EARLY SATURDAY MORNING A TRAGIC FIRE IN WEXFORD, IRELAND, left a family of four dead.

R.T.E.

Dermot and Lorraine Flood, ages 41 and 38, and their two children Mark, 6, and Julie, 5, were discovered by firefighters when they arrived at the house fire around 5 am.

Preliminary investigation disclosed that the two adults had other injuries not related to the fire.   The police ruled the deaths as “suspicious.”

Julie and Mark Flood from a family photo

On Sunday, while the post mortems were still being carried out, the police said that the father had killed his wife and then set the house on fire.  The children died as a result of the fire.  But husband and wife had “massive” injuries, presumably from shotgun wounds.

BBC News has the latest account HERE.
The Irish Times has MORE.

THE MOROCCO MATTRESS FACTORY FIRE IN CASABLANCA (Firegeezer story HERE) yesterday has brought about the arrests of the company’s owner and his son who was the plant manager.

AP photo

The death toll has been confirmed at 55 so far with 17 injuries.  The fire was caused by an malfunctioning electric saw on the ground floor where foam rubber, wood and glue were stored.

It has been determined that the factory officials had:

• locked all the exits to prevent employee theft, thus preventing escape from the fire.
• placed heavy wire mesh guards over all the windows.
• left all fire extinguishers empty.
• failed to maintain equipment, notably the saw, used in the business.

In some cases, men used compressed gas bottles to break the wire barriers away from the windows and leap to safety.  But most of the women were afraid to jump from the upper floors and perished.  35 of the 55 deaths were women.

AP

Firefighters had to breach the walls in order to gain entry to the building because of the barricaded doors.

“The plant’s owner, Adil Moufarreh, and his son Abdelali Moufarreh, who was the manager, have been taken into custody after having been questioned by police,” said a security official. “We confirmed during our examination that the owners of the premises failed to respect legal requirements for this kind of industry including staff training,” he said.

The Associated Press reports:

Firefighters said many victims were trapped in the spiral stairwell of the building. A 29-year-old worker who managed to escape said many deaths occurred on the third floor, where women sewed.

“We ran to the door. It was blocked, to the elevator, it was blocked. Then, oops, the lights went out,” the woman, Rachida Darif, told The Associated Press.

She saved herself by crawling through a space to the roof, then jumping down from a neighboring building that was under construction. She used a construction cord to lower herself part way, she said.

 
AP

The latest report is from Agence France Presse HERE.

Click to play video report:

WITH MOTHER’S DAY RAPIDLY APPROACHING, it’s time to start thinking about getting Mom (or your wife) that perfect gift that she will embrace and always think of you whenever she uses it.

And nothing encompasses that better than:

LawnBott

The robotic lawnmower that cuts your grass automatically without fuss or muss.  She’ll love you for it!

The LawnBott is electrically powered by it’s rechargable battery and only uses $7 to $10 a year in electricity.  No longer will Mom have to stop by the gas station and fill up her gallon can of high-priced gasoline.  She’ll love you for it!

LawnBott mulches the grass as it cuts it, thus fertilizing the lawn at the same time.  Mom doesn’t have to go back out and spread those unfriendly fertilizers any more. She’ll love you for it!

The LawnBott is completely quiet so it won’t disturb your sleep or your neighbors.  Mom will be able to hear the tv just fine while LawnBott goes to work, following its programmed schedule.  She’ll love you for it!

The LawnBott will come out of its docking station whenever you want it to, or you can set a certain scheduled time with the programmer, then it will cut the entire yard, up to 33,000 sq. ft. on a single charge, and then return to it’s docking station and replenish its batteries for the next assignment.

And one of the best features is the rain-guard.  LawnBott will continue to cut if a light drizzle starts falling, but if the rain picks up and becomes harder, then the ‘bot will stop mowing and scamper back to its docking station.  Mom won’t have to run out in the rain to put it away.  She’ll love you for it!

The most practical model to get is the LB3200 which includes the rain sensors and the lithium battery pack.  It retails for only $2,749.00.  Certainly not too much to spend for Mom or dear Wifey.  She’ll love you for it!

Learn more about LawnBott HERE.
To find the dealer closest to you, click HERE.

A LACKAWANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER was arrested Friday and charged with setting a series of fires that caused more than $3.5 million in losses.

