A HOUSE FIRE LATE TUESDAY NIGHT in Roanne, Loir, France led to a serious injury to a firefighter who was making a rescue. The fire was in a 3-story home in town and had trapped a 56-yr.-old woman and her two daughters ages 16 and 20.
photo by Rabby Vincent
As the firefighters arrived, one of the two daughters appeared at a 3rd-story window calling for help. The city of Roanne firefighters raised a ground ladder to the window to reach her. Scared and in a panic, when she saw her rescuer coming up the ladder to save her, she threw herself out the window onto the firefighter, causing both of them to fall to the ground, a distance of several meters.
The 28-yr.-old caporal chef (senior corporal) suffered broken ribs and fractures of two spinal verterbrae. The firefighter and both daughters were hospitalized. The mother was found in a search of the house, but she had perished in the fire.
This story was reported by Stephane M. in the fire blog Firetex HERE.
A photo gallery of the fire is posted on the SDIS 42 (FD’s) WEBSITE HERE.
ON DECEMBER 10, PENNSYLVANIA BECAME THE FIRST STATE to officially require all new housing to be built with fire sprinklers installed. The National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA) issued the following press release today:
PATTERSON, N.Y. (December 17, 2009)– The National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA), the longest-tenured fire sprinkler advocacy organization in the U.S., announces that Pennsylvania will require all newly constructed townhouses to contain a residential fire sprinkler system starting January 1, 2010 and in all newly constructed one- and two-family homes effective January 1, 2011.
By approving regulation #12-89, Pennsylvania adopts the 2009 International Residential Code (IRC), which is the country’s primary building code. This regulation adopting the IRC and its residential fire sprinkler requirements was approved by the Pennsylvania Independent Review Commission in a vote on December 10, 2009. This adoption of the IRC updates the Uniform Construction Code in the state.
“This is a tremendous victory for the residents and fire service professionals in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and I want to applaud the members of the Independent Review Commission for realizing the importance of this regulation,” said NFSA President John Viniello. “By adopting the 2009 ICC building code and requiring fire sprinklers in all newly constructed one- and two-family homes as well as townhouses, Pennsylvania is raising the bar in fire safety and demonstrating that the commonwealth cares about its residents and emergency responders by making this important life safety measure a requirement. Pennsylvania will now serve as a model for other states, which are currently in various stages of adopting the 2009 ICC building codes.”
The inclusion of residential fire sprinkler requirements in the 2009 International Code Council’s (ICC) IRC is a response to the growing fire problem in the U.S. About 85 percent of all fires occur in the home and many are fueled by new “lightweight” construction and more flammable home contents. Smoke detectors are no longer enough in residential fire protection, as the time to escape a house fire has dwindled from 17 minutes 20 years ago to three minutes today. This poses a severe risk to firefighters as they now have less time to do their job and save residents’ lives and property.
”The entire fire services industry fought a tough battle in Pennsylvania. They would not have been successful without the help of each and every individual who supported this cause, including John Waters and Tim Knisely – who are Co-Chairs of the Pennsylvania Residential Fire Sprinkler Coalition – and Ed Mann, the Pennsylvania State Fire Commissioner,” said Ray Lonabaugh, NFSA Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager.
The residential sprinkler requirement was voted into the ICC’s IRC in September 2008 by building code officials from all over the U.S., gaining more than two-thirds of the vote. This demonstrated that officials very clearly see the need to require sprinkler technology as a life-saving measure. The fire sprinkler requirement was recently reaffirmed at an ICC vote in Baltimore in late October 2009.
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Established in 1905, the National Fire Sprinkler Association (NFSA) is the voice of the fire sprinkler industry. NFSA leads the drive to get life-saving fire sprinklers into all buildings; provides support and resources for its members – fire sprinkler contractors, manufacturers and suppliers; and educates authorities having jurisdiction of fire control matters. Headquartered in Patterson, N.Y., NFSA has regional operations offices throughout the country. www.nfsa.org.
THE SMALL COMMUNITY OF LORETTO, MINNESOTA, came together yesterday to help out their neighbors that were burned out Tuesday by a fire in their apartment building.
KARE-TV
The century-old, wood frame structure had been the town’s general store for many decades until it was converted into eight apartments. Seven of them were occupied Tuesday when a maintenance worker decided to use an electric heating element to thaw a frozen water pipe in the wall of the building. The heater started the fire that raced through the old structure,eventually bringing the roof in and destroying the entire building.
