THE HARDY RESIDENTS OF EAGLE, COLORADO, are all on the lookout today after several people sighted an elk wandering around doing its elk things with its head stuck through a bar stool.
Resident Bill Johnson told the Eagle Valley Enterprise that he saw the elk with the metal bar stool stuck on her head from his house. The legs were pointed up and the elk’s head was pushed through the metal rig that holds the legs together, he said. The stool doesn’t seem to be hindering its mobility or grazing, Johnson said.
“Apparently she is fully mobile,” Colorado Division of Wildlife officer Craig Wescoatt told the Daily. Wescoatt said he has been receiving reports about the animal for several days.
Efforts to get near the animal have not been successful. When approached, the elk scampers away.
A LOS ANGELES COUNTY (CALIFORNIA) FIREFIGHTER fell through the floor in a burning apartment building Sunday morning.
The fire was in the top floor of a vacant 2-story apartment building and was reported shortly after 1 am Pacific time in Inglewood. The firefighter was on the second floor when it collapsed beneath him into the apt. below that was not burning.
AN ARREST HAS ALREADY BEEN MADE IN BLACKPOOL, ENGLAND, this morning while a major commercial fire was still burning.
photo by D. Nelson
Ninety firefighters were called out just before daybreak Sunday for a fire in a shopping arcade just one block away from the seaside resort’s major pier. The blaze spread throughout the entire complex that occupies a 3-sided block containing many shops, bars and restaurants.
Kathy Stacey, spokeswoman at Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “It’s very, very big fire for us in terms of its size and intensity. It’s very rare that we would have a fire involving that number of pumps.
A Lancashire Police spokeswoman said: “At 3:20am this morning police received a call reporting a large fire in Talbot Square in Blackpool. A 21-year-old man has been arrested and is currently in custody at Blackpool police station.”
Richard Edney, of Lancashire Fire and Rescue, said firefighters will be working at the scene “for most if not all of the day”. He added: “There is still some smoke. One wall is leaning in considerably and there is danger it might collapse.” The Victorian-era building complex also houses a former theater noted as a venue where Oscar Wilde performed.
I got word the other day that Tinker passed away. I’m in the age bracket now where news like this arrives at least once a month, either from family, high school class, or from the job. Tinker was a colleague in the fire department who was born with a bit of the devil in him, as are so many who end up in FD uniforms.
He really wasn’t uniform, though. Tinker was a long-time volunteer who already had an established reputation as a roaming free spirit and a prankster, but a friend to everybody. Wayback, our department had uniformed people handling the call-taking and dispatch. A task that only required two people who were in a basement cell in a long-disused county jail. When growth and changing times called for hiring civilians to work in dispatch, Tinker was the first civilian that they hired. What a match that was.
He did a good job, of course. He was conscientious and dedicated to the department, and knew what goes on. But anybody who has ever worked in dispatch (except in humongously-large cities) knows that the time frame from about 1 am to 4 am is like recess time in kindergarten. That’s why I was always keeping an eye out for Tinker’s promised trick that he had planned for his last tour before he retired.
Our station alarms were tripped by a two-tone radio signal that was unique for each house. Many of you remember those things, they were pretty common. There was also an “all stations” signal that would set the bells off in all of them simultaneously. That was rarely used and was mostly for important notices such as middle-of-the-night announcements to chain up when a surprise snow swept in.
Tinker’s dream was to finish up his final tour by setting off the “all stations” alert in the middle of the night when everyone was sleeping and not quite cognizant, and then announcing: “Auto fire…..two blocks north of the firehouse.” Then he would just get up, say good night to the crew and walk away, strolling out to his car as 30 fire engines hit the street at the same time. That’s how his mind worked.
But when his last tour arrived, Tinker decided not to go through with it. He had just enough good in him (along with a desire to stay out of jail) that he didn’t go through with it. I was disappointed, but I couldn’t blame him for doing the right thing – after all those years. Good luck at the next stop, Buddy.
Ok, Sunday schedule today. Just an inside drill planned. So let’s get the equipment checked out. I’ll make sure there’s plenty of coffee.
