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Mugs-Without-Borders

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TODAY’S MUG SHOT COMES TO US FROM GERMANY.  Long-time reader Christian Lewalter submitted this photo of him holding his GeezerCup while standing in front of his department’s brand new rescue/engine.

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The spanking-new engine was delivered to the  Freiwillige Feuerwehr Brandoberndorf (Brandoberndorf Volunteer Fire Department) this past Wednesday and, after four days of intense preparation, it was placed in active service today – December 21.

The 2,000 lpm pump also has a foam tank, pneumatic light pole, and a full compliment of hydraulic rescue tools.  The crew cab has room for the driver, officer and seven firefighters.

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The Brandoberndorf VFD has their own website where you can visit and view more photos HERE.  Don’t worry if you can’t understand the words, just keep clicking on the links.

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If you haven’t sent us your mug shot yet, don’t be shy….email it to us so that we can add it to our gallery.  If you don’t have your own GeezerCup yet, then CLICK HERE and order yours today using our safe and secure PayPal button down at the bottom of the order page.

Posted by on December 21, 2009 • Filed under: apparatus, Mug Shots, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus • Tagged: , , , ,

A Neighborhood “All Hands” Response

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AS THE BLIZZARD OF ’09 BLEW ACROSS Massachusetts Sunday, a man in West Barnstable collapsed outside his house, generating a call for emergency medical assistance.  The West Barnstable FD ambulance responded and had no difficulty getting on the road and out of town, but as it neared the man’s home the ambulance had to travel on a road that hadn’t yet been plowed.  A couple of blocks away from the address, the ambulance got stuck in a pocket of snow that was blocking the road.

As the medics grabbed their aid bags and equipment and started walking the rest of the way to the victim’s home,  the “all hands” call went out to the neighborhood.  Instead of “peasants with pitchforks,” a small army of “neighbors with snow shovels” turned out, backed up with the “cavalry” of a half-dozen snow blowers parading down the road to the beleaguered ambulance.

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WCVB-TV

“It was kind of neat seeing all the plows going down the street in unison,” said Tom Flaherty, who assisted in the rescue effort.

While the army of irregulars was digging out the ambulance and the snow-blowers were clearing the road, one neighbor who has a 4-wheel-drive vehicle drove up to the working medics and the patient was transported back to the ambulance.

WCVB-TV Ch. 5 Boston has this heart-warming report from West Barnstable:

The man was treated at the hospital and is expected to recover fully.  “It was a whole community out there helping us do our job,” said one member of the West Barnstable Fire Department.

Posted by on December 21, 2009 • Filed under: ambulances, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances, Videos • Tagged: , ,

House Fire Calls Out 12 FD’s

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A DOZEN FRANKLIN COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, FIRE DEPARTMENTS were called to assist the Millers Falls FD on Sunday night when a fire destroyed a large, Victorian-era, wood frame home and a nearby barn.  The fire was discovered shortly after 8 pm in the house that had been converted into a duplex residence, and everybody escaped safely.  All of the contents were lost, though, except for a few Christmas presents that the tenants were able to grab on their way out.

WWLP-TV filed this video report from the scene:

Posted by on December 21, 2009 • Filed under: Fires, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Apartment Fire Drives Out Dozens in Indianapolis

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A MAJOR FIRE IN AN INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, suburb early this morning (Monday) damaged or destroyed more than 20 units in an apartment building.

indy a WISH

WISH-TV image

When Wayne Township FD units arrived they already had heavy fire showing on the third floor and a large number of residents trapped on their balconies.  An unknown-number of them were rescued by ladders, but one person was rescued from inside and was taken to the hospital in serious condition.

Early reports say that no firefighters have been injured and three residents were treated at the scene by paramedics for smoke inhalation problems.

WISH-TV had a video crew on the scene and filed this report:

Posted by on December 21, 2009 • Filed under: Fires, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Fire Empties Macy’s

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MACY’S FAMED FLAGSHIP STORE ON BROADWAY was evacuated Sunday afternoon when a fire broke out in an escalator between the 3rd and 4th floors.  Shoppers were suddenly aware of the problem when they saw flames leaping out of the escalator shaft on the 4th-floor level and thick, black smoke started filling the sales floor around 4 pm.

