Goldilocks (FFs) & the 3 mayors (a trio for comparison); Vol. FF sues over POV response; 1980s EMS video; Videos from MD, TX, IN and Belgium
(Updated at 1:48 PM)
A change near the top at PGFD
STATter 911 has confirmed that Lt. Col. Robert McCoy Jr. today turned in his papers and is expected to be officially retired by the end of February . McCoy has been the Deputy Fire Chief of Emergency Operations and has had to handle some rather delicate matters in recent times. Most notably, he had been the point man for the department on the Kentland matter and issued the order temporarily banning ride-alongs after a teen was set on fire at Riverdale (ride-alongs are now back under new rules).
Chief McCoy’s career certainly involves a lot more than those controversial incidents. He has 25 years as a career and volunteer firefighter in Prince George’s County. In November, on the 20th anniversary of the Thanksgiving Day fire that killed 6 members of a Seat Pleasant family, McCoy told me it was also the 20th anniversary of being notified he had been hired by Prince George’s County.
Contacted today, Chief McCoy tells STATter 911: “I have loved every minute of my combined 25 years of service as a volunteer and career member of the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department”.
Detroit tanker fire engulfs home
This morning a gasoline tanker runs through a guard rail on I-75, bursts into flames and catches a home below on fire. The driver is dead, but the people in the home escape.
On the early video you see the separate plumes and fire some distance from each other.
Early cell phone video before firefighters arrive
Our friend the FireGeezer is on this one and also the five-alarm warehouse fire overnight in Littleton, NH.
Volunteer FF files in federal court suing over arrest in his POV
Sevier County Volunteer Fire Department Lt. Michael Huskey has filed a federal lawsuit against the Tennessee Highway Patrol after being arrested during a home response a year ago. With his family in the car, Huskey heard a call over his scanner and began responding. From Knoxnews.com:
When the trooper activated his blue lights, Huskey said he thought Bailey also was headed to the emergency call.
“However, just in case the officer was trying to follow him to pull him over, Huskey radioed central dispatch to advise the officer of the traffic call he was responding to, and central dispatch (confirmed) his request.”
Dispatch records back up Huskey’s account. What’s not clear is whether the trooper’s dispatcher conveyed that information to Bailey. THP has its own independent dispatch system.
As Huskey turned his vehicle onto the curvy, two-lane roadway in Flat Creek, Bailey began spot-lighting Huskey. Before Huskey could clear a dangerous blind hill and pull over for the trooper, Bailey executed a maneuver to intentionally crash the firefighter’s car, the lawsuit stated. Dispatch records also document the crash.
Bailey handcuffed Huskey as the firefighter, whose children were screaming in the background, repeatedly tried to explain to the trooper that he was a volunteer firefighter responding to an emergency call, the lawsuit alleged.
More POV response issues below.
Two important stories from late Wednesday: Missouri FF gets 3 years in POV wreck and San Antonio medics disciplined
Click here for our coverage and links to these stories that broke yesterday.
Lights, camera, action
While I am getting more private emails than public comments, the two videos we posted with William Carey’s look at firefighters and cameras is generating some interest. Click here to see the videos and read Bill’s thoughts.
Polk County 911
911 calls from the deadly chain-reaction pile-up on I-4 in Florida. Click here for another version of the 911 calls. Here is some raw helicopter video as the smoke and fire rise above the fog.
Power issues
No date on this church fire from Los Angeles showing firefighter on the roof as nearby power lines start arcing and popping.
It’s a good bet you won’t hear the firefighters complaining about this mayor
One story on how Arlington, Oregon got its name is that enough Southerners had come to town that they decided to name the place after Arlington, Virginia, the home of Robert E. Lee. I can tell you from first hand experience, that Arlington, Virginia doesn’t have any political leaders like the mayor of Arlington, Oregon. That’s Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, in her black panties and bra, posing on one of the town’s fire engines. Until recently, the picture was on her MySpace page open for all to see. That’s changed now that all hell has broken loose after a TV station and other news media showed it to everyone (those TV reporters ruin everything, don’t they?).
The mayor isn’t apologetic:
“That’s my personal life,” she said. “It has nothing to do with my mayor’s position.”
Kontur-Gronquist, who is also the fire department’s executive secretary, said the photos were taken before she was elected mayor three years ago, and she saw no reason to remove them from the Internet after taking office.
“I’m not going to change who I am,” she said. “There’s a lot of officials that have a personal life, and you have people in this community who have nothing better to do than scrape up stuff like this.”
A mayor not likely to pose on the fire engines
In Mequon, Wisconsin, the mayor is not happy with an alderman, the Common Council president, who has decided to become an on-call firefighter. The mayor believes it is a conflict of interest. Read the story.
One mayor too hot, one too cold and now one just right
In Pontiac, Illinois, the mayor apparently has figured out his role when it comes to the fire and police departments. He grabbed the video camera (keeps the first responders from having to deal with it, doesn’t it?) and caught the action as a woman was rescued in the flood-swollen Vermillion River on Wednesday.
Boiled chickens for fire trucks
That is the basic premise behind a barter that went bad between an Austrian firm and Bangkok, Thailand. A sixth suspect has been named as irregularities were found leading to Bangkok being overcharged for 315 fire trucks and 30 boats. Read the story.
What could be so important?
This video is described as being taken on December 28 on the Kiev Highway. A man identified as an “EMT” makes his way into a burning car to save someone’s coat, which apparently has important papers in a pocket.
Fire in Rockville, MD
Not sure when this was taken.
Very close call
This was posted back in August on LiveLeak. I missed it, but I thought it was worth running. From Antwerp, Belgium. Apparently the ladder wouldn’t move.
TX house fire
Reported to be a fire on Denmark Lane in Dallas.
1980’s EMS in Louisiana
A TV story in Shreveport from about 20 years ago.
3-alarm trailer fire
No information on when and where.
Garage fire
No date on this fire at 28th and Dekalb in Lake Station, Indiana.
