THE NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA Ambulance workers union has begun a job action in response to the NSW Government’s refusal to address their grievences.

One of them is the pay scale.  The Gov’t. made an offer, but the Union claims that it would have amounted to a lower paycheck.  Another is the wide-spread use of unsupervised trainees to work the calls.  There is a critical manpower shortage in the ambulance service causing the inexperienced medics to handle the assignments and the staff shortages are resulting in the crews being overworked and becoming exhausted.

Starting yesterday the ambulance crews are refusing to complete the paperwork needed after each call that generates the patient billing for the service.  In effect, everybody is now getting a free ride.

Another action beginning today is to refuse non-emergency transports.  The hospitals and doctors will normally utilize the ambulance service for basic transport and patient discharge transports.  However, the dispatchers are not accepting those calls now.

The Health Services Union will be holding a mass meeting in Sydney tomorrow to determine what the next step in the job action will be.

Read about it HERE, HERE, and HERE.

EARLY YESTERDAY MORNING THE SPOKANE, WASHINGTON Fire Department had every station in the city working 4 simultaneous arsons.  All of them were set outside homes within 10 blocks of each other.

One of them extended into the house, two of them less extensive, and the fourth was a vehicle parked in a driveway.

Channel 4 has the STORY and VIDEO.

LAST NIGHT IN BOSTON’S WEST ROXBURY section at about 2100 hrs. two firefighters lost their lives in a 4-alarm fire.  The fire began in a restaurant just a block from the fire station, Eng. 30/Ladder 25, so the FD was on the scene quickly.  Within minutes after entering the fire building, the weight of the rooftop air handling unit brought the roof down on the crew inside, killing two, critically injuring two others, and causing smaller injuries to nine more.

Boston Globe photo

The job was rapidly increased to four alarms as the fire spread to adjoining businesses.  Boston FD is one of those departments that routinely establishes Rapid Intervention Teams and the RIT was able to effect several rescues.

More incident updates will be coming in during the day.

Read the Boston Herald story HERE.
The Boston Globe STORY.
Incident location MAP.
Local tv video HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Good Ol’ Fed-Ex

Like many people these days, I do a lot of shopping online.  The selection of goods is unmatched and you can do a lot of comparison shopping without having to spend the day driving from store to store.  And if you’re buying something that is expensive, the savings in avoiding the sales tax covers the shipping charge.

Monday I ordered an electronic device from a business located 900 miles from me.  When filling out the order, I always check the cheapest shipping option which is usually the “5 to 10 business days” selection.  One of the “fun things” about online ordering is being able to follow the route of your package through the shipper’s computerized tracking feature.  I saw that my order was picked up by Fed-Ex that night and before the night was over it was well on its way.  To be brief, my parcel was delivered Wednesday afternoon, barely 48 hours after I punched in my order on my keyboard.  That’s terrific service and very typical of what I get from Fed-Ex anytime I use them.

The same does not apply to UPS anymore.  They used to be very reliable, but something happened.  It was 10 years ago this month that they had that prolonged strike.  When it was settled, their union loudly proclaimed that they had won most of their demands and everything was now great.  But after they came back to work and the dust settled, the drivers found out that while they did get a token wage increase, there weren’t as many of them and nothing else really changed much.  They lost a month’s wages for nothing.  I think that had an effect on their institutional mindset because since then they have never performed like they did previously.

Anytime I learn that something is being sent by UPS I tend to worry because a noticeably large percentage of my packages are left at the wrong address.  You can see on the computer tracking page that the package was left on the doorstep, but it’s not there.  But what compounds the problem is the fact that UPS refuses to retrieve the package and re-deliver it if you call them and report it.  They just write it off…tough luck, buddy.  And instruct you to contact your seller for redress.

While it might be cheaper for them to just pay the settlement to the shipper instead of sending the driver back to wherever he left your package and retrieve it, in the long run they are killing their business.  That’s why more and more online businesses are using good ol’ Fed-Ex.

Ok, guys…let’s get the equipment checked.  I’ll go start the coffee.

AS THOSE OLD TV COMMERCIALS USED TO TELL US, “Wait!!! There’s more!”  Channel 9’s newshound Dave Statter has been covering the latest expose of the city’s fire hydrant problem.  This evening he disclosed that on the grounds of the headquartes and the sewage treatment plant of the Water and Sewer Authority, 29% of their own hydrants are out of service.

Read his latest chapter to the tale HERE.

Firegeezer wonders if the Water Authority is still operating out of the Marion Barry Procedural Manual.

SHORTLY BEFORE THE TITANIC WAS TO SAIL ON ITS fatal voyage, Second Officer David Blair was bumped from the crew list to make room for a senior officer.  When he left the ship he forgot to turn in his key to the locker that held the ship’s binoculars.

The ship’s lookouts in the crow’s nest had to rely on their normal eyesight to watch for hazards.  One of the lookouts who survived the wreck told a board of inquiry that if they had binoculars then they probably could have seen the iceburg in time to change course and save the ship.  But nobody knew where they were or anything about the key.