Macys Fire

Associated Press / Bondareff

The Wall Street Journal  tells us:

Macy’s spokesman Jim Sluzewski said the fire, which he described as “small,” may have been caused by a motor in an escalator between the third and fourth floors. He said the “building was evacuated as a precaution” and that there were no injuries.

Much of the store was reopened before 6 p.m., he said. Portions of its Cellar, and first and second floors near Broadway Avenue will remain closed until Monday, he said.

The evacuation of the Herald Square store—billed as the world’s largest department store—came on one of the last big shopping days before Christmas. Macy’s, along with other retailers, was already grappling with a huge storm that dumped snow up and down the Eastern seaboard.

The dedicated shoppers waited and then poured back into the store to finish their buying.  Macy’s says that damage to the store was slight with only a little bit of smoke damage to some of the merchandise.  The Associated Press filed this video report:

Posted by on December 21, 2009 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – December 21

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Welcome to the Winter Solstice – first day of winter.  Technically, it arrives at 12:47 pm in the Eastern time zone.  I think many people are already aware that it’s here.  This crazy storm that sailed past Saturday has dragged in a most-unseasonably cold air mass and is very discouraging for us balmy weather fans.  It’s 14º right now, and it is normally around the mid-30′s this time of year.  Looks like we’re heading into the high-heating-bill season early this year.  But I’ve got enough food in the freezer and beer in the fridge to ride out this early cold wave.

Speaking of beer…. there’s a humorous flap going on in Canada this month.  Labatt Brewery’s most popular beer is the infamous Labatt Blue and over the past 20 years or so they have consistently come out with some pretty outrageous tv commercials promoting the brand.  Sometimes they are really on the edge of propriety.  It’s especially dodgy in Canada where they don’t have quite the freedom of expression that we have down here.  The government sometimes censors newspapers and television stations’ content.

I especially recall a Labatt’s commercial where a man in a bar is trying to teach a group of Asian tourists how to order a  Blue and they keep calling out, “Broo!”  Funny stuff, but offensive to the politically-correct weenies.

Well, they’ve done it again.   Labatt is running a series of Christmas-themed tv ads promoting their non-alcoholic brew and based on the designated-driver program:

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Naturally, the professional perpetually-offended moaners are outraged over this piece of clever advertising.  Of course, the more they yelp the more bonus ad time Labatt gets without having to pay for it.  Talk about a campaign with “legs,” this one’s running like crazy.  One wag mentioned that Santa’s going to see more of those left out for him this year, instead of milk or cocoa, because dear old Dad won’t drink the stuff and it’s a good way to get rid of it.  Everybody’s wondering if Santa will pass the stuff up, too.  This is hilarious.

We’d better chuckle our way over to the trucks and get things  checked out for the day.  I’ll get the non-alcoholic coffee started.  See you back in the day room.

Posted by on December 21, 2009 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , ,

Where’s Waldo the Firefighter?

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THERE WAS A WORKING HOUSE FIRE in Schaumburg, Illinois, yesterday.  As house fires go, it wasn’t particularly exceptional (except for the folks who live there).  But it occurred in a neighborhood where a lot of firefighters from around the Chicago area live, and most of the off-duty guys turned out to help the fire laddies and their neighbor.

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ChicagoLand’s ace fire photographer Larry Shapiro was there documenting the blaze and caught several of them in the act.  Looking through his photos, I found a few of them.

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How many can you find?  Take a look through Larry’s 151-image photo gallery HERE and then tell us in the Comments how many you spotted.

Posted by on December 20, 2009 • Filed under: fire, Fires, photography • Tagged: , ,

Home Explosion Severely Injures Teen

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A DELMAR, NEW YORK, NEIGHBORHOOD WAS ROCKED by an explosion shortly before noon on Friday coming from a modest house in the Albany-area community.  The woman who lives there with her teenage son called 9-1-1 to report the blast just as fire was starting up.  First on the scene were two police officers who were met with heavy smoke coming from the house and just then two more explosions occurred.

Apparently learning from the uninjured lady that her son was inside in the basement, the officers went inside where they found the boy and pulled him out of the house.  The 15-yr.-old was suffering from severe burns over his body and had lost a hand in the blast.

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Times-Union / Tom Heffernan photo

When the fire units arrived on the scene, they decided on caution, not knowing what was causing the explosions, and stayed outside concentrating on protecting the exposures.  Smaller explosions continued for a while as the house burned down.  WRGB-TV reports:

The two town police officers who rescued the boy, along with two paramedics, were treated for “possible exposure to an unknown chemical,” police said. HAZMAT crews were reportedly decontaminating every emergency responder.

