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A CASSELTON, NORTH DAKOTA, FARM FAMILY has what may be the world’s tallest and longest dog. They’ll find out after they hear back from the Guinness Book of Records people later.
“Boomer” is a 3-yr.-old Landseer Newfoundland canine that stands 3 ft. at the shoulder and is 7 ft. long. The 180-lb. pup startles drivers when he makes eye contact with them while standing next to their car.
The Associated Press filed this video report on Boomer:
THE SANTA ROSA, CALIFORNIA, FIRE DEPARTMENT responded to a call for smoke in the building at 2:20 am Thursday morning. On arriving at the Cafe des Croissants Grateful Bagels they found extensive smoke and heat throughout the building and fire in the coffee roaster area that was spreading into the attic.
Immediately ventilating the building by opening the roof, they had the fire knocked down in ten minutes. But even with that, the fire caused $300,000 in damage to the structure and the contents.
The SRFD says that the preliminary investigation revealed that the fire was likely started by a malfunction in the coffee-roasting machine that caused the beans to catch fire and spread flames through the interior of the building.
Source: KPIX-TV
Firegeezer wonders: Can beans really burn?
A 3-ALARM FIRE AT A MARINA IN STEILACOOM, WASHINGTON near Tacoma, destroyed an abandoned boathouse at the inactive Saltars Point Marina Friday morning. The fire broke out just before 5 am Pacific time and presented a challenge to the firefighters from four departments along with three fireboats.
KIRO-TV
Besides the obvious inaccesability presented by the lake on one side of the fire, the land side was hindered by a railroad track. The BNSF railroad shut down operations on the track permitting the laying of fire hoses across the right-of-way. Most of the extra-alarm units were deployed to protect nearby homes from flying embers.
KING-TV has a video report:
The FD’s successfully contained the fire to the building of origin. The fire was brought under control by 7 am, but FF’s will be on the scene most of the day mopping up.
KIRO-TV has MORE.
KIRO-TV
Enviro.BLR, a website maintained by Business & Legal Reports, has posted an item about a New York company listing an electrical capacitor for sale on eBay without properly identifying it as containing PCB’s. They write:
Advertising old electrical equipment on eBay that contained polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) turned out to be a losing proposition for a factory surplus liquidator after the sale was discovered by EPA and the company was fined. The New York-based company advertised an old capacitor for sale without having it properly marked or stored as required under the federal regulations governing toxic substances.PCB-containing electrical equipment must be marked so that it is easily recognizable and not disposed of improperly. EPA investigators found the company offering to sell the unmarked General Electric Pyranol capacitor on eBay, an online auction website. EPA then inspected the seller’s warehouse, and alleged that it violated PCB regulations by failing to mark its capacitor with a label identifying it as containing PCBs as prescribed by federal law.
eBay was not accused of violating any environmental regulations.
Read the entire article HERE.
Thanks to John Sachen for bringing this to our attention.
THE UK’s NEARLY-PARALYZED NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (NHS) never stops inventing unbelievable rules and procedures. And they are always designed with much lower priorities for the poor, victims than for the desk jockeys who run the plodding ambulance services.
It was reported yesterday in the Daily Mail (HERE) that just last month a man with a broken back was left to suffer in six inches of water because the paramedics on the scene weren’t trained in “water rescue.” The victim, Brian Bendle, 45, was standing in the shallow water of a recreational lake in Somerset waiting to launch his jet ski when another jet ski struck him, sending him tumbling and causing a fracture in his spine.
The Daily Mail continues:
Shocked onlookers immediately ran into the lake as Mr Bendle, from Bristol, lay face down in the water.
They floated the dad-of-three in the six inch ankle-deep water, where they supported him until an ambulance arrived amid fears moving him would aggravate his back injury. But they were stunned when a paramedic arrived and refused his pleading staff to enter the water – because they weren’t trained to deal with water rescues.
They had to slide a spinal board under him themselves and carry him to ambulancemen, who were stood on the bank just 6ft away.
A paramedic arrived first in a Fast Car, but refused to wade into the six inches of water and treat the man. ‘Two colleagues arrived in an ambulance but he stood in their way and told them, “I’m incident commander – you aren’t getting into the water.”
Steve Cox, 47, who runs the Middlemoor Water Park in Woolavington with his wife Julie, said: ‘The first bloke insisted they had to wait for the fire brigade. “He kept saying, “Health and safety won’t let me get in.”
Steve Cox indicates the “danger zone” where the
paramedic refused to enter.
After the bystanders (who also haven’t been trained in water rescue) placed Bendle on a backboard and carried him to the ambulance, he was transported to the hospital where he is being treated for a broken back, six broken ribs and bleeding lungs.
A similar incident occured last year in Lincolnshire when a man drowned in 18 inches of water because the ambulance crew insisted on waiting for a fire brigade water rescue unit to respond from 50 miles away.
Hat tip: SaboTank
THE FIRST OF THE TWO BROTHERS WHO PLEADED guilty to accidentally starting the $50 million fire at the Cudahy Packing plant in Wisconsin was sentenced yesterday. Joshua Popp, 23, and his brother Kurtis, 25, pleaded guilty under a plea-bargain agreement in August to “second-degree recklessly endangering safety” after launching a high-powered military flare from their parents’ backyard during an Independence Day celebration. The flare landed on the roof of the Patrick Cudahy meat packing plant and started the massive fire that burned for days. (see the Firegeezer reports HERE.) The plant is the namesake for the city of Cudahy and is the town’s primary employer.
Joshua was sentenced yesterday to 90 days in jail, three years of probation and 500 hours of community service. If Popp violates the terms of his probation, he’ll be sentenced to prison time. The Associated Press REPORTS,
The jail sentence was structured to keep Popp behind bars for the next three Independence Day celebrations. He was ordered to spend every July in jail for the next three years. As a felon, Popp is barred from owning firearms, which the judge said included fireworks such as M-80 firecrackers and sparklers.
“Your days of celebrating the Fourth of July that way are over,” (Judge) Cimpl said.
Popp showed no emotion as the sentence was read. He left the courtroom without speaking to reporters.
Assistant District Attorney Kent Lovern said he was satisfied with the sentence. He said he didn’t ask that Popp pay restitution because the damage was “immeasurable.” “Our concern was how Mr. Popp can give back to the community, and that’s why we recommended community service and jail,” Lovern said.
WTMJ-TV reported from the courtroom yesterday:
Kurtis Popp is scheduled to be sentenced for the same charge on October 26.
A hot news item was released yesterday evening, but beyond the announcement there isn’t much else to say. So I’ll cover it here instead of a full posting. New York City’s Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetti announced yesterday that he will be stepping down at the end of the year. He said that he notified Mayor Bloomberg back in August of his intentions to retire from city government and perhaps take up a teaching position somewhere.
His appointment to head the FDNY eight years ago has always been a puzzlement to both the firefighters and the citizens. Previously the head of the city’s child welfare agency, he had no experience or knowledge of the fire department and his actions constantly exhibited this lack of institutional knowledge. I might be wrong, but I don’t think we’ll be hearing anybody bemoaning the fact that he’s leaving.
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I also learned last evening that the board game MONOPOLY: Firefighters Edition is arriving at the suppliers now and they will be starting to ship it out very soon.
As we reported back in August, it’s played on a real MONOPOLY board, except the street names have changed, and of course the game pieces are FD-oriented. Instead of going to Jail, you get sent to the Chief’s Office. The Chance and Community Chest cards have been replaced with Backdraft and Flashover decks…..and you can really get burned there!
The rules are same as the traditional game that we all grew up with, but the winner gets promoted to Fire Chief.
So you can go ahead and order now while you’re assured of getting one before supplies dwindle during the upcoming holiday seasons. Just click HERE to read more about it and place your order at The Fire Store. (that darn thing hasn’t even come out yet, but it already has nearly 9,000 Facebook fans!)
Ok, let’s get this equipment checked out. I’ll make sure the coffee pot’s full before I duck out for a little while. I have (another) visit with the dentist this morning. I’m beginning to think that I am helping him put his youngest child through college. See you later in the day room.
* You’ve seen the term “Collyer conditions” used every now and then, and perhaps wondered just what that means? The name is derived from two demented brothers who lived in Manhattan for decades while never throwing anything away. The house was so packed with trash and crap that one of them was crushed to death when a pile fell on him. His crippled brother was unable to help himself and died a few days later from neglect. They weren’t discovered until a couple of weeks later when neighbors reported a smell emanating from the house. A good summary of the Collyer Mansion is found on Wikipedia HERE.
Inside the original Collyer Mansion
Firefighter Nation news page tends to follow Collyer incidents when they crop up and today they are going “coast-to-coast” reporting on Collyer hoarders in FLORIDA HERE and in CALIFORNIA HERE.
* STATter911 has a great article about a recent survey taken in Prince George’s County, Maryland where a mandatory home-sprinkler law has been in effect since 1992. In the fifteen years since it was enacted there has never been a fire fatality in a sprinklered home, while more than 100 have perished in non-sprinklered homes during that same time. Read all about it HERE.
* The Backstep Firefighter wants to know, “Is anyone listening to Ray?” He’s talking about Ray McCormack HERE.
* FireNews.net has an especially good “hot” shot of a car fire TODAY.
Updated, 4:30 pm.
TWO LAS VEGAS, NEVADA, METRO POLICE OFFICERS ARE IN CRITICAL condition this morning following a crash where their cruiser hit a utility pole before rolling over and bursting into fire Wednesday night.
Update: One of the officers, Milburn Beitel, 30, died at about 1:30 a.m. today after surgery at University Medical Center. A second officer, who is 25 years old and has been with Metro for more than three years, is in critical condition at UMC, police said. His name hasn’t been released. The Las Vegas Sun adds:
Officer John Loretto said during a City Hall news conference that the officers were investigating a report of a strong odor for about 20 minutes before the crash occurred. Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie described the call as not urgent.
Gillespie said investigators haven’t determined whether the cruiser had its emergency lights and sirens activated, but that wouldn’t be required because the call didn’t originate from 911.
Investigators today were still trying to determine what caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle at about 9 p.m. at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Nellis Boulevard. Police weren’t identifying which officer was behind the wheel.
“But there was one thing we do know — there was one car involved in the accident and it was our car,” Gillespie said during the news conference.
Witnesses say that the patrol car was traveling on Nellis Blvd. when another vehicle pulled out in front of them causing the driver to swerve suddenly and then crash into the pole.
Las Vegas Review-Journal / Thompson photo
The Las Vegas Sun REPORTS:
“They both received some very serious injuries,” Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie said. “Right now, a lot of prayers are needed.”
One officer is “in very bad shape,” said Gillespie, who went to the hospital. Both men are with families, he said.
The officers were taken to UMC in “very critical condition” after their cruiser rolled over about 9 p.m. at the intersection, police said.
KVVU-TV has a video report from the scene:
U
THE NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, FIRE DEPARTMENT is having serious problems with their new ambulances. The department has two front-line units that answer calls plus a 9-yr.-old ambulance kept in reserve. The two ambulances are less than 2 years old, but they are both out of service with a continuing series of major engine problems. The Ford diesel engines have been leaking fuel into the crankcase, causing them to seize up. The city has been running the reserve unit full time and supplementing the other calls with fire apparatus responding to provide treatment until units from neighboring rescue squads arrive.
WTNH-TV Ch. 8 New Haven has a good video report and interview with the fire chief:
This problem with the Ford engines is not unique to New London. Several localities in the Northeast have joined in a class-action lawsuit agains the company for similar problems. The Day newspaper REPORTS:
And besides leaving fire officials and crews frustrated, the recent string of mechanical problems plaguing the ambulances, as well as a ladder truck, has led the city’s attorney to research possibly joining class-action lawsuits involving motor companies and manufacturers.
”Once we investigate those existing lawsuits we will make a decision whether or not to, if we can, join those lawsuits or seek our claim for lost income as a result of having ambulances down,” said City Law Director Thomas Londregan. “The city has not lost out-of-pocket money because of the warranty. Have we lost money for having an ambulance out of service? The answer to that is yes, but that has not been quantified.”
Fire departments and ambulance services are allowed to charge for their services, averaging about $500 per call. But because the ambulances are out of service, that money is being collected by other towns or ambulance companies that are called in to transport New London’s patients.
Fire Chief Ronald Samul said the failure of the ambulances has been “frustrating.” It has led the city to put out a bid proposal to replace at least one of the ambulances, he said.
A DOLLAR GENERAL STORE IN WICHITA, KANSAS, SUFFERED A COMPLETE BURNOUT Wednesday afternoon in the west side of the city. The fire started around 5:30 pm when there were two employees and several customers inside. They all made it out safely as the fire deparment was arriving to find heavy smoke coming from the store.
The entire contents of the store was destroyed in the 2-alarm blaze. Investigators are still working the scene this morning. Firegeezer will update when any further information is released.
Just for the heck of it, ask some firefighters if they know why Fire Prevention Week is always celebrated on or about the 2nd week of October. If any of them say that it has something to do with the Great Chicago Fire, give them a “B” for their astuteness. Save the “A” grade for anyone who can tell that October 9 is the anniversary date for the conflagration that has become one of the more famous fires in modern history.
Actually, it was on the evening of Sunday, October 8 that something happened inside of the barn behind the O’Leary home at 137 DeKoven Street. A fire started up and quickly consumed the little building. It was a night of unusually strong winds and the air had been very dry all day. A watchman in a fire tower saw the glow but he mistakenly presumed it was the remnants of another fire that had occurred the previous day and failed to transmit the alarm.
When the blaze spread to neighboring homes and started moving through the city, the alarm finally went out. But the super-heated winds were carrying firebrands ahead of the fire front and starting additional fires all through the city. The mayor immediately telegraphed to neighboring towns for assistance, but it was to no avail. The intensity and speed of the fire was overwhelming. Before long, the fire had spread to the water works building and the destruction shut down the city’s water pumping plant. At that point the fire department had to give up and all the people in the fire’s path had no recourse but to flee for their lives.
Most of them ran to the Chicago River or over to the shore of Lake Michigan where they sought refuge. The entire city could do nothing but watch as a true hell-on-earth event roared through a city of closely-packed wooden structures, accelerated by cyclonic winds. Finally, late Monday night the winds started to subside and a light rain began to fall and the fire ran out of energy. Come Tuesday morning it was all over, but the burned area was so hot that they could not inspect it for days later.
When it was all over, the city had lost completely an area 4 miles long and 3/4 mile wide, including 17,500 buildings – a third of the city’s valuation. While 125 bodies were recovered, the actual fatality count is estimated at 200 – 300. Nearly 100,000 people of the total 300,000 population were left homeless. In the fire zone, only 5 buildings survived. As the flames were dying down, trainloads of lumber began arriving in the city for rebuilding.
There is no doubt as to where the fire started, as it was easy to trace back the spread pattern. But exactly how it began will never be known for sure. Popular folklore says that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern which ignited the straw. But in 1893 Michael Ahern, a newspaper reporter who first wrote the story, admitted that he made up the story because he thought it would sell more papers. There are other theories involving schemes like an illicit craps game taking place in the barn, but they are only theories. Ironically, Mrs. O’Leary’s home, seen here in a picture taken shortly afterward, was spared from the fire by a shift in wind direction.
The O’Leary home
In 1956 the former O’Leary property was cleared and the Chicago Fire Department’s fire training academy was built on the site. There is a stylized sculpture, Pillar of Fire, erected on the spot where the infamous barn stood.
The 34-ft.-high “Pillar of Fire” sits on the site of
Mrs. O’Leary’s barn, the point of origin
of the Great Chicago Fire.
The fire is out and now it’s time for us to get this equipment checked out. I’ve got to get some coffee going, so we’ll meet later in the day room.
THE MAYOR OF FLINT, MICHIGAN, ANNOUNCED EARLIER TODAY that one firefighter has been fired and another is expected to be dismissed tomorrow after they each failed a randomly applied drug test. The Flint Journal reports:
The city began actively enforcing its no-tolerance drug policy the week of Sept. 21, and five firefighters have been tested so far, Mayor Dayne Walling said at a press conference. Police officers are next and eventually all city workers will be tested, he said.“We’re especially focused on our public safety force,” Walling said. “We want a force we can all trust and can all respect.”The tests are conducted during work hours and screen for all illegal substances and alcohol. The drug policy has been on record for years but hasn’t been enforced for a while, Walling said.
YESTERDAY (Tuesday) WE REPORTED ON THE WOMAN WHO WAS CRUSHED by an ambulance bay door that closed on her while she was apparently trying to sneak into the rescue station (Firegeezer report HERE). Melissa Farris, 35, died from “accidental compression asphyxia” at the hospital. She was a former employee of the ambulance service in Caldwell, Idaho, working there for seven years until December, 2008.
Yesterday the Caldwell police released the information that she had called in a false alarm as a means to draw an ambulance out and give her a chance to sneak into the building through the bay door. They are not disclosing any reason for her wanting to do this.
The Idaho Statesman reports:
Melissa R. Farris told emergency workers there was a car crash, said Caldwell Police Chief Chris Allgood. Crews were unable to find the crash. Instead, they found Farris trapped underneath the door Thursday when they returned to the Specht Street building.
Farris died at a local hospital from her injuries early the next morning. Farris’ vehicle was in a parking lot across the street.
Officials will not discuss why she was trying to get into the building. “I am not going to comment on that part,” Allgood said. “We know the ambulance went out on a call, a traffic accident report. We have been able to determine that initial phone call was made by Ms. Farris. Canyon County Paramedics officials also won’t say why Farris, who had worked for the district for seven years, was no longer an employee.
The police also released the recording of the 9-1-1 call that Farris made. You can listen to it HERE.
About the only time
a married man gets in the last word
is when he finishes
the crossword puzzle!
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SANTA FE SPRINGS, CALIFORNIA, FIREFIGHTERS RAN a typical dumpster fire early Tuesday morning, but they ended up spending more that the routine amount of time on the scene. After they had the fire put out in the usual few minutes, they were combing the debris when they discovered a burned body inside the trash bin.
SGVN
The fire scene then became a crime scene when they found evidence that the body of what appears to be a woman had been bound hand and foot with electrical cord. No suspects were found at the scene and the body hasn’t yet been identified. But she does have a tattoo that says “David” over he right shoulder blade.
The Whittier Daily News has the STORY.
Investigators check through burned items looking
for evidence. (SGVN)
FIREFIGHTERS IN DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA, ARE WONDERING IF there was any room for the people at a house fire Tuesday. The fire was started by a colony of carpenter ants inside the walls of Rhonda Spivey’s home in the morning when their nest caused a hot short at an electrical outlet. When her husband came running out to the garden to tell her that the house was on fire, Rhonda’s first thought was for the 50 cats that she kept inside. She ran into the house and began opening cat cages and urging them to flee.
WESH-TV
After the fire was put out by the DBFD, they recovered nine dead cats. 36 of the others have been rounded up and there are still a few more hiding in the woods.
WESH-TV shows what all went on there:
Spivey had become a sort of cat-rescue lady where people would bring her strays, etc., and she would try to find homes for them. But she says that after this experience, she’s done with the cat-rescue mission.
