OC agreement reached; LODD anniversary; Deadly CO fires; Busy morning for PGFD; Ohio fundraiser; Seat belt save video; Videos from MO, AR, OK
(Updated at 3:19 PM)
Video of the day: FireGeezer found this one first. He has the details of this tanker explosion near Bristol, VA. While you are at the Geeze’s site check out the FossilMedic reading smoke through his bifocals.
Old video of the day: From August 31, 1987, this was shot by Sheldon Levy working the overnight shift at Channel 9. Not all that much interesting with this video except at 1:07 into the video you will see the office flashover. The notes with the tape say the address is 1030 15th Street, NW.
New tentative agreement in OC
Ocean City, MD officials say they have hammered out the long-simmering dispute that had OCVFD threatening to pull out of the resort town. News reports indicate the agreement will place Volunteer Chief Chris Larmore in charge. Click here for details.
Anniversary of Kyle Wilson’s death
Technician I Kyle Wilson in a Prince William County Department of Fire & Rescue photo
Most people when they are talking about a tragedy that occurred in Virginia on April 16, 2007, will be referring to the shootings at Virginia Tech that took the lives of 32 students and professors.
But an hour before the first shots were fired on campus and three and half hours before the rampage at Norris Hall, Kyle Wilson was trapped inside a burning home in Prince William County, VA. He didn’t make it out alive.
What normally would have been our lead story of the day soon got lost in the crush of news from Blacksburg.
There will be much news coverage on the anniversary of the Virginia Tech shootings. But we don’t want to forget Kyle Wilson.
Elisa Glushefski of the Potomac News & Manassas Journal Messenger spent some time with friends of Kyle Wilson’s. Read her story here.
Click here to read the extensive report looking into the factors that lead to Kyle Wilson’s death.
3 FFs killed in CO wildfires – two apparently died when bridge collapsed
Ordway, CO from KCNC-TV
A Colorado TV station is reporting that two firefighters died while fighting a wildfire that has burned a number of structues in the town of Ordway (pop. 1100). According to the Rocky Mountain news, this puts the death toll at 3 for the Colorado fires:
The Crowley County coroner confirmed two of the deaths, but didn’t provide details. KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs reported that the two were firefighters and said they were crossing a bridge in a fire truck when the bridge collapsed, trapping the two men underneath.
The third fatality was the pilot of a crop-duster tanker that crashed about 6:20 Tuesday evening along Colorado 115 at mile marker 34 near Fort Carson, said Michael Fergus, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration’s northwest region.
No passenger was aboard the plane. The downed aircraft and a second plane involved in the firefighting efforts flew from a base in Sterling, Fergus said.
Busy morning for PGFD
William Carey with Firehouse.com and his own “Charge The Line!” site was up early this morning. He took in the garden- style apartment fire at 7:00 AM on Cherry Hill Road. Click here for his series of pictures and an account of the fire in a third-floor apartment that had some extension in the cockloft. This was in the first-due of Station 841 (Beltsville).
On the other side of Prince George’s County, firefighters were already handling a two-alarm fire on multiple floors of a high-rise at 4311 23rd Parkway in Hillcrest Heights. This is Station 829’s area (Silver Hill).
Awards ceremony
Last night was the 3rd Annual Telecommunicator Awards Ceremony for the Fairfax County, VA Department of Public Safety Communications. Despite their guest speaker it was a wonderful event. Congratulations to all of the award winners.
Among the awards Donna Bird won the Richard A. King Award and the DPSC Director Achievement Award went to Jeffrey Davidson and the late Wes Gerald.
Thanks for inviting me.
Fundraiser in Ohio
This was passed along to STATter 911:
CAN YOU HELP? Colerain (Ohio) Firefighters Memorial Decal Fundraiser. As just one of many fundraiser’s planned, (this one by a local fire equipment/apparatus distributor owned by a Fire Chief) …here is a great opportunity to help support the memorial fundraising for the survivors of Colerain Fire Captain Robin Broxterman and Firefighter Brian Schira: http://www.campsafetyinc.com/catalog/c55_p1.html
Naturally, 100% of all proceeds of the decals (helmet size as well as window size) go to the fund.
Captain Broxterman, 37, a 17-year veteran of the department and the
township’s first female captain, leaves behind two children and a fiance’ who is also a Firefighter in a nearby FD. FF Schira, 29, was hired at the Colerain Township Fire Department in November 2007. He also served for the nearby Delhi Township Fire Department and worked in the tool department at the Home Depot in Western Hills.
Power plant fire injures 18
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qR0jU7laUY&hl=en]
A two-alarm fire at the Orlando Utility’s Curtis Stanton Energy Plant in Orange County, Florida injured 18 people Tuesday afternoon. Read details and see more pictures and video.
Old dairy burns
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This fire was from Sunday in Oklahoma City. The old Townley’s Dairy building, which has had fires before, burned again. Part 2 of the live coverage is here.
Arkansas house fire
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Video, pictures and radio traffic from an April 1 house fire in Lowell, AR.
2005 St. Louis fire
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This looks at a 2005 St. Louis, MO fire at the Praxair facility where they processed propane and other industrial gases. Read more.
Seat belt save documented
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Saw this one on Firefighter Nation. It has pictures, 911 calls and radio traffic from a February 11, 2008 wreck of a fire truck in Colleton County, SC. Here are details from a WCSC-TV story that Firehouse.com ran in February:
His fire truck flipped and rolled with him inside, but tonight, a Colleton County firefighter is expected to go home from MUSC in good condition.
27-year-old Michael Juhasz was the victim of an accident involving his own fire truck on Old Jacksonboro Road, as he was headed to fight a woods fire in Cottageville.
Mud and tire marks mark the spot where the Highway Patrol says Juhasz lost control of the fire truck and ended up flipping over on the left hand side of the road.
“He did have on a seat belt, which we’re crediting with saving his life. It kept him in the truck as it rolled,” said Colleton County Fire Rescue Chief Barry McRoy.