A paramedic told Heffernan that the basement was “filled with several chemicals,” while another emergency responder said that rocket fuel may have been among them. Agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives were investigating whether the chemicals were being used in the production of an explosive device.

The Albany Times-Union has MORE.

WXXA-TV Ch. 23 has this video report with good fire footage:

Posted by on December 20, 2009 • Filed under: explosion, Fires, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Dirty Shoes at Task Force 1

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IN OUR LAST EPISODE …

Jack Allen was 10 minutes into his first day as the newly promoted Captain II at Task Force 1.  The condition of the firefighters at the first line-up did not meet Allen’s standards and he scheduled a second one ten minutes later.

800px-LAFD_Station_-_1_web At the 8:10 line-up the crew was in more presentable shape, almost all of them purposely put mud on their shoes. A direct challenge to the Korea marine vet who has a “spit and polish” reputation. (link to earlier article)

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Responses to last week’s post include:

Requiring excessive, arduous or punitive training or maintenance: Happy (Justin) and firehat.

Dal90 refers to a Band of Brothers incident “These guys we can presume know their stuff, they demonstrated they can work as a team through the shoe gag, they’re just testing to see how easy the new Captain gets ruffled.” (Original book by Stephen Ambrose.)  ( TV miniseries. )

Mac “I would spray their boots off with a hose (should have one of those somewhere in a firehouse) while they stood at presentation. Then, I would explain that details are what must be paid attention to, as details will be what get you killed.

Then I would dismiss the senior firefighter for the day, after explaining (in private) that his behavior was unacceptable, and every day that he had a repeat performance, he would be sent home. Today was free, but starting tomorrow he would lose pay and be written up. All of this would be done while calm and unruffled. But the point is: my will will outlast your stubborness.”

Gerald Woodruff wants to know if Allen is a jerk or a jake.  ”Leadership which has the by product of commanding respect dictates that the firefighter would show up to roll call and not want to disappoint their Captain.

…(this is) an opportunity to win their confidence by leadership skills. What would happen if he noted all of the deficiencies to them asked for a drink of the pop and said, tomorrow we will do better. Tomorrow he could stand at the locker room door and tell the firefighters not to bring the pop or return with clean shoes.” Gerald is showing that line-up is a discretionary time issue. (Timely Discretion)

Dave LeBlanc learned from a mentor that we earn ink (tatoos) through our time on the job.  Allen’s response to this issue will add new content to his reputation backpack or earn ink. Of all the responses, Chief Joe got the closest to Allen’s response.

WHAT DID CAPTAIN ALLEN DO?

OK, that’s a little better, but I guess I will have to be more specific.  I want all of you to be in clean dungarees, with shoes shined.  Probably not as shiny as mine, but shined.  We will try this again at 8:25.

THIRD LINEUP AT 8:25

The crew assembled. Shined shoes, combed hair, zipped up jackets and no food.

Now that’s more like it. I was beginning to wonder of this side of town was a different fire department.

Since this is their first line-up, Allen now describes his expectations:

I am sure that you have your ways of doing things and I am anxious to learn those things.

I like to go to fires. I expect 100% effort at emergencies.

I look for clean station and clean apparatus that is well maintained.

Most of all, I look for teamwork in all cases. Any questions?.

Allen demonstrated the efforts advocated by Caulfield in rapidly winning the fire station leadership game. He went from Confrontation to Conquest, skipping over the Open Warfare level.

It was handling the open warfare incidents as Special Projects captain that lead to Caulfield writing his book. (Leadership Game Rules)

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

URBAN COMMANDER is an irregular feature aimed at career staff working in metro-sized fire departments. It will cover topics that were too esoteric, short-term or “sharp” for the Fire Officer: Principles and Practice textbook. Click “Urban Commander” under Categories to get all of the articles.

Posted by on December 20, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Urban Commander • Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Morning Lineup – December 20

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Do you remember the .wav sounds?  They’re still around, of course.  But you just don’t get exposed to them very much anymore.  Back when I got my first home computer and went online in 1997 with my Windows 95, the .wav sounds were sweeping the internet, livening up emails and logins everywhere.  They were genuinely fun.  I was new at the digital communications scheme and had no idea about how they worked or what was going on with all the 1′s and 0′s that made the sound tracks play out, but I sure knew how to attach them to my emails and such.

