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Mystery Minute 04.37

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Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.
Previous episode Part Thirty-Six is HERE.

 

Part Thirty-Seven

Finney pulled up in the driveway and let out a sigh as he set the transmission in Park.  For once, he felt like a weight had been taken off his shoulders and he could relax this evening.  Taking out his house key, he then opened the door and stepped inside.

As he closed the door behind him, it latched with a sound that had a kind of echo behind him.  As he turned around and looked, he was stopped and felt like all of his blood had suddenly drained out of his body.  The whole house was empty.  Everything was gone.

Everything.

The End

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Posted by on March 9, 2010 • Filed under: Mystery Minute

Looking Back

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………. Fire Engineering, January 1954

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Posted by on March 9, 2010 • Filed under: Looking Back • Tagged: ,

Spectacular Fire Destroys Furniture Factory

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A FIRE EARLY FRIDAY MORNING DESTROYED a family-owned furniture factory in the Rochelle region of France.  The AG Products Corporation employs 24 workers who make specialty furniture that includes a large amount of plexiglas. 

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The blaze was heavily fueled by the plastics stored there along with the venting of compressed gas cylinders that prevented the initial response units from entering the building.

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The fire was exinguished by 65 firefighters with the help of master streams and there were no reported injuries.

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The local fire department, SDIS 17 has posted a 13-minute raw video of the fire HERE.

Posted by on March 9, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires • Tagged: , , ,

Driver Dead After Colliding With Ambulance and Three Cars

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A LAWTON, MICHIGAN, MAN IS DEAD after he went on a car-banging spree Monday night, striking four other vehicles while speeding along a highway.

Shortly after 8 pm Monday, the crew of a Coloma EMS ambulance called 9-1-1 to report that they had just been struck by a car which then drove off at a high rate of speed.  While a deputy was en route to the accident scene, two more calls came in from other drivers reporting that they, too, had been struck by a car that continued on, speeding away from the accidents.

When deputies arrived at the scene of the third accident, they were waved down my somebody who directed them to a fourth accident where a car had been flipped over.  Not far away was the offending vehicle that had rolled over several times and ended up crashing into a garage.

The driver of the car, 58-yr.-old Everett Painter had to be extricated by the fire department, but he had already died at the scene.

Neither of the ambulance crew members were injured, but the man who was driving the 4th vehicle that had rolled over was hospitalized for back and neck pains.  The Sheriff’s Department is still investigating the accident and looking for the explanation why the driver was behaving the way he was.

The Kalamazoo Gazette has the FULL STORY.

Posted by on March 9, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics • Tagged: , , ,

To “FD” or Not “FD,” – Politicians Puzzled

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THE SAN CARLOS, CALIFORNIA, CITY COUNCIL is considering a brainstorm presented by their City Manager Mark Weiss.  He thinks that the cash-strapped city could save $3 million to 5.5 million if they shut down the police department and the fire department and contracted other agencies to provide the emergency services.

His plan calls for contracting with the San Mateo County Sheriff’s office to patrol the streets and answer calls, and making an agreement with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire, to come in and answer fire calls.

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According to THIS ARTICLE in the San Jose Mercury-News, Weiss said he prefers the outsourcing plan because the city needs to “do something bolder” than what they have been doing for the past several years.  His alternative proposal to the “outsourcing” is to save the money by, among other tricks, closing the city’s Youth Center and discontinue televising the City Council meetings.  (We are not making this up…Ed.)  The article does not say whether Weiss has gotten any pre-approval from either the Sheriff’s Dept. or CalFire for this scheme.

Firegeezer is of the opinion that the good citizens of San Carlos are in real trouble when their city is being run by somebody who thinks that running a “youth center” is more important than running a police station.  When you think that televising the city council public meetings is more valuable than sending out a fire engine to handle an emergency, then you have completely lost touch with reality.

“If we adopt this, if we totally outsource departments, it will dramatically affect how we do business,” Weiss said.  (At least he’s got that part right….Ed.)

The San Mateo Daily Journal has MORE.
San Carlos Fire Department WEBSITE.

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IN VIGO COUNTY, INDIANA, NEVINS TOWNSHIP Trustee Carl Gregory arbitrarily shut down the town’s volunteer fire department last Monday March 1 after he became upset with some administrative shortcomings of the VFD.