Here we are again. If you tried to check in here earlier, you might have gotten a page full of wing-dings. The digital devils attacked just before 7 am this morning, causing me to stop and wait for the geek squad to get it fixed back. I don’t know what happened. This kind of stuff is beyond me.
It’s been about five weeks now since I opened my Facebook account and I thought that I would make a comparison between Facebook and Twitter from my viewpoint. Everybody has their own reasons for signing up with either of these sites, so I won’t bother with that part of it. Instead, I’ll just pass along my impressions of how they are working.
To begin with, Facebook is the older and better-built site. Twitter is going through some growing pains and it shows on their pages as their computer slows down or quits occasionally. Sometimes on Twitter I will click on one of my sidebar links to check on direct messages or something similar, and it just won’t work. Nothing. After a while it usually starts working again. I think the service is growing faster than they are able to upgrade their computers to handle it all. But I have noticed lately that they are not suffering any major total-outages like they were when I first signed up over a year ago.
In my five weeks with Facebook, I haven’t observed any server problems at all. They are definitely a lot more stable. Also, by their very nature and purpose, Facebook has a lot more variety to it. As a traditional “social network,” they have the ability to offer a lot more interaction between the members. You can drop a comment directly on somebody’s posting, for example. Or you can place a group of images in an “album” that friends can choose to view if they wish.
Twitter, on the other hand, does not permit a direct comment to a posting. And Twitter has this unique policy of only permitting up to 140 characters in each individual posting. I have never read why they chose to set it up that way, but it has the effect of keeping it away from any personal ramblings and more towards a direct feed for passing along information via links. Twitter also has evolved into a timely disseminator of instant information. For that, it works well because you can read anybody’s postings if they’ve been “tagged” and you enter the tag in the search box.
They are two different animals with two different missions. But Facebook is the more stable and better-run site, in my opinion.
We’re running late this morning because of our server problems, so let’s get this equipment checked out now and I’ll go make sure there’s plenty of coffee.
A CALDWELL, IDAHO, WOMAN DIED LAST THURSDAY NIGHT when an ambulance bay door that was closing pinned her to the pavement and caused an “accidental compression asphyxia” around 11:25 pm.
After finding the 35-yr.-old woman’s car parked across the street, the police are speculating that she was waiting over there for an ambulance to leave so that she could gain entry to the building. When one of the Canyon County Paramedic units responded on a call, she apparently dashed across the street tried to slip beneath the descending overhead door. Ambulance officials cannot explain why the door-closure safety system failed to operate.
None of the other medics in the building knew that she was there, nor was anyone expecting her. Scott Tucker, deputy director of the ambulance district, said that the woman, Melissa Farris worked there as a paramedic from October 2001 to December 2008.
The Idaho Statesman has MORE.
THE EVICTED ARSONIST WHO IS CHARGED WITH SETTING the dwelling fire that killed Yonkers, New York, firefighter Patrick Joyce was arraigned Monday in Yonkers City Court. Rafael Roldan stood before Judge Charles Wood and was formally charged with second-degree murder, second-degree arson and two counts of second-degree burglary, all felonies.
Nearly 100 off-duty Yonkers firefighters were in attendance at the hearing and when the judge called Roldan’s name, all the FF’s stood up and remained standing during the entire session. “They are here to show their support for the (Joyce) family and to support the police department who made this arrest,” Yonkers Fire Commissioner Anthony Pagano said.
Roldan is not yet represented by counsel. Judge Wood said a Legal Aid attorney and several other lawyers had turned down a request to represent Roldan, citing “conflicts.”
WNYW-TV Ch. 5 reported from the hearing:
Funeral services are being held today (Tuesday) in the Bronx. Every one of the 450 Yonkers firefighters will be attending the funeral while fire companies from other areas of Westchester County will be manning the Yonkers stations to provide coverage.
The Lower Hudson Journal News has the complete STORY.
A PAIR OF PHOENIX, ARIZONA, CITY VEHICLES jockeyed to occupy the same space late Sunday night. One was a police car and the other was an FD aerial truck. You can guess who won out on that one. We don’t know yet whether they were responding on calls or not. Information is slow getting released on this one. But KSAZ-TV Ch. 10 has some video for us:
A 2-ALARM FIRE BROKE OUT JUST BEFORE 6 am this morning in Boston. The fire is based on the 2nd floor of the Hyde Park YMCA building which is undergoing renovation and appears to have broken through the roof. No further information is available yet, but WFXT-TV is first on the scene with this raw video from their news helicopter:
First thing, a couple of notes about yesterday’s chat of the dollar stores (HERE). One of our readers left a comment that he’d worked one of the A&P fires and affirmed that his dept. was unaware of the ongoing problems with organized crime. I’ll add that the A&P not far from where I live had a full burnout around that same time, too. Of course, there was no connection known with the other events. But they sure did the job on it. The entire store was completely destroyed and A&P simply relocated to a newer and larger site to reopen.
Another reader, Hank H., is from Chicago and he immediately recalled that dollar store warehouse fire on Knox St. a couple of years ago. He sent along a link to a good photo gallery that has 108 images of that fire. The photographer’s name is Scott Miller and he’s obviously done this before. Take a look at his photos HERE. Hank tells that there were 10 aerial streams in service.
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Here’s a little “heads-up” for you about the Firegeezer website. We have a New Look arriving soon. It’s time for us to freshen up a bit and we’ll be arriving on your monitor with a new design. Along with our fresh appearance we’ll be including some new features and expanding our scope a little bit. I’m sure that you’ll enjoy our new offerings that we’ll be posting along with our usual quirky content that makes us a little different from the others.
And coupled with this new presentation, we have a surprise included that I’m very excited about. But it has to be kept under wraps for now until the new Firegeezer hits the web in about a week. I’m pumped about it and I hope you’ll have as much fun with it as I do.
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It’s time for the Annual Stop-Drop-n-Roll Chili Cook-off held in Grapevine, Texas, home of the Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. Coming up on October 24, this big-time annual event (everything in Texas is big-time) is put on by the WPI Firefighters Fund which is a charitable organization that assists families of injured firefighters and provides help in securing equipment for volunteer fire departments in Texas.
You read that right, admission is free. But I don’t think the beer is, though. This is more than just a chili-eatin’ party. It’s a great festival with live music and lots of entertainment for the entire family. Click on to the Cook-off webpage HERE to learn more and be sure that you check out the WPIFF’s website HERE to learn more about their great charitable work.
OK, it’s time for us to do some great work now. So let’s get this equipment checked out and I’ll go start the coffee. See you back in the day room.
The Fire Critic reviewed a new docu-drama produced by BET. First two episodes are posted with the review, HERE.
From the BET webpage:
Though Compton has a population of only about 100,000 people, there are a reported 75 active gangs operating within the area, making it a unique environment for the city’s emergency teams. With one of the highest crime rates in the country, gunshot wounds, gang-related violence, and mangled cars are just another day on the job for these highly trained professionals. Day after day, all the drama is caught on tape as the Compton Fire Department team – an ambulance operator, multiple firefighters, an intern and Marcel Melanson, one of the youngest Battalion Chiefs in the country – fights battles both at home and on the job.
Loved the 32 year old battalion chief’s personal ride. 1959 Cadillac low-rider, white with purple flames.
A ten episode mini-series, more information HERE.
This is a little off-topic, but we think many of you will find it of interest:
ONE OF THE LARGEST SNAKES TO EVER BE ACCURATELY measured was discovered laying dead along a sidewalk in Tukaburra, Borneo recently. It is slightly more than 30 ft. long and was recorded on this home video.
Note: It’s even more impressive if you watch the video in full-screen mode, so go ahead and click it.
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