The Lackawanna County District Attorney Andy Jarbola said in a news conference that Benjamin Christensen, 25, of 171 Belmont St., Carbondale, allegedly started the fires out of boredom and, sometimes, anger.  Oftentimes he would set a fire and then go back home and wait for his VFD to dispatch the call when he would put on his turnout gear and return to the scene to help fight the fire.

WNEP Ch.16 took this picture of Christensen
working crowd control at one of the major
fires that he has admitted setting.

Christensen was charged with 27 felony counts of arson and related offenses and is being held in the county jail in lieu of $500,000 bail.  If he is convicted he could be sentenced for life imprisonment.

A multi-county task force of police detectives along with state police and fire marshals worked the case for 14 months.

The Scranton Times-Tribune reports:

A major development came April 15, after Carbondale Police Detective Aaron Haley interviewed Mr. Christensen for an unrelated charge stemming from the alleged statutory rape of a 15-year-old girl. Police charged Mr. Christensen with unlawful contact with a minor, indecent assault and statutory sexual assault.

It was during this interview that Detective Haley and state troopers uncovered Mr. Christensen’s role in starting these fires, police said.

A state police affidavit says that Mr. Christensen talked about his involvement in the fires, leading the detective to obtain a videotaped verbal confession from Mr. Christensen.

 
This fire attributed to Christensen
destroyed seven businesses.

There are still some other open arson cases in the area and they are trying to determine if Christensen or an accomplice are connected with them.

The Times-Tribune has a complete description of the case and the fires connected with Christensen HERE.
 

The most amazing thing happened yesterday.  I’m referring to that large apartment building fire in Norwich, Connecticut.  If you haven’t read yesterday’s report on it yet, click HERE to check it out.

I call it “amazing” because nobody was killed or injured in the fire.  Now when you consider the time of day of the call - around 1:30 am, the number of residents - over 150, and the very rapid rate of fire spread, then you have a real head-shaker there.

One of the things that those people had going for them was what appears to be a top-notch fire department.  I watched the Fire Chief’s press conference shortly after noon and it is clear that he definitely has his act together.  Their immediate actions to keep the fire spread in check as much as they could while most of the resources went into rescue operations and the overall challenge of getting water to the fire looked exemplary from this viewpoint.

All large fires have an extensive post mortem session shortly afterwards where everything is recreated and discussed by the participants.  During these sessions it is usually the case to bring out any mistakes or shortcomings that occurred during the incident.  And there always are some, it can’t be avoided.  For both the good points and the minus ones, I’d like to be able to sit in on that one.  Wouldn’t you?

Hey, it’s Sunday…. no walk-thru’s or inspections today.  Let’s get the equipment checked out.  I’ll go make some more coffee.

For your weekend reading pleasure, dip into these websites for some good fire and rescue news:

*  STATter911 has the bizarre story of a Philadelphia fire lieutenant who is being disciplined because he saved a life instead of just watching HERE.

*  Firefighter Spot’s BestFirefighterVideo page has just posted an additional 50 videos in the Training section HERE.  (click over on the left-hand column.)

*  EMS1 has an unusual story about an Australian hospital that has been forced to shut down temporarily because of a spider invasion HERE.  (Yep, you read that right.)

*  Wildfire Today has a recent update and details on the single-engine air tanker that went down in Colorado last week killing the pilot.  Read it HERE.

A FIRE IN A MATTRESS FACTORY IN CASABLANCA, MOROCCO, Saturday morning has killed at least 55 employees and seriously injured 12 others.

AFP photo

MAP, the official news agency of Morocco, is reporting that the fire broke out around 10 am in the four-story building and spread rapidly because of certain chemical products stored and used in the factory.

More than 100 firefighters tried to gain an upper hand on the fire as flames spread through the Rosamor Ameublements factory in the Hay Hassani neighborhood of Morocco’s economic capital.

Around 100 of the factory’s 150 employees were on site when the fire broke out, the news agency reported.

A VIRGINIA BEACH, VIRGINIA, VOLUNTEER EMT was arrested Friday afternoon for breaking into the drug boxes in two fire stations and stealing morphine.

Early Friday morning at shift change the medic crews at both the Kempsville and First Landing fire stations discovered that their drug boxes had been broken into and some drugs were missing.

First Landing Fire Station, Va. Beach FD photo

Police detectives, after interviewing the FF’s and medics at the stations determined that Shaune Kelly Zenzel, 38,  was their prime suspect and arrested him at his home at 2 pm Friday.

Zenzel readily admitted that he committed the crime and says that his addiction to pain killers led him to it.  He has been a volunteer EMT for about 8 months.

