Quick Takes: May 7, 2012.

Pre-arrival video in Richmond Hill, Ontario: This was a fire yesterday morning on Bernard Avenue in Richmond Hill. Looks like the videographer’s thumb or finger got in the way at a crucial point in the video.

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Reputation issue 1 – She’s paid very well for her abilities with a hose and she’s a firefighter too: Now that wiretapping is out for the British tabloids they just resort to going undercover. One “investigator” for The Sun contracted the services of a call girl named Jade who the paper reports is also a crew manager for the London Fire Brigade. The US Secret Service is hoping that President Obama will be planning a trip to see Prime Minister Cameron soon and that Jade will go for a fellow public safety officer discount. Read more.

Reputation issue 2 – Fire commissioner lets us know who the real ‘dumb-ass’ is: When you are a reporter you live for stories like this that are just so absurd and write themselves through the idiotic statements of people defending the indefensible. The Hartford Courant’s Steven Goode has launched into one of those with the unbelievable goings on at the Blue Hills Fire Department in Hartford, Connecticut. The fire commissioner says his assistant chief is a “dumb-ass”. He tries to prove it to us with logic that I imagine is not translating well for the people the department serves. You must read this to truly appreciate the depths of the stupidity involved here.

Win a three day conference pass to Firehouse Expo: Friday was STATter911.com’s fifth anniversary. A special thanks to Firegeezer.com (my favorite fire/EMS blog) for some very kind words. As a way of saying thank you to those who read this site I am giving away three 3-day conference passes to Firehouse Expo in Baltimore in July. To enter, just an email to dave@www.statter911.com telling me some things you like and things you don’t like about this site. Put “contest” in the subject of the email and have it in before this Thursday (May 10) at 6:00 PM EDT. We will draw three names out of those eligible. While I won’t post any of the comments with your name attached I do need to know who you are and your contact information. I will also be announcing the names of the winners (in other words you can’t be anonymous).

First it’s there, then it’s not and now it’s back: That arrival video at a two-alarm house fire in Northwest Washington, DC on Friday disappeared a few hours after it was posted. It then resurfaced and we have re-posted it here.

Runaway fire truck crashes into mock crash scene: Quite a sight in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota when a real fire truck rolled into the fake crash scene and things suddenly became very real. Click here for coverage from Glenn Usdin’s FireTruckBlog.com.

Videos ‘R’ Us: Recent fire videos worth watching are – a helmet-cam clip of an attic fire in Oakley, California; another helmet-cam video from a fire in Jacksonville, Florida that was first posted to firecritic.com; a fire in a multi-family home in Meriden, CT; a Montgomery County, Maryland house fire that FirefighterBackstep.com found first.

ATF modeling of Baltimore County LODD: There have been many good comments about the work of ATF and the fire dynamics simulation video of the fire in January 2011 that killed Lutherville VFC Firefighter Mark Falkenhan. Click here if you haven’t seen it.

As the clock ticks for Baltimore Truck 10 firefighters rescue three kids: To the right is a still picture from a fire in the 800 block of West Lexington Street early Sunday morning. Three children were rescued from the building, one not breathing. The crew from Truck 10 grabbed two of them, according to union officials. The kids are alive in serious condition. Truck 10 is one of three fire companies on the chopping block scheduled to close. Here’s the story from the Baltimore Sun.

Also in Baltimore, hazmat data not readily available: The Baltimore Sun looks at a large fire in a Canton warehouse last month and the fire department’s inability to easily access data about the hazardous materials that were stored there and are stored at other city locations.

Selling the fire department out from under them: Firegeezer has the story of St. Joseph, Indiana Trustee Robert Uhrick who is attempting to dismantle the fire department so its services can be contracted out to another department.

Political leaders say lives of firefighters worth more than small savings: In West Milford, New Jersey a tight budget had political leaders looking at the option of cutting back a bit on firefighter physicals that would have saved $5000. The council members said they would rather spend the money. Here’s more.

Battalion chief’s snow plowing contract scrutinized: In Chicago, the Sun-Times and the Better Government Association are wondering how the chief’s snow plow business received a city contract that is not open to city employees. Click here.

Lawsuit in Philly: The family of Firefighter Daniel Sweeney has put the owners of a warehouse where Sweeney and Lt. Robert Neary died on notice that a lawsuit will follow. The same lawyer also represents the firefighters injured in the massive blaze. Read more.

Lawsuits over Rocky Mount, VA double LODD: FireLawBlog.com’s Curt Varone looks at the messy legal fallout following the fire truck crash deaths of Firefighter William D. Altice and Fire Chief Posey W. Dillon in 2010.

Daughter carries on Dad’s legacy: In Taylorsville, Indiana 18-year-old Elizabeth Drake is a volunteer firefighter at the German Township VFD. It’s the same station where her dad, Lt. Rick Drake II, had a heart attack in 2010 and died. Here’s the story.

A sneak preview: THE Fire Critic is already daydreaming about 2013. He has a video from the shoot for the Tucson Firefighters Association 2013 Female Firefighter Calendar. That’s some hard hitting news Rhett is pumping out. See for yourself.

And from the other voice in Roanoke: Rhett’s legal guardian, Captain Willie Wines Jr., is feeling better after being under the weather and discusses a variety of topics in the latest edition of IronFiremen.com.

Firefighter needs your help: We have been contacted by a friend of South Walton, Florida Firefighter Danny Margagliano who was paralyzed in an off-duty diving accident. His firefighter and realtor friends (his second job) have rallied around in support of Danny and his family. There is a website called Donations4Danny.com, if you would like to help.

Do you want to sell a rig? Click HERE to find out how with SellFireTrucks.com.

Five firefighters hurt in four-alarm fire in San Francisco: Three of them were banged up when a stair collapsed at this apartment fire in the Mission District on Sunday morning. Details and a TV news report can be found here. More video on YouTube can be found here.