A COMBINATION OF DRY BRUSH, LOW HUMIDITY and 50-mph winds send dozens of grass fires roaring through SE New Mexico and western Texas yesterday.

At Hobbs, New Mexico, a grass fire raced through the community leading to the evacuation of about 100 people.  The fire consumed 52,000 acres before being contained last evening.  Crews are still on the scene today getting the hot spots.  Associated Press story HERE.

In western Texas there have been dozens of fires over the past three days, but the largest  of them all is still burning this morning.  Covering three counties, it has burned 500,000 acres and is still out of control. 

Three firefighters were injured in Archer County when two fire trucks collided head on after one swerved around a car that pulled out into the road. One of the firefighters was airlifted to an area hospital, an Archer County dispatcher said. He survived but his condition was unknown.   Texas grass fires story HERE.

Odessa, Texas, firefighters work a range fire Monday that burned more than 7,000 acres and threatened homes that were briefly evacuated in the South Ranchito area south of Odessa. (AP photo)

Our posting the other day (HERE) on the empressment of the concrete pumper as an additional aerial stream generated a lot of interest as well as compliments for its innovativeness.

Jeff Harkey, publisher of FireNews.net that carried the story received several requests for more information.  He got an email from one of the local chiefs in the county and sent it on to us and we’d like to share it with you:

This truck is operated by a Wallace fireman and they have adapted it to be used as an aerial device if needed. We used it in Warsaw at a commercial structure fire downtown in 1997, at Carrolls Mill twice in the past few years and has been available if needed. It is set to recieve several 3″ lines or 5″ and has a discharge on the end if you need to hook a smaller wye on it. The time I remember using it was on Carrolls Mill, we had a 2.5″ x 2.5″x2.5″ wye hooked to it. It is very useful being there is no aerial device in Duplin County. Recently 2 departments around in border counties have obtained such aerial devices.

Sincerely
Lee Kennedy
Assistant Chief
Faison Fire & Rescue

Jeff tells us that he will be trying to get some more photos of the rig and its adapters.  We’ll keep you in touch.

FossilMedic points out solutions:

MEMPHIS RESPONSE TO FREQUENT FLYERS:
HOW ONE PARAMEDIC STOPPED 3000 EMS CALLS

The Memphis Fire Department’s 2007 strategic plan included “Reduce call volume from 16 of top 25 addresses.” At the tenth annual Gathering of Eagles [ http://www.gatheringofeagles.us/ ] Doctor Joseph Holey shared information about the initial results of the 911 Alternatives program. A lieutenant paramedic/firefighter was assigned as the coordinator of the program.

FRAGMENTED SUPPORT SYSTEM

Looking at the top five individuals that called for an ambulance, two factors became clear:

Super-users are in an emergency department every day.

Hospital case workers can only address the issues from their facility.

The 911 Alternatives program coordinator functions as the focal point on matching the patient’s needs and the community resources. Regardless of the destination hospital, all of the transports were made by a fire department ambulance.

The coordinator works to get the super-users a primary care physician, social services or whatever was generating the inappropriate 911 calls for an ambulance.

MAKING THE CONNECTIONS

Lack of transportation is a significant issue with super-users. The 911 Alternative coordinator takes super-users to doctor appointments and clinics. While this moves far from the traditional role of a paramedic/firefighter, Dr. Holly points out “it is cheaper sending a paramedic in a crown vic versus two medics in a truck.”

FIRST YEAR RESULTS

Four of the top five Memphis frequent flyers significantly reduced the number of times they called 911 for an ambulance, representing 3000 fewer calls in a system that handles 91,000 responses a year. The eliminated calls represent 3% of the “alpha” calls handled by MFD. Alpha calls represent the lowest level of urgency when processing requests for medical service.

WHAT OTHER CITIES ARE DOING

Richmond (VA): Started a Nurse triage system after two years of shadowing EMS operations. Estimate up to 14% of the Richmond EMS 9-1-1 calls do not need an ambulance. Like Memphis, transportation is an issue. While Richmond Ambulance Association is contracting out for a service to provide transportation to and from a medical facility, they may bring that in-house. Cost: $354 paramedic ambulance vs. $56 for nurse triage and transportation

Tuscon (AZ): Alpha truck. Two firefighter/emt’s in AED equipped non-transport vehicle proceed non-emergency to incidents that fall into the Medial Priority Dispatch System as Alpha (no symptoms) calls. Alpha truck stays until issue is resolved (about 45 minutes per incident.) First unit handled 3000 calls in pilot that just covered the busiest fire station district. Plan to have four Alpha trucks handle 9000 calls a year.

