Quick takes
Lt. Kevin M. Kelley: STATter911.com readers have been leaving their thoughts on the death of a firefighter who was also a central part of the Discovery series Firehouse USA. Click here to see the videos. Funeral arrangements can be viewed here.
Read the interview with one of the firefighters who was aboard Ladder 26. David Blaides tells how Lt. Kelley tried to warn the public and his crew that the fire truck couldn’t be stopped as it rolled down Parker Hill Avenue.
We also have a page of links to Boston websites to learn more about Friday’s crash. Click here.
The Boston Herald is reporting the rig lost its brakes in 2006 causing it to back into a warehouse. As we reported on Friday there was also a December crash of Ladder 26 when it hit a car on a wet street.
There was a minor crash of a reserve ladder on Sunday in Boston that the union is blaming on a malfunction of the rig. The IAFF is asking for state involvement in the inspection of the fleet.
Almost 60-years-ago Ladder 26 was involved in a wreck where it lost its brakes on the very same Parker Hill Avenue. Click here to read about it.
Remembering Firefighter Kenneth Michael Hedrick: Seventeen-years-ago this morning I was standing on Walls Lane just up Suitland Road from the Morningside VFD in Prince George’s County trying to understand how an 18-year-old volunteer firefighter and a 7-year-old boy had died in a house fire. Adding to the tragedy is that the firefighter was the son of two of the nicest people I had come to know in my time with PGFD. Cathy and Les Hedrick soon made the cause of fallen firefighters their cause. Their work on behalf of the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation is well known. Kenny’s death helped change how PGFD handles fireground accountability. Take a moment to read about Kenny Hedrick on the memorial page at the Morningside VFD website and this tribute on the floor of the House of Representatives from Congressman Steny Hoyer.
Taking the budget fight to the people: We have a series of IAFF sponsored ads and a look at the battle in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Both sides have websites in an effort to get out the competing messages. Click here.
Every pump operator’s dream: PhillyFireNews.com has the picture of the week that teaches a lesson about blocking a hydrant with your car. Yes, it has been done before (I recall one in the 60s in DC that made the papers). But wait, there is more to this story. Read who was driving the vehicle parked at the plug.
Some interesting videos: We have a few fires from PA and citizens doing some things that aren’t so smart, but that keep you in business. The video that takes the cake is of a man and his family racing behind a ladder truck just to grab some video. Watch our video roundup.
Firefighter/TV technician: The demise of the analog television signal on February 17 is now being listed as one of the duties handled by one all-hazards department. Fiction writing is not my strong point (some disagree … see below), but I take a stab at it as I try to look into the future. Click here.
I am thinking of selling t-shirts and bumper stickers that read, “STATter YOU SUCK!”: That’s one of the many comments I have received over my decision to run the recent story about Maryland’s Dunkirk Volunteer Fire Department. Some who disagree with me have even written their objections without telling me what a low-life I am. Most of those writing think we did the correct thing. Others don’t care and just think we should be dealing with more important stuff. There are legitimate arguments from all three camps that entered my mind in my role as the “decider” of news coverage at STATter 911. Click here and you will read, no matter how flawed it is, there is actually a thought process that goes into what I do here.