Gregory donned his best coveralls for this interview with WISH-TV last week:

But the township leaders have had second-thoughts on such a drastic reaction to the lack of a few reports and rapidly called a meeting of all the involved parties to settle the dispute.  Work has commenced at the firehouse to satisfy some requirements and the volunteers are expecting to return to answering alarms in a few days.

WTHI-TV Ch. 10 filed this video update last night:

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Posted by on March 9, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, commentary, fire stations, Fire-ology, Funding & Staffing, Videos • Tagged: , , , , ,

Triumph of Convention over Controversy

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Seven weeks ago I posted “Controversial” EMT Training” describing my approach in teaching an on-campus EMT-Basic class to university undergraduates.  This blog item is posted while the dozen-and-a-half students are taking their mid-term exam.

TESTING TURMOIL

nremt_stagingTHIS WILL KEEP ME OUT OF MEDICAL SCHOOL!

The students have taken three 25 question multiple-choice quizzes.

Since the registry test is multiple choice, it is appropriate to use this assessment format.

Quiz 1 results were not bad, an 85% average with two students scoring below 70%.  Students were freaking out.

Tried to show that each quiz represents 7 out of 100 points that make up their final grade, they could still score an “A” for the course even if they got a 66% in Quiz 1.  66% represents a loss of 2.4/100 points in their final  grade.

Students will need to complete the lecture portion of EMT with an 80% or higher to sit for the NR EMT-Basic exam.

I CANNOT FIGURE THIS OUT!

Inspired by a Happy Medic post (HERE), I preview Quiz 2 by sharing the story of a 63 year old  who crashes his car while having a heart attack. Leaning over to check on him, his wife suffers a severe head and face injury when struck by the exploding air bag. Found two pictures of a sedan with front end damage and deployed airbags.  Email Justin’s post early, telling the students that they will read more about it on the quiz.

Integrated the story into 12 questions reinforcing scene size-up,  NREMT patient assessment procedures, identifying priority situations, vital signs and treating shock.  You would have thought I was asking them to speak Na’vi.

The whining predicts a disasterous outcome:  88% average with two students scoring below 80%.

REDUCING THE EMOTIONAL TURMOIL

The nature of the next group of chapters required a traditional fact-based multiple-choice quiz.  Numbers, definitions and translation of acronyms.  Determining Glasgow Coma Scores and burned Body Surface Areas.  It looks a lot like an EMT-Ambulance quiz I took in 1971.

Students much happier about quiz experience.  Results are a little better, 89% average with three students scoring below 80%.

In preparing for today’s midterm, the students made it clear that they preferred how Quiz 3 was assembled instead of the scenario-based Quiz 2.

Stay tuned for the results …..

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Posted by on March 9, 2010 • Filed under: EMS Topics, Training & Development • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – March 9

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In October 1973 a fire began during the day in the northern Boston suburb of Chelsea, Massachusetts.  It broke out in a decrepit area of the central part of the city that was mostly vacant industrial buildings, many of them stuffed with abandoned stock and materials that had been left there 25 years before.  The mid-afternoon blaze ripped through the heart of the city and became known as the 1973 Chelsea Conflagration.

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The fire roared through the old 2- and 3-story wood-framed buildings chasing everybody from its path.  The Chelsea FD was overtaxed from the beginning and mutual aid calls were sent immediately.  Within hours there were more than 2,000 firefighters and units from 67 fire departments fighting to save the entire city that was literally threatened with extinction.

When the fire was finally completely extinguished one week later, more than 300 buildings and a swath of Chelsea’s commercial district covering an area ½-mile wide and 1-½ miles long was oblierated.

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The next year I attended one of those seminars where fire officers from around the country give lectures on various firefighting topics, and the Chelsea Fire Chief Herbert Fothergill presented a gripping first-hand account, with movies and news reels, of that disastrous and exhausting week.  The entire audience was spellbound because we were hearing and seeing things that we never knew about.  But the main thing that made such an impression on me that I never forgot it, was Chief Fothergill’s explanation of the true reason that the area was lost and was never publicly admitted by the city officials.