A 39-YR.-OLD MAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED IN VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, and charged with setting one of the major wildfires that killed several people over the past few days.
The magistrate has ordered his identity to be concealed in order to protect him and his family from any vigilante reprisals. He has been charged with one count of arson causing death, one of intentionally lighting a wildfire, and an unrelated charge of possessing child pornography, Victoria police said. Detectives questioned him for several hours on Friday before charging him and then transporting him to Melbourne where he will have a formal hearing on Monday.
The Associated Press has prepared this video report:
The police are still actively looking for other suspects who may have set many of the fires that have so far killed 181 people and destroyed over 1,800 homes. The death count is expected to go well over 200 after search crews are able to get to the rest of the burned-out homes that haven’t yet been approached. The Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described the fires as “mass murder.”
The man who is being held is specifically charged with setting a fire near the town of Churchill, about 125 miles southeast of Melbourne, that killed at least 21 people. Another separate fire that destroyed the entire town of Marysville and killed over 100 is also attributed to foul play.
There are still at least a dozen fires ongoing.
The UK Telegraph has this compilation of videos taken by the firefighters on Friday and Saturday:
Posted by firegeezeron February 14, 2009 •
Filed under: arson
The Atlanta Fire Foundation, the Atlanta Police Foundation, and the Atlanta Hawks basketball team are holding a fundraiser on Friday, February 27th at Phillips Arena.
Beginning at 1pm, teams from Atlanta Fire Rescue and Atlanta Police Department will compete fullcourt, 5 on 5, to see which department has the best game.
Award presentations will be prior to the Hawks vs. Miami Heat game at 7:30 that evening, with a special half-time challenge by the Fire and Police Chiefs.
Proceeds from the event go to the Atlanta Fire Foundation and the Atlanta Police Foundation. Tickets prices are as follows:
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH A 30-year-old ambulance? Elkhart, Iowa, Fire Chief Chip Mathis thinks that someone might want to “put it on a corner and sell tacos out of it.”
The tiny, rural volunteer fire and rescue company has just replaced its 1979 Ford ambulance that has less than 64,000 miles on it. Now they are looking for a buyer. Failing to locate one after sending notices out to the Iowa fire and rescue associations, they are now publicly offering it up for bid.
At the very least, they are hoping to collect $1,000 for it. Realistically, they know that it won’t bring in as much as their annual lamb and pig roast fundraiser that they hold, but they are hopeful.
Read the full story in the Des Moines RegisterHERE.
Bids on the Elkhart Fire Department ambulance must be received by 9:30 a.m. Feb. 28. The City Council will review bids at a March 2 meeting.
Send bids to: Van sale, P.O. Box 20, Elkhart, IA 50073.
For more information, contact Fire Chief Chip Mathis at efd3500@iowatelecom.net.
A FIRE IN AN UNDERGROUND STORAGE SITE in Wiltshire, England, has finally been extinguished after four days.
The former coal mine (see update below), which is about 100 ft. below grade and covers 18 acres, is used by the Ministry of Defense as a storage site for surplus equipment, excluding any explosives.
Earlier the fire brigade had expected to be on the scene until Sunday at least, but they were able to leave Saturday morning after using a technique of “starving” the fire with an application of liquid nitrogen. The Mines Rescue agency worked with the Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service to put the blaze out.
A Wessex Mine Rescue team member prepares
to enter the underground storage facility.
The fire began Wednesday morning and on Thursday the application of the nitrogen began. The affected area covers about five acres and is secured by fire doors. The size of the area needing the oxygen displacement demanded the lengthy process of filling it. The authorities will let the involved area rest for several hours while the nitrogen completes its permeation before entering the isolated area.
The fire was believed to have been started by an electric fork lift working in the storage area. The thick, unvented smoke repelled all efforts to get in and find the seat of the fire.
The Bath Chronicle has a good explanatory article HERE.
Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service WEBSITE.
Firegeezer Flashback: Review Firegeezer article from November, 2007, about the underground fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania, that has been burning for 47 years HERE.
Update, One of our readers in UK tells us that this mine is actually an underground quarry. Read the Comments section for the details.
