TWO FIREFIGHTERS PERISHED SATURDAY AFTERNOON in Uccle, Belgium.

They were attending a fire in a vacant commercial building around 2:00 pm when a flashover occurred.  That is what apparently killed them.  A third FF, a woman, was able to bail out through a window, but suffered burns around her shoulders.

The victims are Patrick Batselier, age 25, of the Brussells airport FD, which was assigned to the call, and Alain Tacqueniere, 55, of the Anderlecht fire station.

RTL.be has videos HERE.  Click on the obvious video link and let it run.  It will go through two videos, one of which shows the fire scene.

Then go to THIS PAGE and click on the video to see some views of the fire station and equipment.

A GUELPH, ONTARIO, COUPLE REFUSED TO WAKE UP and leave their home, even though the mattress they were sleeping on was in full blaze.

Smoke from the fire was pouring out of the townhome and neighbors were pounding on the door and windows trying to waken the sleepy couple without success.  Finally, one of the neighbors broke a window and crawled inside, then went over to the door and unlocked it for the others.

The good neighbors took turns trying to penetrate the smoke-filled 2nd floor and eventually they shook the sleepers hard enough and screamed loud enough to wake them.  Once they got them awake, the the groggy couple left the building with the male occupant dragging the burning mattress along with him to the outside just as the Guelph Fire Department was arriving.

The Guelph Mercury has all the details HERE.
Guelph Fire Department WEBPAGE.

Hat tip to Firehall.com

THE CORRUPT AND INCOMPETENT MAYOR OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, Kwame Kilpatrick has reportedly offered through his lawyers a plea bargain.

The man who has wrecked the entire city government, including the Fire Department, is scheduled to begin a trial on 10 felony charges.  According to the Detroit Free Press, his lawyers have proposed a deal in which he would plead guilty to two felonies, make restitution and serve five years’ probation in exchange for avoiding jail time.  Any felony conviction would automatically remove him from office.  The governor of Michigan will be initiating removal procedings against him anyway on Wednesday.

He also said that he would give up his state pension.  But some sources are saying that the prosecutor’s office would not agree to any type of plea that doesn’t involve jail time.

Joe Swickard of the Free Press has the full story HERE.

ON TUESDAY WE REPORTED (HERE) ON four portable radios that were stolen from two Dallas, Texas, fire stations.

At least one of them had a police channel installed in it and now there are suspicions that they are being used to disrupt one of the police district frequencies.  The Dallas Morning News is REPORTING:

The pranksters did not cause any serious problems for police dispatchers or officers in the northeast patrol division, but were more of an annoyance, said Senior Cpl. Kevin Janse, a police spokesman.

“They were dispatching calls and handling police dispatch functions,” he said. “It was a little disruptive.” 

Police said they don’t know for sure whether the interlopers were using the devices stolen Sunday because the pranksters did not say so over the air, Cpl. Janse said. But police believe it is likely because at least one of them had police frequencies programmed into it.

The problem began about 2:30 p.m. Thursday when the pranksters “began making unwanted and disruptive statements over the air on Channel 2,” the frequency assigned to northeast patrol officers.

They began saying things over the radio like “code red, code red,” Cpl. Janse said.

For about 30 minutes, officers at northeast patrol temporarily shifted to a secure channel. 

It has been Firegeezer’s observation that when this happens the radio battery eventually runs down and then the radio is pitched.

A FIRE BROKE OUT AT THE STATE CAPITAL IN SALEM, OREGON, Saturday morning, causing extensive damage to the Governor’s Ceremonial Room and nearby areas.

Statesman Journal photo

After investigation all day Saturday, it was determined that there is no evidence that the fire was set.  The entire building is undergoing a thorough renovation and the origin of the fire was in a pile of construction materials on a terrace.

The three-alarm fire was quickly contained and knocked down.  Damages were mostly limited to the areas directly around the ceremonial office where the governor signs bills and holds public events.  The office contained many artifacts of Oregon’s history, but the extent of their damage has not been disclosed.

Cleaning the walnut-paneled Ceremonial Office
began right away.  (Statesman Journal photo)

In addition to the ceremonial office and others on the 2nd floor, some first-floor hearing rooms and an office on the 3rd floor directly above the governor’s office were damaged.  No estimate has yet been made of the monetary damage.

The Salem-News has the STORY.

KPTV has this video report (from Saturday morning):

SHROPSHIRE, ENGLAND, POLICE CONFIRMED TODAY that one of the two bodies found yesterday in the fire debris was Jillian Foster, 49, wife of Christopher Foster.

They also revealed that she had been shot in the head with a .22 rifle and now a murder inquiry has been opened.  The other body has not yet been identified, but it is believed to be an adult male.  A .22 rifle belonging to Christopher Foster was also found next to the two bodies.  Their daughter Kirstie, 15, is still missing.