The water mains throughout the entire city center were more than 100 years old and had never been cleaned out or replaced.  What were 6-inch mains had so much buildup on the interior linings that they were effectively 1-inch to 3-inch pipes.  There was literally no fire flow available for a major burn.  The chief had been lobbying for years and years to have the mains replaced, but the city government was so corrupt that money was never spent on things that could not be seen, only on visible projects that would enhance the politicians’ chances to be re-elected.

I bring this up this morning because Chelsea was immediately brought to mind when I saw the summary report on the Boston FD ladder truck crash last year that killed Fire Lieutenant Kevin Kelley and destroyed the truck.  An Internal Board of Inquiry released its report on the accident yesterday and its conclusions sound so familiar to anybody who has to work or live in a city run by machine politics.  While it isn’t said so publicly, it certainly appears that the practice of avoiding expenditures on “things that aren’t visible” is rolling right along.  The summary of 15 causal findings disclosed in the Board of Inquiry’s final report include:

  • Lack of adequate funding for preventive maintenance.
  • No employee assigned the specific responsibility of overseeing a preventive maintenance program.
  • Insufficient manpower in the Maintenance Division. 
  • No certified mechanics to perform major repairs.
  • Installation of improper parts by outside vendors dating back to January 15, 1999.

It goes further.  You can read the entire summary HERE.  But you can see how this relates to a long-standing practice of under-funding the hidden needs of the city.  The entire 127-page report can be downloaded HERE in .pdf file, but be aware that it’s about 140 Mg’s, so be ready for that. 

WFXT-TV Ch. 25 talks a little more about the report:

While the reports that have been issued on this accident rightly point out these failures of the administration and the budget planners, what they don’t say is that this could very well be the result of ignoring vital expenditures because it is so easy to line out budget items that the pubic doesn’t know about and never misses…..until it all comes back to hit you hard.

I don’t know what the answer is, politicians being what they are.  But somewhere, sometime, the citizens will have to wake up and demand more responsible actions of their local governments.

Now we have to assert our own responsibility and get this equipment checked out (properly).  I’ll get the coffee started.

Posted by on March 9, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , , ,

They’re Still Falling For The Fire Marshal Scam

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IT’S NOT ALWAYS THE SAME PERSON pulling the scam, but it’s always the same story.  The  routine usually works this way:  A man dressed in what could be taken for a firefighter’s work uniform, or work jacket, walks into a business that has several employees and identifies himself as a fire marshal who is there for a routine inspection.

After he wanders around a while doing his faux inspection, he waits until everybody is busy with customers and then ducks into the offices where he rifles through the purses or petty cash boxes. 

One of these shysters is working in Chicago now and the Chicago Tribune reported:

The man was carrying a file folder with papers in it and wearing a blue jacket with the words “Chicago Fire Department” in white lettering on the back, police said. He told staff at the club that he was a fire inspector and proceeded to look around in what appeared to the staff to be a professional manner, finding fire extinguishers and looking for fire code violations, police said.

After the man had looked around for a while, he told staff at the club that there were some violations and that they owed $260 in fines, police said. The staff gave him the money, police said.

While the man was at the club, among the rooms he entered was one in which a purse had been set down; after he left, it was discovered that $300 was missing from the purse, police said.

This is the first one that we’ve reported on where the “inspector” asked for, and received, cash for payment of fines.

Back in September Firegeezer ran this VIDEO STORY about a similar operation in the Columbus, Ohio, area.

Posted by on March 8, 2010 • Filed under: crime, News • Tagged: ,

Mystery Minute 04.36

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Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.
Previous episode Part Thiry-Five is HERE.

 

Part Thirty-Six

It was getting late in the afternoon and Finbar was ready to wrap things up.  The whole squad was there in the office with him, Dan, Lenny and Charley, and they had that collective feeling that it was just about over.  Once the various lab results confirmed their conclusions, and they sure hoped that they did, then it would be “Case Closed.”

“Let’s see how it looks so far,” Finney said to kick it off.  “I’ll go down the list and we’ll see if anything sounds amiss.” 

Looking around, he continued, “Ok, Tony’s fire started from chlorine crystals falling into a Vaseline jar.  When his nephew Willy saw the smoke coming from the kitchen, he jumped up from his whittling and ran in to see what was happening, stumbled and most likely fell on his own knife.  He was still there when the fire got him.  Same page so far?”