I even had them hooked into the computer’s programmed sounds that play automatically when you perform certain functions.  For example, you know that little musical interlude you get when you boot up the computer?  I had mine set so that when it booted up, instead of the Windows music, I got the sound clip from Mel Brooks’ Frankenstein movie where Gene Wilders calls out:  “Alive ….. it’s alive …. IT’S ALIVE !!”

The young internet abounded with websites that had various collections of clips from movies and tv shows, and some that specialized in sound effects that you could download.  My collection naturally includes the station tone-out from Emergency!  I built up my own personal library of favorite sounds and clips sorted by subject matter on 3″ floppy discs (or is it “disks”?  I can never remember) in a special file box.  I got a kick out of attaching them to emails, usually something appopriate to the topic of the email.  I’ve still got those floppy’s, but neither of my computers  have slots for floppy’s now. 

I have no idea what popped that into my head this morning and got me to thinking about it.  But I began to wonder if the granddaddy of all .wav dispensers, The Daily.Wav was still doing it’s thing.  So I went to the handy-dandy search engine and looked it up.  Sure enough, it’s still there!   Posting a new  .wav every day for fourteen years and still going.

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Just for the fun of it, go to the site (HERE) and look around.  I’d recommend starting with the Alphabetical Archive and picking one of your favorite movies or tv shows and see what he’s got.  The Wizard of Oz has a choice collection, for example.  (Toto, I have a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.)   Or for fun, try a cartoon character (filed under Looney Tunes).  If you want Station 51′s tone-out, it’s filed under Emergency!

I suppose that you can go online and buy a floppy reader with a USB connector which would permit me to download my collection onto a CD-ROM.  I’ll check that out.

But first, we’ve got to check out our own equipment, so let’s get started.  I’ll make sure there’s plenty of coffee.
(And thanks, Flavie!)

Flavie 001

Posted by on December 20, 2009 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged:

Mutual Aid, or Buffing?

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WHILE ONE PERSON MIGHT GUESS THIS WAS THE COMMAND CAR of a mutual-aid EMS supervisor in the Greater Boston area, somebody else would say it belonged to ChicagoLand’s most avid fire buff.

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Jalopnik > BexTim

Neither guess would be correct, though.

In actuality it belongs to a ham radio operator who has apparently attempted to set the record of how many countries he can talk to at the same time, stocking his $500 Dodge Colt with $25,000 worth of electronics.

If you are interested enough that you want to look at another 30+ pics and read a little about it, CLICK HERE.

Posted by on December 19, 2009 • Filed under: cars, fun

Firetrucks Getting “Naming Rights”?

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IT WAS 18 MONTHS AGO THAT WE reported on Stockton, California, Fire Chief  Ron Hittle’s plan to sell advertising space on the sides of the city’s firetrucks.  (see the Firegeezer report from June, 2007 HERE.)  It sounded dopey then, and it sounds dopey now.  But they’ve gone ahead and done it.

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creation of Stockton Record

The city has sold space on their new US&R truck that just went in service to a local grocery store chain.  They justify it by saying that they sell naming rights to sports arenas and ball parks, so why not the city’s rolling stock?

KCRA-TV has the video report on this demeaning bit of financial desperation:

Chief Hittle demonstrated his leadership skills back in 2007 when he publicly announced that his firefighters wear “funky helmets that don’t really perform all that well in a fire.”

Posted by on December 19, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, apparatus • Tagged: , , , , ,

Rare Weather for Southerners

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THE MID-ATLANTIC REGION is watching a rare weather event go by this weekend.  A winter storm that has just been upgraded to “blizzard” is racing from the south and aiming straight for Philadelphia and New Jersey, then on up to Boston, etc.

Thanks to Dave Statter (STATter911) and his tv station WUSA-TV Ch. 9 in Washington, we are able to post the station’s Live-Cam coverage of the passing blizzard.  So all you guys up north can snicker at us while we struggle with our snow shovels.

Posted by on December 19, 2009 • Filed under: News • Tagged: , , ,

Beer O’clock in New Guinea

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CHRISTMAS CAME EARLY IN PAPUA, NEW GUINEA, THURSDAY.