Atlanta (GA): Grady Hospital provides the 9-1-1 ambulance transportation for the city. 27% (24,000) of the 9-1-1 calls are classified as alpha calls, with 9,000 as Alpha 26-1 [no apparent problem/symptom]. Obtained state grant to improve the 211 system and cover the cost of non-urgent transportation to and from a medical facility for alpha patients.

Washington DC: DCFEMS is establishing six community service units, one in each battalion. Staffed by a sergeant and a firefighter, these units will perform both fire and ems tasks.

I know, I’m just preaching to the choir ……. but what do you think we should do?  Take a look at this picture taken yesterday in Maryland:

These are fairly new homes and you can see that the firewalls definitely did their job.  Now take a look at this picture taken last June:

Fairly new homes here, too.  But the supposed firewalls did not extend through to the roof.  When we posted coverage on this fire here, we got either a comment or an email, I can’t remember which, from somebody who lived in one of the devastated units insisting that we were wrong and that there were firewalls in his house.

 Sure, they began life as a firewall between the homes, but they never grew up.  This was a case of the poor citizen not knowing (a) what a firewall really is, and (b) that he didn’t have one.  No doubt the sales agent assured him that he had firewalls.

You see where I’m going here?  It all gets back to Public Education.  It goes so many different ways.  And it has to start with the hapless citizen who is continually led astray by the political bodies that are always preaching goodness and rainbows.

The home-builders groups, not satisfied with getting zoning that permits them to pack a dozen homes onto an acre, get the building code relaxed so that they can space firewalls out to encompass four homes instead of one.  That way they can save a few hundred $’s per unit on costs.  And the ordinary citizen has no clue.

We are regressing, folks.  As long as the politicians keep taking the builders’ campaign donations with one hand and sign off on relaxed codes with the other, we’ll continue the march to what FossilMedic called the Suburban Slums.  And within a generation our suburbs will be looking just like the cities did in the last century:

We’d better get the equipment checked now.  I’ll get the coffee pot going.

*  “Response Time” is in the news, big time, in Dallas.  By now you’ve heard about the sad story of the motorcycle policeman who crashed and died during escort detail for the Clinton campaign.  Dave Statter at STATter911 is onto the story behind the story…… dispatch screwed up somehow and there was a 5-minute delay before they sent medics on the call.  Read his posting HERE.  I expect we haven’t heard the last of this one.

*  Housewatch has initiated a good discussion on the differences between 2½” and 1¾” hose on commercial fires.  It’s worth your time to read through it HERE.

*  FirefighterSpot has a good batch of recent postings, including a couple of fire engine rollovers, a gripping water rescue, and one more Close-Call video for his large library HERE.

*  FireRescue1 has a good article on the growing trend of volunteer fire departments hiring part-time FF’s to fill in staffing gaps.  And these part-timers are usually paid FF’s with another department.  Read the full STORY.

Back in the 1970’s somebody decided to find out just how long a light bulb would last and who had the longest-burning bulb. Earlier lights were made to last, not burn out after a few hundred hours as they do now.

photo by Dick Jones

The search was made and the top ten longest-burning bulbs - still in use - were compiled and verified by the Guinness Book of Records. The top three lamps were (and still are):

1. Firehouse night light at the Livermore, California, Fire Department - burning since June 8, 1901.

2. Stage door entry light at Byers Opera House, Ft. Worth, Texas - burning since Sept. 21, 1908.

3. Firehouse night light at the Mangum, Oklahoma Fire Department - burning since 1927.

Now these aren’t bulbs that are only turned on for special occasions. In order to be listed they have to be on ALL the time. Naturally, they have been off during power outages or while being relocated. But by and large, they have been burning constantly all those years.

Let’s check these ageless light bulbs now:

The Centennial Bulb
Livermore Fire Station 6

Chief Lynn Owens (Ret.)

This undisputed champion has resided in four different firehouses in Livermore, California. The first home was Hose Cart Station No. 1 on L St. in 1901. As the city grew and newer fire stations were constructed, it was always carefully transferred to its new quarters. The last relocation was in 1976 when it was moved to the newly-built Station 6 on East Avenue.

The light bulb was made by the Shelby Electric Co. in Ohio. It is a hand-blown bulb with a carbon filament made following a newly-patented design and consumes about 4 watts of power. The president of the Livermore Power & Light Co. donated the bulb to the fire department.

It has always been hooked up with a direct connection to the electric service and never into a circuit connected with the back-up generator to avoid a destructive power surge when the generator comes on. During its lifetime it has always been used as a night light in the engine bay.