Everybody nodded and he continued, “Meanwhile, Joey was just a couple blocks away flirting with his girlfriend, the Waffle House waitress, and had no idea what was going on.  Now just by coincidence, the next day some hungry mouse in Tony’s pawnshop shorts out an extension cord and starts a small fire there.  While the mouse ate the wire, Mousey was unaware.”  They all groaned at that one, but Finney pressed on.

“It looks like we have an unfortunate set of circumstances, but no murder and no arson.”

“You mean no crimes at all?” Charley piped up.

“That’s right,” Finney responded. 

“What about Alderman Winters?” Len asked.

“No telling what he was up to, but his involvement with Spinoza is a police matter, not ours.  I’m sending them what we observed and be done with it.  Same thing with the burned money.  Tony probaby won’t claim it because it would bring too many new questions.  And don’t feel sorry for him, he’s still a crook.  But we’re done with him.”

“So they were all telling the truth after all?”  Danny added.

“Yep,” Finney answered, “Every one of them.”

And with that, he sent everybody home for the night and started out himself.  “Finally,” he thinks, “I’m going to make it home in time for dinner for a change.”  He wasn’t worried about what Mayrie would be saying this time.

Read the conclusion to Truth Tellers HERE.

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

Fire Kills 2 Young Brothers – Father Charged.

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A GREENFIELD, OHIO, MAN IS BEING ARRAIGNED today on two felony counts of child endangerment following a fire in his house Sunday morning that killed his two sons ages 3 and 4.  Following the 8 am court appearance, he is being held on $1 million bond.  Investigators said they are charging Wesley Coonrod, 42, because of his level of intoxication and his actions when the fire started.

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Wesley Coonrod

Investigators have not yet determined what started the fire, but neighbors reported that it was well involved before the FD arrived and the house was so filled with smoke that none of the neighbors were able to get inside to search for the boys.

WKRC-TV Ch. 12 has this video report:

Tv station NBC4 Columbus has a full report HERE.

Coonrod has a prior arrest record  including domestic violence, aggravated menacing, resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and numerous criminal damaging and OVI and DUI arrests.

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The Red Cross had just moved the family temporarily into the duplex apartment two days earlier following another fire in their previous dwelling last week.

Posted by on March 8, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, investigations, Videos • Tagged: , ,

LODD’s

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A BENSALEM, PENNSYLVANIA, PARAMEDIC WAS KILLED SUNDAY NIGHT after an interaction with a mental patient.  Early reports said that he was stabbed, but later stories indicate that it might have been a different cause.  The story is still very fluid, but JEMS Connect is staying with it and will be updating as more facts are reported.  CLICK HERE  to see JEMS posting which has several links and a video report is now in the following update.  Updated, 11:20 am:  It is now determined that the medic died from a head injury, but no weapon was involved.  JEMS.com now has the updated report and additional video HERE.

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A 51-YR.-OLD VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER IN Borrodino, New York, died Saturday night while he was responding to a building collapse call in his 2nd-due territory.  From the Signal99.com forum:  The Borodino  Rescue Pumper was enroute to Spafford for a call.  While enroute, they had a 51 male onboard having difficulty breathing. They relayed this information to fire dispatch via cell phone because there isn’t a mobile radio installed in the rescue pumper.

They requested that a SAVES ambulance meet them at Spaffords fire station.   A few minutes later, Spafford base advised fire dispatch to tell SAVES to make their best time and that it was now a full arrest.  There was no fire radio in the new truck because the county is in the midst of implementing a new digital radio system .

The Syracuse Post-Standard has the STORY.
Borodino Fire Department WEBSITE.

Hat tip:  Harry H.

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A HONG KONG FIREFIGHTER WAS KILLED AND THREE MORE were critically injured at a factory fire Monday morning.  The blaze broke out in a fifth-floor knitting factory in the Lai Cheong Factory Building  at about 8.20am. Firefighters had difficulty fighting the fire, hampered by heavy smoke and many objects blocking their operations.  47-yr.-old Senior Fireman Yeung Chun-kit died after he was taken to the hospital.

Posted by on March 8, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Health & Safety, Firefighter Safety & Health, Line of Duty • Tagged: , , , ,

Brazen Poker Tournament Holdup

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A GROUP OF ARMED ROBBERS CHARGED INTO a high-stakes poker tournament in Berlin, Germany, Saturday in a brazen attempt to steal the $1.3 million jackpot.

