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Well-Placed Tree Saves a Life

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A EUCALYPTUS TREE IN SANTA CRUZ, CALIFORNIA, GREW UP in just the right place along a roadway near the city’s famous amusement park.  Wednesday afternoon a young man was driving along the street when he suddenly began having seizures.  A witness who was driving a car just ahead of him noticed the car start swerving back and forth, then drive into and through the metal fencing along the sidewalk, ending up against the tree.

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Santa Cruz Sentinel

The fence separates the sidewalk from a 50-ft. cliff that drops down to the San Lorenzo River, but the tree stopped the car from making the plunge.  The witness, Mike Bethke tells the Santa Cruz Sentinel:

“I hear this horrendous crash. I look back and this car’s just sitting in the air,” Bethke said. “It was unbelievable.”  Bethke and several others stopped to help the driver. The car’s engine was racing so they turned off the car and tried to calm the man, who was still having a seizure, Bethke said. 

“This guy had to have a guardian angel because few feet either way he would have been down in the river,” Bethke added.

Santa Cruz FD Battalion Chief Matt McCaslin was with some units just across the river running some driver-training evolutions in a parking lot when the incident occurred and were able to make a rapid response to the emergency.  The car’s driver was transported to the hospital.

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Santa Cruz Sentinel

Read the complete story in the Sentinel HERE and view the photo gallery of the wreck HERE.
Santa Cruz Fire Department WEBSITE.

Posted by on February 7, 2010 • Filed under: rescue, Rescues • Tagged: , , ,

Mid-Day Fire Claims 5

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A FIRE IN A WARWICK, RHODE ISLAND, SUBURBAN HOME on Saturday left five people dead including a 7-month-old infant.

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WLNE-TV

The people who were not all residents of the house, had held a party the night before that lasted until about 3 am.  One of the visitors was asleep on the first floor and woke up around 7 am.  At the time he did not notice anything amiss and went back to sleep.  Shortly before noon the ceiling over the first floor fell on him re-awaking the man.  Seeing smoke, he tried to run upstairs to warn the others, but it was charged with smoke and fire preventing him from getting upstairs.

The five people upstairs were the daughter of the homeowner, her infant daughter, and three other friends who were sleeping over.  All of them perished without ever waking up.  Firefighters were unaware of the unusually-high number of occupants when they arrived and were stunned with what they found after they made their way to the 2nd-floor.

WPRI-TV Ch. 12 has the video report:

Initial investigation indicated that the fire started on the floor of the upper level, or somehow spread between the floor and ceiling, smouldering for several hours before it broke out.  The house had no smoke detectors.

Update, Tuesday Feb. 9:  See the updated report on the investigation HERE.

WJAR-TV has additional details HERE.

WLNE-TV also has this video report:

Posted by on February 7, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged: ,

Best Worst Experience of My Life

4 comments

Brittany is an Arizona State University senior with the same background as the EMT students I am teaching on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Responding to “CONTROVERSIAL” EMT TRAINING, Brittany posted this reflection:

I too am a new EMT with my first year and a half under my belt. I was taught by a firefighter in a hot classroom on Saturdays how to be an EMT. It was the best worst experience of my life.

The FF didn’t want to be the teacher and only taught for the paycheck. My class only wanted to be there so they could test for fire.

JEMS FACEBOOK REACTION

The Firegeezer article was reposted on the JEMS – Emergency Medical Services FaceBook page. Over 360 JEMS fans looked at the article. Brittany and 24 others posted a response, many were long and detailed.

Their ems education represents a significant personal experience. Bob D. provides a fellow-fossil perspective:

(I was taught) … EMT-B with all the stuff to pass the test but they included the street smart stuff too. And we did ride alongs in a large city to gain exposure and know what we were getting into. … I still keep in touch with my EMS-Instructor after over 20 years.

A lot of the discussion revolved around those who approach EMS as a profession and those who just want a job, especially those who are only taking EMT to get a fire job.

Geoff F. provides a fresher perspective:

Being one of those generic college students who took a college course to be an emt, I benefited from the vocational type of training but I learned a lot about critical thinking, improvisation (not the humor kind), and adaptation. I really learned how to handle situations outside the comfort zone of a 19 y/o middle class college kid. Now being a 22 y/o brand new EMS instructor, I can see how teaching-to-the-test depends on the students’ personality.

I have students that are the traditional book-smart student that just want the cert for a resume booster. Then I have the students who are more street-smart that can take concepts and apply it to other facets of their lives. My feeling when I teach is that I want good clinicians who can also handle the operations side of an emergency and apply those concepts elsewhere. I try to teach skills for life.

