TORONTO RADIO STATION 640 IS REPORTING THIS AFTERNOON that Toronto police have discovered a marijuana grow-op at the abandoned home in Kensington Market that went up in flames Thursday night.  Property damages have been estimated at $400,000.The electrical wiring at the grow-op may have caused Thursday’s 3-alarm fire.  Police tell AM 640 Toronto Radio there was an electrical wiring network in the home with multiple extension cords. There was no hydro (electric) service at the property.

For Firegeezer’s report on the fire click HERE.

THE CASE OF AN ENGLISH JUDGE who died in a fireball in his garden shed six years ago has been re-opened.  Andrew Chubb died in the explosive inferno just 90 minutes after he told his wife that he was leaving her for his mistress.

Judge Andrew Chubb

New evidence has arisen that contradicts the original coroner’s verdict of accidental death.  The judge’s body was never autopsied and he was cremated soon afterwards.  The fire department ruled the fire “very suspicious” because there was no known ignition source normally present in the shed and   Mrs. Chubb demolished the shed 24 hrs. after the death.  She inherited £1 million from his estate and then moved to Australia.

The London Observer has the full STORY.

In December, 2003, investigative reporter Nick Davies of The Guardian filed an extensive 2-part story on the inconsistencies and dereliction of the police that investigated the event.  The actions and statements of Mrs. Chubb were never accounted for.  You can read his report HERE.

Miss Kerry Sparrow
the “other woman”

SAN DIEGO (CALIFORNIA) MEDICAL SERVICES ENTERPRISE provides the emergency ambulance service for the City of San Diego and the communities of Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar, Rancho Santa Fe and Elfin Forest.

In an attempt to provide a more rapid response in large public events, such as the Chargers’ football stadium, they have purchased four “chariots” - priced at $4,000 each - to get paramedics onscene faster.  At the Sept. 9 San Diego Chargers game, they used the chariots for the first time as both an ambulatory alternative and to complement its ambulance services.

“We dispatch the chariots at the same time as an ambulance,” said Michael Simonsen, director of public affairs at SDMSE. “They’re more maneuverable than a full-service ambulance. People don’t always move out of the way of an ambulance, so it’s a nice enhancement.”

The chariot program, which Simonsen says he thinks will eventually be expanded, was first brought to the company’s attention by SDMSE’s special events manager, John Reisdorfer.

Average staffing at a Chargers game at Qualcomm Stadium includes 10 paramedics and emergency medical technicians, or EMTs, two nurses, one doctor, four ambulances and, now, two chariots, according to Simonsen. SDMSE will employ two additional staff members — either a paramedic or EMT — at each event where the chariots are used.

SDMSE also plans to incorporate the chariots to the medical standby coverage for the dozens of events it covers at locations such as Petco Park, Cox Arena and the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

The chariots are powered by quick-change rechargable battery packs.  They can carry up to 450 lbs. of cargo and rider.

The manufacturer, American Chariot, has a promotional video that you can watch HERE.

Compiled from San Diego Business Journal,  American Chariot Co., SDMSE.

A MAJOR FIRE IN BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA LAST NIGHT destroyed five businesses in an industrial park.  The rapid spread caused the Queensland Fire and Rescue service to initiate a precautionary evacuation of several nearby homes.

Courier-Mail image

About two hours into the operation, a suspicious fire broke out in a nearby shopping center that burned out a real estate office.  Police have both scenes cordoned off while investigations are being done.

Compiled from various early reports.

Here we are, the last day of September already.  The nights are getting cooler, some trees are starting to change into their autumn colors, and the sunup-to-sundown time span is less than 12 hours now.  I guess I’d better start looking for my long-sleeved shirts and get them out.

* * * * *

It was just Friday that I briefly mentioned the practice of some departments demanding higher standards of training levels to the point of discouraging recruits and retention.  Then yesterday up comes FirefighterBlog’s posting of job openings in Cal Fire for firefighter positions. (see last night’s Around the Fire Web feature.)  I was reading through the announcement and was really surprised to find that they require paramedic certification before employment.  The starting pay is around $36 K yr.  Is that a fair price for that level of skill being demanded?  Cal Fire is one of the country’s largest F & R departments with about 5,200 firefighters.  So that means there will be a fair amount of turnover each year.  Can they successfully bring in and retain enough people to fill their alloted positions with that kind of entry-level requirement?

* * * * *

As I mentioned the other day, the Geezer Guys are going to continue addressing the growing problem of volunteer recruitment.  We would like to hear from you about what you are doing to identify the cause in your area.  And we’d especially like to learn about any successful programs you’ve initiated to build your membership.  Conversely, if you’ve tried something that didn’t work, tell us that too.

Write to us at:  geezerguys -at- yahoo -dot- com.  This will be a continuing theme for several months.

Ok…let’s get the equipment checked out.  This will be an easy Sunday, unless something comes in.  I’ll go get the coffee started.

Weather system Karen has been downgraded to a tropical depression and is rapidly falling apart.  There will be no more advisories issued on this system.

However, a new system in the eastern Atlantic, Melissa has been classed already as a tropical storm and should be watched carefully for the next few days.

Keep up with the hurricane weather activity by clicking on Firegeezer’s Hurricane Watch link on the right sidebar or at the top of the page above the header.

*  More job opportunities:  Firefighter Blog is posting the .pdf notices and applications for Firefighter and Fire Apparatus Engineer that Cal Fire is advertising.  Cal Fire is the fire suppression branch of Calif.’s dept. of forestry, but they also do a lot of contract work for structural protection in small towns around the state.  You can read them HERE.

*  STATter911 has the story of a clueless judge who ruled that the D.C. Fire Dept. can’t require FF’s to shave their beards.  Where do they get these guys?  Check out the STORY.

*  FireNews.net has a story on a 3-story apt. building burnout that left 23 people homeless.  From the looks of the photo, it must have been a fast-mover.  See it HERE.

*  FireRescue1 is reporting on a fire in Massachusetts in a multi-family dwelling that killed an occupant and led to 12 FF injuries HERE.

*  California Fire News talks about today’s dedications at the California Firefighters Memorial in Sacramento HERE.

*  FirefighterHourly’s daily CFD shortfall covers a high-angle rescue which the dept. didn’t have any equipment to handle it.  A neigboring FD came in and did it HERE.

WEDNESDAY MORNING THE TOWN OF MEDICINE HAT, ALBERTA, was devastated by a fire in the heart of town that destroyed 5 businesses and some of the town’s oldest buildings.

Firegeezer reported HERE on Thursday that it caused $5 million in damage.  There are now additional updates on the investigation into the cause.  The Vancouver Sun reports:

Fire Chief Garry Mauch said investigators won’t be able to determine what started it until smouldering hot spots are extinguished. At this point, however, it appears it may have started in a restaurant.

“The building is old, and like (other) vintage, turn-of-the-century buildings, there are all sorts of breaches concealed in the building,” such as attics and crawl spaces, Mauch said.  “It managed to get down into one of the concealed spaces and (was) able to cross to another building built in 1900.”  Both buildings, containing four businesses, were destroyed, and three nearby businesses sustained heavy smoke and water damage.

The blaze also damaged a piece of the city’s history.  The historic buildings were a draw for tourists, and the construction and architectural features can’t be duplicated, Mauch said.

Photo Gallery
Medicine Hat News / Ian Sorenson photos
Click thumbnails to view full-size images

Medicine Hat history and tour guide:  http://www.touralbertamainstreets.ca/medicine_hat’s_downtown.htm

LET’S HEAR IT FOR MARKUS STOECKL.  The 33-yr.-old Austrian recently set the World Speed Record for series mountain bikes.  Stoeckl, nicknamed “Hercules” because of his 6′4″, 220 lbs. frame, broke the 8 year old record by 14 mph on a 2000 meter, 45 degree run in the Chilean Alps. Because of the extreme cold, Hercules had to hold his breath for the 40 second duration so his helmet didn’t fog up.

And the new record is?    130.7 mph…..on the snow.

Who’s next?

The video shows the record-setting run.

RESIDENTS OF A 3-STORY APARTMENT BUILDING IN CHICAGO smelled natural gas in the building after the gas company had worked there, but nobody thought to call the Fire Department.

Later in the afternoon a teen-age girl tried to light the kitchen stove and triggered an explosion that started a fire and severely burned her.  Two neighbors rescued her from the building and took her outside.  On arrival the FD at first thought she had jumped.

Channel 2 has the STORY.
Channel 7 has a VIDEO.
Chicago Tribune has MORE.

LATE THURSDAY NIGHT THE TORONTO, ONTARIO FIRE DEPARTMENT was faced with an unusual challenge.  In the center of the city is an old, bohemian neighborhood known as Kensington Market.  Along with its quirky culture it is also know for its very narrow streets with multiple dead-ends and a proliferation of century-old housing that was put up anywhere there was space.

It was one of those tucked away cottages that blossomed into flame the other night which generated some inventiveness from the Fire Dept.  One of the homes clustered in the spaces behind the street lots came ablaze.  It was vacant, having been unoccupied for nearly a year since an investor bought it.

The FD, being familiar with the neighborhood and also seeing the big orange glow, was able to eventually get close.  The streets are so narrow that modern trucks barely fit between the parked cars and the city has built speed bumps throughout the area.  When they got on the scene, their only access was by squeezing down narrow walkways between the other homes.

The delay in attacking the fire coupled with the serious exposure problem brought the response up to 3 alarms rapidly.  Soon there were 75 firefighters onscene.  And hardly anybody could see the fire building.

“So now you have this house that’s surrounded by other houses and you don’t have access to it, except for little laneways,” Capt. Adrian Ratushniak said. “It’s so difficult to get to this place. … You’d have to see it to believe it.”

One neighbor urged firefighters to run a hose through her home to reach the flames.  Tina Pereux said she called 911 when flames erupted.  “It was scary,” she said. “I called them and told them to go through.”

She said the shortest access to the fire meant having the fire hose go through her home.  “I knew it was the only way they could do it,” Pereux said.

Soon two aerials were raised to reach over the other houses and knock the body of the fire down.  Complicating the operation was a paucity of fire hydrants in that area.  And yet, remarkably, the FD was able to prevent any spread beyond the building of origin.

“We used to have specialized trucks that could get into smaller neighborhoods,” noted Councilman Adam Vaughan, who represents the Trinity-Spadina ward. “But since amalgamation we’ve gone to one-size-fits-all solutions and it’s not the fire department’s fault. The trouble is that when an ambulance or a fire truck or a garbage truck tries to get in, one size does not fit all.  This fire, in one of the most difficult spots to put a fire out, was put out very quickly with the loss of only one house and no lives. That’s a testimony to the expertise of the department.”

CityNews has a VIDEO.
CTV News has a good video that shows the hose paths HERE.
Wikipedia history of Kensington Market HERE.

Kensington Market Photo Gallery
Click on thumbnails for full pics

Update, Sept. 30:  Toronto radio 640 is reporting that Toronto police have discovered a marijuana grow-op at the abandoned home in Kensington Market that went up in flames last week.  The electrical wiring at the grow-op may have caused Thursday’s 3-alarm fire.

Police tell AM 640 Toronto Radio there was an electrical wiring network in the home with multiple extension cords. There was no hydro service at the property.