………. Fire Engineering, November 1972
A JAMESTOWN, NORTH DAKOTA, AMBULANCE was carrying a patient to Fargo Monday afternoon when it hit an icy patch on a bridge. It was traveling eastbound on I-94 and when it hit the ice it went out of control, did a complete rollover and landed on its wheels in the westbound lanes.
Fargo Forum
The Fargo Forum reports:
The elderly male remained in the gurney when the ambulance turned over, but he did suffer a head injury from being struck with debris…
The two ambulance personnel in the back appeared to suffer head, neck and back injuries, (police) said. “They were tossed around pretty good,” he said.
All three were taken to MeritCare Hospital in Fargo. The extent of their injuries was unknown, but Hischer said all three were talking at the scene. The driver was not taken to the hospital.
There were a large number of accidents on the highway during that same time period, taxing the state police officers. Large stretches of it were covered with glare ice.
The Fargo Forum has the full STORY.
RHODE ISLAND INVESTIGATORS ARE CLOSE TO announcing the cause of the fire in Warwick Saturday that killed four young adults and an infant girl. (see Firegeezer report HERE.) It has been confirmed that one of the fatalities Nicholas Jillson, 24, was the son of North Smithfield Fire Chief Joel Jillson.
The investigation also disclosed that there were two smoke detectors in the house. One of them was in the basement where the smoke level never reached, and the other was a properly-placed hardwire detector at the stairwell. The lab is checking to see if it was in working order, but the sole survivor said that he never heard it sounding.
WLNE-TV
They have placed the point of origin in the space between the first-floor ceiling and the 2nd-story flooring. The Providence Journal adds:
“We will announce the cause of this fire after we get every single piece of evidence before us so that we can do so confidently and that we’ve got it right,” said State Fire Marshal Jack Chartier on Monday. “This is far too important to the families and the community for us to rush this and we’re going to get it right.”
WPRI-TV Ch. 12 filed this video report on the latest findings and coverage of yesterday’s press conference:
Read the entire article from the Journal HERE.
IN NORTHWEST OHIO, THE TIFFIN TOWNSHIP VFD is patiently responding to every “smell of gas” call that is triggered from a field of rotting radishes.
A farmer’s field has been planted with oilseed radishes, a cover crop that adds nutrients to the soil, where they are being left to rot and do their ground-feeding thing. Unfortunately, the field is not far from a natural gas pipeline compression station and wary neighbors are confused about the powerful odor wafting over the township. The Tiffin VFD has gotten five investigation calls in the past 45 days and they responsibly check all of them out, even though it takes an hour to complete the search.
A pipeline technician with the TransCanada natural gas compression station said the gas stored at the facility is odorless.
The Associated Press reported HERE.
As wise and experienced as I am, even the Firegeezer gets snookered once in a while. And I really got hooked yesterday. I posted a video report from a Mobile, Alabama, tv station about a massive multi-vehicle pile-up on I-10 in the city. Some great shots of a very challenging rescue situation. The only problem is, the wreck happened 15 years ago, in 1995. Apparently the station was running some sort of flashback story and didn’t identify it as such when they sent it out. That explains why none of the other Mobile stations didn ‘t have a report on it.
Talk about standing there with egg on your face….I’m the champion of the day for that one. I was tipped off on the mistake by one of our readers, Brian G. who ran the call. He posted some insight on the incident in a Comment that is enlightening, too. I’ll leave the video posted because it has some very interesting footage on it. You’ll find me over in the corner. Off-hand, I can’t remember my last big blunder, but I’m sure there has been one. And I just may have another one in the future. I just hope it’s in the distant future.
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The announcement came out yesterday that noted British actor Ian Carmichael died on Friday at age 89. Most of you probably haven’t heard of him, but he achieved some fame here in the U. S. playing in a series of tv programs that were shown on the PBS network about 30 years ago in the comedic role of Lord Peter Wimsey. The shows were based on a series of witty novels by Dorothy L. Sayers. If you were a fan of those programs, the London Telegraph has their usual good obituary HERE. A simple search engine inquiry will bring more if you want to check into it.
Getty Images
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Our final item this morning is a piece of good news. Heinz food products has introduced a new ketchup packet for the fast-food market that is not only easier to open, but it contains 3 times as much product as those current packets that get thrown into your bag of lunch goodies.
Instead of those horrible plastic envelopes that demand that you “tear here ->” and then leave your fingertips covered with the stuff, this new packet is similar to the jelly packets that come with your toast, in that you tear back the lid leaving the ketchup in a little tray that also serves as a puddle that you can dip your french fries in. But it has the added feature of being able to be opened at the opposite edge which turns it into a little squeeze bottle for precision aiming over the pile of fries.
Coming soon to a fast-food joint near you.
Also coming soon is equipment check time. So let’s get started while I go make another pot of coffee. See you back in the day room.
* Dave Statter at STATter911 has the latest on the Fairfax County, Virginia, fire station that had a roof collapse early Monday morning. It’s due to the high snow load on the flat roof. And it looks like still another Fairfax station is threatened with the same problem. Read his latest update on the situation HERE.
His tv station, WUSA-TV has released this earlier raw video of the firehouse:
* John Mitchell at Fire Daily is talking about an lllinois firehouse that is haunted HERE.
* Mike Legeros over at Raleigh/Wake Firefighting Blog has the good news…. a retired firefighter in Asheville, North Carolina, has hit the Powerball lottery for $141 million. Read all about it HERE.
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