Forensics technicians searching the crime scene have
found dozens of spent and unspent cartridges around
the house.  (Newsteam UK photo)

More of Foster’s murky past is coming to light with these investigations.  Firegeezer will have an update later today with most of the new revelations and any more current press releases by the police.

Yesterday’s update with links to all previous postings can be read HERE.

The Telegraph has a video report on the identification:

NEAR WICHITA, KANSAS, A SEDGWICK COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT mini-pumper was responding to a grass fire Saturday afternoon around 2:40 pm.  While passing a car on the left, the driver of the auto started making a left turn into the path of the fire truck.

KWCH image

The two collided and both vehicles ended up in a drainage ditch with the fire engine on its top.  Both FF’s had their seat belts on and had to be cut out of the cab.  The firefighters and four of the car’s five passengers were all transported to the hospital with an array of minor injuries.

KWCH

KWCH Ch. 12, Wichita has the story and a video report HERE.

Here it is, the end of the month already.  I don’t know about you, but for me this month has just sailed by.  I don’t know why.

Something else that has just sailed by is the transition from “sneaked it in” to “acceptable” for tiny video cameras clipped onto firefighters.  Only a few months ago, fire/ambulance departments were sending out orders prohibiting members from operating personal videos at emergency incidents.  They were usually framed with the standard worries about increasing liabilities from exposing actions that weren’t quite according to rule.  But I suspect they were more worried about making the fire chief look foolish if his crews blundered their way through an incident.  One tiny town in Maine even shut down their entire fire dept. temporarily over an innocent video (HERE).

Well, it’s come full circle now.  A Boise fire lieutenant had a miniature camera clipped onto his helmet at that brush fire that burned 19 houses last week (HERE) and the fire department has released that video to the press where several tv stations have even been running it.  Channel 2 was one of them and you can view it HERE.

That’s right, helmet cams have gone from disciplinary action to official press release literally overnight.  Amazing.

But still we need to check this equipment out every morning.  So get started on it while I go make another pot of coffee.  Then we’ll polish off that big Sunday breakfast.

This week’s photo art is definitely looking ahead:

MAYBE THEY’VE GOT STRONGER GRAVITY OUT THERE.  Once again a light plane has crashed into a populated area in the West.  This time a single-engine airplane overshot the landing zone at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, California, shortly before 7 pm Pacific time Friday evening.

Los Angeles Times photo

Burbank FD officials say the Cessna 172 snagged some power lines and a utility pole on Clybourn Avenue before coming to rest on top of a car parked on the street.  Three people on board the aircraft, two men and one woman, were hospitalized with minor injuries.  No fire erupted from the crash.

The Associated Press has this video report:

Some of our video links are not working properly right now (11:00 am Eastern).  The problem is at the syndicator’s, not Firegeezer’s ISP.  They are working on solving it.  If you are unable to view some of the video’s, check back later.  We will update this posting when they are operational again.

…..FG

Update, 11:50:  They are back in operation now.  Let’s hope the digital devil has been sent away.

FIRE SPREAD AT THE MONTE CARLO HOTEL AND CASINO LAST JANUARY was accelerated by non-approved building materials.

The eye-catching fire along the facade of the upper floors of the hotel was limited to a relatively small area along the front of the building.

Las Vegas Sun

A recently released investigative report blames the cause of the fire on molten metal dropping from a welder’s torch onto flammable materials on the roof.  But once it started burning, the fire spread more rapidly than it should have because an improper and unapproved resin coating was used beneath the exterior surface.  The building was constructed 16 years ago by a previous owner, but the material in question was not permitted at that time either.

The Las Vegas Sun has the complete REPORT.

KVVU-TV has this video report:

THE RISKY PRACTICE OF SHUTTING DOWN FIRE STATIONS on a rotating basis (in order to “save” money) has been taken up by the Sacramento, California, Fire Department.

The loaded chamber came up on them last night when a house fire in a neighborhood that was left unprotected got out of control, advancing to three alarms and completely destroying two homes.

KXTV

The first arriving unit was a rescue squad truck that, naturally, doesn’t carry any hose lines or a pump.  But they did have plenty of time to make a good size-up while waiting for the first engine to arrive seven minutes later.

STATter911 has been on the story all night and has more details along with a couple of videos HERE.

Firegeezer will never stop being amazed by these screwball politicians who play firehouse roulette and shut down the fire stations, yet they will pay to have trucks come around and collect the trash and garbage.  Instead of expecting people to fight their own house fires, why don’t they open the firehouses and ask the citizens to carry their own trash to the dump?

Earlier related FG entires:  Detroit Fire HERE and  HERE, Baltimore HERE and West Midlands UK EMS HERE