Philly 7-alarms; FF/EMT leaves crash scene; FF sees tornado hit; Agreement on beach ambulance; Drop career FFs to balance budget?; Video: DC, MA & CA
(Updated at 3:33 PM)
Minneapolis bridge collapse report
The US Fire Administration has released the Interstate 35W (I-35W) Bridge Collapse and Response Technical Report. The August 1, 2007 incident killed 13 and injured 121.
From the press release:
The local response to the bridge disaster—and the coordination with metro, State, and Federal partners—demonstrated the extraordinary value of comprehensive disaster planning and training. The city’s ability to respond had evolved over several years of investing heavily and widely in all the elements that make a crucial difference when disaster strikes. Their investment covered widespread training on the National Incident Management System (NIMS) that extended beyond city department heads and into all employee levels. Over half of the city’s 4,000 employees have received NIMS training.
7-alarms in Philly
Overnight, a 7-alarm fire burned a factory building in the 1300 block of Adams Avenue. The fire was reported just before 3:00 AM. The fire sent embers on to nearby homes. Here is what KYW-TV reported at 7:30 AM:
After over four hours of battling intense flames, Philadelphia firefighters brought were able to get the upper hand on a 7-alarm fire at a Kensington factory Monday morning.
The massive fire was reported at a large complex on the 1300 block of Adams Avenue just before 3 a.m.
The blaze quickly reached 7-alarms, leading to the evacuation of several surrounding homes.
Several neighbors evacuated on their own after witnessing the heavy smoke and flames in the area.
“I opened up the back window and I saw embers coming down, fully engulfed. I woke up my girlfriend and said, ‘Wait a minute, it’s raining fire out here,'” said Juan Sanchez.
Many witnesses reported hearing a loud explosion before noticing the inferno.
At least one adjacent building was damaged by the massive fire, which was brought under control just before 7:30 a.m. No injuries have been reported. The Red Cross is assisting at least 30 people displaced by the fire.
Traffic delays are expected in the area as firefighters remain at the scene. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Click here for raw helicopter video from KYW-TV
Image from WTXF-TV shows a dozen master streams in operation
FF/EMT accused of leaving scene of crash that injured pregnant woman
Police say a Methuen, MA firefighter plowed a pick-up truck into the side of another vehicle and left the scene, leaving behind three injured people, including a pregnant woman. It happened in January. Brett Paolantonio is also now charged with making up a story that someone had stolen his the pick-up truck and wrecked it. The fire department suspended him for two days without pay and assigned him to dispatch duties. Read more.
FF witnesses tornado
A storm Sunday afternoon ripped the roof off a school in the 6300 block of Riggs Road in Chillum, MD. Across the street is Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department Station 844.
The National Weather Service confirms the damage was from an EF 1 tornado. FF/Technician John Michael Crisman didn’t need the NWS to tell him what his eyes saw. PGFD Chief Spokesman Mark Brady, who took the picture above, wrote this about Crisman’s account:
He went out to the front ramp of the firehouse and observed several unusual occurrences. First, he felt the air being sucked out of the fire station, he then observed the U.S. Flag flying in one direction and then almost instantly in the opposite direction. Fire Fighter/Technician Crisman then observed a storm cloud with debris and rotating winds. Within moments, firefighters and paramedics were alerted that a roof had blown off of a school. The school was located across the street from the Fire/EMS Station in the 6300 Block of Riggs Road and firefighters arrived within a minute. Upon arrival, firefighters encountered a 1-story educational building with a large portion of the roof now sitting in the parking lot. Natural gas was flowing from damaged lines inside the school; which firefighters quickly controlled by terminating the power and natural gas utilities to the structure. There was one administrative employee in the school at the time, she was able to exit the building safely. Overall, there were no injuries as a result of this storm. The school, George E. Peters Seventh Day Adventist School, a pre-K through eighth grade will be closed Monday, April 21, 2008. School officials will meet tomorrow to make future plans and contact families. A nearby Seventh Day Adventist Church sustained minor damage from flying debris. A large construction trailer was overturned and numerous trees were downed. Several homes and buildings in the Chillum community sustained minor damage from high winds and downed trees and numerous power lines were knocked down as a result of high winds as well.
Who needs The History Channel when you have the FireGeezer?
Bill Schumm is up to Day 3 of his detailed look at the San Francisco earthquake and conflagration 1906. Click here.
MOU approved on beach ambulance service
As we first reported 11-months-ago, the Millville VFC in Sussex County, DE will no longer provide ambulance service for the Bethany Beach area come next January. Now there is a memorandum of understanding between the Bethany Beach VFC and town officials to start providing ambulance service. From delmarvanow.com:
The council on Friday also approved a memorandum of understanding with the Bethany Beach Volunteer Fire Company to provide ambulance service to the town beginning on Jan. 1, 2009. The Millville Volunteer Fire Company ambulance service, which currently serves the district, announced in 2007 it is ceasing ambulance service to the Bethany fire district at the end of the year.
The council unanimously passed the memorandum of understanding with the fire company. Bethany Beach Mayor Carol Olmstead, who along with officials from South Bethany, Fenwick Island and Sea Colony, has been instrumental in discussions with fire company representatives since February, said the other affected municipalities of the fire district are already on board with the plan.
At this time, South Bethany, Sea Colony, and Council members stated some concerns over some budgetary issues with the contract, although meetings are being worked out with the fire company to iron out details for a future contract. Councilman Robert Parsons, a supporter of the ambulance service, but not of the lack of state government assistance in bringing the service to Bethany, applauded his fellow council members on passing the latest step in ensuring the safety of people in the Bethany fire district.
Also from the beach resorts – former fire investigator finds second career
Bobby Luckett spent years investigating fire in Alexandria, VA. After retirement he took a job with the Ocean City Police Department. Luckett is featured in an article titled CSI: Ocean City that looks at evidence gathering at the Maryland resort town. Click here to read the story.
Suggestion to drop career crew
Excerpts from a Pittsburghlive.com story out of Uniontown, PA:
A Uniontown councilman’s suggestion that the city might need to disband its paid fire department has set off a fiery debate in the town.
It’s one that David Eckman has heard before — should cities in economic distress pay firefighters when the overwhelming majority of Pennsylvania municipalities rely on volunteers?
“When you are looking at the blight and the obvious results of a slowdown in the economy, that doesn’t seem to me … that is the time to cut the resources that are protecting the very fragile tax base that does exist,” said Eckman, president of the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association.
“The more blight that you have, you’re at a much higher risk for fire and vandalism, and that’s when you ought to be beefing up your resources, not the other way around,” he said.
But he and others believe the debate is heading in the wrong direction. With fewer and fewer volunteers, some companies are starting to pay members just to get the trucks out.
“The questions that need to be asked are what level of protection do we need? … How do we go about doing that, and how can we do it on a regional basis?” said Eckman, a professional firefighter in York County.
Pennsylvania has 23 paid fire departments and 71 departments with paid and volunteer firefighters. The rest — 2,289 — are volunteer departments.
Earlier this year, Uniontown Councilman Marlin Sprouts suggested that the city might have to disband its paid department because of the city’s bleak financial picture. That set off a debate in town that has landed on radio talk shows.
Sprouts, who recently pleaded guilty in federal court to his part in a mortgage scam, did not return a call for comment on this story.
But fire Chief Myron Nypaver said there are many reasons why the city needs its 13 paid firefighters to complement a volunteer crew of about 30.
Nypaver said Uniontown has fire protection challenges — a high elderly population and 32 buildings that are at least four stories tall. Yet the department can respond anywhere in town in three minutes or less.
Nypaver said such a response time is harder for volunteer departments to meet because volunteers often aren’t available.
Holyoke, MA fire
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A four-story, vacant building burned in Holyoke Saturday night. Water pressure problems hampered firefighters.
Two homes burn in Sacramento
Two alarms called to handle two homes on fire in Sacramento, CA Sunday morning.
DC Fire & EMS operations – double feature
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No fire here. Just a steam scare. A box alarm response on Friday to the Hyatt Regency Hotel at 400 New Jersey Ave, NW on Capitol Hill (across the street from Engine 3’s quarters).
Below, a very brief helmet-cam video from a house fire on Sunday in the 5200 block of Drake Place, SE.
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