Because of the severity of the weather which was hovering around the zero-degree F. mark, and the inability of the town water supply to adequately provide enough fire flow, about 20 surrounding fire departments responded on the mutual-aid call. The operation set up a tanker relay and provided enough manpower to rotate the crews every 20 minutes until the fire was out.
The residents took shelter at the Choo Choo Restaurant just down the street, and almost immediately the rest of the townsfolk started pitching in to find clothing, food and cash help for the refugees, including replacing all the lost Christmas gifts that went down with the apartments.
KMSP-TV Ch. 9 has a good video report on the fire and the town’s post-fire activity to help the residents:
A SMALL-TOWN FIRE CHIEF IN BRITISH COLUMBIA was fired from his job Tuesday after his attempt to stop the practice of dispensing alcoholic drinks in the fire hall lounge. CTV reported on a 1-½ page press release issued by the former District of Squamish Fire Rescue Chief Ray Saurette:
Ray Saurette
Ray Saurette said the district’s municipal council terminated his position during a closed session on Tuesday. He claims that municipal officials were poised to enact a no-alcohol policy at the district’s fire halls, which he supported.
But some volunteer firefighters and retirees banded together to convince members of the district not to go through with it and to retain lounges at the fire halls, Saurette said. “When there is a fire in town or a vehicle crash on the highway there is no way to know if the person coming to your rescue has just put their beer down before they climbed on the fire truck,” Saurette said. “To make sure I don’t add my name to the list of people in history that knew of the problems and failed to take action, I am compelled to speak out.”
Squamish is a town of 15,000 population about 15 miles north of Vancouver. The fire department has five paid firefighters and 60 volunteer members. The town’s mayor who supported the dismissal, Greg Gardner told ctvbc.ca late Wednesday that the district was looking for a different type of leader in the fire chief and that Saurette did not have a good working relationship with firefighters.
Gardner confirmed the existence of lounges in the fire halls. He was also quoted as saying, “Being a firefighter can be a traumatic profession,” Gardner said. “They deal with grizzly motor vehicle accidents, they do need a space to decompress.”
According to the Squamish FD website, they respond to approx. 480 emergency incidents a year. Saurette had been the fire chief for nine years.
Read the full story and view CTV’s video report HERE.
Squamish Fire Rescue WEBSITE.
Still another bombshell was dropped in Boston Tuesday pertaining to the truck maintenance program at the BFD. Last Friday we, along with most other fire/rescue-related websites, reported (HERE) on the local prosecuter’s decision not to file any criminal charges relating to the deadly ladder truck crash last January. In summary, a district attorney had conducted an investigation into the crash and released his report to the press and public last Thursday while discussing his findings.
But one item that he didn’t mention was a detailed report from the police investigation into the maintenance on that particular truck, Ladder 26. I don’t believe there was any intention on the D. A.’s part to hide it, but rather he already had enough documentation to complete his report. But the Boston Globe kept looking around and found the report. On Tuesday they published a summary of the report and it contains some truly troubling findings. The Globe’s article, which you can READ HERE, begins:
A detailed police report from a recent investigation of a fatal Boston firetruck crash concludes that a Fire Department contractor installed the wrong parts on the ladder truck’s brakes several months before the crash and that firefighters who were not licensed mechanics repeatedly adjusted the brakes in violation of national safety guidelines.
The contractor replaced a brake chamber and brake pads on Ladder 26 with “unsuitable’’ parts in spring 2008, which decreased stopping power significantly, according to a copy of the report obtained by the Globe. A few months later, when firefighters working on the truck noticed the brakes not working properly, they made manual adjustments that may have masked underlying problems.
(the article continues further:) Robert Clarke, a consultant who specializes in large vehicle maintenance and engineering, said in an interview yesterday that the results of the Boston police investigation provide a “sad lesson.’’ He said the substandard brake pads, smaller brake chamber, and the manual adjustments by Boston firefighters would all have decreased stopping power when it was really needed: on a steep hill and with a poorly trained driver behind the wheel.
