Exposure problem in Waterbury, Connecticut: Anthony DeLucia at FirstDueFirePhotos.com shot the video and pictures in this clip. More can be found here. The fire yesterday afternoon on Summit Street damaged three homes. Two were vacant and one was occupied. Read more.
Radio traffic & interview with injured firefighter after underwater close call: Dave Danielson, anLAFD firefighter who trains others in swift water operations. had to be rescued himself on Tuesday. He was supposed to be a “victim” in an exercise when the role playing became very real. Some tense moments in a near drowning situation. Listen to the rescue operation and Danielson’s interview.
False calls traced to the firehouse, apparently fitting a pattern for this firefighter: In Bexar County, Texas, officials traced a series of false calls to a cell phone used by a volunteer firefighter inside the Jarret Volunteer Fire Department in Von Ormy. According to MySanAntonio.com, this is a repeat performance for Quinton Arnold- “While he was a volunteer firefighter at another Bexar County department, he confessed to making a bomb threat to a middle school from the fire station’s phone, the affidavit states”. Read the story.
One out, three suspended after Pittsburgh EMS snow mess: Details on the discipline handed down after the February incident where a dying man didn’t get transported in the snow. Here’s our coverage.
Geezer covers the brown-out ballet in San Diego: A fatal fire near a closed fire station in San Diego and everyone is doing the dance. It is another one of those patterns that repeats itself in communities across the country during tough economic times. Some fire chiefs are blunt and admit to the citizens response times will go up and, just like they tell the public on most other occasions, every second does still count in an emergency. Others can’t or won’t go that route. They will join their bosses and other political leaders making the case the closed fire station played no factor in the death, serious injury or loss of property. And who am I to say they are wrong? But if that is the argument you are making, isn’t it fair for a reporter to ask, if the fire station’s closing really has no impact, why not just keep it closed and why have you been spending all of that money to fund it for all these years? My experience with rotating closures is that it gives council members or supervisors the ability to not make the tough decision. Bill Schumm gives his view on the the latest dust-up to fit this scenario.
Rescue reprimand is rescinded: An interesting story from Jeffersonville, Indiana where last August a firefighter trying to rescue a couple from their flooded basement also became trapped. There was a bit of a controversy over who was pulled to safety first. That’s now been settled. Read more.
UPDATED Firefighter charged in shower peeping incident is fired, but says it was a pranl: Carlos Marti is no longer a St. Lucie County, Florida firefighter after last week’s incident where a paramedic intern was watched as she took a shower. Marti’s story is that he was going to play a prank on her similar to what was done to him as a new firefighter and dump flour on her in the shower. Read the details.
Teen sought for impersonating fire officials: Fire marshals in Wilmington, Delaware and the state are looking for 18-year-old Dwight Snead, who they say has a past of pretending to be a firefighter or fire marshal. He also is believed to also frequent Philly. Here’s the story and his picture.
Cleveland church fire video: A large 1880’s church, apparently hit by lightning, had only the walls left standing. Check out the video.
Deadly fire in Calcutta: Video from the fire that killed at least six in India.
MERV will be right back: More precisely at 11:00 AM EDT today, so the press can get a close-up view of Metro’s new Mobile Emergency Response Vehicle, described in a WMATA press release as “portable, battery-operated, motorized carts that run along Metrorail tracks.” Arlington County’s press release in February has more – U.S. Department of Homeland Security Urban Area Security Initiative provided an $860,000 grant to buy 26 MERVs that will be used in long distance tunnel. Made of aluminum, the MERVs fold up and can be carried by responders. MERVs were used by the London Fire Brigade in response to the terrorist attack on London transit. Members of the Council of Government’s Fire Chiefs Passenger Rail Safety Subcommittee (made up of firefighters representing local governments in the National Capitol Region serviced by Metro) attended a conference in London to evaluate lessons learned.
