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Firefighters Caught Getting Lunch !

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, TELEVISION STATION WBZ sent out their crack investigative-reporting team recently to expose the practice of the Boston firefighters taking time to feed themselves every day.

Venting his outrage in a televised report, clueless hack Joe Shortsleeve disclosed:

(The) I-Team saw a ladder truck outside a grocery store (and) our hidden cameras spotted on-duty Boston firefighters leisurely wandering the aisles…

The I-Team discovered this was not an isolated incident. Our cameras found the same truck, Engine 32, shopping at lunchtime at the same grocery store, four different times over the course of a couple of weeks.

WBZ’s stealthy reporters armed with hidden cameras,
catch Boston firefighters in the act of buying food to eat.

We wanted to find out if the truck stopped by on the way back from a call. The I-Team obtained call records for Engine 32 on all four days. There were no emergencies anywhere near lunchtime. We even looked at the training schedule, but there was no scheduled training for Engine 32. That means the Boston Fire Department has no record of any official reason that Engine 32 left the station on Main Street in Charlestown.

Shortsleeve then took his concerns to the Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser and to his dismay, the Commish fully backed the firefighters saying, “I think the practice is fine.” In fact, the only person he could find that would agree with his peculiar view was some wack-o who is described by Shortpants as a “city watchdog.” But the best response to his Boston-shattering revelation came from his viewers and readers when they left more than 100 Comments to his posting on the WBZ website story. Only two people agreed with Shortsight and everybody else gave full support to the notion that firefighters also need to eat in order to stay alive.

One of the comments worth relaying on says, “As a member of the firehouse in the story I’ve read most of the comments left on this “investigative report” and I have to say rather than demonize Joe Shortsleeve we should be applauding him. With one ridiculously stupid story he did what no other agency in the city has been able to accomplish, he got the residents of Boston to support us again. So thank you Joe and keep up the good work.”

Read the full WBZ “investigative report” and the Comments HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 10, 2010 • Filed under: current events, News • Tagged: Boston firefighters, shopping for lunch, WBZ-TV

Hungry Dog Sets House Afire

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A 3-YR.-OLD DOG IN OKLAHOMA was home alone one day in November when she discovered a cake in a box left on top of the stove, presumably in a safe place. “She jumped up to get the cake on the back of the stove and her big paws hit the burner and turned the it on,” owner Kay Wardlow told WTEV-TV reporter Ilyssa Trussel. A smoke alarm in the family’s Oklahoma home went off, sending a signal to the ADT customer monitoring center in Jacksonville, Florida.

Dispatcher-trainee David Brown took the alarm and called Wardlaw, who was away from home at the time, after first notifying the local fire department.

Firefighters saved Lucy from the home, which was quickly filling up with smoke. Lucy’s owners say it if weren’t for the life-saving signal and Brown, Lucy may not be here today.

“She means the world to us,” Wardlow said. “We never expected when we got the alarm to protect our family that we were also protecting our pet and I’m so thankful,” she said told WTEV.

Recently the Wardlaws visited the ADT center in Jacksonville to thank Brown and the firm for their good servce, and the tv cameras were there:

Posted by firegeezer on February 10, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Fire-ology, News, Videos

Promotional Opportunities

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TARPON SPRINGS, FLORIDA, FIRE CHIEF Stephen Moreno resigned his office yesterday (Tuesday) just prior to a disciplinary hearing was to begin considering his conduct at a fire on January 14. Testimony from firefighters and officers from the Tarpon Springs FD along with those from mutual aid companies accused him of showing up drunk on a fire scene and, without establishing command, began issuing dangerous and countermanding orders on the fireground.

STATter911 had coverage when the story first came out HERE.

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Stephen Moreno
Tarpon Springs FRD photo

This morning’s edition of the Tampa Tribune adds:

The fire chief told at least one firefighter to don an air mask a firefighter had taken off after retreating from the house shortly before the roof collapsed. He also started having firefighters move hoses, sometimes to locations where hoses were in place, and at one point ordered that the hoses be turned off, though the second floor was still on fire, city documents state.

Read the entire article HERE.

