New Video of NJ Fire; Sex Scandal Arrest; Teen Survives Week at Crash Scene; IAFF & Charleston Mayor Battle; Don’t Try This at Home or the Firehouse
Click the photo above for video and details of a massive warehouse fire in Australia. Concerns about asbestos from the burning roof.
Firefighting in Bowie, MD from 35 years ago. Click the picture to see a new feature from STATter 911.
Large fires in Flea Markets in Chicago and Ocean County, NJ.
Click here to see new video of NJ fire. Click here for more links to the two fires that burned late Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Teen survives week at MD crash site.
An 18-year-old, missing for a week, finally crawls from wreckage of his car that had run off roadway.
Arrest of former sergeant. What is really going on with the DC FEMS sex investigation?
While I don’t have the complete answer to that question, I think I can give you a clearer picture on the investigation that has put D.C. Fire & EMS in the national spotlight. Click here for the latest.
Former sergeant Darryl Green turned himself into police on Saturday on indecent exposure charges. Sources have said Green supplied investigators with information about the sex ring involving DC Fire and EMS workers.
What is really going on with the SC State OSHA investigation into the Charleston tragedy?
I am not about to answer that question, but the Charleston paper has some insight. The IAFF is blasting the state probe and the Charleston fire chief. Jeff Zack says SC OSHA has assigned someone who has never investigated a fatal fire. He also says firefighters were intimidated by having a battalion chief sit in on the interviews.
In Friday’s Post & Courier Zack saves the harshest criticism for Chief Rusty Thomas:
“It’s not right that a guy can be so oblivious to firefighting safety standards and procedures and still be running a major fire department in a major city”.
Mayor Joe Riley defends the chief calling Zack’s remarks “outrageous and irresponsible”:
“Chief Thomas is first-rate, and he’s a great fire chief and a great leader,” Riley said. “He has my full support and I am very proud of him.”
You can always check in on other things going on in an around Charleston at Firefighter Hourly and SConFire.com.
Government report finds fault with LODD investigations.
An inspector general’s report validates much of what MSNBC.com found in its probe of how CDC handled firefighter fatalities.
St. Louis standoff still going on.
No end in sight over the promotions battle. The fire chief has his own lawyer in the middle of it.
FDNY chiefs say inspection rules following firefighter deaths are unrealistic. Also, New York diploma mill problems.
A lot of people claiming that there is no way fire companies can keep up with inspections of buildings going and buildings coming down, particularly in the boom areas of Manhattan.
Also from FDNY, WithTheCommand.com has the story of 14 members on trouble, accused of faking college credentials. Sounds a bit like what we went through in D.C. with Chief Ronnie Few and some of his command staff.
Raleigh report.
The picture above is from WRAL-TV of the February 22nd conflagration that took out 32 townhomes. See what a report says about combustible soffits and a few other factors.
Firegeezer has been looking at similar issues this weekend in what our mutual friend Jim Featherstone calls “plastic and glue fires”. Two more fires in Canada, including the one pictured in the photo from The Sun below, are helping fuel his interest.
Video roundup.
I found the above video at the site firefighterspot.com which always seems to come up with good stuff. I have gathered some more videos posted over the last day or so on YouTube and elsewhere. They include the roof of a new shopping center burning in the UK and a house fire in Houston. Click here to see them.
Ring toss.
Find out what a Stafford County, VA firefighter found when he looked at what was filling his boot over the weekend.
Disaster planning for the Nation’s Capital.
The Washington Post tells us how things have changed after a study last year found some issues with the evacuation plan for the D.C. area:
Under pressure from the federal government, the District and its suburbs are developing their most exte
nsive evacuation plans since the Cold War — mapping escape routes, stockpiling bedding for shelters and designating pickup points for people who don’t have cars.
The area’s preparations for major disasters were deemed “not sufficient” last year in a nationwide study by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The agency identified problems in coordinating response, evacuation, medical care and the release of information to the public during a terrorist attack or other emergency.
The Bedford, VA Fire Department recently posted this video of a fire in a manufactured home. It also has the fireground audio.
Getting exercised in Kansas.
After the recent death of a captain from heart disease, IAFF Local 83 wants better access to fitness centers in Topeka.
More fallout from Elyria cutbacks.
The mayor’s political fundraiser is where firefighters showed up to send their message that staffing levels need to be restored in this Ohio town.
Only one of the people in this picture by Alan Etter was a volunteer with me in Oxon Hill 30 years ago. I can safely say, while it is great work, we would have never let him live it down. More on this save by D.C. Fire & EMS from DCFD.com. When Etter told me they had revived cats, I thought he meant the Broadway show.
Around the web.
FireNews.net has details on the fire above, plus more on the numbers game and other NC news.
Both SConFire.com and Firefighter Hourly have details on a SC medical helicopter crash.
FireGeezer looks at how the fuel for the Boston fire was missed and the retirement of the Wilmington, NC fire chief after a very long run.
WithTheCommand.com has the story that goes with the picture below of arson in a vacant Portsmouth, VA school on Thursday.
For WVEC-TV’s coverage click the picture.
Thunderstorms apparently caused an electrical substation fire in Dallas on Wednesday.
You Be the Judge.
I look through a lot of YouTube and other videos to find interesting stuff for STATter 911. I have been amazed at the number of videos of young people setting themselves and other things on fire. There is truly some stupid and dangerous stuff on there. I am compiling some of them for a future entry.
I came across this video, posted early this morning. It is titled “Bored Firefighters”. I have no idea where this was taken, other than it appears to be outside a fire station, somewhere. I am puzzled why someone is posting this video, much less doing what they are doing. Watch for yourself, but I should warn you that the language is something you might hear at a firehouse.
A church fire in East Baltimore that began just after 4:00 p.m Friday. Click the image above for video links.
