BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CITY OF NEARLY 600,000 residents went through the entire year of 2009 without a single fire-related death. This was the first time since the city started keeping detailed records of fire deaths in 1972 that they have gone an entire calendar year without any deaths. The Boston Globe adds:
An official with the National Fire Protection Association applauded the department for achieving what he said was a rare record of success for a major Northeastern city with a large number of older buildings and neighborhoods where homes are clustered together.
“I think to have zero fire deaths in Boston is a very significant accomplishment,’’ said Russell E. Sanders, former fire chief in Louisville, Ky., who works with fire chiefs from large cities for the Quincy-based NFPA. “It’s certainly not something you see often. I think it’s very unusual, especially in the Northeast.’’
City and fire officials are giving partial credit for the success to their policy of dispatching an enhanced compliment of manpower on every initial fire alarm. The standard box response is 3 engines, 2 ladders and a rescue squad with a total of 32 firefighters and a chief officer. “We show up with more than enough people to start the initial search and also fire suppression at the same time,’’ said Chief of Department Ronald W. Keating. Read the full STORY HERE.
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GRAND RIDGE, FLORIDA, MAYOR CHRIS WRIGHT has gone and crashed the town’s fire engine. Their backup pumper is over 30 yrs. old and is now back on the front line after Wright, who is also a volunteer firefighter violated a city ordinance and took the fire engine out for a drive last Thursday.
His problem arose when he tried to turn around in a private driveway while he was driving down a street. After pulling into the driveway, the rear wheels on one side slid off into a ditch causing the pumper to tilt over and fall into a pine tree.
In September 2008 the town council decreed that the fire engines would not be taken out of the station unless they were dispatched by Jackson County to an incident.
The Floridan has the details HERE.
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THE CALIFORNIA STATE BUILDING STANDARDS COMMISSION voted unanimously Tuesday (January 12) by 10-0 in favor of adopting the 2010 California Residential Code, which includes the 2009 International Residential Code as established by the International Code Council in September 2008. The code changes will require all new one- and two-family homes and townhouses built in the state starting January 1, 2011, to be equipped with fire sprinkler systems.
YubaNet has the STORY.
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A DES MOINES, IOWA, FIRE DEPARTMENT AMBULANCE was responding to a call just after 6 pm Tuesday night when a car drove through a stop sign and collided with the ambulance. The impact drove the ambulance into a snow bank. The driver of the car drove away from the scene immediately without stopping.
The police are looking for the driver, but they have a pretty good idea who it is because he conveniently left his car’s license plate at the crash scene when he fled.
The Des Moines Register has the details HERE.