People who have been following this story know that until this Spring the BFD’s truck maintenance shop was a place where firefighters who didn’t want to fire fires anymore were parked and served out their careers doing automotive repair work on the emergency apparatus. Until this deadly crash occurred, there was never any attempt to upgrade their skills and abilities by training and certifying them as bona fide firetruck mechanics. And even yet, after all that has happened this year, they are still there. The city’s “solution” was to hire genuine mechanics as shop supervisors to set up maintenance schedules and watch over the firefighters’ work on the apparatus.
For the life of me, I cannot understand the reasoning for this reluctance to correct the basic problem which is adequate mechanical work. It has all the appearance of doing just enough to get the spotlight off of the shop while trying to maintain the good ol’ boy practice that directly led to the January tragedy. That is just plain wrong.
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On a lighter note, let’s check out some more hockey action this morning. This time from Green Bay, Wisconsin, where a minor-league game between the Green Bay Gamblers and the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders on Tuesday night was interrupted by an unwanted visitor to the rink. While the game was in progress, an errant bat flew into the playing area and disrupted the play to the extent that play had to be halted.
“Definitely never seen something like that,” said Gamblers goalie Steve Summerhays. “That bat was behind me and I was trying to watch the play. I’d rather see a guy coming at me than a bat cruising behind my neck.”
After a few minutes of aerial attacks, the Green Bay coach Jon Cooper held up play and sent his top-3 scorers onto the ice with orders to dispatch the gate-crasher. In short order, they downed the rodent and it was shoveled up and removed to the dumpster.
WLUK-TV got the video of the game’s top highlight play:
Green Bay went on to win the game 5-2.
We’d better get the equipment checked out now while I go start some more coffee. You can make up your own “batty” jokes.
* STATter911 has a story that must have a lot of teeth-grinding going on in D. C. It has been disclosed that a former Deputy Chief left the department back in August to take a chief’s job in Florida. But he is still on the D.C. rolls under leave-without-pay so that he can pump up his retirement benefits. Read about this dubious maneuver HERE.
* Jason Poremba, publisher of FirefighterSpot – Best Firefighter Videos, has combined some of his videos with one of his training offerings on Protecting Exposures and has posted them on FireRescue 1 HERE.
* FirefighterNation has a very interesting article about the man in Massachusetts who is bringing back the Maxim label and making new fire engines HERE.
The sounds in this video are ACTUAL sounds from the Jeep. Everyone began rehearsing their parts 2 weeks before we began shooting the video. It took us 7 hours of filming to get a solid take.
IN WHAT APPEARS TO BE A DESPERATE ATTEMPT to keep himself out of jail, a Utica, New York, slumlord has filed suit against the city and the fire chief claiming that it was their fault that four tenants died in an apartment fire this past September.
Timothy Klotz, owner of about eight ill-kept properties around the city, already had a long list of building and fire code violations for his properties when a fire broke out in his apartment house on James Street on September 20 of this year. The Utica Fire Department responded to the 1:30 am fire and found a massive life hazard and rescue problem facing them. The fire that kept them busy for 13 hours claimed the lives of four residents.
Read the Firegeezer video report on this FIRE HERE to see coverage of the fire and a partial list of Klotz’s code violations that he had ignored correcting. We also posted this video taken at the fire scene:
Now in a bizarre and brazen move, Klotz has filed a “notice of claim” against the city. WKTV describes the action:
According to the document filed, Klotz’s claim is for loss of property and rental income, demolition costs, defamation of character, negligence, pain and suffering, medical bills, and a violation of his Federal and New York State Constitutional rights.
Also in the claim, Klotz states Utica Fire Chief Russell Brooks failed and refused to take necessary and appropriate action to fight a fire at his James Street property. The claim goes on to state the fire department made no attempt to rescue tenants in the burning building.
The fire killed four of Klotz’s tenants.
The claim states that following the fire, the Utica Fire Department issued false and defaming statements to the media about Klotz’s character and the manner in which he maintained his properties.
WKTV also has this video report on yesterday’s action:
AN FDNY AMBULANCE STRUCK AND KILLED A PEDESTRIAN in Brooklyn just before dawn Tuesday morning.
WABC-TV image
The ambulance was taking a 100-yr.-old woman with abdominal pains to the hospital when another woman, believed to be in her 70′s or 80′s, entered a crosswalk into the path of the ambulance. Neither police or fire authorities have yet confirmed if the ambulance was traveling with its lights and siren activated. The victim was reportedly pushing an old grocery cart ahead of her when she started across an on-ramp with her back to where the ambulance was approaching from.
HANDLING HIGHWAY WRECKS, ALONG WITH FIRES AND CARNAGE, are part and parcel of every fire and EMS department. But where is the most dangerous and accident-prone stretch of highway to be found? You will be surprised to learn that it is a one-kilometer stretch of autobahn (freeway) in western Germany near a town called Aldenhoven.
This mostly-straight piece 4-lane divided highway has been the scene of literally hundreds of crashes, multi-vehicle wrecks and flaming high-speed disasters. But that’s the way it’s supposed to be, because it is a purpose-built freeway for film making. Owned and operated by a company called FTL (Film+Test Location), it is rented out to motion picture companies from around the world who need to do some highway location shooting.
The carefully-designed highway has trees planted along one side of it and a stretch of non-descript open field on the other side. By aiming the camera from different vantage points, the scene can resemble any type of terrain that the story calls for. The extra lane that you see at the top of the photo can be configured to be a breakdown lane, an exit ramp or the entrance to a rest area.
The folks at Car Lust Blog found this lightly-used but treacherous roadway and have posted a nice article about it HERE.
A ST. CLAIR COUNTY, MICHIGAN, FAMILY WAS DECIMATED Tuesday morning when a fire in their home killed 3 of the 5 people inside.
Times Herald / Rummel
The fire was discovered by neighbors when they heard shouting and screams coming from next door. Looking out, they saw the smoke and flames coming from the windows of the Buckland family home. One of the neighbors grabbed a ladder and raised it to the window where the mother Amanda, 27, was trapped and got her out from the 2nd-floor. Their 12-yr.-old daughter Alyssa got her own way out from a ground-floor window.
Not so fortunate were the father Charles, 33, and their two youngest children ages 4 years and 8-months. The Port Huron Times Herald reports:
Greg Pringle, who lives next door to the scene, said the family had lived in the house for about three months. He said his family was awakened by screams, and his wife, Christina Pringle, helped the woman escape from the home.
“My wife grabbed a ladder, put it up there and pulled her out,” he said.
Pringle said his son, Jeremy Davis, attempted to get a ladder to the children’s bedroom but was pushed back by smoke and flames. “There was no way to get the other three out,” he said Tuesday morning. “The smoke was so thick, big black smoke, it just poured out. … It was a miracle she got out of the window.”
St. Clair County Sheriff Tim Donnellon said Charles Buckland was found in a second-story bedroom where 4-year-old Joshua and 8-month-old Emma were sleeping. Donnellon said it appeared Charles Buckland was trying to get the children out of the house when he collapsed in their room.
Burtchville Township Fire Chief Mark Harrington said the children were pulled from the house within 10 minutes of their arrival but neither survived.
WJBK-TV Ch. 2 Detroit filed this video report from the scene:
I’ve still got one more Christmas present that I need to buy, and I’m completely stumped on what to get. Generally speaking, each year I’m pretty good about “shopping early” as I make my list and check it twice by the end of October. Then I can get my shopping done quickly – usually online – and have that mental burden out of the way.
But I’m really stuck with this last one that I’ve been pondering for over a month, now. Yesterday I tried a little bit of impulse shopping by walking through a department store looking for ideas and inspiration. That didn’t work. So, today or tomorrow I’m going to have to descend into “desperation shopping” mode. I hate that.
If you’re still picking up some last-minute gifts too, then I’ve got a good suggestion for you: The popular Firegeezer Mug.
Todd has sent along to us a nifty “endless mirrors” concept of how his snowbuddy is taking to this necessary morning utensil that every office or day room needs to have.
And it’s not too late to order one to put under the tree. All you need to do is CLICK HERE and then click on the Buy Now button at the bottom of the ordering page. It takes you to the PayPal secure credit card ordering blank where you can safely use any major card to order this popular gift. Orders received overnight are sent out the next morning via Priority Mail. Most people are getting theirs 1-2 days after they order. Folks who live several time zones away are getting them 2-3 days, so take advantage of this great offer and order yours today.
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It’s been a while since we’ve run a hockey video, so let’s take a couple of minutes and watch some of the top goals, saves and hits of the week from the National Hockey League:
Ok, let’s get this equipment checked out now. I’ll make sure the coffee’s started and then we’ll meet back in the day room.
A WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, FIREFIGHTER WHO is also a farrier on his day job, was on the first-alarm response to a barn fire Monday night. When the units arrived on the scene, there was fire showing in a boarding stable at the Greenmor Equestrian Center.
WTAE-TV
The barn contained 13 animals with another 18 in an adjoining building. While awaiting the arrival of the FD, three people at the stables dashed in to release the horses and shoo them outside to a nearby field. But one horse was spooked and refused to leave. That’s when FF Paul Williams arrived and he learned what the problem was. Williams knows the horse from his work and he ran into the blazing barn, calmed the horse before putting a “neck rope” on her and then led the animal out of the barn just in time.
WTAE-TV Ch. 4 Pittsburgh has this video report and a brief interview with FF Williams:
All thirty horses were led out safely and none had to be treated or put down. The barn, however, was a total loss.
A HOLLYWOOD STUNT-MAN HAS DEVELOPED WHAT HE THINKS could be a valuable resource for the incessant wildfires that occur in California and elsewhere every year. George Sack has built a specially-designed tanker truck that blasts water and retardant ahead of oncoming flames. Dubbed by Sack as the Velocity Fire Force, it has a shotgun-style nozzle that lays down a blanket of water or fire retardant up to 200 ft. away to act as a barrier to fire spread.
KTTV Ch. 11 filed this video report on his innovative tanker:
Sack has spent about five years developing and building his truck and has offered to sub-contract it to fire protection agencies for firefighting duty. So far he hasn’t been able to convince any of them to try his approach.
Velocity Fire Force has a website HERE and has also produced this promotional video:
AFTER SIX MONTHS OF SEARCHING AND INTERVIEWING 57 CANDIDATES, Springfield, Missouri, has a new fire chief this week. Former assistant chief David Hall will be stepping up after serving the past six months as interim co-chief with Asst. Ch. Randy Villines.
When former Fire Chief Barry Rowell retired in June, Hall and Villines were appointed to operate the department while the hiring process was undertaken. Villines had declined to apply for the chief’s position.
The department has just gone through some unusually tough times with some layoffs, rotating brownouts, the possibility of an ISO rating reduction and a defunct pension fund. In November the citizens approved a ballot measure to increase the local sales tax by 3/4-percent to restore the fire and police pensions to viability. On July 1, as a result of the new tax, other funds will be available to start hiring to fill the 17 vacancies that the FD currently has. That means the fire department likely will have to continue periodically closing fire units and stations until about September, Hall told the Springfield News-Leader (HERE), when new firefighters will make it easier to maintain minimum staffing levels and keep all stations open.
In the short term, the department also will begin implementing an action plan meant to help maintain the city’s ISO rating.
Springfield has held a 2 rating — 1 being the best on the 10-point scale — for the past decade, but the national fire safety rating company alerted the fire department in November that it would drop to a 3 in May.
Hall has pitched a plan he hopes will avoid the drop, which could cause some home and business insurance rates to increase.
KOLR/KSFX – TV has more of the story and a good video report HERE.
Firegeezer notes: The following article was submitted by long-time reader and blogging colleague from the south of France, Laurence Delorme. She publishes a blog for French firefighters, ChezFireball, and has contributed here before, more recently an interview with a fire engineer, Franck Gaviot-Blanc (see Firegeezer HERE). We thank Laurence for this interesting cultural comparison.
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EACH YEAR IN DECEMBER IN FRANCE, Firefighters celebrate their patron saint, Saint Barbara.
The 20-year medal
The martyr is also the patron saint for military people. Like in the USA where you honor Saint Florian, Ste. Barbara protects the firefighters and her feast day is on December 4. The day is celebrated with ceremonies in important cities like Paris, Lyon and Marseille, as firefighters recieve medals and speeches are delivered to thank them. Usually many important people such as mayors and fire officers thank the firefighters for their courage and devotion. They will also go to cemeteries to pray for the fallen soldiers. After the ceremony, there is a banquet held for the families.
In smaller cities and villages, Saint Barbara is celebrated on a convenient day in early December with similar programs of speeches and medal presentations. It is a special day for the local firefighters and their families, along with the citizens of the town. This year in my home town of Vaugneray, the program was held on Saturday, December 12 in the city auditorium where the mayor spoke to the families and medals were presented to all those who had reached 20 years of service in the fire department.
Vaugneray has 42 firefighters. In France, only the large cities have paid fire departments and none of the towns have what Americans call volunteer departments. They are called “volunteer” in France, but are actually what you refer to as paid-on-call firefighters.