The four masked men armed with guns and machetes stormed into the tournament room at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz at 2:15 pm and made a rush for the money cache. 

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Over the next several minutes there was a brave resistance mounted by the security guards who managed to reclaim a large part of the jackpot cash that was in several bags.

Security cameras throughout the game room recorded much of the holdup and the crowd reaction.  This raw video from AP shows some of the footage:

Much of the tapes have not been released by the police who say that they believe they can identify the culprits from the videos.  They are not disclosing how much of the money ended up being taken, but have said it’s in the “low six-figures.”  A later report says that it was about $140,000.  A security guard who tackled one of the robbers was able to save a large part of the loot.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Police officials said the robbers appeared to be less than professional. Detectives said they are reviewing video of the heist, which they said shows at least one robber who failed to wear gloves.

“We obtained fingerprints,” Mr. Gassen said.

Detectives said they are also reviewing surveillance video of the hotel and surrounding area. Police said they hope to trace the path of the robbers from the earliest possible on-camera sighting prior to the heist, until they made their getaway. Mr. Gassen declined to say whether police have clear pictures of the robbers without their masks.

“I am confident we will solve the case,” he said.

Read their full REPORT HERE.

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About 1,000 players are expected to participate in the 5-day tourney which was resumed about 4 hours after the holdup.

The Sun (UK) has more HERE.

Posted by on March 8, 2010 • Filed under: crime, current events, News, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – March 8

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It’s going to be a busy morning at Firegeezer HQ, a lot of little items got backed up over the weekend and we’ll be trying to get them posted in between the news items today.  For starters, perhaps some of you might have become interested in the on-again, off-again tv series Trauma that NBC network started showing back in September.  The premise of the series is based on a rather implausable group of San Francisco paramedics and their wandering ambulance, but it evolved into a soap-opera story line that a lot of people liked.

When the series started, the plan was to show 13 episodes, but a month later the network canceled the series after 4 or 5 episodes.  Then in November, following some complaints from viewers, they changed their mind and  re-started the series along with the announcement that they contracted for an additonal 3 episodes for a total of 16 to be shown.  In January they suddenly found an extra hour to fill every night because of the Jay Leno fiasco, so they ordered four more Trauma episodes bringing the new season’s total up to 20 episodes.

The series resumes tonight on NBC at 9 pm Eastern and they will be showing all new episodes until the season finale on May 10.  Unless they change their muddled minds again.

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Several of the bloggers who made it to the EMS Today Expo the other day have posted photos and comments about their experiences there, but if you just want to check one of them, I’d recommend that you go The Fire Critic’s website HERE.  Rhett has a good, comprehensive roundup on who was there along with a lot of links and photos from the weekend.  So click the link and check out his report.  He even has a couple of pictures of me on there, but it’s still worth reading anyway.

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What better way to start off a Monday than with a report on….coffee!  One of our blogging colleagues, Joe Schmoe (probably not his real name) published the Report on Conditions website (linked on our blogroll) and he’s got a story today on how to improve your coffee experience by roasting and grinding your own coffee beans.  It must really be delicious coffee to be worth the effort of going through all that.  He has step-by-step photo series explaining how to do it the right way, including some shots of the guys at the station down on their knees coaxing the roaster along.  They’re doing it outside so that they don’t set off the smoke detector.

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I’ve seen those $8-lb. beans in the store, but just maybe they’re worth it.  CLICK HERE to read the story and see what you think about it.

Meanwhile, we’d better get this equipment checked out now while I so start some of that ol’ store-bought coffee.  See you back in the day room in a little while.

Posted by on March 8, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, morning lineup • Tagged: , , , ,

Mystery Minute 04.35

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Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.
Previous episode Part Thirty-Four is HERE.

 

Part Thirty-Five

“So how does an empty Vaseline jar stuffed with money start a fire?” Finney asked.

“Well, you see there was no lid on the jar,” Danny answered, “I looked all over for one, nothing.  Even though everthing’s burned up in the cabinet, I found some bits of a container that held a cleaning powder that has chlorine bits in it.  I’m surmising, for lack of any other indicators, that whoever was using the cleaner spilled part of it when they set it on the shelf and a couple of the chlorine bits fell below into the money jar. 

“Apparently, one or some of the bits ended up against the inner part of the Vaseline jar where they became stuck against the thin layer of Vaseline that lines it.”

“You mean an exothermic reaction,” Finney blurted out, almost reactively.

“That’s it,” Danny said, “It’s a slow starter anyway, and with this tiny amount it could have been hours before the heat built up enough to ignite the money, burn the oily jar, and then spread through the cabinet.  For the want of a lid, the house was lost.”

Read Part Thirty-Six HERE.

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

Multi-National Underwater Recovery Training

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ON MARCH 4 A UNIQUE ICE-WATER RECOVERY DRILL was held on Lake Purr in Italy.  Participating in the extensive training exercise were fire/rescue departments from Slovenia and Austria, as well as several Italian FD’s.

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The drill included setting up a special inflated building that is used as a treatment area and FF rest and recovery zone.  The dive teams  then practiced cutting holes in the ice and going below the surface to search for and recover any victims.

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Included in the drill was a stringent practice of utilizing the Incident Command System (ICS).  (Yes, they are doing that over there now, too.) 

Participating were divers from Friuli Venice Giulia (Itay), Carinzia (Austria) and Capodistria (Slovenia).  Also surface teams from Trieste Udine Gorizia and Pordenone (Italy).

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To view the entire set of photos posted by the Vigili del Fuoco, click  HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Posted by on March 7, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Training, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: , , , ,

Arrests in Cicero Fire Deaths

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THREE WEEKS AGO TODAY ON FEBRUARY 14, Firegeezer reported HERE on a deadly fire in Cicero, Illinois, on Valentine’s Day.  The fire broke out in a house that had been illegally converted to separate living units and the fire spread to the next building over that had been altered similarly.  Altogether nearly 30 people were crammed into the tenements and when the fire was extinguished there were seven dead inside the house.  Roughly 20 people escaped, but the exact number isn’t known.

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See Larry Shapiro’s 180-image photo gallery of this fire HERE.

This past Wednesday March 3, two men were arrested and charged for arson and murder in the case.  One of them was the owner of the buildings Lawrence Myers, 60, and a maintenance man, Marion Comier, 47.  According to the prosecutors, Myers hired Comier to set the fire in exchange for $3,000 to $15,000.  The prosecution says that Myers was in financial difficulty, behind in mortgage payments and facing foreclosure on two other properties that he owns in other towns.  His motive was to collect $250,000 in insurance that he held on the Cicero house.  The Chicago Tribune reported:

“It was done at the wrong time,” Lawrence Myers said in a secretly taped conversation with the maintenance man, Marion Comier, according to prosecutors. “I didn’t want any of this to happen.”  Myers had instructed Comier to burn down the apartment building during the day “when the children were at school and the women were at work,” according to one of the recordings, prosecutors said.

The two are also heard on the wiretaps talking about how much Comier would be paid, anywhere from $3,000 to $15,000, Cook County Asst. State’s Attorney Mary Lacy said in court.

And they discussed how Comier used a mixture of gasoline and oil to start the fire in an attempt to disguise the smell. “I dumped it on there, threw in a match and that was it,” Lacy said, quoting Comier’s statement.  The fire started in the rear of the first floor of the building, which was empty, Lacy said. But it raced up a back stairs, cutting off the only escape for people on the second floor.

During one taped conversation, Myers repeatedly discussed plans to take the insurance money and flee to West Virginia, where he would live without a mailbox or telephone so he would be difficult to find.

In the days after the fire, three witnesses came forward and told Cicero police they had heard Myers and Comier discussing burning down the building, prosecutors said. One of the witnesses said Comier admited setting the fire.

Witnesses also described hearing Myers repeatedly calling Comier before the fire and asking him to do it, prosecutors said.  A witness agreed to wear a wire and, on five separate days, recorded the two making statements implicating themselves, prosecutors said.

Both men were arrested Wednesday evening at 6 pm and are charged with seven counts of 1st-degree murder and two counts of aggravated arson.  Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune HERE.

The men were arraigned Friday afternoon and WFLD-TV Ch. 32 filed this video report:

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Posted by on March 7, 2010 • Filed under: arson, Fire Rescue Topics, Law & Justice, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , ,

A Sunday Emergency !