Tarpon Springs Fire Rescue WEBSITE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 10, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, labor • Tagged: disciplinary hearing, Fire Chief Stephen Moreno, Tarpon Springs Fire Rescue, Tarpon Springs Florida

Phoney Firefighter Goes Back to Prison

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A MILES CITY, SOUTH DAKOTA MONTANA MAN, David Monington was sentenced to Federal prison last week after he pleaded guilty to wire fraud that he perpetrated in May 2006. The Billings Gazette (Montana) reports:

Prosecutors said Monington used Federal Express to send fraudulent documents from South Dakota to the National Wildfire Suppression Association in Lyon, Ore., in an effort to become a certified firefighter instructor. The documents contained forged signatures of firefighting officials and falsely claimed firefighting certificates he didn’t have. Names and signatures were misspelled and titles were incorrectly listed, the indictment said.

Monington entered his guilty plea this past October leading to this recent sentencing to 10 months imprisonment and restitution payments of $5,000.

In more recent years, Monington has been charged and convicted in state courts for a long string of similar crimes including:

four felony counts, including theft, theft of property, issuing bad checks and deceptive practices.
buying radios and firefighter accessories on the Internet and not paying for them.
writing bad checks to Miles City businesses.

His only firefighting experience was apparently a brief time as a part-time firefighter in Miles City until Fire Chief Derek Rogers discovered that Monington had drafted his own firefighting training certificates and forged the instructors’ names.

Read the entire story about this serial forger HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 10, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Law & Justice • Tagged: David Monington, Miles City South Dakota, National Wildfire Suppression Association

Multiple Rescues in France

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A HEAVY FIRE IN TOURCOING, FRANCE, EARLY THIS MORNING has left at least three people dead and ten more injured or missing. The fire broke out in a 12-unit apartment building and when the first units arrived the building was already well-involved.

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photos by La Voix du Nord

Greeting them were the severely burned bodies of a man and a woman who had jumped out of a 2nd-story window. Shortly after, the entire 2nd floor collapsed onto the first floor. First alarm firefighters were able to rescue six people from inside the building before it became untenable and they also found the charred body of a third victim.

Four of the six people rescued were seriously injured and all six have been transported to hospitals. Including some injuries that were treated on the scene, there are 13 victims accounted for so far.

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The severity of the fire and the overall destruction lead to fears that there will be more victims buried in the rubble inside. The 50 firefighters on the scene had the fire under control in about three hours. Investigators are on the scene now trying to determine the cause and location of the origin.

La Voix du Nord has the story and a 10-image photo gallery HERE.

Posted by fireball on February 10, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Rescues • Tagged: apartment fire, Lille France, six rescues

Morning Lineup – February 10

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Snowpocalypse part 2 is doing its thing this morning over us. I’m getting off a little easy because it looks like the heaviest part of it is about 40 miles north of Geezer Central. We had internet connection problems last evening and the day’s Mystery Minute entry was late getting posted. But it’s up now, just below this morning’s lineup.

I spoke too soon….looking out the window it’s snowing like crazy again. This is going to be another long week. It triggers a memory of a storm we had many years ago. I was scheduled to go to work then next morning and when I went to bed I had no idea that it was supposed to snow during the night. Usually with warning ahead, we’d just drive up to the firehouse the evening before. But this time the weatherman was caught off-guard as well and there was no alert.

When I woke up in the morning, talk about a surprise. I looked out the window and the snow was level with the hood of my car. I phoned the firehouse to “call in” and when I told the Lieut. who answered that I would be late, he just broke out laughing at me. It was three days before I got out. Frank’s a regular reader of ours and I wonder if he remembers that morning as well?

We’d better get the equipment checked out now. I have to get the coffee started and then get some postings up for you while I’ve still got my internet connection.

Posted by firegeezer on February 10, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: Snowpocalypse

Mystery Minute 04.09

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Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.

Part Nine

Station 4 is only a mile away from HQ and Finny was looking forward to a good, hot shower when his phone chirped. It was Danny, one of the investigators working the fire.

“Hey, Finny….it’s Dan,” in his usual salutation.

“What you got, Danny”

“You’d better get over here, pronto,” he answered, never saying why before he disconnected.

With a sigh of frustration, Finbar made a right turn and started on the 15-minute drive to Spinoza’s house. And he was wondering what all the thumping sounds were in the background of Danny’s call.

Read Part Ten HERE.

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Posted by firegeezer on February 10, 2010 • Filed under: Mystery Minute

Google Meets Facebook

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EARLIER TODAY GOOGLE INTRODUCED BUZZ to its popular email program Gmail. The new feature brings Facebook-like sharing of photos, videos, web links, status updates and conversations with other Gmail users.

Buzz was launched today by incorporating it into about 1% of the Gmail users and they expect to have the majority of Gmail subscribers installed by the end of this week.

While it will have a lot of similarities to Facebook programs, the only “friends” able to use Buzz are Gmail users. You won’t be able to bring in a “friend” from outside the Gmail universe. However, you will not be required to get permission to become “friends” because everybody with a Gmail address will automatically be capable of receiving your stuff.

There are some uncomfortable limitations, however. For one, you cannot attach a photo file from your hard drive. You can only attach links to images in either Google’s Picassa or Yahoo’s Flickr. A blatant attempt to drive you into using their photo storage sites. You will be able to import an image directly from a web page, however.

Same thing for video, only links to YouTube will bring up a video player for the recipient to view. Google claims they are doing this to keep file size way down and thus not clog up the “pipes” and slow the service. But Firegeezer suspects that it’s really a device to steer you into other pages where more advertising lurks.

Here is a demonstration video of the Buzz service:

Google will also be issuing an app for its Android phones

The USA Today blog has MORE.
PC Magazine has additional coverage and an 11-image slide show of the Buzz Introduction email HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 9, 2010 • Filed under: technology, Technology & Communications, Videos • Tagged: Buzz, Gmail, Google Buzz

Looking Back

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034 a

………. Fire Engineering, November 1972

Posted by firegeezer on February 9, 2010 • Filed under: Looking Back • Tagged: automotive conversion corporation, Rescu-All ambulance

Ambulance Rollover in North Dakota

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A JAMESTOWN, NORTH DAKOTA, AMBULANCE was carrying a patient to Fargo Monday afternoon when it hit an icy patch on a bridge. It was traveling eastbound on I-94 and when it hit the ice it went out of control, did a complete rollover and landed on its wheels in the westbound lanes.

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Fargo Forum

The Fargo Forum reports:

The elderly male remained in the gurney when the ambulance turned over, but he did suffer a head injury from being struck with debris…

The two ambulance personnel in the back appeared to suffer head, neck and back injuries, (police) said. “They were tossed around pretty good,” he said.

All three were taken to MeritCare Hospital in Fargo. The extent of their injuries was unknown, but Hischer said all three were talking at the scene. The driver was not taken to the hospital.

There were a large number of accidents on the highway during that same time period, taxing the state police officers. Large stretches of it were covered with glare ice.

The Fargo Forum has the full STORY.

Posted by firegeezer on February 9, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances • Tagged: Fargo North Dakota, Jamestown North Dakota ambulance

Warwick Fire Update

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RHODE ISLAND INVESTIGATORS ARE CLOSE TO announcing the cause of the fire in Warwick Saturday that killed four young adults and an infant girl. (see Firegeezer report HERE.) It has been confirmed that one of the fatalities Nicholas Jillson, 24, was the son of North Smithfield Fire Chief Joel Jillson.

The investigation also disclosed that there were two smoke detectors in the house. One of them was in the basement where the smoke level never reached, and the other was a properly-placed hardwire detector at the stairwell. The lab is checking to see if it was in working order, but the sole survivor said that he never heard it sounding.

warwick a WLNE

WLNE-TV

They have placed the point of origin in the space between the first-floor ceiling and the 2nd-story flooring. The Providence Journal adds:

“We will announce the cause of this fire after we get every single piece of evidence before us so that we can do so confidently and that we’ve got it right,” said State Fire Marshal Jack Chartier on Monday. “This is far too important to the families and the community for us to rush this and we’re going to get it right.”

WPRI-TV Ch. 12 filed this video report on the latest findings and coverage of yesterday’s press conference:

Read the entire article from the Journal HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 9, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, investigations, Videos • Tagged: fire fatality, smoke detector, Warwick Rhode Island

Now It’s Radish Gas …

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IN NORTHWEST OHIO, THE TIFFIN TOWNSHIP VFD is patiently responding to every “smell of gas” call that is triggered from a field of rotting radishes.

A farmer’s field has been planted with oilseed radishes, a cover crop that adds nutrients to the soil, where they are being left to rot and do their ground-feeding thing. Unfortunately, the field is not far from a natural gas pipeline compression station and wary neighbors are confused about the powerful odor wafting over the township. The Tiffin VFD has gotten five investigation calls in the past 45 days and they responsibly check all of them out, even though it takes an hour to complete the search.

A pipeline technician with the TransCanada natural gas compression station said the gas stored at the facility is odorless.

The Associated Press reported HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 9, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Fire-ology • Tagged: radish gas, Tiffin Township Fire Department, TransCanada natural gas

Morning Lineup – February 9

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As wise and experienced as I am, even the Firegeezer gets snookered once in a while. And I really got hooked yesterday. I posted a video report from a Mobile, Alabama, tv station about a massive multi-vehicle pile-up on I-10 in the city. Some great shots of a very challenging rescue situation. The only problem is, the wreck happened 15 years ago, in 1995. Apparently the station was running some sort of flashback story and didn’t identify it as such when they sent it out. That explains why none of the other Mobile stations didn ‘t have a report on it.

Talk about standing there with egg on your face….I’m the champion of the day for that one. I was tipped off on the mistake by one of our readers, Brian G. who ran the call. He posted some insight on the incident in a Comment that is enlightening, too. I’ll leave the video posted because it has some very interesting footage on it. You’ll find me over in the corner. Off-hand, I can’t remember my last big blunder, but I’m sure there has been one. And I just may have another one in the future. I just hope it’s in the distant future.

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The announcement came out yesterday that noted British actor Ian Carmichael died on Friday at age 89. Most of you probably haven’t heard of him, but he achieved some fame here in the U. S. playing in a series of tv programs that were shown on the PBS network about 30 years ago in the comedic role of Lord Peter Wimsey. The shows were based on a series of witty novels by Dorothy L. Sayers. If you were a fan of those programs, the London Telegraph has their usual good obituary HERE. A simple search engine inquiry will bring more if you want to check into it.

Actor-Ian-Carmichael a Getty

Getty Images

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Our final item this morning is a piece of good news. Heinz food products has introduced a new ketchup packet for the fast-food market that is not only easier to open, but it contains 3 times as much product as those current packets that get thrown into your bag of lunch goodies.

Instead of those horrible plastic envelopes that demand that you “tear here ->” and then leave your fingertips covered with the stuff, this new packet is similar to the jelly packets that come with your toast, in that you tear back the lid leaving the ketchup in a little tray that also serves as a puddle that you can dip your french fries in. But it has the added feature of being able to be opened at the opposite edge which turns it into a little squeeze bottle for precision aiming over the pile of fries.

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Coming soon to a fast-food joint near you.

Also coming soon is equipment check time. So let’s get started while I go make another pot of coffee. See you back in the day room.

Posted by firegeezer on February 9, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: Heinz ketchup, Ian Carmichael

Around the Fire Web

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* Dave Statter at STATter911 has the latest on the Fairfax County, Virginia, fire station that had a roof collapse early Monday morning. It’s due to the high snow load on the flat roof. And it looks like still another Fairfax station is threatened with the same problem. Read his latest update on the situation HERE.

His tv station, WUSA-TV has released this earlier raw video of the firehouse:

* John Mitchell at Fire Daily is talking about an lllinois firehouse that is haunted HERE.

* Mike Legeros over at Raleigh/Wake Firefighting Blog has the good news…. a retired firefighter in Asheville, North Carolina, has hit the Powerball lottery for $141 million. Read all about it HERE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 8, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Blogs

Building an Urban Culture

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band_web A couple of the responses to December’s confrontation at Task Force 1 included a reference to the HBO series “Band of Brothers.”

The ten episode series covered Easy Company during World War II, an adoption the book written by history professor and biographer Stephen Ambrose.

MENTORING EAGER EDDIE

Eddie has five years with your department. One of the most enthusiastic firefighters you have met, “Double E” has a reputation of outworking almost anyone on the job.

He seems tone-deaf when it comes to supervision and leadership. Expects everyone else to work as hard as he does. Could use some tactfulness when dealing with the public.

He comes to you for advise. How can be prepare to be the best fire officer he can be? The promotional exam is two years away.

DEVELOPING AN APPROPRIATE FOUNDATION

What movies should Eddie see? What fictional or real characters should be study? Any good books? We have two years to build an urban fire officer culture that Eddie can stand on to excel as a fire officer and, probably, as a senior command officer.

What would YOU recommend?

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 fossilmedic on February 8, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, culture, education, Fire Rescue Topics, Training & Development, Urban Commander • Tagged: Double E, Eager Eddie, fire officer culture, fossilmedic

Mystery Minute 04.08

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Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.

Part Eight

Capt. Finbar “Finny” Lonnigan leaned back in his desk chair and took a slow, deep breath. His showdown with Mayrie was put off for a few hours and now he was faced with the procedure of looking into the death of somebody in Tony Spinoza’s house last night as they lost the race against the flames to the door.

With some luck, later today there might be a positive identification of the charred body, and his squad of investigators on the scene might be able to pinpoint a cause for the fire that gutted Tony’s house. While he waits for those two results, he might as well start hounding the loan shark’s acquaintences and see who turns up missing and what they’ve been doing lately.

This is one of those days that he was glad to have a spare change of clothes in the office. Grabbing those and his shaving kit, he headed out the door and started driving over to Station 4 to shower, shave and change. He had no way of knowing that he’d never make it to the warm shower.

Read Part Nine HERE.

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Posted by firegeezer on February 8, 2010 • Filed under: Mystery Minute • Tagged: Mystery Minute

And It Wasn’t Even Snowing Down There

2 comments

NOTICE: Since this video report was posted we have learned that this incident occurred in 1995. The tv station was apparently running a reprise for some reason. But we’ll leave the video posted for now because it is interesting. Read the Comment from Brian for some good insight.

We’re sorry for any misunderstandings, but they began here.

AS INTERSTATE-10 APPROACHES MOBILE, ALABAMA, it traverses Mobile Bay on a causeway known locally as the Bayway. Early this morning (Monday), shortly before 7 am a fog bank drifted into the bay and blanketed the Bayway bringing visibility down to zero instantly.

As the rush-hour traffic was building up, the Bayway was getting congested when the fog rolled in. It didn’t take long for the chain-reaction accidents to start happening. Within a few minutes there were five separate pile-ups on both eastbound and westbound lanes involving 130 vehicles, including a Mobile FD fire engine.

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WALA-TV

By the time it was over and the fog lifted enough for rescuers to find their way to all the wrecks, there was one person dead and several dozen injured. Packaging and transporting all those injured victims from an isolated location was a genuine challenge for the EMS and fire units.

WALA-TV Ch. 10 has a good, comprehensive video report on the entire incident that covered a 2-mile stretch of the causeway in each direction:

Posted by firegeezer on February 8, 2010 • Filed under: Mass Casualty Incident, rescue, Rescues, Videos

Mugs Around the Border

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RECENTLY WE HAVE RECEIVED ONE OF the most unusual Mug Shots yet. This one comes from loyal reader Ben M., a retired firefighter who spends time now conducting airboat training courses.

Border Patrol

That’s Ben holding his Geezer Mug while taking a break at one of his classes for the U. S. Border Patrol
along the banks of the Rio Grande in Texas.

If we don’t have your Mug Shot yet, be sure to send it in to us. And if you don’t have your GeezerCup yet….shame on you. They are modestly priced and shipping is quick. The artwork on the cup looks like this:

GeezerCup artwork

GeezerCup b

All you have to do is CLICK HERE and follow the instructions to order securely using your credit card via PayPal.

Posted by firegeezer on February 8, 2010 • Filed under: Mug Shots • Tagged: Firegeezer mug, GeezerCup

Igloo Collapse Fells Canadian Official

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THE CANADIAN FINANCE MINISTER Jim Flaherty was temporarily buried under a pile of snow blocks Saturday when his parka hood got snagged on the entrance arch as he was crawing out of an igloo.

Finance Minister Flaherty moments before the walls came a’tumbing down.
AFP photo

Canada was hosting an international meeting of finance officials from the seven richest nations in Iqaluit, a snowy community less than 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle. They are meeting to discuss ideas on how to keep a tenative global economic recovery on course. During the afternoon, Flaherty took a stroll outside to visit a “demostration” igloo that had been built for the benefit of the conference. As he was attempting to exit the snow structure, his coat caught on one of the 20-lb. blocks and caused a partial collapse that knocked him on his back.

He was uninjured, however, and no ambu-sled was needed.

Later that evening Minister Flaherty invited all of the guests to join him at a “community gathering” for a feast of local delicacies. But many of the attendees, after posing for the usual photo op, left early and only one man showed up to sample the seal meat, arctic char and caribou.

Posted by firegeezer on February 8, 2010 • Filed under: culture, News • Tagged: Canadian Finance Minister, igloo, igloo collapse, Jim Flaherty, seal meat

Mysterious Gas Suspected in Toddler’s Death

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UTAH STATE INVESTIGATORS FROM VARIOUS AGENCIES are attempting today to learn what caused the death of a 4-yr.-old girl Saturday night after she began having severe breathing difficulties.

The incident in Layton began Friday night when a carbon monoxide detector in the family’s home started sounding and they called the fire department to investigate. CO readings throughout the house and in blood samples showed a slight elevation of CO, but not beyond safe levels. The local gas utility sent a crew to ventilate the home and check again for any gas generation. After checking all potential sources of gas leaks, including their vehicles, the gas company could find nothing amiss.

Saturday night the entire family of both parents and four children began experiencing flu-like symptoms and when the toddler began suffering breathing distress she was taken to the hospital where she died later that night.

Yesterday (Sunday) a more involved investigation began looking for the source. It has been learned that recently an exerminator had placed some rodent pellets in some burrows outdoors and the search is now focused on those possibly generating phosphine gas that somehow penetrated the house. The Utah National Guard sent out a biological-hazard monitoring team to aid in the investigation and the search is continuing today.

KSL-TV Ch. 5 filed this video report on the investigation:

The house has been sealed while this is going on and the family has been displaced. None of the neighboring homes have been evacuated however.

The Salt Lake City Tribune has MORE.
Layton Fire Department WEBSITE.

Posted by firegeezer on February 8, 2010 • Filed under: HazMat, health & safety, Videos • Tagged: carbon monoxide, gas poisoning, Layton Utah

Morning Lineup – February 8

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Sports news grabs the top headlines today. The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl yesterday taking the National Football League championship. This was a team that was a lot of folks’ sentimental favorites because their history in league is pretty bleak. I think they’ve only made it to the playoffs twice in the past 35 years, earning them the nickname New Orleans Ain’ts. It’s a nice story to end the season with.

Those of you who took my advice and watched the hockey game between Washington and Pittsburgh yesterday got your money’s worth, no matter which team you were cheering for. Pittsburgh jumped out to an early 2-0 lead and at one point were leading 4-1. Then the Caps came back to score three times to tie it up and take the game into overtime where they won the sudden-death finish, taking their 14th-consecutive win. While that was going on, the Boston Bruins were breaking their losing streak at 10 by beating the Montreal Canadiens 3-0.

Just as I was getting ready to start today’s Lineup I learned that a Fairfax County (Virginia) firehouse suffered a partial-roof collapse during the night from snow accumulation. It was mostly over the apparatus bays, so everbody got out safely (and I think there was some warning from those ugly sounds that you get when building parts start shifting). There were 18 firefighters asleep inside when it started to go, but they all managed to dash to side emergency exits in time. From what I understand, the entire building has been quarantined until it can be inspected and today’s shift is temporarily transferred to another station.

The fire station is 35 years old, but the roof was replaced 12 years ago. I’m waiting to see Dave Statter’s report on it…..it’s right in his patch and the Channel 9 camera crews are already there. As soon as he gets something posted I’ll give you the link.

I’ll be spending part of the day digging my car out from the snow, so I may be a little delayed in answering emails and such. But I won’t be going far, be assured of that.

Our roof is still intact, so let’s get the equipment checked out. It’s Monday, so the checklist is a little longer. I’ll get the coffee started, then we’ll meet back in the day room.

Posted by firegeezer on February 8, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup

Mystery Minute 04.07

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Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.

Part Seven

Finbar “Finny” Lonnigan was beat. He had been up all night coordinating the surveillance operation and now he had to go back to the office to plan the investigation into Antony Spinoza’s fire and “crispy critter.” He knew that he wouldn’t be going home today, so he’d better call the War Department….his wife Mayrie who was expecting him to take her shopping this morning.

Finny was looking forward to his quick call to Mayrie. She’d been on the warpath for over a week after he missed her cousin’s wedding, and there hadn’t been a moment’s peace in the household since then. But that was nothing new for Finny, she has been getting in his case for at least five years now. As if he didn’t already have enough to worry about.

But Finny got an idea. With a little bit of luck and planning, he just might be able to time the call when Mayrie was in the shower. Back in the office, he watched the clock and then made his move. Picking up the phone and punching the speed-dial, he waited until the ringing stopped and the line connected.

It was his lucky day, all right, as he heard the answering machine recording kick in. At the sound of the beep he blurted out in rapid-fire speech: “Hey, I’m stuck at th’ office on a possible murder. Can’t make it, catch you later.” and then he hung up quickly in case she was nearby and going to pick up the receiver.

“Whew! That’ll buy some peace until this evening,” he thought to himself.

Watch for Part Eight here tomorrow.

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Posted by firegeezer on February 7, 2010 • Filed under: Mystery Minute • Tagged: Mystery Minute

Fire Ravages CTV Network News Studios

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A FIRE ON SUNDAY MORNING DESTROYED A MAJOR PORTION of the CTV television network newsrooms in Ottawa, Ontario.

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CTV Ottawa

The fire was first detected at 4:30 am on the 2nd-floor and has caused at least $2.5 million in damage. The network spokeman says that the number could go much higher because of the high value of some of the equipment. In addition, most of the news archives was destroyed.

Seventy firefighters worked the 4-alarm fire bringing it under control in about two hours. District Fire Chief Jim Corrigan said, “We managed to contain the fire to the second-story of the building. However, smoke migration made it to the fifth floor.”

CTV has two other broadcast facilities in Ottawa and will be able to continue broadcasting their news programming from one of those. The network is trucking in replacement equipment from their facilities in Montreal, Toronto, and Saskatchewan.

The Canadian Press provided a bit of background history of the network’s early days:

CJOH TV, which signed on back on March 12, 1961, broadcast the first “Question Period” and was home to shows such as “You Can’t Do That on Television” – which was Alanis Morissette’s first television show – “The Galloping Gourmet”, “The Amazing Kreskin,” as well as two soap operas.

The late ABC “World News Tonight” anchor Peter Jennings started his professional career with CJOH TV during its early years, where he anchored local newscasts and hosted a teen dance show, “Saturday Date.”

CTV’s own report on the fire along with some videos is HERE.

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CTV Ottawa

Posted by firegeezer on February 7, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires • Tagged: 4 alarm fire, CTV News, CTV Ottawa, news video archives

Explosion Rocks Connecticut City

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Updates posted. Scroll down for the latest.

AN EXPLOSION AT A TRASH-TO-ENERGY GAS-FIRED POWER PLANT in Middletown, Connecticut, shook homes as far as 10 miles away Sunday morning. The blast occurred shortly after 11:30 am Eastern and early, unconfirmed reports say that as many as 100 people could be injured and they are expecting several fatalities.

middletown c WFSB

WFSB-TV

WTIC-TV is reporting:

Medical rescue personnel said 100 were injured, four critically, and two were dead. “There are bodies everywhere,” a witness said. Another witness said many victims may be buried in rubble

An hour after the explosion and what is believed to be the Kleen Energy Systems plant on River Road, emergency rescue personnel were continuing to arrive by vehicle and helicopter. Helicopters were airlifting victims to area hospitals.

There were as many as 20 ambulances at the plant.

Neighbors of the plant said as many as 100 employees may have been working there when the explosion took place. Confirmed information about damage and injuries from authorities was difficult to obtain.

A witness said the explosion took place during a test of the plant’s power generating systems.

WTNH-TV filed this early video report at 12:30 pm:

It is still early into the incident, so we will be updating as more information comes in. Check back for updates.

Rob Ladd at New London County Fire Photo has provided this location map by Bing

middletown a map

Listen to live fire radio traffic HERE.

Update, 3 pm:
At 2:30 it was announced that all fires are out.
The Middetown fire marshal says that one wall of the structure was blown out.
At least two workers have died.

There is a probability that several more workers are buried under the blast debris of metal, concrete, and steel. The Governor of Connecticut has approved the dispatch of the state USAR Team.

The workers were completing a “blow down” to clear natural gas from the lines when the explosion occurred.

WTNH-TV has this updated video report that runs for 10:26,

Update, 6 pm:
In a just-concluded press conference, Middletown Mayor Sebastian Giuliano announced that there are five known fatalities and at least 12 injured workers. An active search is still underway for any other victims underneath the building parts that were blown apart. The search is partly complicated by the difficulty in learning how many people were working at the site when the blast occurred. There are manysub-contractors involved and the process of attaining valid rosters is time-consuming.

The power plant which is under construction, was 95% completed and scheduled to go online late this summer.

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