The local fire chief in the towns is titled Capitaine and our chief is a young man for the position. He is only 37 yrs. old, but began as a firefighter when he was age 16, riding his bicycle to the station to respond on fire calls.
This picture above shows three very close friends who received their 20-yr. medals on Saturday. Left, Capitaine Lucien Greppo; center, Bruno Delbarre; and right, Stephane Laurent. FF Laurent in my Step-dad and we were all very proud of him on that day.
With this article, I would like to salute and thank all of the French firefighters who take care of us everyday. May God bless them.
Service Departemental Incendie Secours
(“Fire Department” in English)
As you can see, I’m late getting to the Lineup this morning. FossilMedic has already posted the next chapter in his Urban Commander series (scroll down to read it), so make sure you don’t miss this one.
We have a lot of items to cover this morning, so we’d better get this equipment checked out first. I’ll go make sure that there’s plenty of strong coffee ready. See you back in the day room in a little bit.
Jack Bennett started with Los Angeles Fire Department in 1955 and retired as an Assistant Fire Chief. Bennett wrote a semi-autobiographical novel on the life of LAFD firefighter “Jack Allen” in Fireman Games (HERE). It was published in 1996.
LAFD COMPANY OFFICERS
LAFD retained the task force staffing concept after the 1965 Watts riots. Every aerial was married to a triple combination pumper, establishing a six person Light Force that is commanded by a Captain II.
The station will also have four person engine company commanded by a Captain I. When all three rigs respond together they are Task Force 1. Engine 1 handles EMS, vehicle fire, etc. by itself. Light Force 1 (Truck 1 + Engine 201) remains available.
GETTING TO KNOW YOU
Jack Allen was promoted to Captain II and transferring to Task Force 1. He had 17 years on the job, four as a Captain.
A Marine that fought in Korea, the 13 years as a firefighter included:
2 years at Station 1 (now Task Force 1)
2 years on a rescue ambulance
2 years as a “Green Hornet” on Squad 23 (a busy unit)
4 years as a battalion chief’s aide
2 years as a fire inspector
For a 1960′s era firefighter, Allen was getting all the experience boxes checked in his promotion folder. The four years as Captain included:
3 years on Heavy Duty Task Force 3
1 year teaching recruits.
Allen (Captain I Jack Bennett) was part of a 1969 response to a three story apartment fire that required 30+ rescues. Eight civilians died in the early morning blaze.
Station 3 located, removed and resuscitated the sole survivor of one family. This link takes you to Len Larkin’s “Miraculous Rescue” article (HERE).
Allen is a stickler about appearances, personal preparation and training. The firefighters at Task Force 1 appear to be concerned about the “spit and polish” reputation of the new boss.
TESTING THE LIMITS
LAFD does a formal line-up at 0800. On the first day as the new Captain II this is what Allen encounters:
Senior firefighter eating toast.
Another firefighter in a red t-shirt and filthy pants.
Engine company Captain I stands next to Allen and says nothing.
Allen says:
Let’s try this line-up one more time in ten minutes. You are all dismissed and I would suggest that you get yourselves ready for a standard LAFD line-up.
CONFRONTATION
At 8:10 the bells ring for the second line-up. The crew looked a little better, the red t-shirted firefighter found a correct and clean uniform.
The senior firefighter, who is also the informal leader, was smirking and drinking a soda.
Almost every one of the 15 firefighters had mud smeared on their shoes.
WHAT WOULD YOU DO NEXT?
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.
MANSFIELD, OHIO, POLICE QUICKLY INDENTIFIED the suspect in a fire-bombing at the Mansfield City Hall early Monday morning. Warrants were issued for 40-yr.-old Kevin Dye for aggravated arson, a first-degree felony, and manufacturing a dangerous ordnance, a second-degree felony.
Kevin Dye
Several 2nd-floor windows were broken out and a fire-bomb of some sort was thrown through one of them, starting a small fire that was extinguished by the sprinkler system. Channel 10 News has this video report:
Evidence at the scene indicated that Dye was the chief suspect. He is also scheduled to appear before the same judge’s court on two previous charges. Dye is a career criminal in Mansfield, but is not in custody.
IN KYIV, UKRAINE, A UNIVERSITY CHEMISTRY STUDENT met an unfortunate end on Thursday when he neglected to watch where he was dipping his chewing gum. Vladimir Likhonos, 25, was at home studying in his room with a small dish of citric acid sitting on his desk. It was his usual practice to dip his chewing gum in it to prolong the taste as he chewed.
But on this day he also had a small quantity of a similar-looking white powder that resembled the citric acid, but which was an as-yet unidentified explosive powder.
The first indication that something was wrong was when his parents heard a “pop” coming from the young man’s room. When his father went to see what it was, he found Vladimir slumped in his chair with his jaw blown off his face and his entire head a bloody mess. Apparently he had accidentally dipped his gum into the wrong powder and the combination of the explosive, his saliva and the grinding from chewing it detonated the powder.
The police are treating it as an accident, but are investigating into why he manufactured the explosive in the first place.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, FIREFIGHTERS WERE CALLED to a house fire shortly before 10 pm Saturday night after neighbors reported hearing an explosion at the home. When they arrived, they found some smoke showing, a fire just beginning to break through and the homeowner standing out front with burns over the upper part of his body.
As they started into the house, a series of small explosions started up and the FF’s withdrew back outside. After putting out the fire that destroyed much of the home, they called in the police bomb squad to investigate and make the area secure. It turned out that the victim is a military armament collector who also reloads his own ammuntion for his firearms. They also found many inert hand grenades and rocket grenades.
This video report from KSAZ-V Ch. 10 shows what happened:
The victim is hospitalized with burns to his arms, face and the top of his head. The man’s wife said her husband was in the “reloading room” at the time of the fire, but he was not reloading ammunition. The police found nothing illegal in the house, but the neighbors are still jittery.
THE KNIGHTSTOWN, INDIANA, VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPARTMENT was just two weeks away from having to close their doors when a true angel dropped in to save the department. The community VFD located on the National Road just east of Indianapolis, was equipped with SCBA’s from a manufacturer that went out of business recently, and they were faced with a forced shutdown because they were unable to get the air packs re-certified.
The $75,000 needed to replace their SCBA’s was too much for them to come up with and the prospects looked gloomy.
By a bit of fortune the department’s chaplain, Mark Tabb is a professional writer who is currently authoring the memoirs of Helen Rosburg, the heiress to the Wrigley chewing gum fortune. Knowing that she is well-connected with many wealthy and charitable organizations, Tabb asked her for some advice on how to secure a donation that was desperately needed to keep the VFD operating.
But instead of giving him advice, Miss Rosburg stepped up and donated the sum herself. Yesterday she came by the firehouse to meet the members and they had a nice thank-you party where they made her an honorary lifetime member. WRTV Ch. 6 Indianapolis had their video crew there and filed this nice report:
SOMETIMES, TIMING IS EVERYTHING. That was the case Sunday afternoon around 2 pm when a fire started on the 28th floor of a Chicago, Illinois, apartment building. At that same moment, an off-duty Chicago firefighter was nearby working at his part-time job driving a private ambulance. For some fateful reason he looked up at the top of the building and saw smoke starting to seep out of the upper-floor windows.
Chicago Tribune / Arroyava photo
The Chicago Tribune tells what happened next:
Jason Durbin, 33, an off-duty firefighter, said he was working a side job driving an ambulance for a private company. He was driving south on Clark Street after grabbing a hot dog when he looked up and saw smoke billowing out of a unit near the top of the building.
Durbin said that he ran up 28 flights to the [fire] floor and found [a] woman conscious about half way down the smokey hallway.
She was in the fetal position overcome with smoke, he said. He grabbed the woman and put her on his back, piggyback style, and carried her down to the ground floor, said Durbin who joined the department 15 months ago and said this was his first rescue.
“It was just all adrenalin,” Durbin told the Sun-Times. “The minute I hit the ground [floor], it was just “Thank God.”
The woman who is believed to be in her 50′s lived alone in the apartment and is in the hospital this morning in serious condition with smoke inhalation and burns. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it did not spread beyond her apartment. The CFD had the fire out in about 30 minutes.
WFLD-TV Ch. 32 talks to Durbin in this report from the fireground:
Read the Chicago Tribune report HERE.
More from the Sun-Times HERE.
We’re heading into “crunch time” at the shopping centers and malls this week. A few years ago I joined the ranks of online shoppers for most of my Christmas gift purchases for all the obvious reasons. Mainly, if you know what you want to buy, the selection online is so much greater and you can look around at several retailers for comparisons without having to spend days driving around to and fro.