Shaune Zenzel

WAVY Ch. 10 has published an interview with Zenzel where he explains what all happened HERE.

Virginia Beach Fire Dept. WEBSITE.
Virginia Beach F. D. Monster Fire Truck.

A RECENT CORONER’S INQUEST IN ENGLAND disclosed that a woman who died on March 30 of last year was the unfortunate victim of a case of “musical beds” in London.

Angela Borzoni, 69, was already in the Whittington Hospital in north London being treated for a bleeding spleen that had just been removed.  When her post-surgery condition suddenly deteriorated, the doctors decided that she needed to be moved into an Intesive Care bed.

All 13 of the ICU beds at Whittington were already occupied, so an ambulance was called to transfer her to another hospital.  When the ambulance arrived they found out that there was not a single ICU bed available in the entire London (pop. 7 million) area.  The ambulance was then directed to take her to Bedford which is 50 miles away.

Between the distance, bad weather and a road closure, the trip took 90 minutes.  It was determined that she died as a result of the lengthy ambulance transfer.

The London Daily Mail has the story in detail HERE.

 Updated.  Scroll down for Fire Chief’s press conference recap. 
Update #3:  No casualties.  See below.

A MASSIVE FIRE IN A NORWICH, CONNECTICUT, APARTMENT BUILDING has destroyed more than 100 units of the complex.

WTNH image

The fire broke out around 1:25 am Saturday morning.  Shortly after the FD arrived on the scene the entire building complex became involved in the fire which rapidly escalated to 6 alarms.  The fire chief said that the fire was in the roof area when they arrived and it had spread throughout the connected buildings.

Of the approx. 150 residents, 20 were known to be disabled.  At the time of the early reports only about 80 of the occupants had been accounted for.

New Haven Channel 8 has a good early VIDEO.
update:  Ch. 8 has just added helicopter video on the same page.
The New London Day has the initial REPORT.

Update, 9:30 am:  As of 8:30 am there were still 70 people unaccounted for.

This aerial view shows the large U-shaped complex  of more than 20 connected buildings that each contained 6 apartment units.  The center courtyard is filled with large trees and prevented the FD any access to the rear of the buildings.  They were built with a common attic area which, as was mentioned above, directly led to the rapid fire spread.

Update #2, 11:30 am:
At a 10 am press conference, Fire Chief Ken Scandariato presented the following information:

When FD arrived there were already two of the structures fully involved.  The residents were self-evacuating and many calling for help.  The building smoke detectors and fire alarms were all operating and sounding.

The initial fire attack was directed to trying to contain the fire while most of the firefighters went throughout the complex warning residents and conducting a primary search.  They were able to conduct a primary search in every unit that was not already involved.

There were approx. 150 residents, but only 105 have been accounted for so far.  A secondary search was only carried out on 31 units because all the others have been destroyed.

There were at least 13 engine companies on the scene and at one point there were 10 master streams in service.

Assoc. Press

The debris is still too hot to bring search and cadaver dogs in to the scene.  There has been only one civilian injury reported and that was non-fire related.  There have been no FF injuries so far.

Firefighters continue to cool down the fire debris
of the Peachtree Garden Apartments complex before
rescue teams and cadaver dogs can begin searching.
(AP / Geo. Ruhe photo)

The origin of the fire is believed to be in the rear at one of the building corners.  The fire got up into the roof which was a decorative hip roof built over a flat roof.  There were no fire stops inside the roof structure.

The State Fire Marshal has request assistance from the ATF and the fire department units expect to be on the scene for another 36 hours.

New London Day photo

Update #3, Sunday 6 am:
Every resident except for one has been accounted for, all of them safe and uninjured.  The one that has not been contacted is believed to have already moved out of the building and currently there is no official concern for his well-being.

A complete wrap-up of the fire is in the New London Day HERE.

A large photo gallery that includes pictures taken during the early stages of the fire can be found at New London County Fire Photos website HERE.  They also have an aerial view of the complex before the fire that shows the side C restrictions.

NLC Fire Photos/Ladd

When the truck crashed into the Chicago L station last evening (HERE), the Chicago Fire Department immediately set up a full-fledged, formal triage procedure with those color-coded tags.  I am always glad to see good operations run right from the start instead of an after-thought.

Sometimes it is hard to “get with the program” when you’re just a small piece of the operation, but when everybody follows the script, it works just the way it’s supposed to.  Teamwork is a big factor in the success of an operation like that, and it’s really rewarding to have one work out successfully.

Chicago has obviously trained and practiced triage operations and they also have the advantage of almost-unlimited rescources to draw from if the incident grows or is massive to start with.  You had a coordinated effort of sorting out the victims, providing initial treatement, recognizing the structural hazards and mitigating them, preventing an escalation of the problem (such as a sudden ignition or collapse), and the search for more victims along with their extrication.  That’s quite a job.

But what about the 95% of the fire and rescue people who don’t have these resources?  These same problems can appear in your area, too.  Unless you have prepared ahead of time and drilled with it, an operation like that can end up as a disaster in itself.  It takes a lot of discipline to stick with the scenario and not go free-lancing on these things.

Chances are that your county or regional disaster authority has a formal outline somewhere that spells out when and how a triage operation will be established.  But so many times these are only written down somewhere because the law requires them to have one on file.  It’s important to have regional training sessions to get used to the procedures of a mass-casualty event.

You don’t have to go to all the effort of putting on those artificial wounds and injuries.  Just lay a piece of paper on the “victim” that tells what the primary survey would find.  The object of the drill isn’t diagnosis, but what you do next.  And since that is something that you will probaby have never done in a true emergency before, then it’s imperative that you learn and practice that phase of the operation well.

Now don’t go around thinking that I’m saying that diagnosis isn’t important.  It is.  You can’t sort out your patients unless you do that phase right in the first place.  But diagnosis is something that you already spend a lot of time practicing and doing (don’t you?).  I want to impress on you the importance of actually drilling with the part of the operation that will most likely be a once-in-a-lifetime event for you.

Every fire department and rescue squad, including those private ambulance companies, should have a full-blown triage drill at least once a year, no matter how sparsely populated your area is or how far apart your departments are located.

And every morning we have to get this equipment checked out, so we’d better get started with that.  I’ll make sure there’s enough coffee.

Updated.  

AROUND 5:20 pm CENTRAL TIME IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, a tractor-trailer rig coming off a freeway ramp failed to turn and plowed directly into an escalater or stairway that takes passengers to the elevated rail station.

Semi truck wedged into escalater shaft
under train station platform (Fox)

The crash happened at the Cermak/Chinatown station on the Red line.  The early reports are saying that there are two fatalities so far and at least 17 injured.  The two who were killed were apparently pedestrians that were on the sidewalk passing the station.  The truck crashed through a bus shelter and then into the escalater/stairwell.

The truck is still wedged tightly into the station superstructure.  “We’re working right now to get into the wreckage to find out if there are any more victims in there, triage anyone we find and deal with the medical situation,” said fire department spokesperson Larry Langford. “And also we’re dealing with the structural integrity of the CTA platforms and the glass walls and whatnot that are around the station.”

“It’s going to take a little time to get to anyone that’s in there, but we’re moving as fast as we can,” Langford added.

Ambulances stage for assignments (Fox)

The intial response brought 15 ambulances to the scene and a full triage was set up.

Update, 8:15 pm Eastern:
An EMS Plan III response has been called for the incident, according to dispatch reports. An EMS Plan III calls several ambulances, a district chief, deputy fire commissioner, EMS Triage van, and command van to the scene.

Chicago Tribune/Wambsgans photo

WMAQ, Ch. 5 reports:

Witnesses say the truck didn’t appear to slow down before it plowed into the station.

One eyewitness, David, said the truck was coming from Interstate 90/94, and was getting off at the Chinatown exit. The bus shelter where he was standing is located right across from the exit.

“He just very obviously lost control and just kept driving at probably a good 45 to 50 miles per hour right into the station, where everyone was waiting to catch the bus, probably, to go home,” David said. “When I turned around, it seemed like everyone had been hit or injured in some way.”

WMAQ-TV

Ch. 2 has a report and an early video HERE.

Update #2, 10:15 pm Eastern:
The death toll remains at 2 and the number of injured has risen to 21.  The 51-yr.-old truck driver was taken to the hospital in stable condition.  However he is refusing further treatment and is checking out of the hospital against doctors’ advice.  He will be taken into police custody immediately upon leaving.

At 6:45 Central a tow truck began removing the truck from the structure.  Fire crews then continued the extensive search for any more victims.

Chicago Tribune/Garcia photos

11 of the injured victims are in serious to critical condition, 8 are in fair to serious condition, and 2 are in good condition.

The Chicago Tribune has an extensive report HERE.