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Not a big California fire: From San Diego, two fires from Monday, relatively small in scale, that also show how dry it is.
The fight to save Mount Wilson: We have details, the last towercam image, maps, Street View, video and lots of links on the efforts to protect the historic Mount Wilson Observatory. Click here for our coverage. UPDATE- As of 6:55 AM PDT it appears Mount Wilson is now out of immediate danger. Click here for the story.
Also, Emily Cyr at WUSA9.com has been adding images from the fire to her slideshow. Click here to check it out.
This is a lot scarier than a Hitchcock movie: Tippi Hedren is actress Melanie Griffith’s mom and remembered best for her role in Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”. Hedren has an animal sanctuary where lions, tigers and other animals roam and it is apparently in the line of fire. So far she has ignored the evacuation order. Officials acknowledge there may be some special circumstances here with the possibility of crating up the 36 animals and transporting them on the roads around the fire. Click here for the story.
NEW Still going at 91: Check out this interesting story by Daniel Patrick Sheehan in Allentown, PA’s The Morning Call. It is about Firefighter Anthony DiPierro who was at the 100th anniversary of Roseto’s Columbia Fire Company No. 1. It begins this way – He is 91, has been a firefighter for 72 years and has driven and maintained every vehicle the department has ever owned. In his house is a framed series of photographs demonstrating this, including a black-and-white snapshot from 1959 when the department celebrated its 50th anniversary and DiPierro led the way behind the wheel of a 1928 Hahn truck.
A picture is worth a thousand words and a great deal of embarrassment: Another reminder that cameras are everywhere. This one comes courtesy of the Lowell Fire Department and a fire department vehicle parked in a handicap spot at the post office. Check it out.
NTSB on emergency medical flights: Read and watch the details of the NTSB’s recommendations to the FAA on improving safety of emergency medical flights. We also have links to report summaries, the recent series in The Washington Post called Fatal Flights and the Post’s video on the crash of Trooper 2 of the Maryland State Police. Click here.
I spy: A Durango, Colorado firefighter testified before lawmakers how a workers’ comp insurance company used by the state spied on him and trashed his reputation. Read the details.
Another Florida city heard from on layoffs: Yesterday we told you about a consultant’s report that says West Palm Beach can make do with 25-percent fewer firefighters. Now it is Fort Meyers where the city manager says 32 firefighters may be cut. Read the story.
Is investigation intimidation?: The latest on the Houston Fire Department graffiti case. Click here to ready the story.
New fire chief and other staff changes: The latest from Topeka, Kansas after the departure of Chief Howard Giles. Click here.