ABC News (Australia) is reporting:

Police say a truck carrying 4,000 cartons of beer worth around $150,000 ran off a road in Chimbu province yesterday.

The driver was unhurt but local villagers flocked to the site, ripped open the trailer and looted the beer.

Superintendent Joseph Tondop told the National newspaper his officers had to disperse crowds of drunks who had gathered on the road to harass passers-by.

Another eyewitness told the paper almost everyone from three nearby villages was intoxicated.

Superintendent Tondop said he hopes common sense will return when everyone sobers up today.

Posted by on December 19, 2009 • Filed under: beer, News • Tagged: , , ,

Crashing Ambulance Kills Pedestrian

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A LINCOLNSHIRE, ENGLAND, WOMAN WAS KILLED Thursday morning when an East Midlands Ambulance Service unit skidded on an icy road, flipped over and slid into the 39-yr.-old as she was walking along a sidewalk.

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R & S Mercury

The EMAS released a statement saying:

This morning an ambulance responding to a 999 call with blue lights and sirens overturned and collided with a pedestrian.  The ambulance was responding to a road traffic collision on Stowe Road, Langtoft, Lincolnshire.

The emergency vehicle had two ambulance crew on board.  The pedestrian and both crew members were transported to Peterborough Hospital for treatment.  Tragically, the pedestrian has since passed away and we offer family and friends our deepest sympathies.

The Rutland and Stamford Mercury has the full STORY.

 

Posted by on December 19, 2009 • Filed under: ambulances, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances • Tagged: , , ,

Truck Fire Destroys Hockey Team’s Equipment

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THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE’S MINNESOTA WILD lost most of their game equipment Friday afternoon when the truck carrying it caught on fire in the parking lot of the Ottawa, Ontario, Scotiabank Place arena.  The team had held its morning practice skate at another rink in Ottawa and the van had transported all of their gear back to the Scotiabank Place in preparation for Saturday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators.  The Associated Press is reporting:

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via TheScore.com

Particularly difficult for the players is the loss of their personal equipment.  All of the goaltender’s equipment was destroyed and it normally takes weeks to break-in a new piece of padding.  Items that need special fitting such as knee braces and skates are not easily replaced, either.  Canoe News reports:

Firefighters said the van was pulling into the players’ parking area near the loading dock at about 2:30 p.m. when someone noticed smoke coming from the back.

The doors were opened and there was a fire “roaring pretty good,” said district fire chief Monty Malloy. “It destroyed all the equipment, all the players’ equipment.”

The Wild isn’t sure how the fire started, although police said it appears to be accidental.  (The) van was initially inside the arena, but quickly taken outside when the fire was noticed. They were trying to use a hose hooked up at the loading dock to put out the flames. Firefighters arrived five minutes later and doused the blaze.

The Wild has been on a roll lately and is 10-2-1 in their last 13 games.

The St. Paul Pioneeer Press has MORE.

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Twitter/boomer960

Posted by on December 19, 2009 • Filed under: fire, Fires • Tagged: , , , , ,

Morning Lineup – December 19

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You can say “So long” to the Saab automobile now.  General Motors announced Thursday that they would be shutting down the former-Swedish hallmark brand noted for its unique designs and detail for comfort over style.  When GM plunged into its irreversable collapse late last year, they attempted to stem the red ink by eliminating four of their brands, Pontiac, Hummer, Saturn and Saab.

They started by shutting down Pontiac altogether, sending it the way of the LaSalle and Packard.  Gone.  They wanted to do the same with Saturn, but Roger Penske came up with a scheme where he would purchase the brand, along with the dealerships, and sub-contract the production of the models to other factories.  But the logistics of getting that operation going were too difficult and there was a lot of reluctance on the part of the manufacturers to commit to the project.  So Penske pulled the plug and Saturn is vaporized too.

GM did manage to unload the Hummer brand to a Chinese auto company.  So they picked up a few million $’s, unloaded the division, and China picked up a valuable collection of industrial secrets for a song.  GM was hopeful of selling off the Saab assets, too, but attempts to do so kept running into obstacles during bargaining, and they finally gave up on the idea last week.

Saab made its mark from being designed for areas that have miserable weather conditions.  It was the first main brand to produce front-wheel drive cars and the controls on the dashboard were extra-large so that they could be operated with gloves on.