SPEAKING OF FIRE

Colleagues were more personal on my FaceBook page. Dana Libby was shocked to learn that I was no longer teaching the use of leeches. Jay Iacone, a fellow former academy instructor, provided a fire analogy:

We teach the NFPA/IFSTA/Delmar methods to recruit firefighters for raising ladders, advancing hoselines and other basic firefighting tasks. We test the recruits on them passing an established standard from NFPA or IFSTA based on the local FF1 and 2 standards and then ship them out of the pristine sterile world of the future firefighter factory and into the “got do what you got to do to get it done” real world. (there is subtle sarcasm in his message :) )

workingfireZac Unger is a child of a physician and educator, raised in the shadow of UC-Berkeley. While considering graduate school his mom encouraged him to apply to the hometown fire department. Unger wrote about his experience in Working Fire: The Making of an Accidental Fireman. Unger is the fire side example of the ems students I am teaching:

Zac Unger didn’t feel like much of a firefighter at first. Most of his fellow recruits seemed to have planned for the job all their lives; he was an Ivy League grad responding to a help-wanted ad at an Oakland bus stop. He couldn’t keep his boots shined, and he looked horrible in his uniform.

Reading the book I recognized the planned and unplanned absurdities within recruit training and the group dynamics at play.  The experience with raising the 50′ tormentor ladder brought back memories as a recruit and an instructor.

Was more uncomfortable realizing how much of fire suppression training resembles a trivial pursuit memorization game.  For Unger it included memorizing the zip codes of all of the city fire stations.  In a 1998 recruit school, Unger was memorizing “… six binders full of paperwork that hadn’t been updated since the 1970′s, and every detail was fair game for weekly tests.”

Imagine if fire suppression was a Scope of Practice ….

related earlier articles:
WHAT DIRECTION FOR EMS EDUCATION?
SNAPSHOT FROM THE PARAMEDIC BATTLEFIELD
FAILING TO LEARN DISRESPECTS THEIR SACRIFICE

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward
in a snow bank somewhere in DC

Posted by on February 7, 2010 • Filed under: EMS Topics, Training & Development • Tagged: , , , , ,

Fiery Mid-Air Collision in Colorado

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TWO LIGHT PLANES COLLIDED IN MID-AIR over Boulder, Colorado, Saturday afternoon leaving three people dead as the entire city watched the flaming wreckage plunge to the ground.  Three more people who were in a glider being towed by one of the planes survived the crash after the glider pilot disengaged the tow cable and guided the craft back to the airstrip.

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Denver Post

The two planes, a Cirrus SR20 and a Piper Pawnee, collided at 1:30 pm shortly after the Piper took off from the airport towing the glider.  The Denver Post describes what happened next:

The Pawnee crashed to the ground scattering debris over a mile of open space in the city.  The Cirrus was equipped with an airframe parachute designed to allow the plane to float to the ground in an emergency.  This video provided by CBS News shows the agonizingly-slow descent of the burning plane as the parachute controls its drop:

Read the complete, detailed story in the Denver Post HERE.
KUSA-TV has an updated report HERE.

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Denver Post

Posted by on February 7, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fire Rescue Topics, News, Videos

Morning Lineup – February 7

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It looks like we’re stuck on NHL hockey again this morning.  But there are some remarkable happenings going on.  Yesterday, 28 of the league’s 30 teams played, some of them making headlines.  We talked yesterday here about Ottawa carrying an 11-game winning streak into last night’s game against Toronto, the team that is in last place in the Eastern Conference.  Not only did the Maple Leafs stop the streak, but they did it in a decisive shutout, 5-0.  But that’s not all of the story.  Toronto’s goalie J. S. Giguere, was just acquiered in a trade earlier in the week and in the two games that he has played for the team, both of them were shutouts.  Good trade!

Out west, the Los Angeles Kings are riding the winning streaker after picking up their 9th-straight W.  Keep in mind that in the NHL winning six in a row is pretty rare in itself.  Today’s nationally televised game on NBC will show arch-rivals Pittsburgh playing Washington, with the Capitals trying to pick up their 14th consecutive win.  And yes, despite the blizzard that passed over the Nation’s capital yesterday, the game is still on. Pittsburgh played a matinee game in Montreal yesterday, then got on  charter flight to Newark where they transferred  to a bus for a 4-hour ride down to D. C., the airports not having been re-opened yet.

The Penguins will be taking the ice a mere 19 hours after they got beaten byMontreal 5-3 and traveled most of the night.  It could be a loosey-goosey kind of game today.  Lots of shakeups in the standings going on this final week before the 2-week Olympics break.  It looks like that forced pause in the schedule is the only way the Boston Bruins are going to stop losing.  They dropped their 10th-straight game last night.  I’d better get in touch with Delaney and see what’s going on in Beantown.

We’d better be going on and getting this equipment checked out now, though.  I’m going to start some more coffee, and then we can look at the top plays of the week.

Posted by on February 7, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup

Around the Web

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Wake County info-mercial about Advanced Practice Paramedics

WakecountylogoOne year after the Hemi-powered APP units hit the street, Wake County EMS posted a 17 minute description of their program. Link to our earlier article HERE.

Start HERE, then click EMS Advanced Paramedic Program

Mine Resistant Ambush Protected All-Terrain Vehicle

OshKoshEric Tegler, writing in the March 2010 issue of Car and Driver magazine, described riding in the latest vehicle that is deployed into Afghanistan. You may recognize some components used in the Oshkosh built vehicle. HERE.

Experienced MRAP drivers need 14 hours of training to drive the Oshkosh, rookie drivers need 40 hours. That may have reduced the problems that the fire service experienced with the same vehicle component.

Could make a great wildland-urban interface firefighting rig!

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward
somewhere in the snow

Posted by on February 7, 2010 • Filed under: EMS Topics, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus • Tagged: , , , ,

Mystery Minute 04.06

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Mystery Minute logo a

Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.

 

Part Six

As the smoke was diminishing and lifting, the crowd of neighbors, some in their robes, saw the two men step through the back door into the house.

Lonnigan squatted down and looked at the unworldly creature that was once a walking human being.  Burned and as charred as a campfire marshmallow, there was no way of telling the age or sex of the victim.  It was presenting a bizarre sight in the crawling position with one knee off the floor, looking like a stop-action photo of somebody trying to make an escape only five feet away from safety.

“What do you think, Finny?  Spinoza probably had enough enemies that somebody mighta’ wanted him finished off,”  B.C. Jenkins murmured.

“True enough,” Lonnigan said as he stood up, “This might be Tony’s house, but we don’t know if this is Tony.  I want to know who this is and why he’s here if it isn’t Spinoza.”

Read Part Seven HERE.

 

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Posted by on February 6, 2010 • Filed under: Mystery Minute • Tagged:

Tall Bus + Low Tunnel = Crash

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A BUS IN ROUEN, FRANCE, CARRYING 34 SCHOOLCHILDREN and four adults, plus the driver, was destroyed when it was driven into a tunnel that was lower than the bus needed for clearance.

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The wreck ripped the top off of the bus and brought down some of the brick lining in the tube.  The children were ages 6 to10 and ten of them were injured, two of them seriously enough to be admitted to the hospital.  One of the adults was also seriously injured and had to be extricated from the wreckage.

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rouen a

The bus driver said that he had taken to the underpass to avoid traveling through an intersection.

A total of about 80 firefighters were dispatched to the scene.

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France3 has the story HERE.

Prepared and assisted by Fireball

Posted by on February 6, 2010 • Filed under: Mass Casualty Incident, rescue, Rescues • Tagged: , ,

Ambulance T-Bones Police Car

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THE PHOENIX, ARIZONA, SUBURB OF AVONDALE was the scene of a pair of vehicle accidents Friday morning that took several public safety workers away from their duties for a while.  It began when a private auto carrying two corrections officers to work was slammed into by a car that ran a red light.

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KTVK

While they were waiting for an ambulance to arrive, the ambulance and a police car that were both responding to the same accident had a collision with the ambulance crashing into the side of the cruiser as it was positioning to block traffic at the intersection. 

The two corrections officers were transported with minor injuries.  Three people in the SUV that crashed into them were uninjured.  The ambulance wreck was a low-speed impact and there were no injuries there either.

KTVK has the video story:

Posted by on February 6, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances, Videos

“Respond to a Net Fire ….”

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THE LANDMARK TOWER LIFE BUILDING in downtown San Antonio, Texas, was the scene of a unique fire call on Friday morning.  The 30-story building has had  a 164-foot-tall radio antenna on the top of the dome for 57 years and workmen have been dissembling and removing it so that it can be replaced with a 100-ft. flagpole.

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KSAT-TV

During the removal, there was a net encircling the tower to catch any debris and keep it from falling from the building.  At least there was until it caught fire just before 10 am.  The blaze triggered an evacuation of several hundred people from the building and brought the San Antonio FD to the site.  By the time the firefighters arrived and climbed the 30 stories to the roof, the workmen had most of the fire put out.

KENS-TV Ch. 5 has this video report:

“Fortunately, it was a minor incident,” said Melissa Sparks, a Fire Department spokeswoman. “Our firefighters use this building as a training ground for high-rise incidents and they were very familiar with the building before they arrived.”

No injuries were reported and work, both inside and outside, resumed shortly after noon.  Part of the renovation plans calls for replacing the current dome cover with a copper roof identical to the original dome when the building was constructed 90 years ago.

Posted by on February 6, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos

Morning Lineup – February 6

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Welcome from Winter Wonderland.  The snow has been falling for about 20 hours now and is expected to continue for at least 10 more.  But now we are seeing still another advantage of using the internet for your primary news source, you are not dependent on whether the newspapers get distributed to the local carriers.  But I’m all set for the weekend with plenty of food in the freezer and beer in the basement fridge.

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The FireEMS Blogs community hosted by Firefighter Nation has just added another fine blog to the stable.  The Fire PIO – information for today’s public information officer is now hooked up and publishing from FFN headquarters.  I just took time to scroll through the front page and read a couple of articles and I can attest that it is both valuable and enlightening reading, and not just for PIO’s.  Already I have learned about a free software download that could save you the expense of buying a Photoshop Elements program.  I’m going to check it out and see how it is.

CLICK HERE to log onto Jeff Bressler’s fine website and see what you think.

fire pio

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The Washington Capitals hockey team extended their long win-streak last night by beating Atlanta 5-2.  That makes it 13 consecutive wins, which exceeded the franchise record of 10.  The league record is 17 and was set by the Pittlsburgh Penguins in the early 1990′s.  The Caps will be playing the Penguins on Sunday afternoon, as it happens.  These two teams are real rivals and when they play each other it is always a well-played, intense game.  You are in luck because that game will be on national tv, on NBC starting at noon Eastern.

Lost in all the hoopla of Washington’s win streak is the fact that there is another one running concurrently with the Caps.  The Ottawa Senators have won 11 consecutive games which is a tremendous achievement in itself.  They should be given recognition for that accomplishment.  They will be playing in Toronto this evening and trying to reach #12.  Toronto Maple Leafs have been in a horrible skid lately, dropping to last place in the Eastern Division and only winning two of their last ten games.  But those are the teams that can really hurt you when you’ve got a good record going.  And they are natural division rivals, too.  Too bad I can’t get that one on tv.  I think it’s the Hockey Night in Canada choice up there, though.  Update:  If you have cable and it carries the NHL Network, they are listing this as tonight’s game for broadcast.

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Occasionally we are introduced to a good website for a volunteer fire department that is well presented and nice to read.  Such is the case with the Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, Volunteer Fire Department.  The small city is located just west of Pittsburgh (Penguins fans, no doubt) on the Ohio River.  The professional-looking site is informative and includes a separate photo section.  Check out their WEBSITE HERE when you have time.

coraopolis

Before we check them out, though, we have to check out our own equipment.  So let’s get started with that and I’ll go make some more coffee.

Posted by on February 6, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , , , ,

Liege Collapse Update #2

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NINE DAYS AGO ON JANUARY 9 was the collapse of the 5-story apartment house in the center of Liege, Belgium.

If you missed the original report, click to the Firegeezer STORY HERE that includes the dramatic video of the building collapsing while the firefighters  were attacking the fires started several hours earlier from a gas explosion.  Then CLICK HERE for the first update covering the rescue operations and more dramatic videos.

This Wednesday February 3, the 13th victim was recovered from the debris of the collapse.  It was a male who has not yet been identified.  Yesterday the police re-opened the street allowing the residents to return to their homes.

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RTL-TV Belgium has this video report on the recent recovery (our friends in Quebec can tell us what he’s saying):

This afternoon, services were held for the victims and their families at the Saint Paul’s Cathedral.  During the services, a standing ovation was given the firefighters as they entered the cathedral.  RTL also reported it on this video:

There are three photo galleries of shots documenting the area and building removal HERE.

Assisted and prepared by Fireball.

Posted by on February 5, 2010 • Filed under: Firefighting Operations, Mass Casualty Incident, Videos

Mystery Minute 04.05

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Mystery Minute logo a

Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.

 

Part Five

“He’s just inside the door, about five feet in,” Jenkins indicated with his hand.  But the hose lines are still in service, so let’s stay out here for a bit.  You can see him from the porch, though,” as he shone his handlight through the doorway.

The strong beam penetrated through the smoke just enough to point out the crispy cadaver that appeared to be on all fours in  crawling position.

“C’mon, Finny….. tell me why you’re Johnny-on-the-spot here tonight,”  B. C. Jenkins pressed.

Finbar paused a moment as if try to figure out how to say it first.  “I was in the neighborhood already.  We’ve been following one of Tony’s goons since that cab stand got burned out two weeks ago.  Ain’t it funny, this guy just happened to be chowing down at the all-night Waffle House two blocks away when this here fire started.”

Read Part Six HERE.

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Posted by on February 5, 2010 • Filed under: Mystery Minute • Tagged:

Weekend Caption Contest

9 comments

AGAIN, ANOTHER PHOTO HAS BECOME SEPARATED from its caption.

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Reuters photo

We are not exactly certain what is going on here, but this man seems to have the attention of most of the bystanders.  Perhaps you can supply the missing caption.  Send us your solution in the Comments.

Posted by on February 5, 2010 • Filed under: caption contest • Tagged:

Interview in Italy

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Our Cyber-spondent in France, Laurence Delorme (ChezFireball blog) has another interview for us that gives North Americans a glimpse into fire department organizations in other countries.  This time we have a brief visit with an Italian firefighter.

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Luciano Bernetti 

LD: How long have you been in the Fire service?

LB: My name is Luciano Bernetti and I have been a firefighter since August 1, 1990.

LD: What is your rank in the Fire Service?

LB: I am an officer since 2005 and I am in charge of a crew.

LD: Where are you a firefighter in Italy?

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LB: I am a career firefighter in the city of Cassino Frosinone. (see the map of Italy above.)

LD: How many calls do you have a year?

LB: We have 3,000 calls per year. They are for different kinds of emergencies such as fires or animal rescues.

LD: What kind of helmets do you wear?

LB: We use MSA Gallet fire helmets. For each rank we have a different color. Black = firefighter, red = officers, grey = chiefs.

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LD: How many firefighters are there in your firehouse?

LB: There are 9 firefighters – 2 officers, 3 engineer/chauffeurs, and 4 firefighters for special rescues such as water rescues, high angle rescue, etc.

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LD: How many firetrucks do you have?

LB: We have 1 fire engine, 1 brush truck, and 2 rescue trucks for different kinds of calls.

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LD: Can you explain what an officer in “charge of a crew” has to do?

LB: An officer in our fire service has to manage a crew of 5 people. He has to make decisions for him and his crew on the fireground and talk to the media.

LD:  Thank you for talking with us.

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In Italiano:

LD:quanti anni sei un vigile del fuoco?

LB: mi chiamo Luciano e sono nato il 18 augusto 1964.Sono vigile del fuoco dal 1 agosto 1990.I commandi dove ho presato servizio sono:Novana,l’Aquila,Caserta ed adesso Frosinone.Nei rispettivi distaccamenti:Domodossola,Avezzano,Mondragone,e Cassino Frossinone.

LD: qual è il tuo grado?

LB: sono capo squadra dal 01/01/2005.

LD:dove sei vigile del fuoco:città?

LB:sono vigile del fuoco a cassino,Frosinone.

LD:quanti interventi fate in un anno?

LB: gli interventi tipologie all’anno sono presso:il distaccamento di cassino sono circa 3000.

LD:Quello casco avete?

LB:il casco è gallet e dal colore del casco si distingue il grado: nero=vigile
rosso= capo squadra
grigio=dirigenti.

LD:quanti vigili del fuoco alla tua caserma di Cassino Frosinone?

LB: siamo 9 vigili del fuoco,2 capo squadra,3 autisti mezzi vigili del fuoco,4 vigili operatori.

LD:per i automezzi,quanti ?

LB:abbiamo 4 auto mezzi operativi: 2 camion polivalenti,un fourgone per incendenti stradali,una campagnola per incendi in montagna.

LD:sei capo squadra poi spiegare?

LB:il capo squadra gestice une squadra composta da 5 unità lui compreso,cura l’addestramento della squadra e gestice l’intervento e cura le pubblice relazioni.

Grazie mille Luciano per questa interview.

Posted by on February 5, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Fire-ology • Tagged: ,

Successful High-Angle Rescue

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FARMINGTON, MINNESOTA, FIREFIGHTERS RESPONDED THURSDAY MORNING to a grain elevator for a man trapped in a corn silo.  The elevator worker had fallen into the silo and was buried to his armpits with only one arm free.  He was about 40 feet below the top of the silo.

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ThisWeekLive.com

The regional high-angle team, the Dakota County Special Operations Team, responded and set up an operation from above.  After first cutting a larger hole in the silo cover, they lowered firefighters down with plywood sections who then built a protective barricade around the trapped man.

Railroad traffic was halted during the operation so that there wouldn’t be any vibration that could cause further shifting of the corn.  Later into the operation, they cut another hole in the side of the silo to allow product to spill out and lower the level after the man had been secured.  After nearly eight hours of work, mostly by hand, he was brought topside and successfully brought to freedom.

KARE-TV has a good video report from the rescue scene:

The Pioneer Press has more DETAILS HERE.

Posted by on February 5, 2010 • Filed under: rescue, Rescues, Special Operations, Videos • Tagged: , ,

A Career-Stopper for Sure

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BUFFALO (NEW YORK) FIRE LIEUTENANT ROBERT RUIZ decided to take an early retirment last year following his arrest on an arson charge.  Ruiz possessed a leased auto that was found burning with the back window broken out last May.  When he filed an insurance claim on the vehicle, he was investigated and subsequently arrested.

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WIVB-TV image

The city prosecutor said that Ruiz was trying to save on financial penalties he would have incurred because of excessive mileage on the leased vehicle. He later admittedthat  he poured gasoline in the back seat after breaking the rear windows, causing about $2,300 damage to the 2008 sedan.  On December 4 he pleaded guilty to felony arson and insurance fraud, charges that threatened him with up to four years in prison.

Ruiz appeared in court yesterday for his sentencing and he recieved five years probation.  WIVB-TV Ch. 4 was there and filed this video report:

Ruiz had been in the FD for 24 years.

Posted by on February 5, 2010 • Filed under: arson, Fire Rescue Topics, Law & Justice, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – February 5

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The big news here in the East is this blizzard that will be dumping on the mid-Atlantic region this afternoon and all day tomorrow.  Some of you Northerners and Canadians might snicker at a mere 20-inch snowfall, but here in Dixie it’s paralyzing event.  When I was working, the standard routine, if you knew a storm was coming, was to drive in to work the night before and bunk in at the firehouse.  (When you work a 24-hr shift, most people are commuters, sometimes from great distances.)  And then you were pretty well set to relieve the other shift in a timely manner.  If it was still wicked out there, the off-going shift would stick around and help out with the meals, etc.

But yesterday a notice came to my attention that I thought was really nice.  In Fairfax County (Virginia) one of the Quality Inn hotels made an offer to the firefighters who would be stuck in the area because of snow conditions and can’t get home.  They are offering a limited supply of FREE rooms from last night through Monday for firefighters who are scheduled to work over the weekend.  Each room has two queen-size beds, refrigerator, microwave oven, and internet access (never far from Firegeezer!).  With the shift changes, that would accommodate 4 people per room, which means that ten rooms could handle at least two stations worth of people.

I think that is a terrific gesture of civic assistance.  It’s the first that I have heard of, but I’m sure it has been done elsewhere before.  If any of you have had any similar experiences with local hotels, please take a moment and share with us how it was done.

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On another topic, I’d like to take a snippet from a comment that was left on a Facebook page (not the Firegeezer page, though) that is a good indicator of how this internet/social media thing is sorting out when it comes to fire and EMS practices.  See how this strikes you when you first read it:

I learn a lot from reading the various blogs, articles, and other information out there.  Then I practice new techniques as I learn them.  It’s amazing to me how quickly I can apply some of the things I’ve learned from EMS social media.

Does this sound like something you have been doing or thinking about doing?  Several of us at the FireEMSBlogs community have noticed a trend in this direction with more people looking to the dynamic websites for valuable information that will help them improve their skills used on emergency incidents.  I’m talking about new techniques, not just a rehash of existing information like where to place a PPV fan, for example.

What do you think about this?  Where would you like to see this facet of education develop?  If you have a wish-list or a reaction that you’d like to share, please leave a Comment and let’s see where this goes.

But right now we “goes” to the apparatus and get the equipment checked out.  I’ll get some more coffee started.  We’ll meet back in the day room in a little while.

Posted by on February 5, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , ,

Mystery Minute 04.04

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Mystery Minute logo a

 

Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.

 

Part Four

“Howzzit, Finny?”  Jenkins greeted him.

” ‘Lo, Carl,” Lonnigan responded as he approached.  “Where is he?”

“You know about the body, then?  He’s just inside the back door, I’ll show you.  What put you onto this already?”

“Oh, I know about him alright,”  Finbar said as they walked through the acrid smoke, around to the rear of the house.  “This place belongs to Antony Spinoza.”

Jenkins eyebrows went up a notch, “The loan shark?”

“The very same,” Finny replied.

Read Part Five HERE.

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Posted by on February 4, 2010 • Filed under: Mystery Minute • Tagged:

Is This A Growing Gouging?

5 comments

THERE IS A NEW PRACTICE GROWING AMONG some of the more mismanaged localities where they still refuse to budget sufficient funds for their emergency services.  This trend is showing that some places have started charging victims of fires and other emergencies for the normal services provided even though the fire/ems/police department is taxpayer funded.

An ABC News story covering this practice begins:

It came in the mail less than a month after Darline Fairchild watched her family’s home go up in flames — a bill for the nearly $28,000 it cost the fire department to extinguish the blaze.  The Fairchilds, of New Castle, Ind., were just one of a growing number of fire and accident victims across the country who are being billed for fire department services once funded solely through taxpayer money.

The Fairchilds’ bill for $27,989.12 was itemized with hourly rates for the use of fire trucks, hoses and the firefighters’ time, even a case of drinking water for firefighters who got thirsty. The total for five hours of fire personnel on the scene totaled more than $8,500. The use of the fire trucks cost more than $12,300.

The story continues to explain that the municipalities that are doing this are fully expecting the insurance companies to pay the tab.  But unlike their rolling over on the ambulance charges, this time they are refusing to play the “double-dipper” game, going to court over the charges if necessary.

Another point of contention is the practice of private billing firms to inflate the charges for their own pecuniary benefit.  Most localities turn the collection of charges for things like ambulance service over to a private company who will send out and collect the bills and keep a percentage of the amount collected as their fee.  But they are jacking up the fees on their own.  ABC writes:

Emergency Services Billing Corporation, Zarich charged, has been grossly inflating charges on behalf of their clients. In the last 18 months, the institute’s member companies have reporting seeing their average fire service charges go from $300 to $400 to between $2,000 and $5,000, Zarich said.Indiana’s state fire marshal lists appropriate service charges as up to $250 for a vehicle response and up to $150 for each hour of assistance, but Zarich said ESBC’s estimates are almost always higher. ESBC’s Web site doesn’t list specific rates, but advertises it’s own rate policy based on charges for every 15 minutes a fire department’s equipment and personnel are on scene, with the fees taking an emergency responder’s rank into consideration.

This deceitful practice not only pads the billing firm’s profits, but the localities willingly turn a blind eye to it because their own collections are boosted without having to raise the published rates that the citizens think they are charging.

In another example, the story tells of a man who was charged a fee for a grass fire on his property.  He put it out himself and never called the fire department. Yet they still sent him a bill for the use of one truck and the cost of the 20 volunteers who showed up at the station, none of whom repsonded to the call.  ”A volunteer is a volunteer. That kind of makes me scratch my head a little bit on that,” he said.

Read the full 4-page STORY HERE.

Posted by on February 4, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Fire-ology • Tagged:

Looking Back

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157 a

………. Fire Engineering, February 1956

 

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Posted by on February 4, 2010 • Filed under: Looking Back • Tagged:

3 Alarms in Toronto

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A FIRE DEEMED “SUSPICIOUS” BROKE OUT in a Mississauga (Toronto area), Ontario, office building late Wednesday afternoon.  The fire that started on the third floor of the 7-story building sent thick smoke to the upper floors and filled the fire towers with smoke, trapping more than 100 workers on the upper floors.

missisauga a citynews

City News

While the fire was contained to a relatively small area, the people above were understandably stressed at not being able to exit while smoke was filling their offices.  CityTV reports:

(Fire) crews managed to free more than 100 people who couldn’t initially get out due to heavy smoke.

“We were trapped. We went into the conference room and closed the door. But the smoke started to come into the conference room, so we were getting kind of nervous,” described office worker Gana Kran.  Fire crews broke windows and cleared out a stairwell before leading the trapped workers down.  Outside a triage centre had been set up and an air ambulance that had been dispatched sat waiting.

A couple of people suffered smoke inhalation but no one was seriously injured.

“To get a fire of that magnitude going when the building is fully occupied is indeed suspicious so we’re going to investigate, find out what happened,” Deputy Chief Greg Laing of Mississauga Fire told reporters.  The fire marshal is looking at an office occupied by a local politician as the point of origin.  When answering a knock on their door, one of the staff found the fire burning just outside in the hallway just before 5 pm.

CityTV has this video report:

The MFD had the fire out around 7 pm.  Damage has been estimated at $200,000.

Posted by on February 4, 2010 • Filed under: arson, Firefighting Operations, Fires, rescue, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Well, THAT Ought to Help Response Times

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THE NORTH WEST AMBULANCE SERVICE IN ENGLAND has issued a new dress code for its ambulance employees that bans the wearing of “novelty” socks.  It prevents all uniformed staff from wearing socks decorated with cartoon characters, jokes and garish patterns because bosses say they are unprofessional.

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Click Liverpool

The new code, a condition of employment, also bans wrist watches, visible body piercing, excessive make-up and certain tattoos.also bans wrist watches, visible body piercing, excessive make-up and certain tattoos.  A union spokesman, Jonathan Fox, said: “I am a firm believer in having a dress code but this is stretching the rules too far.  North West Ambulance Service should be addressing more important issues like why paramedic training has been stalled for months.”

Jonathan, who is a serving paramedic with 30 years service, continued: “We have been fighting to have knee pads in our work trousers, which has been a sad omission…  To concentrate on socks seems fairly innocuous – it’s not like there’s been an epidemic of novelty sock wearing! Perhaps this is just something to divert our attention from the bigger issues.”

The Maghull Star adds:  

Clinical staff have been banned from wearing wrist watches and some jewellery because they can carry germs or injure patients. Some staff will now be provided with fob watches to keep time. 

Director of organisational development Jon Lenney said: “We would expect our staff to wear uniforms provided and do not feel that novelty socks with slogans and images are appropriate for presenting a professional image to patients and members of the public.

The NWAS appears to have stepped in it with this overbearing desire require everyone to toe the line.  They come across as a bunch of heels who have made themselves into a bunch of laughing-socks.

Read the complete article HERE.

Posted by on February 4, 2010 • Filed under: EMS Topics, labor • Tagged: , ,

Morning Lineup – February 4

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We’ve got some odds ‘n’ ends to cover this morning, so let’s get started.

Our story yesterday (HERE) about the Minnesota utility company drilling through sewer pipes and laying the gas line through them, only to have plumbers’ augers chop them into big leaks, brought an email from one of our long-time readers.  Joe J. sent this photo from a similar incident in Cambridge, Ohio, four years ago that destroyed three homes and left two people badly injured.

ElmSt13opt

I don’t know for certain, but from looking at the pictures and reading of the recent incident in St. Paul, it looks to me like the utilities are using that flexible gaspipe which is nothing more than a reinforced hose.  We ran a short series of articles early last year (HERE and click on the links in the article for more) about that stuff (CSST – Corrugated Stainless Steel Tubing) in the mid-west taking lightning strikes to ground and failing, filling people’s basements with flaming gas leaks.  That’s a bad selection of product, if you ask me.  Is it really that important to save some money on installation costs that they are willing to sacrifice so many homes and livlihoods?

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There has been a lot of news over the past 6 months about the dubious hiring practices of a few big-city fire departments, most notably Cincinnati, Pittsbugh, and Memphis.  Dave Statter at STATter911 has been following the Memphis situation closely and has an update on the repeat-felon on their roster.  They finally fired the toad, but you have to read yesterday’s Quick Takes (HERE).  Get this…. Memphis’ slow-to-learn fire chief says that he’s aware there are firefighters with criminal records, and that he’s not against hiring felons in the future.  What a schmoe.  Just the kind of people that you want wandering around your house unsupervised while you are gone.

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Back in October we reported HERE about some tv self-help guru who set up a phony “sweat lodge” and charged a bunch of New-age Yuppies $9,695 to “experience a new technologically-enhanced form of meditation that creates new neurological pathways.”  The treatment killed three of them and sent another 18 to the hospital with serious, and some near-fatal, injuries after packing 60 people into his makeshift tent.

Yesterday James Arthur Ray was arrested at his lawyer’s office in Prescott, Arizona, and charged with three counts of manslaughter.  He is being held under $5 million bond and will appear in court later today.  You can read the details of yesterday’s action HERE.

 

It’s time to get this equipment checked out now.  I am ready for some more coffee, so I’ll slip back to the kitchen and get another pot started.  See you back in the day room in a little while.

Posted by on February 4, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup

You Don’t Say !

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There is food in beer,
But there is no beer in food.

Beer is like liquid bread -
It provides the same necessary nutrients.

I say, just lay off the food.

………. Jim Koch

 

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Posted by on February 3, 2010 • Filed under: beer, You Don't Say • Tagged: