MORE INFORMATION IS COMING OUT in the case of the Texas Supreme Court justice, David Medina.  Judge Medina and his wife were indicted last month on arson and related charges following an investigation into a fire that destroyed his house last June.  Firegeezer reported on this unusual case HERE and HERE.

When the Harris County grand jury handed down the indictments in December, the county prosecutor raised questions by immediately refusing to prosecute and getting a judge to dismiss the charges.

The members of the grand jury then went public and vowed to re-indict the Medinas.  On the volley back, the prosecutors office discovered that the grand jury had improperly sat after its term had expired and all their recent indictments were tossed out.

This week the Houston Chronicle has published some of its findings after looking into the Justice’s financial affairs.  It was already known that he was several years behind in his property taxes as well as his homeowner’s assoc. fees.

The Chronicle has disclosed that the Medina’s had taken out a succession of three home equity loans over a period of five years with adjustable interest rates that rose to 16%.  The article goes into detail about the valuations and movements involving the shady mortgage company that has since gone out of business while under investigation by the state attorney general.  Read the full story HERE.

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Also this week, and editorial in the Southeast Texas Record, a state legal journal, excoriates the Harris County district attorney’s office referring to them as a bunch of “Keystone Kops.”  It also brings forward Justice Medina’s problems with using his campaign finance account for his personal use, which is not permitted.

They also illustrate the plan of the (angry) past grand jury to jointly present their evidence to the new grand jury when it is seated in February.  You can read that article HERE.  And stock up on popcorn.  This will be interesting to watch.

ONE OF THE GALLOPING ADVANCES IN COMPUTER TECHNOLOGY these days is the “Mini-PC.”

These tiny computer-like devices are purely for internet usage, but are ideal for the traveler who merely needs to keep in touch and do some light computing along the way.

This Popular Mechanics image shows
the EEE sitting on a regular laptop

So far, the best-performer in this new market is the Asus EEE PC.  Popular Mechanics‘ columnist Glenn Reynolds has given it a test drive and has a lot of good things to say about it.

The little machine has a 7″ screen, but reportedly they are developing models with a 10″ screen.  What keeps both the size and the price small is the absence of a hard drive.  It has a 4 GB flash drive installed which is more than adequate for most uses.  It comes pre-loaded with a word processor and a photo imaging tool, as well as a WiFi card.

And the price?  Only $399.

Read the full review HERE.

A 15,000-sq. ft. HOME NEAR VALPARAISO, INDIANA, BURNED yesterday morning leaving a total loss of $2 million.

NWI Times photo

The home was located off the highway a distance creating an immediate water supply problem, but was further complicated by sub-zero temperatures and 40-mph winds which destroyed the hose streams.

When the Union Township FD arrived the house was fully charged with smoke.  The 14-room home was a total loss.  Investigators will have to wait several days for the ice to melt before they can find the cause.

The Merrillville Post-Tribvne has the STORY.

BACK ON JANUARY 19, THE HENN FAMILY of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, were alerted to a fire in their kitchen during the night by their dog, Tynnee.

At the time that they became aware of the problem, the fire was on the verge of expanding into the rest of the house just as they were evacuating.

Tanya Henn was so relieved and felt so fortunate that they all escaped safely that three days later she bought a Lottery ticket.  Last week her numbers came up and they collected their winnings to the tune of $75,000.

The Vancouver Sun tells the full STORY.

A MID-DAY FIRE AT A MAINTENANCE GARAGE consumed three ambulances and destroyed the building yesterday in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Ch. 6 image

The garage is owned by the Health and Hospital Corp. of Marion County and is the maintenance facility for Wishard Memorial Hospital’s ambulance service.

Workers in the building were able to remove three ambulances safely as the fire was getting underway.  An additional complication was at a neighboring school where a large amount of smoke got into the school’s ventilation system and sickened about 30 of the 350 students.

The outside temperature at the time of the fire was 14º F. and along with a stiff wind the efforts of 100 firefighters were required.  An eventual roof collapse trapped a lot of burning debris underneath and the FD was kept on the scene for several hours as heavy equipment was brought in to remove the roof sections to expose the fire remnants.

The Indianapolis Star has the STORY.
Channel 6 has a good VIDEO.

While we’re on the subject of stolen ambulances, let me add one more point.  There is way, way too much laxity when it comes to deterring terrorist activities.  Over the past several years our government has done such a remarkable job of exposing and terminating terrorist plots inside the country that people have become complacent and even forgetful about what is going on.

Practically all fire and rescue services, large and small, have been applying for Home Security grants to be able to upgrade their equipment and readiness to respond to terrorist acts.  But we also have to be pro-active in taking measures to eliminate the barbarians’ opportunities to launch an action.  And part of these actions include disabling the first-responders prior to committing an event.  More and more, as time goes by, we are seeing firehouses being left vulnerable by having the doors open, or unlocked.  Trucks left unattended on the front ramp, etc.

And of course, leaving ambulances unsecured.  If you stop and think about it, you’ll recall that one of the barbarians’ favorite ploys is to use an ambulance as a conveyance for bombs and/or other bad stuff including more people.  If an ambulance is cruising along with lights and siren, they are casually admitted to otherwise secured areas.  And that is why they are chosen.

If that sounds too much like an adventure film for you, then you haven’t been paying attention.  Does your department get those FBI updates on suspicious activities that are actually taking place?  If so, does that information get passed on down to the station level where the awareness is most needed?  They are constantly getting reports of suspicious people approaching crews at hospitals with questions about their equipment, routines and such that a normal person would not be asking.

They are probing, looking for weak spots and trying to establish routines that can be emulated or taken advantage of.  And they are here.  These are creatures that are dedicated to causing carnage and destruction, even at the expense of their own miserable lives.  And they are salted around in every county in the country.  While you’re busy trying to grab one of those Homeland Security grants, it behooves all of us to also practice homeland security.

Now let’s get the equipment checked out.  I’ll go unlock the coffee.

I THINK THIS GUY IS SERIOUS:

A newly-designed portable fire extinguisher has been introduced by somebody who was most definitely thinking “outside the box.”

The “extinguisher” is really just a container the holds a bunch of little balls made out of a special material that fails rapidly when heated.  The balls contain a powder extinguishing agent.  Soooo….. you take the balls and throw them into the fire, which causes them to “explode” and the powder puts the fire out, you see?

And if the fire is putting out so much toxic gas that you can’t breathe, then you pull off one of the little oxygen canisters and suck on it while you’re tossing your fireproof balls into the flames.

Or something like that.  You can read about this new technology HERE.

AT A COZY PUB IN CORNWALL, ENGLAND, a happy bunch of boozers talked one of their buddies into getting branded.  So they heated a poker in the pub’s fireplace and did the deed…. right on his butt.

Fortunately for society at large, they video recorded the less-than-septic procedure and turned it over to that sterling tabloid The Sun.

You can read all about it (if you really want to) and view the 60-second video HERE.  Oh, he refused transport.

THE CHUBB INSURANCE CO.’s Loss Control University is now open for public attendance.

Thomas W. LaCorte, Asst. Vice President, writes to us from his office in Warren, New Jersey:

The training center is operated by Chubb Insurance Company, a large property insurance carrier in the USA. We recently opened our facility to the general public and offer seven 1 and 2 day seminars on various fire protection topics from sprinkler systems to fire pumps. Our training is “hands-on” with a mix of classroom and live demos from fire pump tests to setting dry pipe valves. In 2007 we had over 800 firefighters, fire inspectors, sprinkler contractors, and building owners attend our seminars. We have been training NJ Fire Marshals since 1988 at our facility.

Our equipment is operational and includes, a diesel and electric fire pump, 3 dry pipe valves, single, double and on/off preaction valves as well a deluge valve. We also have an area where we can demonstrate the various valves with a live fire. It is one of the few working fire protection training facilities in the USA.

You can read more about the training facility at their website HERE and can request a schedule of their upcoming classes.  Warren, New Jersey, is about a 30-minute drive from the Newark airport.

*  If you haven’t been checking STATter911 lately, you’ve been missing some great vintage videos.  Yesterday was a tour of the Chicago Fire Academy in the 1960’s and today’s is a news clip from 1944 covering a humungous series of explosions that leveled a square mile of Cleveland.  Watch it HERE.

*  FireRescue1 has an article covering the recent memorial service for the four FF’s in Warwickshire who died at the food processing plant fire HERE.

* SConFire has a stack of new incidents including a major apartment fire in Greenville, S.C. HERE.

*  Rhett is back from his trip to the Southland and has plenty of new postings on VAFireNews HERE.  See what you think of his new web layout.

*  Housewatch has found a new arcade game that belongs in YOUR family room.  He doesn’t give the ordering address, but maybe it’s because he’s looking for a commission HERE.