A 3:30 am HOUSE FIRE ON DETROIT’S EAST SIDE WAS FATAL TO A 5-YR.-OLD BOY who was staying with his grandmother.  The boy’s mother was in the hospital giving birth at the same time, on Mother’s Day.

Initial word is that, once again, the Firehouse  Roulette caused the nearest fire station to be closed as well as another in the same district.  According to reports, Engine 41 at Rhons and Warren and Engine 26 at Crain and Kercheval were both shut down for lack of manpower.

Engine 41 - closed today
www.detroitfirefighters.net image

When the nearest available engine arrived, the house was well involved.  The firefighters got inside quickly and retrieved the unconscious boy.  He was immediately transported to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

This report will be updated on Monday.

“When he was 15, he was making his own nitroglycerine,” he said. “This guy liked to blow stuff up.”

WHEN THE ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE LATE CLAY HOLZL were going through one of his self-storage bins Friday, they came across a suprise. Way in the back was a big box filled with sky rockets that the pyrotechnician had stored away. Not the kind of rockets that you drive over the state line to buy, but those big hunkers that are used for public aerial displays.

So they went to the manager of the storage business, who was most unhappy to learn about the cache of explosives tucked away in his compound, and asked him what to do. His wife called the owner of Gorilla Fireworks, Robert Hall and told him what they had. Hall was familiar with Holzl and related that Holzl liked to “juice up” his fireworks to get bigger bangs out of them. But when given a description of the box of rockets, he estimated that they were at least 10 years old. Much to old to be handled safely, let alone lit off. His advice as to “play it by the book.”

That meant calling the fire department. They in turn brought in the State Police who also brought the ATF and some Army specialists. And everybody was in their funny suits. Putting their heads together, the agencies decided the best thing to do was blow the fireworks up. The best way to do that, they concluded, was to use C-4 plastic explosives. Around 30 pounds, according to Lt. Col. Jonathan Allen, an Army spokesman. Then they started shutting down the roads and alerting the neighbors.

“They were telling us, ‘You need to evacuate,’ and we were like, ‘Where do you want us to go?’ and they were like, ‘Go home,’ and we were like, ‘We live here,’ ”

The Kaboom experts then took the parcel of rockets over to a swampy area down the road and loaded them up with the C-4. Moments later windows were breaking, sleeping people were waking, and the phone calls started pouring in to the emergency dispatchers and news services.

KTUU-TV

Hall, the Gorilla Fireworks man, suspected the explosives experts might have taken a little pleasure in the whole thing, which is something he didn’t hold against them. “They had their own little blaze of glory. Holzl’s family was kind of laughing,” Hall said. “The last memory they’ll have of Clay is a big boom.”

The Anchorage Daily News carried the STORY.

IT WAS ON THIS DATE TWENTY-THREE YEARS AGO, MAY 11, 1985, that one of the most horrific tragedies to take place at a sporting event occurred.  In Bradford, England, the Bradford City Football (soccer) team was playing at home against the Lincoln City team in a Division 2 contest that was the final game of the season.

Near the end of the first half, a fire broke out in the grandstands that swept through the stadium and killed 56 fans and injured hundreds of others, many seriously burned.

BBC News

Today a commemoration was held in Bradford in honor of those who died in a catastrophe that has had strong, lasting effects on the city.  The BBC News has an ARTICLE on today’s events.  Firegeezer recounted that day in a posting last September and we would like to re-run it for you today:

Bradford’s stadium, Valley Parade, was a 77-yr.-old wooden structure that hadn’t been maintained because of chronic financial difficulties.  With a capacity of 6,000 it was configured to restrict movement of the patrons from one section to another or to gain access to the playing field.

The Lincoln City game was the final one of the season and Bradford had clinched the league championship.  Everybody was ready for a game day of celebration.  But shortly before the completion of the first half, a fire erupted underneath the stands in the G section and spread rapidly, causing panicky fans to pour out of the stands.  The referee stopped the match as the crowd continued to pour onto the pitch.  Within four minutes the fire had raced through the entire grandstand on that side of the field, trapping many patrons in the back.

When it was over, there were 56 people dead, nearly 250 seriously injured, most with severe burns, and another 200 injured but not transported.  Most of the deaths were people trapped in the rear and unable to get out because of inward-opening doors and locked turnstiles.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *

The match was being televised regionally.
Click to play this video © Yorkshire Television
Warning: Graphic scenes of people burning.

“Oh, that poor man ….. he’d only come to watch the football…”

FRIDAY AFTERNOON TWO PRISON INMATES IN BOURBON COUNTY, KENTUCKY, were serving in a work-release program.  Their “occupational rehabilitation” project was painting the Millersburg Fire Chief’s Ford Bronco at the fire station while under the supervision of a police officer.

When a local burglary call came in, the officer responded to the emergency.  The two prisoners, feeling the need to respond also, took the chief’s car and drove away. 

While the police were preparing arrest warrants for theft and escape, the two jailbirds drove down to Tennessee, then turned around and headed back to Kentucky where the Bronco finally ran out of gas Saturday morning in Whitley County.  A Williamsburg police officer tracked them down to a wooded area near Interstate 75 and took them into custody.

It has not been reported on how much painting remains to be done on the chief’s car.

WKYT Ch. 27 has a video REPORT.

A RAIL ACCIDENT IN LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS, ON THURSDAY EVENING created a spill of 250,000 lbs. of sodium chlorate.  The spill was successfully handled by the fire department and no ignition or wind-spread was allowed.  A haz-mat cleanup firm came right in and began packaging the powder for removal.

Saturday evening, some of the packages began spontaneously igniting and several fires broke out into flames that were described as “too bright to look at.”  At first the FD was concerned about the possibility of toxic smoke endangering nearby neighborhoods, but it was quickly mitigated and no evacuations were required.

Eagle-Tribune / Jean photo

The North Andover Eagle-Tribune REPORTS:

ENPRO Environmental Services of Newburport, the company that conducted the decontamination and cleanup efforts after Thursday’s chemical spill, were back late last night investigating what caused the fire and making sure the public was protected from any further environmental or health threats.

Sodium chlorate is used to produce chlorine dioxide for bleaching paper. In large amounts, it can become volatile if it comes in contact with water or other organic items such as wood or other natural debris, said Lawrence fire Chief Peter Takvorian.

“If any wood or paper got into the boxes with the product, it could certainly cause the chemical to generate some heat. And that may have been the reason why it ignited,” Takvorian said last night.

The original spill occurred when the tank car carrying the chemical came off the rails and brushed along a railcar on the next track, leaving a gaping hole in the tank.

Eagle-Tribune / Bilodeau photo

The product left a debris field along the tracks of about 300 yards long, 6 inches wide and an inch deep.  The FD’s initial fear was for any wind carrying the powder away which would endanger anybody breathing it.  They initially evacuated about a dozen homes nearby. 

Friday’s edition of the Eagle-Tribune tells the complete story of the initial incident HERE.

WFXT Ch. 25 reports from the scene of last night’s fire:

Yesterday we began a chat about the rapid decline of the newspapers as an information source in our “instant” culture.  For many of them, circulation numbers have been spiraling and a large part of that is due to entrenched policies that didn’t keep up with the evolving electronic presence in the household.

I will offer just one example of this wrong-way thinking:  During the course of the week, I log on to a lot of newspaper websites.  And you would be surprised at how many of them feed up a page that says something like, “Help us serve you better.  Please register to read our news pages.  It only takes a few minutes, and it’s free!”  Then they have this 20-question form to fill out before you can read their website.  Now just how arrogant is that?

When you go into the 7-Eleven or stop at a street box to buy a newspaper, do they require you to fill out a form before you can buy one?  Of course not.  And I’m not going to do it online, either.  The news business is as competitive as any other, if not more so.  And here you have these dunderheads effectively prohibiting people from looking at their product (and advertisements).  It has been my observation that most of the papers doing this are smaller, mid-market newspapers with circulation numbers in the low 5-digits.

Some of the more progressive newspapers are teaming up with local television stations (usually they are owned by the same company) and posting video reports directly on the newspaper’s website.  So now we are getting a blending of news delivery systems.  Newspapers and TV stations are both serving up print stories and video reports, and putting them all on websites.  They are recognizing that the trend is rushing toward people using the internet to learn what’s going on as well as a place to get any background information.

In the past, you would sit down with your newspaper and pick up the section that covered the topic you wanted to read, such as Sports or the Metro news, and you’d flip through the pages, stopping to read whatever stories interested you.

Today you sit down in front of the computer and flip through websites, stopping to read whatever stories interest you.  But the “sections” are much different now.  You have a very wide choice of topics and in your case you pick up the Fire & Rescue section and start flipping through the websites that are devoted to that narrow topic.  That is a new choice now, and one that the newspapers will never be able to offer.

For the first time ever, you can “pick up” a section that carries subject matter never-before served up and get instant information, even the occasional link to a live-streaming video of a major fire in progress.  Of the dozens of F & R related websites, you probably have 8 or 10 stored in your Favorites folder so that you can find them easily and check up on what’s happening whenever you wish.

Yes, currently most of the websites link to newspaper or television news stories (that will change in the near future, too),  but there is no way that you can find the time to “flip” through a thousand websites to find the stories that relate to your interests.  That is where sites like Firegeezer fill a role.  We’ve already gathered information related to whatever niche you want to read about and if you “flip” through a handful of Fire & Rescue websites, then you’ve learned more in one hour than you used to be able to find in a month’s time.

The information revolution is happening fast.  Tomorrow I will tell you what I think the future will bring us as it relates to the information delivery modes.

But for today, let’s get the equipment checked out now.  I will run us some fresh coffee and later on we’ll have time to give Mom a call and wish her a Happy Mother’s Day.

WITH THE OUTDOOR BARBECUE SEASON UPON US, it’s time to stock up on the needed utensils for your outdoor cooking pleasure.

And one item that you will definitely need this year is ……..

The BBQ Sword

This mighty meat mover is reminiscent of days of yore, when medieval masters of culinary pleasures skewered their meals with their swords and ate mightily.

This handy cooking fork is just right for barbecuing those hot dogs and brats.  And the practical hand guard keeps the heat from the flaming coals from burning your fingers.

Oh….. the mask is included free of charge so that you can protect your identity.

The price is an affordable $29.95.  But be forewarned:  It is NOT suitable for dueling.

Click HERE to read more about it and to order your very own BBQ Sword.

WE ALREADY KNOW WHO THEY’RE GOING TO CALL.  Whenever anybody’s pet tortoise gets stuck under a chair, don’t they always call the fire laddies?

In Essex, England, that’s just what a woman in Ramsden Heath did when her tortoise got stuck under a garden chair and she couldn’t free it on her own.

Calling the local fire hall, they sent Firefighter Matt Furber, 41, to see if he could help out.

The News International Group in London tells us:

“I’ve been in the fire service for 14 years and without doubt it’s the strangest call I have ever received,” said Mr Furber.

“The tortoise was about the size of a dustbin lid. It had gone under one of those metal-framed garden chairs and got stuck. The chair had then sort of collapsed on it. I got the impression that it had been there for about an hour and the owner called because she was worried about hurting it.”

He added: “I borrowed a hacksaw from the owner and cut one of the legs of the chair. The tortoise still didn’t seem keen to move but eventually the owner coaxed it along.

“I’m not an expert on tortoises but it didn’t seem distressed to me.

Mr Furber said he had travelled to the house alone and had not activated lights and sirens.

He added: “I did look in our guidelines to see if we had anything on trapped tortoises - but we didn’t.”

Firegeezer adds:  I’ll bet your guidelines don’t, either.  Better bring it up at the monthly meeting.

RECRUITING NEW VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS is not just a problem nationwide, but in most other countries that rely on volunteers as well.

Everywhere rolls are dwindling because new volunteers are not joining in sufficient numbers to replace older members who retire from active firefighting.

The Manlius VFD in Onandaga County, New York, has an opinion that many FD’s are overlooking a major pool of new members……. stay-at-home Moms who are at home while their children are in school and young women who are physically able to do the job, but aren’t aware of the opportunity.

This video shows how their philosophy and recruiting efforts are paying off for them.

The Manlius FD is a combination career/volunteer department that operates both fire and EMS service out of two stations in the Village of Manlius.

THE PARENTS OF A LAFAYETTE, COLORADO, TEENAGER WHO DIED IN A COLLISION with an ambulance two years ago have filed a civil lawsuit against the private ambulance company and the driver.

On May 1, 2006, 16-yr.-old Hannah Boemker was driving a car and turned left at an intersection into the path of a Pridemark Paramedic Services ambulance that was responding with its lights and siren on.

Boulder Daily Camera

Police determined that the ambulance was operating properly and legally at the time and did not assign any blame on them.  The driver and a paramedic riding with him said they saw headphones in Boemke’s ears right before the vehicles collided, possibly preventing her from hearing the ambulance approaching.

But investigators were never able to determine whether Boemker was actually wearing the headphones or whether her portable music device was turned on.

Her parents are claiming in the suit that the ambulance was being operated unsafely and using excessive speed, despite the police determination.

The Boulder Daily Camera has the full STORY.