THE BAY CITY (MICHIGAN) COMMISSIONERS BEGAN DECIMATING the town’s fire department Monday night as a means to balance their annual budget.

The Bay City Fire Department operates 4 engines and 1 ladder out of four stations with a minimum staffing of 14 on duty.  If this proposed budget is approved next month they will eliminate the ladder company, reduce minimum staffing to 12 and eliminate 3 firefighters.

They also approved a measure to explore converting most of the FD to a paid-on-call force.  While keeping a greatly reduced number of career firefighters, the commissioners think that the firefighting standards and quality could be maintained with a volunteer paid-on-call contingent.

The Bay City Times has the STORY.
Bay City Fire Dept. WEBSITE.

WNEM-TV has a video report:

Chief Billy Goldfeder has passed along the following:

The IAFC Safety, Health and Survival Section along with FFCC has been asked to assist NIOSH in researching of any factual details related to catastrophic malfunctions or failures of aerial ladder waterways, within the past 30 years. If you have any case specific details and contact information, please advise.

Just send along your contact information to us and we will pass it along just as soon as we find out the right address.  The two key points to note are “waterways” and “past 30 years.”

Thanks,
Firegeezer

 Updated, 12:45 pm:

A MASSIVE FIRE AT A PHILADELPHIA CHURCH that started shortly before 8 am Eastern quickly consumed the large building and has spread to neighboring homes.

Philadelphia Inquirer photo

The Prince of Peace Baptist Church is a missionary church.  The four-story structure which was built in 1905 was originally the William Stokely Elementary School and the interior was all wood frame and paneling, leading to a rapid fire growth.  The first-due fire company was on the scene in four minutes and the building was already fully involved.

Deputy Fire Commissioner Ernest Hargett said, “It was like having a lumber yard inside there.”

Ch. 29 images

Unusually high winds carried flaming embers throughout the neighborhood and set fires to five of the nearby homes.  The FD went door-to-door telling people to evacuate to a safer distance for a while.

The church fire was first reported shortly before 8 a.m. and had gone to five alarms by 8:39.  The sixth alarm was struck at 9:06 to bring more manpower on the scene for the exposure fires and evacuations. 

Shortly after the fire was deemed “under control” at 9:45, the rear wall of the building collapsed.

Ch. 3 has early video coverage HERE.
Ch. 29 has four videos posted HERE.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has the latest REPORT.

Ch. 29

 Updated.

THE WORLD-FAMOUS INTERSECTION OF HOLLYWOOD AND VINE is the scene this morning of a major fire that began just before 6 am Pacific time at the Basque Nightclub, an unoccupied restaurant/bar that was undergoing renovation.

AP / Steinberg photo

The one-story building is only a few paces away from the noted Pantages Theater and is surrounded by Hollywood landmarks.  The fire quickly went into a master-stream operation and was contained in two hours.  Four other businesses adjoining the building were damaged.

LDH anyone? (L. A. Times photo)

Built more than 80 years ago, the building has housed many different occupancies over its lifetime, including the famous Brown Derby restaurant, a Howard Johnson’s restauant and a music studio.  The famous Capitol Records “stack of discs” building is nearby.

AP / Nick photo

LAist has a timeline of the fire and map HERE.

L. A. Times photo

STAGING MOCK AUTO WRECKS ALONG WITH EXTRICATION AND PROP CARNAGE for high schools has been carried out for many years now.  Usually they are set up in front of the school to catch the students unawares as they are arriving for class that day.

The graphic depiction of the wreck and cosmetic injuries usually leaves an impression with them.

But when the Ridgefield, Connecticut, Fire Department held a similar drill last Wednesday, they left an impression that they hadn’t counted on.  Their faux crash scene included shutting down one of the town’s main streets for 2½ hours during the morning commuter rush.

“It’s tying up traffic. Some of us can’t get to work,” said a caller to the local newspaper about 9 that morning. “I’m still trying to get to work! I was supposed to be there at 8:30.”

Don’t do it at rush hour,” said another. “Don’t do it when people are trying to get to work!”

School and town emergency services officials admitted that the traffic back-up was worse than what they’d envisioned during planning sessions.

The Ridgefield Press has the complete STORY.
Ridgefield Fire Department WEBPAGE.

 

RENO, NEVADA, FIREFIGHTERS ARE BATTLING A FAST-GROWING BRUSH FIRE that has already consumed more than 1,200 acres.  The problem has been magnified by extremely high winds that were blamed as the cause of the fire.

It is believed that the persistent, high wind that was blowing yesterday brought down a power line which ignited the brush fire.  The winds have been clocked at a sustained 40 mph with gusts up to 68 mph.

The fire has threatened several houses and a school building.  Early this morning the 350 firefighters on the scene had a 50% containment on the fire.  Five firefighters have been transported and about a dozen more were treated on the scene for eye injuries caused by the high winds blowing dirt and cinders in their eyes.  “The crews are having a hard time holding onto even their gear. Their hard hats are blowing around. Sage brush is blowing into them. It’s pretty intense up there,” Forest Service spokesman Franklin Pemberton said. 

Nevada Appeal/Cathleen Allison photo

The Associated Press is reporting that the fire started at about 2 p.m. and burned up to U.S. Highway 395, forcing a five-mile stretch of the road to be closed for nearly two hours during rush hour. It was reopened about 5:30 p.m. as a shift in the wind started to push the flames more to the east, away from the highway and populated areas.

As many as 10 area fire agencies were assisting, but local volunteer fire stations were taken off alert shortly after 7:30 p.m. as the threat to homes subsided.

Earlier in the day, thick smoke blanketed the valley and could be seen 30 miles away. The high winds grounded aerial firefighting equipment but authorities were hopeful of getting some planes in the air Wednesday morning.  The Weather Service is forecasting lighter winds today at around 15 mph.

The Carson City Nevada Appeal has MORE.

WHEN THE PRESIDENT OF POLAND TOOK A VACATION two years ago, the government demanded around-the-clock ambulance standby while he was unwinding and frolicking.  But the local hospital doesn’t think much of getting stuck with the tab.  The Warsaw Business Journal is reporting:

The Interior Ministry hospital in Gdańsk is demanding payment from President Lech Kaczyński for medical care during his holiday in Jurata. The hospital authorities decided to take the case to court, which is to rule whether the president must pay for the ambulance and doctors which were dedicated for his use during his entire stay.

The unprecedented case concerns 71 days of ambulance use in 2006. Representatives of the hospital have valued this service at zł.214,000.

Wow…..here it is the end of the month already.  That was a quick one.  But personally, I’m ready for some good May weather for a change.

If you’ve still got some of those end-of-the-month bills to pay, then you’d better get crackin’.  Can’t put it off any longer.  One of the best things the computer age has brought us is this direct-payment scheme that most utilities and other services have now.  When the electric company sends you a bill, they automatically collect the payment from your checking account.  That sure takes a lot of the last-minute grief and pressure away, not to mention the late payment fees.

That program wouldn’t have worked 30 years ago.  Back then nobody who worked for a fire department had enough money in their checking account to let someone else dip into it like that.  And I simply love the direct deposit feature.  No waiting for the broken post office to get around to delivering the pay check three days late.  It’s just zapped directly into the account.

One thing that I will not do however, is the online banking bit.  I just don’t like having my account vulnerable to hackers and the glitches that seem to keep popping up.  I’m doing just fine the way it is.  With the direct deposit and the ATM machine for the occasional cash withdrawal, I literally never need to physically go to the bank anymore.

Ah, the ATM machine.  That is really neat, now.  You just punch a couple of buttons and then stand there facing the wall for a few moments.  Then somebody shoves some money through the slot to you and you’re on your way.  My credit union doesn’t charge a fee for ATM withdrawals and one of our local gas station chains has no-fee machines, so it’s all free.  I love it.

We’d better get this equipment checked out now.  I’ll go start the coffee.  How much will the cost of living raise be this year?

A VALLEJO, CALIFORNIA, FIRE CAPTAIN NARROWLY ESCAPED DEATH MONDAY AFTERNOON when the driver of a car that was involved in an accident tried to run her down while he attempted to leave.

It began around 4:12 pm Pacific time when a Vallejo FD company was dispatched to an auto accident.  After the engine and medic unit arrived on the scene, the driver of one of the cars said that he had had a seizure.  But he didn’t exhibit any of the symptoms of just having had one, so the paramedics attempted to evaluate him.  Suddenly, he decided to leave before the police got there and attempted to drive away.

While maneuvering his car back and forth, the opened passenger door knocked down Capt. Ann Cavanaugh.  While she was laying semi-conscious on the pavement, he reversed direction and would have run her over, probably fatally, if one of the FF’s hadn’t alertly dragged her out of the way.

“His focus was on getting away,” she said. “He rammed several other cars, including the ambulance, in his attempts to flee.” 

The 31-year-old man who hit Cavanaugh with his Ford Bronco was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a fire department employee and assault with a deadly weapon. He remained in custody Tuesday afternoon and is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday.

The Vallejo Times-Herald has the complete STORY.

*  One of the biggest news stories on the East coast is the triple-tornadoes that set down in the unlikely location of SE Virginia last night.  Fire and Rescue units were kept busy and STATter911 has the best collection of articles, videos and links that cover it all HERE.

*  FireRescue1 has a guest column written by an English fire officer who talks about the differences in U.S. vs UK fire attack.  They’re both quite different, and yet they both work just as well.  Surprised?  Read about it HERE.

*  VAFireNews has some more on the tornado damage along with a new batch of “hot” shots HERE.

*  Wildfire Today is the place to go to keep up with the outbreak of brush fire season out west.  And while you’re there, scroll on down to read the article called “Rocket War In Greece.”  It’s about some traditional celebration where parishoners of two churches shoot 50,000 homemade rockets at each other.  Honest.  It’s HERE.