But there’s always some last-minute thing, so I have to put up with the once-a-year drivers anyway. The shift from in-store to online shopping continues, though. Early reports show that retail sales are up about 2.5% over last year, but online sales are up about 11%.
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For those of you who live in the greater-Washington, D. C. area, or will be visiting here, one of the annual events is the Pageant of Peace program that is held on the south grounds of the White House known as the Ellipse. The National Park Service sets up a large stage along with that big Christmas tree that you’ve seen on tv each year when the U. S. President has a tree-lighting ceremony. Around the grounds are displays relating to the season like a huge Yule log burning in a big pit, a large Menorah (which had its lighting ceremony yesterday), and a variety of other activities designed for family participation.
During the three weeks of activity at the Pageant, there is a constant flow of musical performances being held on the stage to serenade and entertain the visitors.
GeezerDotter has a little sideline business running an after-school class where she teaches pre- and early-teens to perform song-and-dance routines as a group. They go around to various functions and put on shows in places like nursing homes, outdoor stages, and each year they put on a show at the Pageant of Peace, also.
This year they will be singing at the Pageant on this coming Saturday, Dec. 19, at 5:00 pm. So if you’ll be in the area and are planning on taking the family down to the Ellipse for the annual visit, plan on coming by Saturday evening. Make sure you say “hello” to her while you’re there and tell her you’re a Firegeezer reader. The name of her troupe is the Stafford Performing Stars.
I don’t know for sure if I’ll be there, but I’ll tell you later this week if I’m going. We’d love to see you there.
Now we’d best get this equipment checked out for today. And I need to get some more coffee started. See you back in the day room in a little while.
Morning Lineup – December 17
4 commentsStill another bombshell was dropped in Boston Tuesday pertaining to the truck maintenance program at the BFD. Last Friday we, along with most other fire/rescue-related websites, reported (HERE) on the local prosecuter’s decision not to file any criminal charges relating to the deadly ladder truck crash last January. In summary, a district attorney had conducted an investigation into the crash and released his report to the press and public last Thursday while discussing his findings.
But one item that he didn’t mention was a detailed report from the police investigation into the maintenance on that particular truck, Ladder 26. I don’t believe there was any intention on the D. A.’s part to hide it, but rather he already had enough documentation to complete his report. But the Boston Globe kept looking around and found the report. On Tuesday they published a summary of the report and it contains some truly troubling findings. The Globe’s article, which you can READ HERE, begins:
People who have been following this story know that until this Spring the BFD’s truck maintenance shop was a place where firefighters who didn’t want to fire fires anymore were parked and served out their careers doing automotive repair work on the emergency apparatus. Until this deadly crash occurred, there was never any attempt to upgrade their skills and abilities by training and certifying them as bona fide firetruck mechanics. And even yet, after all that has happened this year, they are still there. The city’s “solution” was to hire genuine mechanics as shop supervisors to set up maintenance schedules and watch over the firefighters’ work on the apparatus.
For the life of me, I cannot understand the reasoning for this reluctance to correct the basic problem which is adequate mechanical work. It has all the appearance of doing just enough to get the spotlight off of the shop while trying to maintain the good ol’ boy practice that directly led to the January tragedy. That is just plain wrong.
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On a lighter note, let’s check out some more hockey action this morning. This time from Green Bay, Wisconsin, where a minor-league game between the Green Bay Gamblers and the Cedar Rapids Rough Riders on Tuesday night was interrupted by an unwanted visitor to the rink. While the game was in progress, an errant bat flew into the playing area and disrupted the play to the extent that play had to be halted.
“Definitely never seen something like that,” said Gamblers goalie Steve Summerhays. “That bat was behind me and I was trying to watch the play. I’d rather see a guy coming at me than a bat cruising behind my neck.”
After a few minutes of aerial attacks, the Green Bay coach Jon Cooper held up play and sent his top-3 scorers onto the ice with orders to dispatch the gate-crasher. In short order, they downed the rodent and it was shoveled up and removed to the dumpster.
WLUK-TV got the video of the game’s top highlight play:
Green Bay went on to win the game 5-2.
We’d better get the equipment checked out now while I go start some more coffee. You can make up your own “batty” jokes.