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Reuters file photo

GM had first purchased 50% of the company from Scania in 1990 and took over full ownership ten years later in 2000.  But long-distance ownership usually proves difficult for any business, and changing tastes help lead to a steady decline of sales.  Trying to remake the car into a Scandinavian Chevrolet only hastened the inevitable.  The total units sold in all of this year was less than 8,000.  So it’s Buh-bye Saab.  The New York Times published a nice farewell yesterday HERE.

We had better get our own classic trucks checked out now.  I’m going to get the coffee started.  We’ll get together back in the day room in a little while.

*  *  *  *  *

Winter has enveloped all of North America now.
Fireball shares this more pleasant view with us.

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Posted by on December 19, 2009 • Filed under: cars, morning lineup • Tagged: , , , ,

Around the Fire Web

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*  STATter911 has a slide-show of good photos from North Carolina showing a flashover while it’s occurring.  Most remarkable it the shot of a firefighter whose running gear is set on fire.  Take a look HERE.

*  A Firefighter Nation member was just a couple of blocks away from a huge tanker fire that occurred early this morning in Texas.  He dashed up onto the roof of his house and shot some video of the fire before the first units arrived on the scene.  Take a look at it HERE.

*  Do you recall the story this past Sunday about the off-duty Chicago firefighter who climbed the high-rise and rescued a woman?  (Firegeezer report HERE.)   Chief Bobby Halton of Fire Engineering has just interviewed the firefighter, Jason Durbin and recorded it as a podcast.  Listen to it HERE.

*  FireRescue1 has posted a “Santa Game,” actually a quiz that you can play while you’re whileing away the time on the watch desk tonight.  CLICK HERE, and then make sure you click on the “Next” button to start.

Posted by on December 18, 2009 • Filed under: Fire Blogs • Tagged: , , , , , , ,

From Ultra to Ugly

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WHILE FOSSILMEDIC IS FANTASIZING OVER  the Porsche 911 Carrera (HERE), Business Week.com has just published their nominations for the 50 ugliest cars of the past fifty years.

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After looking it over, I have to agree….. they made some fine choices.

While some of them are just plain odd or off-beat, I have consistently been nauseated by the Pontiac Aztec from a few years ago.   I never could understand how they could ever sell even one of those things.

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Believe me, if you’ve never seen one in person, that photo makes it look a LOT better than it really is.

Anyway, when you have the time to spend looking through them – and have a barf-bag handy – CLICK HERE to see how many you agree with.

ugly cars

Posted by on December 18, 2009 • Filed under: cars • Tagged: , ,

Line Ups, Task Forces and …

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We will get back to Confrontation at Task Force 1 next week. Appreciate the responses from Happy Medic (Justin), FireDaily, firehat, Dal90, Mac, Chief Joe, Dave LeBlanc and Gerald Woodruff.

In this blog item I want to share items related but not vital to the confrontation situation.

CHANGING CULTURAL PRACTICES: ARE YOU WEARING A TIE AT LINE-UP?

Morning line-ups came from the continuous duty worked by the first career crews. When LAFD was established in 1886 the roster for Engine 1 showed a crew of eight. (HERE)

Paid firefighters would get three hours off each day and one complete day off a month. This takes you to a description of the life of a 1904 LAFD firefighter (HERE).

Rule 36 describes the meal process:

The commanding officer shall arrange the meal hours of the members of his company, and file a written report of the same with the Chief Engineer. Members taking three meals per day shall be allowed one hour for each meal, and those taking two meals one hour and a quarter for each meal. No member shall go a greater distance for his meals than three blocks from the house to which he is attached, without permission of the Chief Engineer.

In case of an alarm during meal hours, all members must respond promptly. Members must notify the company commander of the address of their eating place and residence, and of any change therein, and said officer shall keep a record of these particulars concerning every member under his charge.

1901 Rules and Regulations Los Angeles Fire Department (HERE)

Justin Schorr posted a link to a late 1940′s era LAFD training film on Company Response that includes a version of the 0800 line-up (HERE).

I could not find an example of an LAFD line up from the late 1960′s, but if you watch the opening of the pilot episode of Adam-12 “The Impossible Mission” you can get a flavor of the times.

LAPD officers line up for inspection by the lieutenant. (HERE) The inspection starts at the 1:35 minute mark, coming out of the first commercial break. “Remember that in this division you can cut yourself on those shirt creases”

TASK FORCE STAFFING

Station 03 was a Heavy Duty Task Force when Captain I Allen worked there.