When Blair died his daughter took possession of the key and then later donated it to the Seamen’s Society about 20 years ago.  The Society has decided to put it up for auction next month, expecting to raise at least $140,000 from the sale.

Read this very interesting story of the key in today’s Telegraph HERE.

THE BILLINGS, MONTANA FIRE DEPARTMENT wants to upgrade enough firefighters to paramedic level to have one on each engine.  But a long-running back-pay lawsuit is putting all plans on hold for now.

In 2000 the firefighters file a class-action suit for back pay because they had been paid for 40 hrs. per week for five years while they were actually working 43.5 hours.  After 6 years of working through the appellate courts, the state Supreme Court ruled this month that the city has to pay plus a 55% penalty and attorney’s fees.  The potential bill could be as high as $5.4 million.

The Billings FD has 103 field FF’s and six stations.

The Billings Gazette has a good, informative article HERE.
Billings FD homepage HERE.

RICHARD JEWELL, AGE 44, DIED EARLIER TODAY in his home where he had been sick for several months with kidney problems.  Originally hailed as a hero for herding people away from a bomb placed in a concert venue during the Atlanta Olympics just before it detonated, he became the focus of a media storm when the Atlanta newspaper wrongly accused him of being a suspect in the crime.

Eventually the FBI announced that he was not a suspect and he had to spend the next couple of years litigating his reputation back.  He has been employed most of the time since as a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia.

The early report on his passing is HERE.

*  Dave Statter and Channel 9 have been following an exclusive story on the lack of water in the hydrants serving the highway tunnel that goes under Capitol Hill.  It appears that the hydrants have never been serviced for years.  Read his story HERE and watch the channel 9 video HERE.

*  With all the chatter about the IAFF endorsement of Senator Chris Dodd for President, Roanoke Firefighters lays out the reasons for the endorsement HERE.

*  It seems like a week doesn’t go by without a New York cabbie going into a neighborhood market without getting out of his cab first.  Firefighter Spot has some good shots of the latest shopper HERE.  Then scroll on down to see today’s latest fire videos.

*  SConFIRE has a photo essay on an unusual industrial fire yesterday HERE.

*  FireRescue1 has a report on the new dispatch software that was just implemented in Dallas.  It’s having trouble keeping track of the units and the police and firefighters both are becoming more frustrated.  Read the STORY.

*  Fire Chief has an article telling firefighters what you can do to help avoiding myleoma - bone marrow cancer - HERE.

*  FirefighterHourly brings up still one more example of non-progress in the Charleston FD HERE.  This time it’s uniforms.

ONE HOUR AGO, THE STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE posted the following:

EXCLUSIVE: One of the three firefighters stripped of his command for his role in the fatal Deutsche Bank building blaze at Ground Zero was instructed not to conduct inspections in the building, but he is now being criticized for failing to inspect the site at 130 Liberty St., his brother, a Staten Island attorney who is representing him, told the Advance.

In defending Engine Co. 10 Captain Peter Bosco, who grew up in Concord, Great Kills lawyer John Bosco said his brother did not inspect the building because he was following FDNY policy.

Neither the Fire Commissioner nor the Millionairemayor were willing to comment on the charges.

Read the full story HERE.

THE FIFE FIRE BRIGADE IN SCOTLAND was called out Sunday for two 9-yr.-old boys who were slowly sinking in a sea of quicksand.  The Telegraph reports:

The two friends, Dale Clark and Harry Campbell, had been playing at Lomond quarry near Leslie, Fife, when they became stuck in a deep slurry pool on Sunday.  Dale fell into the sand and when Harry went in to rescue him, they both began to be dragged slowly further down into the pit.

Harry said: “We struggled to get out for about 20 minutes before Dale phoned his mum for help as it had reached our bellies.  Wendy Clark, 38, said: “Dale phoned me at about 7.30pm and told me him and Harry were trapped in quicksand at the quarry. I could hear both of them screaming hysterically.  I immediately phoned the police…”

Cupar, Fife fire station

Gary Kerr, the Fife fire station manager, said: “When we arrived the two boys were stuck almost up to their necks.

“We had to use a 3ft mud lance, which blows bubbles around the area to loosen the sand. We then used a rope to pull the boys free. It took about an hour to affect both rescues.

“We kept the boys talking, trying to calm them down. When we pulled them free both of them were cold and shivering.

“They were then treated by an ambulance crew at the scene before being taken to Kirkcaldy’s Victoria Hospital for observation.”

FOLLOWING A CALL FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE, the Candian government has announced that they will be sending some specialized help to Greece.  Still battling scores of fires throughout the country,  the Greek government has been asking for neighboring countries to help with the massive firefighting effort.

Canada has identified available resources, including air tankers and water bombers, as well as trained fire crews. The Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre would oversee the effort.  They have not yet announced when the aircraft will be sent over.

CanWest News Service has the STORY.
Interagency Forest Fire Centre WEB SITE.