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Season Two, Episode 19

Boot

The Paramedics and men of Station 51 become concerned when their mascot becomes listless and refuses to eat.

Posted by on March 7, 2010 • Filed under: Sunday Emergency, Videos • Tagged:

Ill Firefighter Needs Assistance

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A CLIO, MICHIGAN, FIREFIGHTER HAS BECOME DISABLED because of a genetic kidney disease.  Darin DeFreese has a rare disease called L-Cat Deficiency that causes his kidneys to shut down.  He had a transplant kidney in 1998, but now that one is failing, too.  He is on the waiting list for another, but that could take a few years.

WJRT-TV has a video report on his tragic story HERE.

In the meantime he has become too ill to work and his medical bills are piling up.  He has to take 11 pills every morning plus regular visits for hemodialysis.

The Clio Fire Dept. and the Township held a fund-raiser silent auction and spaghetti dinner Saturday afternoon, but they are still gratefully accepting any donations.  If you wish to help out, you can send a donation to:

Thetford Township Hall
4014 E. Vienna Rd.
Clio, MI

Posted by on March 7, 2010 • Filed under: charity • Tagged: ,

Early Lunch Becomes Costly

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A MANITOWOC, WISCONSIN, WOMAN DECIDED THAT THE SIGNS in the Lincoln Park Zoo that say “Stay Away From Fence” and “Do Not Feed Animals” didn’t apply to her.

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Saturday just before noon she decided to share her lunch with the cute, cuddly black bear, so she went around the barrier and stuck her hand holding a plastic bag containing people food through an access hole in the fence.  The cute, cuddly black bear promptly chomped down on the proffered treat, bag, food, and woman’s hand.

By the time her boyfriend was able to pry the bear’s jaw open, the 47-yr.-old woman, Tracy Weiler had lost her entire thumb, forefinger, and portions of her middle and ring fingers.  The Associated Press filed this video report:

Weiler and her boyfriend both admitted that they had been drinking alcohol that morning (Who would have guessed?! ….Ed.).  The 51-yr.-old man suffered lacerations from his efforts, but no lost appendages.

The Manitowac Herald Times has the FULL STORY.

Story assisted by Fireball

Posted by on March 7, 2010 • Filed under: EMS Topics, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – March 7

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Back home at the keyboard today after yesterday’s journey to the EMS Today Expo in Baltimore.  FossilMedic was there for all three days and carried the banner well for us while he was introducing a lot of people to his new progam under development at the university.  He will no doubt be writing more about that in the next couple of months here.

I was pleased to finally get to meet some of the FireEMS Blogs publishers face-to-face.  Some of them I’ve been emailing and phoning for a couple of years, but we never before were in the same place at the same time.  We’re scattered all over the country but with the miracle of modern communications we have been friends for quite a while.

Speaking of the digital miracles, this photo was already posted online before I even got home by Twitter friend Squirrel325:

emstoday aab

left to right:  Bill Schumm – Firegeezer, Mike Ward – FossilMedic,
Rhett Fleitz – Fire Critic,  John Mitchell – Fire Daily.

Rhett and John have recently joined in a venture into PodCasting/NetCasting and they’ve got three episodes “in the can” already as they are fine-tuning their live netcasts that feature a live chat room that shows up on your monitor where you can join in on the discussion.  Past episodes are archived, so you can catch them later if you need to miss the live netcast.  I’ll be posting a complete explanation to this venture in the days ahead, but you can take a peek now and check out some back  podcasts at the website for the Firefighter Netcast HERE.

FossilMedic and I will be posting some more tidbits from the Expo over the next couple of days.  But for now, we need to get the equipment checked out.  I’ll go start some more coffee and see how the Sunday breakfast is coming along.

Posted by on March 7, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Blogs, morning lineup • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Mystery Minute 04.34

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Mystery Minute logo a

Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.
Previous episode Part Thirty-Three is HERE.

 

Part Thirty-Four

Capt. Finbar Lonnigan parked again in the driveway of Antony Spinoza”s burned-out house, then walked around to the back door.  Stepping inside, he found Danny still digging and bagging debris piles in what was left of the kitchen cabinets.

“Hey, Finney… c’mere and take a look at this,” Dan said as he held up an evidence bag.  Inside the gallon-bag was some sort of black, gooey mess that had solidified and what looked like paper ashes.

“What I’ve got in here is what looks to be a huge wad of $100 bills.  I can only estimate, but it looks  way more than a hundred of ‘em.”

“That makes sense,” Finney replied.  “The guy is a loan shark so you woule expect him to have some stashes around the house.  What’s that hard plastic-lookin’ stuff, though?”

“That’s what make it really interesting,” Danny replied.  “It what led to starting the fire.  He kept his dough in a big, emptied-out Vaseline jar and put it in the wrong cabinet.”

Watch for Part Thirty-Five here tomrrow.

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

8 FF’s Injured When Aerial Brushes Electric Lines

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delavan a WISN

WISN-TV

EIGHT WALWORTH COUNTY, WISCONSIN, FIREFIGHTERS WERE injured at a major fire Friday when an aerial operating a master stream brushed along a high-voltage electric line.  All of them were transported with non-life threatening injuries, but one of them remains hospitalized with burns.  Most of them were people who were on the ground but in contact with the truck when it happened.

delevan b WISN

WISN-TV

The fire began at 2 pm when a grease pit under the broiler flamed up.  One of the restaurant’s cooks was there and he acitvated the Ansul system before initiating an evacuation of the popular tavern.  By the time the FD arrived, the fire had extended rapidly.  

The 6-alarm fire completely destroyed the Mulligan’s Sports Bar & Restaurant, a popular business in the community of Delavan.

WTMJ-TV Ch. 4 Milwaukee has this video report:

Posted by on March 6, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Firefighter Safety & Health, Fires, health & safety, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – March 6

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ems today banner a

Posting will be a little light today, but will resume  this evening.  I’m heading out shortly to travel up to Baltimore where the JEMS EMS Today Conference and Expo is wrapping up its 5-day stand.  FossilMedic Mike Ward has been there most of the time and will be able update us on some of the key moments.

I will be primarily at the JEMS booth where I hope to meet many of our loyal readers and a few FireEMS Blogs colleagues that I haven’t met previously.  It’ll be fun and I’m looking forward to it (except for the unpalatable sandwiches that they sell there).

So after a couple of quick late-news postings here, I’ll be on my way.

First we have to get the equipment checked out and I need to fix some more coffee.  See you in the day room after I get back.

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

Blonde, barefoot and knocking on my hotel door

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IT WAS 3:47 AM WHEN I AWOKE TO THE SOUNDS OF A RATTLING HANDLE AND THUMPING ON MY HOTEL DOOR.

Baltimore blogger/CoEMS meet-up

Baltimore blogger/CoEMS meet-up

I had been asleep for a couple hours, after the great meet-up with fire/ems bloggers and the crew of Chronicles of EMS. First time face-to-face meeting with a dozen fire/ems bloggers.

Staring through the peep-hole,    I wondered if this girl was a wandering Mark and Justin groupie. She could have been one of the giggling throng hanging out during the live broadcasts from the exhibit hall.

Apparently, this was not to be. She was an “under the weather” lodger who was at the wrong door.

Who had no clue where she was.

Maybe I should have conducted a focused assessment.

Mike “FossilMedic: Ward

Posted by on March 6, 2010 • Filed under: EMS Topics, Twitter • Tagged: ,

Mystery Minute 04.33

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Mystery Minute logo a

Truth Tellers begins at Part One HERE.
Previous episode Part Thirty-Two is HERE.

 

Part Thirty-Three

“Ok, Danny.  I’ll be over as quick as  I can,” Finney rang off.  Good things it’s a city car that’s getting all this mileage on it today.

“Where’s Mousey, Len?  I know he’s not gonna leave here with us poking around.”

“He’s up front somewhere trying to the place tidied up so he can open up.”

Finbar walked up to the front of the shop and found Mousey working a mop.  “Hey, Mousey.  Where’s Joey gone off to?  I’ve got a couple of questions for him.”

“Same place he’s at every afternoon and evening.  The Waffle Shop, spoonin’ with his girl friend.”

Finney put on a scowl and headed back out the rear door.  “At least it’s not far from Spinoza’s,” he muttered to himself as he set off in the car again.

Read Part Thirty-Four HERE.

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