LAFD_old_HTF03_webThat means there was a third staffed pumper assigned to the task force.

In this Los Angeles Library picture, it is Engine 203.  Engine 203 is staffed with a Captain and four firefighters.

ROOFJUNKIE, posting in emtbravowest.com, describes the 1971 staffing when his uncle worked at Heavy Duty Task Force 3 (HDTF3):

  • Wagon 3, a 50′ snorkel, five firefighters
  • Pump 3, one firefighter
  • Truck 3, a 100′ tiller aerial, six firefighters
  • Engine 203, five firefighters

In addition to the 17 firefighters on HDTF3, there were two assigned to Snorkel 3, a 85′ rig. Two more were assigned to Salvage 3.

Two are assigned to Rescue 3 (ambulance).  An earlier version of Rescue 3 shows up on Company Response.

The downtown Civic Center/Bunker Hill area covered by 3′s still runs a lot of fire incidents, ranking in the top ten for the most fire and non-ems incidents (7.8 responses a day for the third quarter of 2009).

MANIFOLD COMPANIES

Manifold Companies were a two-piece company with a duplex pump (rig with TWO 1500 gpm pumps each powered by a V-12 motor) and a manifold wagon with 10 gated discharges and a fireboat-sized deck pipe. sn001074-1937ALF-DuplesPump-2-1250gpm_uk_0000-0000_E3_450

Engine 3 was one of four companies established in 1937-1938. They were staffed with 10 firefighters and had the capability of supporting up to sixteen 2.5″ attack lines.

Three of the four manifold companies were in the downtown Battalion 1 district. The manifold companies operated until 1964.

The task force configuration started at another 1st Battalion manifold company. In 1966 LAFD established Heavy Duty Task Force 9 at the Center City fire station that used to be called Skid Row. Two more manifold companies, Engines 3 and 27, were reconfigured as heavy duty task force companies in 1971.

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR OUR STORY

Station 1 (in 2009) does not show up in any of the top 20 activity lists in a department with 106 fire stations. For our confrontation story, that means Allen left one of the busiest fire-fighting stations as a Captain I to command a slower station as a Captain II.

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

URBAN COMMANDER is an irregular feature aimed at career staff working in metro-sized fire departments. It will cover topics that were too esoteric, short-term or “sharp” for the Fire Officer: Principles and Practice textbook. Click “Urban Commander” under Categories to get all of the articles.

Posted by on December 18, 2009 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, culture, Fire Rescue Topics, Urban Commander • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Citizen Makes Fire Rescue

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AS A WIND-WHIPPED FIRE SWEPT THROUGH A 3-family dwelling in Malden, Massachusetts, early Thursday morning, one of the eight residents instinctively raced to the top floor and saved a woman and her two small children.

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WHDH-TV

The fire broke out shortly after 1 am and began spreading rapidly throughout the old, wood framed home that had been converted to three apartments.  WHDH-TV reports:

However, the most dramatic moment of the night came when a mother and her two children who had just moved in hours before were rescued from the top floor of the building.  The families in the basement and the second floor apartments were able to get out, but the brand-new tenant and her children on the third floor were trapped.Acting on instinct, building resident Joe Scadding, his son, and another tenant raced upstairs and rescued the family.  The Scadding family lost everything in the fire but said they are grateful they were able to save the lives of their new neighbors.

“I heard the girl on the first floor screaming, ‘fire, fire, fire!’ So then I just ran out of my room, ran outside…The babies, I had just met them and I knew they were up there, so I just ran around and then when I seen the fire, I just went for the doorway,” said Scadding of his heroic rescue.

WFXT-TV Ch. 25 has some brief footage of the fire:

WHDH-TV has a better video and an interview with Scadding HERE.

Fire Chief Michael Murphy said the weather hampered the firefighters’ efforts.  “It was very difficult to move around, water was freezing all over the place, and the wind helped fuel the fire,” Murphy said.

Posted by on December 18, 2009 • Filed under: Fires, rescue, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Some Good Advice ….

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IF YOUR KIDS SET OUT THE HOT CHOCOLATE FOR SANTA on Christmas Eve, then you want to stay on his “good boys and girls” list by being well-prepared.

