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“Home-Alone” Boy Saved in Illinois 3-Bagger

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Larry Shapiro photo

A THREE-ALARM FIRE IN MAYWOOD, ILLINOIS, late Friday night was punctuated by the rescue of a boy about 9 years old who was alone in his apartment.  The fire in the Chicago suburb started in the rear of the first floor of a 3-story commercial building that has apartments on the upper floors.  The fire began around 11:30 pm and an automatic alarm notified the FD.

When the first units arrived they were told of the boy in one of the apartments and a woman not yet accounted for in another unit. A 2nd alarm was struck shortly after.  

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Firefighter Tony Morrone was part of the team searching the interior when he found an 8- or 9-year-old boy sleeping in a bedroom, Maywood Fire Chief Keith Dobberfuhl said.

“The boy was under the layer of smoke when [Morrone] found him,” Dobberfuhl said. “The boy was asleep face down. Morrone carried him through the smoke and brought him down the staircase. All the while, the kid was calm and just waking up. [The kid's] dad was waiting outside,” Dobberfuhl said. The father took himself and his son to stay at a neighbor’s house a block away, he said.

 Morrone has been a firefighter with the Maywood Fire Department for 15 years, Dobberfuhl said.

The 3rd alarm was struck shortly after midnight and the fire was declared out at 4 am Saturday morning.  During the operations part of the second floor collapsed onto the first floor, but the entire 3rd floor remained intact and the late-19th century building is believed to be repairable.  The woman who was missing at first was later found to have been led out of the fire by another tenant.

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Larry Shapiro photo

Chicagoland fire photographer Larry Shapiro has a 100-image photo gallery of his always-quality photographs HERE.

Posted by on March 13, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, rescue, Rescues • Tagged: ,

Ford 2012 “purpose-built” police cruiser

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Carbon Motors created a great idea.
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In November 2008 we reported the efforts of Carbon Motors to create a purpose-built law enforcement vehicle (HERE)

A year later, we reported that General Motors was modifying the Australian-based Holder V-8 sedan to be a US Chevrolet Caprice Police cruiser (HERE)

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Finally, Ford has revealed it’s replacement to the 30 year old Panther-based Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor.

Based on the Ford 500/Taurus chassis, the 2012 Ford Police Interceptor presents a competitive response to Carbon Motors.

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Ray Wert, Editor-in-Chief of Jalopnik, posted the most comprehensive report of the new cruiser (HERE).  Ray compares the interiors of all three vehicles:

We’re told by police forces who’ve already seen the vehicle that nearly 90% of the interior’s been redesigned specifically for police. Ford’s done little things — like installing the slimline shifter on the column to free up more console area.

The instrument panel includes a horseshoe shape for aftermarket equipment installations. It even appears they’ve thoughtfully provided standard 9″ spacing between the passenger and driver — just like the Crown Vic — so agencies can transfer existing aftermarket equipment to their new Police Interceptor.

Ford’s also supposedly redesigned the doors to make them open 71 degrees. That’s not quite as good as the Carbon Motors concept’s suicide doors, but not too shabby — and better than the Caprice PPV it’ll really be in competition with.  (read complete article HERE)

The end result of this competition for the annual purchase of 60,000 – 75,000 police vehicles will be a better rig for our law enforcement colleagues.  Plus a nice ride for fire command officers.

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Posted by on March 13, 2010 • Filed under: cars, crime, Law & Justice, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus • Tagged: , , ,

Practical Training is the Best Training

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THE NIGERIAN NATIONAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY (NEMA) planned and staged a complex airplane crash-rescue at the Port Harcourt International Airport on Friday.  Air Commodore Abayomi Bankole, director of search and rescue at NEMA, said the exercise was supposed to test the capability and capacity of the various response agencies in a simulated crash.  He got exactly what he wished for when a plane carrying officials that was arriving for the exercise crashed while landing at the airfield.

The plane carrying 44 (or 47) passengers and five crewmen touched down on the runway, then skidded off into the brush.  Everybody survived the crash, but 10 people suffered injuries, some seriously.  The crash-rescue trucks and medical personnel were already suited up and ready for the drill, so they were able to get right on the wreck and effect the rescues. 

Triage and treatment procedures were hampered however, because many of the plane’s passengers were already made up with various wounds for the planned drill.  Fortunately there was no fire involved in the crash.

The fuselage of the Air Force plane was damaged “beyond recognition” and has just been left abandoned in the bush where it skidded to a halt in the mud.

AllAfrica.com has the full STORY.

Posted by on March 13, 2010 • Filed under: aircraft, rescue, Rescues • Tagged: ,

Do you know this man?

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From Slate.com article

From Slate.com article

The running man is the ISO symbol used to designate an exit, as designed by Yukio Ota in the 1970′s in collaboration with a Japanese fire safety organization.

Wonder why it is not adopted by the NFPA?

Slate Deputy Editor Julia Turner wrote an interesting article about exit signs: The Big Red Word vs. the Little Green Man that was published on March 08 (here)

It describes the battle for a standardized exit pictogram and explores some of the issues.

It is part of a series of six articles about signs, pictographs and the impact of GPS.

What do you think about it? Would the running man be more effective?

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Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Posted by on March 13, 2010 • Filed under: culture, Fire Prevention & Education, inspections • Tagged: , ,

Re-Stocking the Drug Box Brings Arrest

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WHEN THE RUTHERFORD, NEW JERSEY, FIRST AID AMBULANCE Corps, a volunteer organization, left an ambulance off for repairs Thursday, they didn’t expect it to be pressed into service again before it was returned.

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Rutherford First Aid Ambulance Corps photo

The ambulance needed some bodywork and the Squad took it to a trusted mechanic that they have been dealing with for a long time.  But this time their mechanic sub-contracted the work out to another firm that apparently doesn’t screen its employees well enough.  On Friday morning Clem Bagden, 50, drove the ambulance into Newark and stopped to ask a group of men where he could buy some cocaine.  That was his second mistake.

Clem Bagden, Unauthorized Ambulance Driver

Clem Bagden, Unauthorized Ambulance Driver

The men that he flagged down were undercover police officers and after they identified themselves, Bagden committed mistake #3 and started fighting them.  He was arrested and jailed, charged with resisting arrest and drug possession after the police found a quantity of heroin inside the ambulance.

Squad leaders thought they were acting responsibly by sending the rig to a trusted mechanic, squad president Brian O’Keefe told NorthJersey.com. But it’s nearly impossible to know whether any shop will exercise good judgment when referring work to another business, he said.

“You try to use someone locally who you’ve had a rapport with, but I guess it only takes one bad apple for there to be a problem,” O’Keefe said. “It’s not like we sent it to Paterson or Hackensack to a vendor we knew nothing about.”

After determining that nobody from the Rutherford ambulance company was involved, the Newark police returned the ambulance to them Friday afternoon.

Read the full account HERE.
Rutherford First Aid Ambulance Corps WEBSITE.

Posted by on March 13, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics • Tagged:

Morning Lineup – March 13

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“Spring Forward, Fall Back.”  The handy mnemonic that we use to remember which way to turn the clocks when this irritating Daylight Savings Time scheme starts and stops.  Here in most of North America it begins early tomorrow morning and this is the one where we “lose” an hour’s sleep.  It’s always fun to see who shows up for work late because there is always somebody who forgets.

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I’m always envious of those wise folks in Arizona and Hawai’i who never bought into the idea that it’s great to have it still sunny and 85 degrees at 9:00 pm.  Up until just a few years ago, half of Indiana – the half in the Eastern time zone – stayed on Standard time, but they caved.

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The National Hockey League regular season is coming around the 4th turn (if you’ll excuse the metaphor) and for some teams these are intense times as they try to solidify their standings to remain in the playoffs, or for some move up enough to make the playoffs.  Only the top eight teams in each Conference will move into the extended season.  As you can see in the Eastern Conf. there are still six teams  jockeying for the final three slots.  But in reality it’s pretty bleak for Atlanta, having lost their last five games.  That’s a potential ten points that they could sure use now.  I don’t think they have a practical chance of making it.  The real scrap will be between Boston and the NY Rangers for the final playoff slot.  There are approx. 15 games remaining for each team’s season.

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In the Western Conf. there are only three teams battling for the 7th and 8th slots, but there is some good competition farther up the ladder as the better teams are competing for home-ice advantage in the playoff rounds.  The top four teams will have home advantage over #’s 5 to 8 through the playoffs and you can see that there’s 5-way race for the #4 position.

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Standings charts from NHL.com

Now take a look at both conferences and you will see that Washington is #1 in the East and Chicago is #2 in the West.  If both teams are successful through the first three playoff rounds, they would meet in the Stanley Cup finals.  They will be playing each other tomorrow on a nationally-televised game that will certainly be entertaining.  This is their only  regular season contest, so they will be testing each other.  The game starts at 11:30 am Central (daylight) time and will be shown on the NBC network.  That’s a shame because NBC does the world’s worst job of televising hockey games (and auto races), but you take what you can get.

Both teams are very good and it will be a competitive matchup worth watching.  I’m predicting that Chicago wins this one because they are playing  very good right now and Washington has been a bit sloppy since the Olympic break was over.

Now our sports break is over and we need to get this equipment checked out.   I’ll get the coffee started, then we’ll meet later in the day room.

Posted by on March 13, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , ,

Around the Fire Web

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*  Ooops!  Another VFD bookkeeper toppled.  The administrative assistant of a North Carolina VFD quit abruptly after it was discovered that $400,000 was missing.   Not only that, but her husband is a local police detective.  FireNews.net has this story HERE.

*  DCFD’s Rescue Squad 1 was involved in a multi-vehicle crash this morning that sent three civilians to the hospital.  STATter911 has the story, video and radio traffic HERE.

*  If you haven’t caught it yet, Mick Mayers has posted a good essay about how to “Get Everyone on Board” at Firefighter Zen HERE.

*  “Hang up and drive!”  Fire Daily has a good commentary about distracted drivers and firetruck “cab clutter” HERE.

Posted by on March 12, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Blogs

Night Fire in Italy

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WE HAVE NO INFORMATION ON THIS FIRE Tuesday night in Turin (Torino) Italy.  But it’s always enlightening to see the the operations and equipment deployed by the Vigili del Fuoco.

Posted by on March 12, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Weekend Caption Contest

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IT’S HAPPENED AGAIN.  AN INTERESTING NEWS PHOTO got separated from its caption, leaving us to figure out what the topic is that was so interesting that the AP sent it out over the global wire.

This is the first time in memory that Indian Tanks have been given such good treatment.  Or is this just a spiffy brush unit?  Help us out here and fill in the missing caption by posting it in the Comments.

Posted by on March 12, 2010 • Filed under: caption contest • Tagged:

Close Call For Firetrucks

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THE NORTON, OHIO, FIRE DEPARTMENT knew that they needed a new building to house Station 1, so they have been planning and acquiring land.  Everything is all set for a groundbreaking later this month with a hoped-for opening in November.  But it won’t be happening any too soon.

On February 24 the on-duty firefighters heard a loud crack coming from the roof.  When they went up to inspect it to see what was wrong, they found that nearly all of the roof trusses had snapped.  About 30-seconds later, the drywall in the station started splitting.  They immediately got all of the trucks out of the station, three ambulances, a rescue truck, two fire engines, a tanker, and a brush truck. 

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Some citizens came by to help the FD load up
and move their equipment out of the building.
(Akron Beacon Journal photo)

The next day a structural engineer said that the building had been infiltrated with dry rot and was in danger of collapse.  Everything else was then removed from the building.  Some of the apparatus were moved over to Station 2, but the rest had to be located in a heated building that was quickly rented.

Yesterday, Thursday March 11, the roof collapsed sometime in the early afternoon.  A city councilman was driving by the vacated firehouse and saw a hole in the roof.  He called the fire chief and the firefighters drove over to see what it was.  As soon as they got there, they had to leave on a fire call, but when they came back the entire roof had collapsed.

WEWS-TV has today’s video report on this latest event:

Read more on Ohio.com HERE and HERE.
Norton Fire Department WEBSITE.

Posted by on March 12, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, fire stations, Videos • Tagged: ,

NYC Tries Once Again to Remove Street Alarm Boxes

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street box c city noiseNEW YORK CITY FIRE COMMISSIONER Salvatore Cassano told the City Council at a budget hearing on Wednesday that he plans to seek approval to remove the approximately 15,000 street alarm boxes from service.  He believes that it will result in a monetary savings of $6 million in the first year.  The Claims Journal reports:

Of the 12,931 calls from alarm boxes in 2009, 85 percent — or 10,997 — were false alarms, the fire department said.  And of the fire department’s 26,666 calls reporting structural fires in 2009, less than one percent — or 140 — came from an alarm box.

The city tried to do this 15 years ago, but an activist group filed a court injunction claiming that to remove them would severely impact deaf people.  The court then prohibited the city from deactivating the system, but they also said the fire department could later apply to lift the injunction if it showed that deaf and hearing-impaired people had another adequate way of reporting fires.

Cassano told the City Council that he believes that gains in technology, such as mobile phones, means that the city can finally get rid of the system.  “We are confident that call boxes can be deactivated without jeopardizing public safety,” he said.  In addition to getting approval from the federal court, the City Council would have to repeal a law that requires a street box to be placed every four blocks.

Posted by on March 12, 2010 • Filed under: dispatch, Fire Rescue Topics • Tagged: , ,

230-yr.-old Fire Department Ordered to Shut Down

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THE FRIENDSHIP ENGINE & HOSE CO. has been serving Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, since 1780 and is one of the oldest fire companies still active in the state.  Friendship is one of five VFD’s in the borough, but it is also the only one that has refused to bring its membership up to the minimum standards mandated by the Chambersburg Fire Chief.

In the mid-1970′s Chambersburg took over most of the financial obligations of the town’s 5 volunteer companies while combining four of them in two borough-owned firehouses.  The 5th company still operates out of its own house.  Chambersburg also owns most of the appratus and provides paid drivers for the engines.  The McKinley St. station where Friendship operates out of is also used by the Good Will Fire Company. 

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The borough also requires the volunteer firefighters to meet minimum standards for training and personnel requirements such as background checks.  Fire Chief William FitzGerald has given Friendship until April 10 to remove the fire engine that they own and until September 1 to qualify its members properly.  Chief FitzGerald tells WHTM-TV: 

“We’ve gotten past the point of talking to them about meeting the standards,” said FitzGerald.  He says their volunteers do not meet national standards in things like CPR and Hazmat.

“Most of these things are not hard to get. We provide the computers — most can be done online,” said FitzGerald.  But he says they also have not fulfilled bare minimum borough requirements.

“The biggest stepping stone is we need to have a full background check, a physical and we need them to sign an arson affidavit,” FitzGerald.

The time for talking is over after several months of discussions and no attempts being made by the volunteers to meet the minimum standards.

WHP-TV Ch. 21 has this video report:

The Chambersburg Public Opinion has MORE HERE.
Friendship Engine & Hose Co. WEBSITE.  (Recommended, click on the History Page button.)

Posted by on March 12, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Fire-ology, Firefighter Safety & Health, training-fire-rescue-topics, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Morning Lineup – March 12

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Back on November 20′s Morning Lineup (HERE) I wrote four paragraphs about my disagreement with those few emergency dispatch agencies who seem to be anxious to release 9-1-1 recordings for the public’s entertainment.  I wrote, in part:  Yesterday, once again, there was a public release of a 9-1-1 tape recording and this one is really pressing the limits, I think.  It includes the screaming death throes of a woman who is burning.  Several of you agreed with me that indiscriminate release of the phone calls for obviously prurient reasons is more than just distasteful.

It appears that I am not the only one who is disturbed by this practice.  The Florida state legislature is considering a bill that would restrict the release of 911 recordings except under a court order showing “good cause.”  The bill is in the House where it was originated and is being promoted as a victim’s rights measure designed to protect the privacy of 911 callers.  It as generated a vigorous debate between those who believe that the recordings are the same as any public document and should be immediately available to anybody who wants to listen to them, and the opposite faction that believes there should be a mechanism to take out the sensationalism that is sometimes used as a reason for publishing the tapes.

The House committe chairman that is overseeing the bill said, “The real point here is this bill gets to the core of sensationalism. This preserves the right to know while [eliminating] the profiteering off the sensationalism of others.”  On the other hand, the spokesman for the Florida ACLU claims, “It places an unnecessary barrier to the constitutionally-protected right to access public records.”

On Wednesday the bill passed out of the committe by an 8-5 vote.  Florida’s governor has stated that he is opposed to the legislation.

Florida is not the only state considering this type of legislation.  Alabama, Ohio, and Wisconsin are also working on similar bills while Rhode Island, Maine, and Pennsylvania have already placed some restrictions on access to the recordings.

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There are just two days left to VOTE HERE for the Wildland Firefighters Foundation entry in Toyota’s contest for best race car paint design.  We first alerted you to this contest and how you can help this fine charitable organization almost two weeks ago HERE.  Since you can vote once a day for as many days as there are remaining, you have three more opportunities to help out.

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Their vote totals are really getting up there and the WFF tells us that they have an excellent shot at finishing in the top-ten which will move them up into the Finals.  So take a moment, please, and give them a click.

Now we will take several moments and get this equipment checked out.  I need to take a moment and make some more coffee, too.  See you back in the day room.

Posted by on March 12, 2010 • Filed under: dispatch, morning lineup • Tagged:

Around the Fire Web

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*  Dave Statter has been following a couple of cases in D.C. where paramedics left patients without transporting them with tragic results.  Read STATter911 HERE to see what has been happening.

*  Backstep Firefighter exposes some more Boston problems as they try to find reserve-reserve apparatus for the failing reserve apparatus HERE.

*  The Happy Medic has compiled a handy list of phrases that can get you fired HERE.

*  Wildfire Today has a story about a controlled-burn season in a province in Thailand.  That isn’t news in itself, but he challenges you talk about it in “proper” company without getting thrown out.  CLICK HERE to see what I mean.

*  Firefighter Nation has the story and several videos of the fire in Brooklyn last night that injured several firefighters HERE.

Posted by on March 11, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Blogs

Looking Back

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………. Fire Engineering, April 1972

 

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Posted by on March 11, 2010 • Filed under: Looking Back • Tagged: , , ,

Unscheduled Trash Collection

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THE FIREFIGHTERS AT THE SAINT-QUENTIN-sur-ISERE, France, firehouse were surprised Tuesday morning when a garbage truck suddenly dropped in through the roof of the station.

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Le Dauphine

The rear of the terraced firehouse is just below a residential street that is on a hill and the truck suddenly lost its brakes.  As it started coasting backwards and gaining speed all the while, the driver tried vainly to direct the truck to a safe area.  As it approached the firehouse, the collector on the back of the truck dove into the garbage, likely saving his life.

The rear overhang of the truck crashed through the roof leaving the rear wheels suspended.  It was later towed out successfully leaving only a corner of the station damaged and no personal injuries.

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Le Dauphine

Le Dauphine has the STORY.

Posted by on March 11, 2010 • Filed under: fire stations, News • Tagged: ,

Ambulance Dispatch Delay Being Investigated

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AN EXPERIENCED 9-1-1 DISPATCHER IN PUNTA GORDA, FLORIDA, is on administrative reassignment today after an incident where an ambulance was not dispatched until 14 minutes after the call came in.

The incident took place on Friday night when a caller reported that a 91-yr.-old woman was in cardiac arrest.  The dispatcher who is also a supervisor, took the call and immediately sent a police unit and a fire engine that was staffed with three EMT’s and one Paramedic.  But for some as-yet-unknown reason, the ambulance wasn’t dispatched until much later.

This video report from WZVN-TV has the full story, but the newscasters appear to be trying to blame the dispatch error for the woman’s death, despite the timely arrival of the paramedic engine crew:

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Posted by on March 11, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, dispatch, EMS Topics, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Downtown Fire in London

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Update: Additional video added, scroll down.

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BBC News

AN EARLY-MORNING FIRE IN A FASHIONABLE restaurant district in London, England, on Thursday has gutted a 4-story building and spread to a second building before the London Fire Brigade was able to contain the blaze.

The fire was reported around 4:30 am and the first-arriving units found the building well-involved already.  Upgraded responses brought over 100 firefighters to the scene and it took them more than six hours to bring it under control.  Early in the operation the top two floors collapsed after the FF’s attempted to do a primay search with thermal imaging cameras.  It is believed that there were no casualties from the fire.

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BBC News

Some unconfirmed reports say that the restuarant involved is The East Room, a private members’ club.  Others say that it began in the Sosho Bar and Restaurant.  Police and fire investigators are on the scene, but it will be a long time before they can get inside to search for the cause and point of origin.

Sky News has posted this brief video report from the fire scene:

This Islington Gazette has MORE.

Update:
ITN has just posted this video:

Update #2:
The Daily Mail has an updated report with some good photos HERE.

Posted by on March 11, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged: ,

Morning Lineup – March 11

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Have you heard of VUDU before?  It’s a video download/streaming service that primarily offers movies to download to your television set.  I had never heard of them (or if I had, I’ve forgotten) until last week when they hit the news.  According to their WEBSITE (HERE) they have literally thousands of  movie titles available and they are offered the same day that the DVD of the flick is released.  There is no monthly subscription or contract required, you only pay for what you watch when you order it.  And they say that they already have 2,000 HD titles in their library along with the tens of thousands of standard def. titles.

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How do you download them?  It arrives over your internet connection (you are required to have a broadband connection) and arrives in a receiver that looks like a cable-tv box.  You do have a 1-time charge of about $140 to purchase the box, but it stores all the movies that you have downloaded so that you can view them repeatedly if you choose to.  LG Electronics and Mitsubishi are building tv sets now that have the VUDU mechanics already installed.  They make their money by selling the movies, either as a download file to keep, or as a live-streaming video-on-demand service.  To sum it up, it’s “Bye-bye, Blockbuster” and “Nice knowin’ ya’ Netflix.”

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Why was VUDU in the news last week, you ask?  It’s because Walmart dropped a bombshell on the movie-rental industry by announcing that they have purchased VUDU for an undisclosed sum with the deal expected to be closed in the upcoming weeks.  While there are several streaming and download services already, the clout that Walmart has in the retail industry already will propel VUDU onto to the top of the heap.  Just as a for-instance,  Walmart sells such a large percentage of television sets now that they can potentially “encourage” more manufacturers to include the VUDU system in their new receivers.

This will also have an impact on the cable-tv operators because now there will be no need for a customer to pay a monthly surcharge for movie channels such as Starz and HBO.  We’re talking big  bucks here.  There is a lot of news, information and speculation out there on this sea change in digital entertainment delivery, so if you are interested in reading more about it, go to your preferred search engine and enter:  Walmart Vudu and you will get plenty of sites to check out.  If anybody has already used VUDU, post a Comment and let us know what you think about it, or how it works.

First though, we have to check out this equipment and get ready for the day.  I’ll go get a pot of coffee started then we’ll meet back in the day room in a little while.

Posted by on March 11, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , , ,

Lane-Changer Triggers Fiery Multi-Vehicle Wreck

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A 76-YR.-OLD MAN DRIVING ON I-465 in Indianapolis, Indiana, started to exit the freeway Tuesday afternoon, then changed his mind and attempted to pull back into the traffic lane.  He then struck an SUV causing it to spin around and collide with a tractor-trailer carrying a large water tank containing salt-water fish.

The truck crashed into the jersey barrier splitting open the fuel tank and starting a diesel fire before the vehicles even came to a stop.

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WRTV

The fire was so destructive to the asphalt pavement that the highway had to be shut down for several hours while an emergency re-paving job was done to the lanes.  Police believe that alcohol was a factor in the cause of the wreck.

WISH-TV Ch. 8 has this video report including an interview with the obviously disgusted truck driver:

WRTV has a photo gallery HERE.

Posted by on March 10, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged:

4-Alarms at Charlotte Apartment Building

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A FIRE AT A CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA, APARTMENT building Tuesday morning challenged the CFD with a night-rescue problem.  The 70-unit 4-story building was heavily damaged and firefighters rescued many upper-story residents by ground ladders.

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Charlotte Observer

The fire was brought under control in 3 hours and aside from one civilian who was transported for observation, no injuries have been reported.

FireNews.net has the full story along with a response roster and a video report HERE.

Posted by on March 10, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires • Tagged: ,

Overnight Fire Displaces 100 Residents

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A 2-ALARM FIRE IN A NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, apartment building has left nearly 100 people homeless this morning.

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The Day / Jensen

The blaze broke out on the 3rd-floor of the 36-unit building and quickly got up into a false attic where a peaked roof had been built over the original flat roof.  When the first-alarm units arrived, the fire was growing rapidly and they FF’s were faced with a major rescue challenge with 30 to 40 people trapped in their apartments.

Fire attack was delayed as all hands were devoted to the evacuations.  “While we were doing that, we couldn’t extinguish the fire, so it did get ahead of us a little bit,” New London Fire Chief Ronald Samul told reporters.  Approx. 6 people were brought down via ground ladders and so far only three injuries have been reported, all of them civilians suffering smoke inhalation.

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The fire started around 10 pm Tuesday night and it was called under control at 2:30 am Wednesday.  Chief Samul said the city’s hydrants were running at maximum capacity and “we’re taking every drop” as firefighters battled the blaze.

This video report from The Day has good fire footage and an interview with Chief Samul:

The Day also has a written report HERE.
New London Firefighters L-1522 WEBSITE.

Posted by on March 10, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Morning Lineup – March 10

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When I was in my formative years as a new firefighter, one of the lessons that was emphasized over and over again was that you never, ever leaned against or blindly grabbed ahold of an aerial truck if the stick was out of the bed.  The reason for that is obvious and even a smidgeon of common sense tells you that.  But the point was repeated often and drummed into you so that you behaved automatically without having to stop and remind yourself at the time.  When you’re not allowed a second chance at something, you definitely learn how to avoid instant death or disability.

I am wondering if such basic training is still practiced in some places.  In the past week I have read about three instances where firefighters were either injured or endangered when an aerial device touched some overhead electric wires and I was puzzled as to why that would happen.  I realize that every year additional skills need to be learned, and the complexity of modern times is always expanding the field of knowledge that FF’s need to absorb in order to do their jobs properly.  But somewhere along the way, something has gone missing in basic survival training.

It’s hard to believe that fire schools have stopped teaching these critical points, but maybe some of them have.  Why?  It is also very likely that while the schools do cover these survival tips, they are not following up to see if the students have actually learned these facts.  Some people think that being told something – simply hearing it once – is the same as learning it, but we know that is not the case.  There are a lot of younger people these days who have been passed along through elementary and high school without being taught how to learn and never being required to learn what has been presented.  When they mature and attend fire academies they are sometimes not prepared to learn the vital basics that they need to not only stay alive, but also not endanger others.

Fire instructors need to keep this in mind now more than ever.  We are throwing a lot of critcal information out to recruits and others where some of them are unprepared to properly absorb and remember these things.  Many of us can do our part starting today by having a 5-minute drill in the day room emphasizing the need to always avoid leaning against an aerial truck that is in service.  Say it again and again, then have everybody “repeat after me….”

Ok, let’s get the equipment checked out now.  I’m going to start another pot of coffee, then we’ll meet back in the day room.

Posted by on March 10, 2010 • Filed under: health & safety, morning lineup, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , ,

Fire Tanker Heavily Damaged in Collision

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feuertanker b

THE WEBSITE FOR THE FEUERWEHR-WIESLOCH in Germany reported that on Tuesday afternoon one of their tankers was involved in a collision that left it heavily damaged.

feuertanker aThe truck was responding to a  house fire in Malsch when it somehow crashed with a commercial truck on the roadway.  The exact nature of the collision has not been reported, but none of the people involved, either on the firetruck or the commercial truck, were seriously injured.

The tanker is only three years old and will be out of service for a long time.  The VFD is now trying to arrange for a temporary replacement for it to maintain their water delivery capability.

Prepared by Christian Lewalter

Posted by on March 10, 2010 • Filed under: apparatus, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus • Tagged: ,

80 year old falls down elevator shaft

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SIR STERLING MOSS IS ONE OF THE SURVIVING ICONS OF FORMULA 1 RACING FROM THE 1950′s

A notice came from Sports Car Market:

BBC News: Sir Stirling won 16 F1 Grand Prix races in his illustrious career

BBC News: Sir Stirling won 16 F1 Grand Prix races in his illustrious career

SCM has learned that British Formula One racing legend Sir Stirling Moss suffered broken bones and other injuries when he fell down an elevator shaft at his home this past Saturday. Following surgery, the 80-year-old is recovering at the Royal London Hospital.

Moss had been scheduled to appear at the Amelia Island Concours this weekend as part of the seminar “The Three Greats: Petty, Moss, and Garlits.”

NO HIPAA IN ENGLAND

A detailed press release was posted at StirlingMoss.com:

Following an accident at his home in Mayfair on Saturday evening, as a result of a lift malfunction, Sir Stirling Moss suffered two broken ankles, four broken bones to his foot, skin abrasions and four chipped vertebrae. He is now comfortable and recovering in a London hospital after surgery to both ankles.

The family are very relieved that Stirling survived the fall, demonstrating that his body still has the same resilience to injury as it did in his racing days. He is comfortable, following a good night’s rest post surgery, and is well on the road to recovery.

It is expected that it will take up to 6 weeks for him to recover from his injuries.

The family would like to thank everyone, on behalf of Stirling, for their messages of support.

Updates will be posted here: http://twitter.com/StirlingMossCom

Complete press release here.

Moss at the Nürburgring in 1961 (wikipedia)

Moss at the Nürburgring in 1961 (wikipedia)

PERSONAL EMAIL FROM SIR STERLING MOSS

Recently, a long personal email from Moss was relayed by Sports Car Market.  I think this segment would be of interest to our readers:

THE AMBULANCE WAS CALLED AND ARRIVED AT RACING SPEED, WHEREUPON THEY PUT ME ONTO A SERIES OF ABOUT 10 STRETCHERS! HAVING FINALLY SETTLED ON WHAT MUST HAVE SEEMED A GOOD ONE, I WAS TAKEN, ALONG WITH MY FAMILY TO THE ROYAL LONDON HOSPITAL IN WHITECHAPEL, WHERE THEY USED ANOTHER BATCH OF SIMILAR STRETCHERS!

THEY DID A GOOD JOB OF HELPING ME, BUT WERE UNABLE TO DO THE REQUISITE SURGERY. SO, ON THE SUNDAY, I WAS MOVED TO THE PRINCESS GRACE, WHERE A FANTASTICALLY EFFICIENT, KIND AND AMUSING STAFF DID ALL THE JOBS.

I AM NOW IN A LOVELY ROOM, NUMBER 222, AND WITH THE HELP OF ELLIOT AND THE PORTER, AM FINALLY ON THE EMAIL. THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT I WILL BE ABLE TO ACTUALLY SEND THIS TO YOU, BUT I WILL TRY!

Pretty wired for an 80 year old (wikipedia entry)

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Posted by on March 9, 2010 • Filed under: cars, EMS Topics, News, Twitter • Tagged: ,