With the help and generosity of the nearby Sandia Laboratories, they now have a permanently operating “Bulb Cam” that is trained on the lightbulb and in constant view over the internet. It refreshes the image every 10 seconds. The firefighters encourage visitors to use their cellphones to call a friend back home to log on and screen-capture the image with their friends in the picture.

On the bulb’s 100th Anniversary in 2001 it was officially dubbed the “Centennial Light.” There was a big celebration and festive events in the town for the occasion.

A special committee dedicated to the protection and well-being of the Centennial Bulb has a wonderful website that is worth taking your time to visit. They have loads of links and photographs covering all historical aspects of this oddity.

Visit the website HERE.
View the Bulb Cam HERE.

Byers Opera House - 1908

In September, 1908, a stagehand at Byer’s Opera House screwed a new lightbulb into the fixture over the backstage entrance and it just never went out. Number 2 on the lightbulb longevity list, this “eternal light” was renamed in 1920 when the theater became a movie house called The Palace Theater. When the theater was torn down in 1977, the bulb was placed in a special exhibit in the Stockyards Museum where it continues its 24-hr. daily illumination. They will be celebrating its 100th birthday later this year.

At one point during that time, the firefighters painted the globe black so that it wouldn’t be so disturbing during sleep time. But the heat of the bulb eventually caused most of the paint to dry up and flake off. Now they take a lot better care of it. They also keep it covered with a smoked safety shade to both protect it and mute the brightness.

After a bad storm in 1994 the town was without electricity for a week. But when the power came back on, The Bulb glowed right back into service.

Fire Chief Steven Slaton says, “If you think about it, the state of Oklahoma was 30 years old when that light bulb was screwed in. It’s kind of a little treasure we have, and we’d love to share it with the world whatever who wants to come by and look.”

They are genuinely enthusiastic about welcoming visitors to see #3. Even if it’s late at night, just ring the doorbell and someone will gladly let you in.

Recently Oklahoma City tv ch. 9, KWTV did a wonderful video report on The Bulb and you can view it HERE.

A hat tip and special thanks to Emily C. for getting us the Mangum bulb story.

LAST NIGHT IN PALERMO, ITALY, POLICE ROUNDED UP AND ARRESTED 13 members of a drug organization that was using ambulances to deliver the goods.

After a 2-year investigaion, the National Financial Police uncovered a cocaine smuggling ring that was operating through funeral homes as a cover for their activity.

While the movement was primarily cocaine, they also were trafficking in hashish and marijuana.  They would patrol the night club areas around hospitals and as an order would come in they would take the drugs in the ambulance directly to the customer.  Still one more use for the “drug box.”

IGN (ItalyGlobalNation) has the story HERE.

AccessDurango / Sue Kuhn

 “I was the fire fighter that had to be dug out of the debris, this is my story.

I was off the day of the fire, but there was a callback for off duty personnel so I went. I was standing right in front of Les Rendezvous when it exploded….”

And so begins the narrative of Firefighter Tony Jakino, Durango Fire Department.  Tony never lost consciousness and he tells a gripping story of the experience of being suddenly buried under a brick wall, the surprise, the pains, his thoughts.

His story is told in full on the AccessDurango website HERE.

AccessDurango is one of those lovely community websites that are provided by and for the residents to keep up with what’s going on.  Naturally, Friday’s major downtown blaze is the focus of attention in the town now.

Along with the first-person stories such as Tony’s, they are publishing a lot of the citizens’ candid photographs  of the fire and what’s going on in the days directly after.

Mary Middlebrook of AccessDurango, who sent us the links, tells us that they will be adding more articles and photos as they come in.  So be sure to check back with them every now and then HERE.

Original Firegeezer posting from Saturday with video HERE.

AN EXTENSIVE TESTING OF VENTILATION PRACTICES IN HIGH-RISE BUILDINGS is being conducted this week in New York City.

All photos courtesy New York Times / Nicole Bengiveno

With observers from several major cities that have large numbers of extremely tall high-rise buildings, the FDNY is performing a series of test fires and recording the conditions and results from various postive-pressure methods of ventilation.

The test building is a seven-story structure on Governor’s Island that has been unused since the U. S. Coast Guard vacated the island.  The entire island and all of its buildings were ceded from the Federal government over to NYC a few years ago and this building has been provided for the testing.

The tests, which began Saturday, are being paid for with a $1 million federal grant to Polytechnic University of Brooklyn, which will create computer models and study the data compiled in the week of fire demonstrations.  By Friday the building will be pretty well burned out and this phase of the testing will be complete.

The rooms were wired with sensors that recorded the slightest changes in conditions as the fire burned. Six floors below, technicians with laptop computers recorded temperature and pressure changes when the heat punctured windows.

Over the years, FDNY has noticed that one of their biggest enemies in the high-rise fires has been the onrush of air through broken windows, usually accellerated by winds that are present at the higher levels.  This windforce has driven the fire back over the FF’s working inside and has been a direct cause of several fire deaths to both FF’s and residents.

During yesterday’s testing a single 27-inch gasoline-powered fan placed at the base of a seven-story stairwell kept the stairwell free of smoke and at temperatures of about 50 degrees, even when its door was opened to a seventh-floor corridor that was heated by fire to 1,700 degrees.

Today’s New York Times has good coverage of the testing project HERE.

Steve Kerber, with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, watched the monitors and helped direct the various experiments. 

Because of my occasional postings of the latest digital technology gadgets, some people assume that I’ve got all the latest toys at home.  But that really isn’t the case at all.

On the contrary, I’m usually one of the last to buy and put to use these rapidly-developing technologies.  That’s generally because of two reasons.  For one thing, I tend to wait and see how it all “shakes out” before I plunge into something new like that.  The early editions always have some drawbacks or glitches that aren’t caught until the end users put them through their paces on the street.  Because of that, within a few weeks the updated and better performing toys are available, usually at a lower price, too.

Secondly, I don’t buy something just because it’s “neat.”  I’ll wait until there’s a genuine use or need for it.  And when you get right down to it, there aren’t very many things that I actually need.

Take the Blackberry, for instance.  I’ve got a pretty good idea what they are and, roughly, how they are used.  An awful lot of people have them.  But if you put one in my hand I wouldn’t know how to begin operating it.  The only thing I know about it is that you hold it with the little screen at the top.  But they are marvelous and serve their function excellently.

I kind of wish that I had some use for the Blackberry just so that I could play with it.  But because of the cost involved in buying one and the monthly fee to have it connected,  I’ll just have to wait until I become a fireblogging mogul who must keep in constant contact with “the office.”

Meanwhile, my fascination with digital devices continues and I’ll keep showing you the toys that catch my attention.

* * * * *

If you’ve already read yesterday’s posting about the Beer-Belly Baseball cheerleaders, you might want to scroll  back down there and view the disgusting photos that I’ve just added to it.  Then again, you might not.  This will  be the last time that I mention them.  Unless they introduce self-immolation into their routine.  Yack!

Ok, let’s get the equipment checked out.  I’ve got to start the coffee.

THE JOSEPH M. STILL BURN CENTER IN AUGUSTA, GEORGIA, announced today that another burn victim from the Imperial Sugar refinery blast died on Saturday evening.

The identity of the victim has not been released.  The hospital also reaffirmed that they have 14 patients remaing in their care.  12 are listed in critical condition and 2 are in serious condition.

This raises the death toll to 11 victims.

Joseph M. Still Burn Center
Augusta, Georgia

Initial Firegeezer report from Feb. 7 HERE.
Earlier follow-ups HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

 Updated, pictures added.  Scroll down.

THE FLORIDA MARLINS NATIONAL LEAGUE BASEBALL TEAM is looking for a few fatso’s to round out their all-male heavyweight cheerleader squad.

Tryouts are being held this afternoon for this new squad to be known as The Manatees.  According to a team flyer, the Marlins are looking for ”big bellies with the biggest jiggle, big feet with the best dance moves and enthusiasm that will rock Marlins fans out of their seats.”   But that shouldn’t take too much work because the Miami team always has the smallest attendance numbers in the league.

The team hopes to recruit seven to 10 tubby men to dance, cheer and jiggle during Friday and Saturday home games this season. But they won’t be finding any fat paychecks for their work.  Their only compensation will be two tickets for the games that they appear in and the adulation of the fans who bring a wide-angle lens with their cameras.

The manatee, you will recall, is that ponderous sea mammal known as the “Sea Cow.”  But the Marlins want their Manatees to be a little more agile.  They’ll be judged today on how well they can dance and perform a choreographed routine.

And if Firegeezer has the courage to look, we’ll bring you the results tomorrow.  (Just what is this world coming to?)

Update, Monday morning:

The results are in and the squad has been selected.  Here are some “action” shots provided by the Florida Marlins baseball team.

Marlins fan and Manatee hopeful, Brian Seik, shows off his dance moves during an audition for the Manatees, an all-male, plus-size cheerleading squad, on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2008 in Miami. (Florida Marlins/Robert Vignon photos)

Manatees choreographer Vanessa Martinez-Huff, back, directs auditions for the Manatees.

The fifteen winners pose for a team photo
after their auditions.