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Elf photo

If you don’t have Santa’s favorite cocoa cup yet, it’s not too late to get one.  Just CLICK HERE, follow the directions and click on the Buy Now button to order using your credit card safely and securely.

Santa will appreciate it and keep you on the list for another year!

Posted by on December 18, 2009 • Filed under: Mug Shots, shopping • Tagged: , , ,

Tanker Ka-Boom in Germany

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TRAFFIC CONGESTION ON THE A-21 highway near Hockenheim, Germany, Thursday afternoon caught a petroleum tanker driver by surprise.  Unable to stop in time for the backup, he plowed into the rear of another tractor-trailer rig, driving it into a third truck, a double-trailer rig, in the chain collision.

ksta.de

The tanker burst into flames immediately, killing the driver.  The driver of the second truck, which was from Portugal, died later from his injuries.  The third truck driver was slightly injured, but will survive.

The fire spread to both of the other trucks, consuming all three of them.  The freeway was shut down until early Friday morning.

Pfalz-TV has a good video report on the fire:

Source:  Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger (here).
Hat tip:  Christian L.

View the full photo-gallery HERE.

ksta.de

Posted by on December 18, 2009 • Filed under: fire, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , , , ,

Morning Lineup – December 18

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The most amazing things of our times are coming from scientific advances.  Electronics (including miniaturization and microchips), miraculous medical improvements, and pure scientific discovery.

Over in the video box that we keep on our sidebar, I’ve posted a report/interview from the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) about a recent experiment after they spent 25 years searching for an underwater volcano that was erupting or getting ready to.  They found one last year in the south Pacific between Samoa and Fiji and in May of this year they sent a robot submarine (called “Jason”) equipped with a video camera down to the 4,000-ft. deep ocean floor in May to hopefully record an eruption.  They couldn’t have worked it any better.

Within an hour and a half, they started getting results and the volcano started doing its thing. The mission’s chief scientist, Joseph Resing, who is a chemical oceanographer at the University of Washington, told reporters,  “When we got there, we put the sub down, and within in an hour and a half we found an eruption there in its full glory.  We haven’t seen this before. And now for the very first time, we see molten lava flowing on the sea floor.”  He said they had found a type of lava never before seen erupting from an active volcano.

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NOAA / NSF

The video shows bright, red flaming lava blowing up into the ocean nearly a mile deep, and then immediately cooling and shattering into chunks falling through the water.  Simply amazing.  That gray smoke-like stuff is sulphur.  Since the water pressure at that depth suppresses the violence of the volcano’s explosions, they were able to get the underwater robot within feet of the active eruption.

You can read more about it and view a couple of really spectacular videos on the NOAA’s website HERE.

Here’s a sample from their videos:

*  *  *  *  *

If any of you were planning on visiting the Pageant of Peace in D. C. tomorrow, be ready to change your plans.  There is a winter storm advisory for Washington all day Saturday with 100% chance of snow and temps. below freezing all day.  The National Park Service always closes the park on days like that.  First of all, nobody can perform on the outdoor, open stage in that kind of weather, and nobody shows up to watch anyway.

But we’ll be ready for the storm here with plenty of coffee, so let’s get the equipment checked out.  See you back in the day room in a little while.

Posted by on December 18, 2009 • Filed under: morning lineup, News • Tagged: , ,

I Still Want A Porsche

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Stories of excess before the Great Recession

I used to rent luxury and performance vehicles while on business trips.

I mentioned it in earlier blog items HERE and HERE.

From my lament of the loss of the good old days:06ShelbyGT_SanFran_WEB

A far cry from the cash-rich days of renting directly from the Hertz Prestige Collection: Audi S4 and A6; Jaguar S type and X type; Cadillac XLR, Volvo S80, Lincoln LS, and Land Rover LR3.

The high point was renting a 2006 Shelby GT-H with just 20 miles on the odometer in San Francisco.

I also sampled more exotic cars. Most were interesting, some were awful. Few lived up to the hype … except one.

I rented a Porsche 911 Carrera while working a trade show in Vegas. This 2008 German commercial sums up my experience:

Got the commercial from the guys at Jalopnik. This is from their article that provides a list of the "Ten Most Sexually Suggestive Car Commercials" (HERE).

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward.

Posted December 17. 2009, updated January 21, 2012

Posted by on December 17, 2009 • Filed under: cars, culture, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , ,