deepens:
One firefighter, James Krapf,  has been suspended for two days (so far) because he won’t obey the Marine veteran fire commissioner’s order to take the flag sticker off of his locker. Another firefighter, Bob Butler, wears the stars and stripes upside down on his cap.

What is going on in Chester City, Pennsylvania? Click here to find out.

The comments on this one are divided. Most think Firefighter Krapf is doing what is right and standing up for our flag and our country. There is also strong opinion that the firefighter should be following orders, including this one.

In his commentary, Billy Goldfeder makes the point that this may really be about other issues within the department. Either way he worries that the distraction and national attention will impact the job that these firefighters are there to do.  Check out his thoughts.

Chief Reason agrees it may not really be about red, white and blue, but instead, black and white.

There is a rally to support Firefighter Krapf this morning at 9:00.

The story that never ends – Read IG report into how Montgomery County handled assistant chief’s wreck: Remember the case of former Montgomery County, Maryland Assistant Chief Greg DeHaven. The crash of the fire department SUV he was operating into a police car and three other vehicles on the side of I-270 continues to make news almost a year after it happened. The controversy stems from police officers not charging Chief DeHaven with impaired driving despite testing ordered by the fire department showing his blood-alcohol level at .143 three hours after the crash. Now an IG’s report says investigators for the fire department never interviewed the six witnesses on the scene who all suspected alcohol use. The IG is also expected to report on the police department’s role.  The police chief has said an internal report, not publicly released, showed his officers handled the situation properly. Miranda Spivack has the latest story from The Washington Post. Click here to read the report and the recommendations for the Montgomery County Department of Fire & Rescue Service.

Water not a problem at this Chain Bridge Road fire: PIO Pete Piringer made it clear in his Tweets from the scene that the water supply was not a problem at a house fire Saturday on DC’s Chain Bridge Road, NW. Just up the street on July 30 the mansion of a former school board president was destroyed as firefighters spent the better part of two hours trying to get an adequate water supply.  Mayor Adrian Fenty, Chief Dennis Rubin and WASA Chairman William Walker will give an update and release the investigative report from the mayor’s office  looking at the first Chain Bridge Road this morning at Engine 20 in Tenleytown. The last two times the chief and the chairman got together to talk publicly about these same issues it left some council members quite frustrated.

Rescue in Cumberland: My old friend Jeff Alderton at the Cumberland Times-News has a story worth reading on the rescue of a woman from her burning home Friday morning. An off-duty lieutenant spotted the fire and along with others tried to get in. On-duty crews got there and made the grab. The woman is in critical condition.

Early video, lots of rescues, two badly burned in weekend apartment fire in Prince George’s County: PGFD crews plucked a lot of people off balconies, including a man and a woman who were seriously burned, during Saturday’s fire in what used to be called Springhill Lake. Also, a family of six jumped to safety. There is some early video along with still pictures and details. There are also lots of comments, including one writer who was quite critical of your editor, his motivations and the blog’s content. Click here for everything.

Well, they are advertised as high visibility: The NSW Rural Fire Service in Australia ordered the yellow T-shirts for safety, so the firefighters can be seen. Female firefighters in Australia say they are being seen alright, just not in the way they would like. Clearly the shirts were ordered by a man. Check it out

Ladder overturns: Lots of pictures from Quebec where four firefighters were slightly hurt after their truck tipped on its side on a curve while responding to an alarm.

Bone drill: When you can’t find the vein there are other options. Firegeezer looks at the bone drills being used by a Nebraska fire department.

Now Dave is just being silly: More than a year-and-a-half after I discovered it, the Gregson Street Guillotine in Durham still gets my attention. We revisit the box truck killer.

Other new videos: Two-alarm house fire in Wood-Ridge, NJ; House fire in Shelton, Connecticut

911 director resigns over call taker’s nap: A high-profile murder case put the spotlight on this issue in Warren County, Ohio.

Firefighters make too much money: That’s the contention of some in Lee County, Florida.

Ladder wreck in Quebec

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CN Quebec ladder wreck 

 

 

This is the site Zone911 showing a wreck on Thursday in Eastern Quebec. It is reported to be Truck 402 from St-Romuald. It turned over in Old Levis.

Four firefighters were hurt, but their injuries are reported to be minor.

It happened on a curve in the road as the crew responded to a call. That call proved to be unfounded.

The website has about 20 pictures from the scene. Click here to see more.