Quick takes
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Buffalo tragedy: The video above looks at some of the previous LODDs in Buffalo. Click here for our coverage of yesterday’s fire that took the lives of Lt. Charles McCarthy and FF Jonathan Croom. We have fireground audio, video and links to local media outlets.
Must see video: Not one, but two different angles as a tillered ladder truck in Raleigh, North Carolina overturned while responding on July 10. Click here for the raw video and an interview with Raleigh Fire Department Chief John McGrath.
Quint versus car: In New York, Rochester’s Quint 9 and a car collided while the quint crew was responding to a kitchen fire. The four firefighters were treated and released. Here’s pictures and more from Monroe County Fire Wire.
Expert says fire that brought execution was not arson: An expert reviewing a death penalty case says fire investigators who ruled that a 1991 fire that left three children dead may have been an accident. The father of the children was executed in 2004. In a state sanctioned review of the case Craig Beyler of Hughes Associates reports there was no basis to rule the fire was arson. Check out the story.
Rescue was successful, but the aftermath lingers from collision with police car: A Watsonville, California fire captain is fighting a four-day suspension he received because the ladder truck he was in charge of hit a police car in May of 2008. After determining there were no injuries, the crew continued on to help a 9-year-old who had stopped breathing and are credited with saving the child’s life. The police report says the fire truck ran the red light. A now retired battalion chief who supervised the captain believes the charges were trumped up. The fire chief discounts that telling MercuryNews.com, “Are we going to be a bunch of cowboys or are we going to be a well-trained disciplined work force? That’s what’s at stake here.” Read this interesting story.
Cops want end of “me too’ for firefighters: Police officers in Baltimore City are going to court to rid themselves of the firefighter’s “me too” clause in their contract with the city. It requires the city to give firefighters the same pay raises it gives police officers. The argument by the cops is that it causes them to indirectly negotiate for firefighters. Union reps for firefighters don’t see it as the end of the world if they lose the clause. Read the story by The Sun’s Annie Linskey.
Grievances in Ohio: Union officials in Canton have filed grievances with the city and an unfair labor practice with the state over minimum staffing for each shift and the recent layoff of 15 firefighters a day short of their probationary period. The union believes the layoffs were retaliation for its pursuit of the staffing issue. Click here for details.
Early fire video: Newsworking.org was on the scene almost from the start of a three-alarm fire in Whitehall Township, Pennsylvania. Click here.
Live pool coverage: The drama of a three-year-old girl with her arm stuck in a pool skimmer caught the attention of CNN and other cable channels yesterday. Click here for the more details about the rescue in Key Biscayne, Florida.