Posted by firegeezeron February 14, 2009 •
Filed under: fire
LATE FRIDAY A TOLEDO, OHIO, COMMON PLEAS court judge granted the city’s firefighters a restraining order against the city to prevent them from reducing on-duty staffing numbers by eliminating a ladder company.
The Toledo Blade reports:
Less than 24 hours after Mayor Carty Finkbeiner announced a plan to reduce the firefighter line strength from the contractual mandated 103 per day to 99, the Toledo firefighters union filed a complaint to stop the change from going forward.
Toledo Firefighters Local 92 asked Judge Linda Jennings to grant a preliminary restraining order against the change as well as a declaratory judgment declaring that the city violated the collective bargaining agreement when it refused to timely arbitrate the union’s grievance relevant to layoffs.
The judge set a hearing date on Feb. 25 to decide whether to issue an injunction. The city already has a long history of being enjoined from reducing staffing of both the police and fire departments during past contract negotiations.
A SHAWNEE TWP., OHIO, QUINT rolled over “more than once” following a collision with a pickup truck Friday afternoon.
WTVG
The quint/tower was occupied only with a driver, Firefighter Dick Oder, 48, who has been in the FD for 24 years. He was bringing it back from a maintenance shop in a neighboring town when the pickup drove through a stop sign and into the side of the truck. The resulting crash sent both vehicles out of control with the aerial running onto a soft field where it flipped end-over-end one time and then went into a roll.
The pickup careened across the roadway rolling at least a half-dozen times. Both drivers were airlifted to hospital in Toledo where they are each in “serious but not life-threatening” condition. The aerial truck is a total loss.
HOUSTON, TEXAS, FIRE DEPARTMENT RESPONDED to a working apartment fire Thursday night in the Clear Lake area. The 2-alarm blaze destroyed 20 apartment units …… and a fire engine.
Engine 71 was the first-in pumper and had the first handline taken into service. Investigators believe that a flying ember blew into the right rear cab door and started a fire inside the cab.
The engine was an older pumper and was written off as a total loss.
Looking at the calendar, I guess this is a long weekend for the Gummint workers. In 1971 Congress, in its perpetual stupidity, moved Washington’s Birthday from Feb. 22 over to the third Monday, which this year is almost a complete week before the true date. A lot of people think that when they did that, they also changed the name of the holiday to Presidents’ Day. But that isn’t really the case. About ten years later a large number of retailers and advertisers began calling it Presidents’ Day to make it more convenient for their promotions. And the American people, lemmings that they are, fell right in with it.
Speaking of the calendar, yesterday I mentioned that we would have two successive months with Fridays the 13th. I should have added that we will also have a total of three months in this same year with the lucky date. November is the other one. This is important!
* * *
It’s downright amazing how fast all this electronic gadgetry is advancing. It was 12 years ago that I got my first home computer. My brother, who was already pretty computer-savvy, was mightily impressed with the fact that my new Packard-Bell had a 2-Gigabyte hard drive (and a whopping 32 Mb of memory!). Up until then the standard was 1.0 and 1.5 Gb drives. Now they’re what, 300 and 500 GB drives on the basic models?
But here’s what gets me. Looking in the Sunday ads this week I see these little USB flash drives, you know, those things the size of a stick of gum, that are now on sale with 40 GB of memory. Of course, that’s just a storage device that doesn’t do any computing. But still, 40 GB! What are all those 1′s and 0′s stored on? A tiny chip of some kind or is it a button-size disk? If you know what’s in there, please tell me. Inquiring minds want to know. Maybe we can find one in somebody’s locker who’s on C shift and bust it open for a look.
We’d better get the equipment checked out first, though. I’ll go make some more coffee.
MICROSOFT HAS JUST ANNOUNCED A $250,000 REWARD for information leading to the identification of the creator of the infamous Downadup/Conficker virus.
The fast-spreading program hit the internet this past October and has infected about 12 million computers world-wide.
BBC News is reporting:
The software giant is offering the cash reward because it views the Conficker worm as a criminal attack.
“People who write this malware have to be held accountable,” said George Stathakopulos, of Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing Group. He told BBC News the company was “not prepared to sit back and let this kind of activity go unchecked”.
“Our message is very clear – whoever wrote this caused significant pain to our customers and we are sending a message that we will do everything we can to help with your arrest,” said Mr Stathakopulos.
The Conficker worm is a self-replicating program that takes advantage of computers that have not been kept up-to-date with MS’s security patches that are normally downloaded automatically. The worm goes deep into the hard drive to steal passwords and security information and then it sends itself to a secret web domain to be down loaded.
Much of the virus’ spread comes from USP flash drives that are indiscriminately swapped between computers to transfer files.
This is the fifth time that Microsoft has offered a large reward for exposing virus creators.
IN A JUST-CONCLUDED PRESS CONFERENCE, NTSB member Steve Chealander brought out two important facts from the beginning investigation.
He said that the two “black boxes” were in perfect shape and had already been transferred to the NTSB headquarters in Washington. They have already gleaned some raw facts from the recorders including the following:
1. The pilots were telling the tower control of significant icing buildup on the wings and windshield, even though the de-icers had been turned on.
2. During the approach, the landing gear was lowered about a minute before the crash. Shortly after, the wing flaps were extended for the approach and the plane immediately exhibited violent pitch and roll actions. The pilot immediately began raising the landing gear and restoring the flaps but within a few seconds the plane went down.
An aviation expert speaking to a Buffalo TV station says that wing flaps deploying asymmetrically could create those results in attitude.
A CRIMINAL TRIAL JURY IN BRONX, NEW YORK, has found the tenants of an apartment not guilty for causing the deaths of two FDNY firefighters in 2005.
They were accused of illegally subdividing their fourth-floor apartments to form bedrooms for renters. Prosecutors say the subdivided rooms trapped six firefighters battling the fire on Jan. 23, 2005, forcing them to jump from windows.
Lt. Curtis Meyran (left) and Firefighter John Bellew died from the fall
while the other four survived.
The jury had reached their verdict Wednesday, but the judge sealed the verdict until today in order to not prejudice another jury deliberating similar charges against the building owner and manager.
“This sends the wrong message to people that you can profit illegally with disregard for the lives of firefighters and other citizens,” said James Flevin, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association. “This is an outrageous verdict.”
The New York Daily News has the rest of the story and links to the original fire story HERE.
* Firefighter Nation has a first-person interview with one of the fire chiefs on the first alarm of this morning’s plane crash in Buffalo. Some great insight into the operations and descriptions of what was happening. Be sure to READ THIS ONE. Update: Firefighter Nation has added an exclusive interview with the first-in chief and Incident Commander HERE.
* Speaking of the plane crash, Dave Statter has loaded STATter911 up with lots of videos including one that appears to have been taken before the 1st-in engine arrives. He also incorporates some GoogleSteetViews and maps to illustrate the neighborhood layout. His is a must-read, too – HERE.
* Fire(fighter) Behavior blog has a good, thought-provoking essay on how best to be ready for the upcoming Spring Training season for firefighters. If you’re involved in training in any capacity, you need to READ THIS.
* Firehouse Zen has some guidance for strategic planning for US&R teams HERE.
* The Australian wildfire inferno’s are big news and also overwhelming these days. Two blogs that you should be checking daily are Capt. Mike’s Firefighter Blog HERE and Bill Gabbert’s Wildfire Today HERE. These two veteran wildfire officers do more than give you the news. They tell you what’s going on behind the story and why things are happening the way they are. Good in-depth coverages.
* VA Fire News has just posted a whole passel-full of fire reports from the last two days around Virginia. Be sure to check on them HERE.
THE RESIDENTS OF MOOSE JAW, SASKATCHEWAN, are looking at the prospect of a severely-reduced ambulance service within the next two days.
After futile bargaining attempts that have lasted 10 months, the 32 unionized workers employed by Moose Jaw and District EMS voted Monday to take strike action. While the employees are in a legal strike position, the union has not yet served the required 48-hour strike notice.
A union representative said, “These guys are emergency medical services response crews so they are really hoping that they don’t have to go out on strike. But we are starting to feel like there is little choice left….. It is frustrating for the bargaining committee because there has been little movement at the table.’’
The outstanding issues at the bargaining table, according to the union, include: recognition of seniority, sick leave provisions and job protection. Discussions about wages and other monetary items have not yet been addressed.
No further talks are scheduled at this time. However, the union said it is prepared to resume contract talks at any time provided the company is prepared to bargain in good faith.
EMS General Manager Ron Dufresne says a contingency plan is in place at which time an appropriate number of staff from around the province will be available to respond.
A HOUSE IN THE ST. LOUIS SUBURB OF PONTOON BEACH, Illinois, exploded violently this morning completely obliterating the house and severely damaging two others.
There are no reports yet of any injuries.
The catastrophe occurred just a couple of hours ago and there are no further reports yet other than this video from KTVI-TV’s news helicopter:
A FRENCH COURT SENTENCED A PAKISTANI MAN to 20 years in prison yesterday (Thursday) for setting his ex-girlfriend on fire after she refused his marriage proposal.
Mushtaq Amer Butt, 28, had doused Chahrazad Belayni with gasoline on November 13, 2005, and set her alight in a Paris street while she was on her way to work. She did the stop-drop-and roll which put out the flames, then fell into a coma and later went through several operations. Belayni suffered 3rd-degree burns over 60% of her body.
Butt fled to Pakistan immediately after the assault, but a year later he voluntarily returned to France to face charges. He later pleaded guilty to attmpted murder claiming it was a crime of passion.
After several months of dating, the relationship had turned sour and Belayni had told him to “get out of her life” just weeks before Butt had returned to confront her.
THE FIRE IN A VACANT HOUSE IN SAN FRANCISCO, California, last Thursday (see Firegeezer report HERE) that critically injured a FF is officially an arson case now.
KGO-TV
While battling the blaze, six firefighters were injured when the ceiling collapsed on them while they were being evacuated. One of them, Christopher Posey, a firefighter/paramedic with 18 yrs. on the job, suffered life-threatening injuries when the collapse apparently knocked his facepiece off and he inhaled superheated gasses and smoke.
Authorities have said Jimmy Jen, 54, a former city building agency employee whose ex-wife co-owns the home, is a “person of interest” in the case.
Investigators said they were interested in Jen in part because three properties in which he was involved have burned since 1990. Jen has never been charged with arson and has denied he had anything to do with the fires.
Firefighter Posey remains in critical but stable condition in San Francisco General Hospital.
Posted by firegeezeron February 13, 2009 •
Filed under: arson
Yikes! Friday the 13th. And since this is a 28-day month, that means that we’ll be getting another one next month. Watch your step.
Lineup is late this morning because I woke up to the news of the plane crash in Buffalo and I’ve been culling the news reports on that to give you a summary (scroll down to next posting). So we’ll keep the lineup brief.
We’re still seeing more Firegeezer readers signing up for the Twitter experience. I find this interesting. But the more people we get who are familiar with the program, then the more minds we’ll have out there devising ways to tailor it to F & R operations. I love innovation.
One of our Ohio readers, Jim J., has passed along some valuable information to share with you. He tells us that Hook & Ladder brewery products are now available in central Ohio. He particularly likes the variety pack. Firegeezer favors the Backdraft Brown, but I’m tickled to see that the sales area is expanding.
That reminds me, I have to check and see how their brew-pub project is coming along. They bought a vacant firehouse in Maryland to house it and should be opening it sometime in the next couple of months. Are there any readers in the Maryland suburbs of D. C. that can drop by and check it out for us?
Here’s something that’s completely off-topic, but has been on our pagesrecently. Television’s two most-obnoxious pitch men, Billy Mays and Vincent Offer are getting on each other’s nerves. Check out this STORY. Serves them right.
Hey, like I said, it’s late starting today. So let’s get this equipment checked out while I go make another pot of coffee. I see a busy day ahead.
A COMMUTER AIRPLANE CARRYING 48 49 PEOPLE CRASHED into a house at 10:20 pm Thursday night in the Buffalo, New York, suburb of Clarence Center. The violent impact shook houses for several blocks away and started a large fire involving at least one home. Everybody on the plane perished and at least one person in the home died. Two other residents escaped with only minor injuries.
Press Association
The plane was flying from Newark, New Jersey, to Buffalo and was but five miles from its destination when it suddenly went nose down and dived directly into the densely-populated neighborhood which is just northeast of the Buffalo city limits.
The airplane was operated by Colgan Air and was flying under the Continental Connection banner. The twin-turboprop aircraft was a Bombardier Dash 8 Q400.
The Erie County executive declared a state of limited emergency and called for mutual aid responses. Authorities evacuated 12 houses nearby the crash scene, three of them getting some fire damage. Clarence Emergency Coordinator Dave Bissonette said, “This is not a rescue effort. We’re in the overhaul mode if you will.” He added, “We had a significant amount of fuel left in the aircraft. It was a hazmat situation.”
Buffalo News / Wippert photo
A nurse at Erie County Medical Center said the hospital’s second shift had been told to stay late to treat survivors but was sent home before midnight. “There were no souls to bring in and treat,” she said.
There is no official statement on the possible cause of the crash, but the Buffalo News is REPORTING HERE that immediately after the plane went down there were several reports from other pilots in the area that their planes were picking up ice during their descents to the airport.
Investigators have not yet begun probing the crash scene because it is still too hot. Firegeezer will update this report later during the day.
This video from Channel 7 taken at the crash scene also carries the radio transmissions between the tower and the Continental pilot at the time of the crash:
Video from Channel 2 of the Erie County Emergency Coordinator’s 4 am press conference:
Update: It is now reported that there were 49 people onboard the plane bringing the death toll to 50.
Update #2: The Clarence Center fire station is just around the corner from the crash site. STATter911 has the GoogleMaps and Google Street View of the crash site and firehouse location HERE.
IS YOUR OLD JUNKER THAT YOU KEEP just to drive to work begging you for a new paint job?
Instead of putting all that money into new paint that will also need washing and waxing, think about doing what the geeks at DarkRoastedBlend are promoting. Specifically, turn your car over to an avant-garde artist to cover Ol’ Betsy with something else for a change.
How about using those obsolete floppy disks you’ve been saving?
Or perhaps the keys from non-functional computer keyboards?
Some folks might think covering a car with more (toy) cars is bringing everything full circle, if not redundant.
Need more ideas? Go to their webpage HERE and check out the rest.
QUITE A FEW READERS HAVE SIGNED UP for Twitter since we started out tutorial HERE on Tuesday. Our object is to get you up to speed with this new network before we begin talking next week about how to utilize Twitter in your fire and rescue operations.
Now that you’re entered into Twitter, you need both someone to follow and some others to follow you.
Here are some Tweeters who tell me that they welcome new followers. So click on these links and then click on their Follow button. They in turn will start following you too. Once you get a few followers of your own, then they start drawing others.
When you add somebody new, click on their Profile page and see where they are and what their interests are. Here are some institutional sites that you might find interesting:
Another way to find people you’d like to follow is to go to the profile page of someone who has similar interests of yours, then click on the “(X-number) following” link in the upper right-hand corner. Next click on those thumbnail pix of who they’re following and read their bio’s. See someone you want to follow? Then click on the Follow button that’s right next to their picture.
Warning – watch out for spammers
Before long, the porno crowd and the spammers, who seem to be everywhere these days, will discover your Twitter address and send you a ” Jerkhead is following you!” message. Here’s how to watch out for them. Everytime you get a new follower message, go directly to their profile page that is linked in the email and look it over. Read their past postings and see if it’s anything at all that you are interested in. Another key point, look at their “following” and “followers” numbers. If they are following 3,954 people (a highly unlikely number to read every day), yet only have 3 followers, they are dubious. These are nothing more than address farmers. While you are on their profile page, go to the Actions section on the right and click on Block Jerkhead to keep them off your page forever. Be sure you do that.
Ok, that’s your mission for today – expand your Twitterverse.
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