* Boston Update: While the investigators are working to pinpoint the cause of yesterday’s 9-alarm fire in Boston, The Backstep Firefighter, Bill Carey has the definitive update on the incident along with all that’s currently known about it. CLICK HERE to read this report.
* STATter911 has an interesting story about a firefighter close call/mayday in Baltimore that happened right next door to a firehouse. Check it out HERE.
* Those of you who are paramedics, do you save your ECG strips that you run on your patients? Mark Glencorse, better known as Medic999 does, and he tells us why he saves them HERE.
* Speaking of paramedics, The Happy Medic tells us why the “customer” is not always right HERE.
A BIZARRE AUTO ACCIDENT IN DELWARE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, just north of Philadelphia Wednesday morning looked absolutely horrible, but nobody was seriously injured. It started during the morning rush-hour when a Ridley Twp. police cruiser went out of control and crashed into a utility pole causing it to topple.
The pole only fell part way over, though, because the cables it was carrying held it up off the ground in a horizontal position.
Just then, a car being driven by 25-year-old Paul Vonhagen came upon the accident scene and he did not see the dangling pole and it speared his car, going through the windshield and coming back out the rear window, just behind the driver’s side.
The pole missed Vonhagen’s head by less than a foot as it plunged through the car. Ironically, only moments ago he had dropped off a passenger who, if they had remained in the car, would have been killed instantly by the wreck.
WPVI-TV Ch. 6 has a good video report from the scene HERE.
THE SPARTANBURG COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA, SHERIFF’s deputies have charged an adult and two teenagers who are volunteer members of the Cowpens Fire Department with arson.
On March 14 the FD was called to put out a fire in a vacant mobile home and Fire Chief Jamie Caggiano suspected arson. He called on the Cowpens Police and the county sheriff for help and following their investigation they charged William Crisp, 21, and two 16-yr.-olds with 2nd-degree arson. They have all been suspended from the fire department after admitting to the charge.
William Crisp
The Spartanburg Herald Journal has the FULL STORY.
Cowpens Fire Department WEBSITE.
There has been universal admiration for the Corning, New York, fire chief who shoved his city manager out onto the public stage Monday night by exposing his evil plans to lay off 1/3 of the small city’s firefighters (Firegeezer yesterday HERE). Granted, he had enough time in to retire rather than just quit, but he might not have necessarily been ready to retire right now. But by doing so, he accomplished a couple of things. First, he woke up the citizens to what was going on with the plan to decimate the FD. Apparently they don’t like it. So chances are the idea might get scuttled. And, his abrupt departure unexpectedly throws a new burden on the CM by causing him to set out a procedure to select a replacement fire chief. Usually you can’t just pick somebody and put them into the position. In most places the civil service rules require things like publicly advertising the opening and other bothersome details before an executive post can be filled. Heh.
* * * * *
Now here is a public education demonstration that you have GOT to take a look at. Following our post the other day about the fire marshal in Maine holding a demonstration on home sprinklers for the press and public (Firegeezer HERE), our friends at Cape Girardeau, Missouri, sent along this innovative video and PI posting from the FD’s website. The Fire Prevention office acquired two vacant houses scheduled for demolition that were fortunately sitting side by side, and with the same floor layouts. Next, they furnished the living rooms of each house identically and positioned a stationary video camera in an adjoining bedroom trained on the area where they set a trash can on fire.
The only difference between the two homes was that one of them had a home sprinkler installed in the living room and the other didn’t. With all the local media and about 50 other guests assembled outside, the firefighters set both fires at the same time with the cameras rolling. When the fire in the house without the sprinkler head became visible from the outside, a “passerby” called in the alarm and four minutes later (their average response time) an engine company arrived and started attacking the fire. Needless to say, the size of the property loss between the two homes was drastically different.
But wait, there’s more! Here’s the best part….they have posted the video’s on the FD website with them running concurrently, dramatically showing the different results of the two fires. As today’s teenagers would describe it, “this is really cooool!”
Get prepared first, because the video starts up automatically when you bring up the webpage. So get the popcorn ready first and then CLICK HERE to watch this “really cooool” demonstration.
We’d better get this equipment checked out now. I’m going to start the coffee. See you back in the day room.
A Mythbusters-style episode from video game scientists:
The team at Rooster Teeth Labs tries to make their real lives more like video games. In this initial installment, they recreate a video game car in the real world.
Caution, there are a few “F-bombs” in the video.
Here at RoosterTeeth, we’ve always felt that videogames are much more exciting than real life and Immersion is our scientific attempt to correct that discrepancy. Check it out and let us know what you think!
Fossilmedic thinks he has stumbled upon another civilization:
Global Statistics for Rooster Teeth forum
Statistics last updated 10 hours ago.
The Rooster Teeth community currently has 838,912 registered members.
Since October 2004 there have been 46 million total posts, with 70 thousand posts in the past week and 7 every minute.
The combined online time for every user on the site is 1356y 201d 2h 44m.
There have been 174 million profile views and 83 million journal views.
A FIRE IN A FACTORY NEAR PARIS, FRANCE, Wednesday morning led to an explosion that killed a 59-yr.-old security guard and injured 12 people including several police and firefighters, at least three critically, who were already on the scene for the initial fire.
Le Progress
The fire broke out at 3:30 am in the workshop area , then an explosion occured at 4.20 am in one of the high-temperature carbon baking ovens. The firefighters used sand and concrete to extinguish the fire, said Joel Prieur, General of the French Fire Brigade of the firefighters of Paris, because with water and high temperature it could have been more dangerous with the carbon burning.
The factory owned by Carbone Lorraine, in the Paris suburb of Gennevilliers, makes carbon-based electrical components for electic motors and industrial-size fuses as well as high-speed brake pad for trains and airplanes.
There were 100 firefighters were on fireground and 40 firetrucks used.
BFM tv has a video report HERE.
The Paris Fire Brigade posted its own video taken inside the fire before the explosion HERE.
UPI has more details HERE.
Le Progress has MORE.
Paris Fire Brigade WEBSITE.
A MAJOR FIRE IS BURNING IN A 10-STORY apartment building in Boston’s Back Bay district. The fire broke out around 2 pm Eastern and the first unit on the scene, Ladder 15 reported heavy smoke on the 7th floor. The response escalated to nine alarms (including three for RIT).
It appears that the fire has been knocked down now, but all companies are still operating. One apparent victim has just been carried out from a penthouse unit. At least two other residents were taken out by firefighters.
Boston Herald / Garfinkel
No definitive or verified information has been released yet as this is an ongoing fire.
NECN has posted this video report around 2:30 pm. Update: At approx. the 2-minute mark you will see FF’s bringing a victim out from the penthouse onto the roof and begin CPR:
Update: Five people have been hospitalized after being injured at the fire, including one firefighter who suffered chest pains.
Early estimates place the damages at $3.5 million.
Boston Globe / Sullivan
A fire department spokesman said 180 of the 264 city’s firefighters that were on duty this afternoon worked the job. He said it was the first nine-alarm fire in the city in several years.
NECN has this updated video report from later this afternoon:
According to the Mass. Historic Commission database, the building at 483 Beacon St., was built in 1898 by architect William Sears, it was formerly known as the Hotel Cambridge. It was turned into condominiums in 1982-83. Approx. 150 to 170 people live in the building.
Boston.com has filed some raw video from the scene taken during the fire:
SPRING IS HERE! And that means that Fishing Season is here, too.
It’s time to clean out the tackle box, inspect the gear and replenish the supplies. That always includes a mandatory trip to your favorite sporting goods store. This year you have one more item to add for your day trips to the fishin’ hole.
Relaxing on the riverbank will always be so much nicer when you open up the Thermos and pour out another cup of coffee into your Firegeezer Mug. And you don’t have to make a special trip to the store to get one. All you have to do is sit right here at the keyboard and CLICK HERE. That will take you to the GeezerCup ordering page where you can safely order your very own mug using your credit card via PayPal.
Just scroll on down to the Buy Now button and follow the easy directions. The cost is low and the delivery is prompt. And the fishing has never been better!
FORMER McMAHAN, KENTUCKY, FIRE CHIEF PAUL BARTH appeared in U. S. District Court in Louisville yesterday to answer charges that he embezzled nearly $300,000 from the fire district he worked for and a regional charity, the Crusade for Children, that he chaired. On January 24 Firegeezer reported HERE that he had just retired during the investigation by the Secret Service, after being on unpaid leave for two months.
In his appearance yesterday he pleaded not guilty and was released with no bail after a trial date in June was set.
The indictment states that back in 1998 Barth initiated the scheme when he set up a separate bank account in the charity’s name without letting anyone know. WDRB-TV reports:
Federal authorities allege Barth embezzled funds from the Crusade for Children and mishandled his own fire department’s internal accounts. All told, federal agents say Barth is responsible for mishandling more than $300,000.
Some of that money – almost $200,000 – was embezzled from an account that was supposed to help the Crusade charity, according to Paul Johnson, an agent with U.S. Secret Service. “He falsely represented to the public that all the donations that were made for the Crusade would go to the Crusade but we believe in fact that a significant amount of those funds actually went to this separate account, give or take $218,000,” Johnson said.
Barth was responsible for maintaining the funds for both the McMahan fire department and the Crusade accounts. But back in 1998, the indictment states Barth created a separate Crusade account without telling anyone, inside a balance of $218,000 – half of which he allegedly took out in cash. “About $104,000 of the $218,000 was actually within drawn in cash,” said Johnson
Johnson says Barth also used about $25,000 of Crusade money to pay fire department credit card bills, cards he allegedly used to rack up more than $40,000 in personal expenses. “We believe he took personal trips and misused the credit card for personal expenses,” Johnson said. ”He’s got a fleet of collector Corvettes.” The indictment states Barth also used the department’s credit card to pay $10,000 in property taxes on his valuable Corvettes, including a 2004 Indianapolis 500 Pace car.
It also states he had 13 additional paychecks issued to himself. All told, Johnson says Barth mishandled $218,000 from a Crusade fund and $97,000 in fire department funds.
CORNING, NEW YORK, FIRE CHIEF STEPHEN MONROE surprised everybody at Monday night’s City Council meeting when he announced that he would be retiring at the end of this month, April 30. He has held the position of Fire Chief for nearly ten years.
Reading from a statement before the council, Chief Monroe said taking the oath of fire chief 10 years ago was one of the proudest moments of his career. However, he said, “Those of you who know me know I am a proponent of principle-based leadership. I believe professional integrity is a very important part of the fire service. Over the last few months, I have received directives which I find increasingly difficult to reconcile ethically and legally with performing the duties of chief to the best of my abilities.”
Chief Monroe
He has not gone into any detail of what he was referring to and has said that he will have nothing more to say before he leaves. But it is known that the city manager Mark Ryckman has been looking for ways to slash public safety agencies as he tries to close a nearly-2 million dollar budget gap, including laying off nearly 1/3 of Corning’s firefighters.
Councilman Betty Coccho, D-6, said she is very sad to see Monroe retire. “I’m really sorry he felt it was a necessity to retire,” Coccho said. “I don’t think he retired because he wanted to. He has received directives for his job that he thinks are wrong. I imagine the directives were from the city manager. The council doesn’t have any authority over his position.”
Ted Dates, fire department union president, declined to comment on the chief’s retirement. “I can’t really say anything because he is not a member of the union,” Dates said. “I think he has said everything.”
WETM-TV Ch. 18 Elmira filed this video report that includes an interview with Chief Monroe:
TWO SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND, FIREFIGHTERS PERISHED TUESDAY NIGHT in a high-rise apartment fire. James Shears, 35, and Alan Bannon, 38, lost their lives in the fire that started in a 9th floor apartment around 8 pm last night.
FF Shears (left) and FF Bannon
The two firefighters, each with over 7 yrs. on the fire brigade, were assigned to the St. Mary’s fire station and were full-time employees.
The building has 150 apartments and all the residents were safely evacuated.
Daily Echo photo
Sky News has this early video report from the fireground:
Update, 8:30 am Eastern:
Initially the fire was spreading faster than the fire brigade’s resources were able to contain it. Kristina Baldacchino, 41, who owns the Kings Arms pub near the 15-story building, told Sky News, “It was around 8pm and there were flames coming up. An hour later, it was like an inferno.”
The fire was knocked down after four hours of work.
Two other firefighters were transported to the hospital with burns, mostly to their hands.
Neither the cause of the fire nor the circumstances that led to the deaths has been determined yet.
A nearby Sainsbury’s department store handed out bunches of flowers to the firefighters on the scene so that they could take them to the site and lay them near where their colleagues had perished. Sainsbury’s also opened its restaurant to the fire crews.
The National Hockey League’s regular season is finishing up now as all the teams have either 2 or 3 games left to play. As usual, there is a bit of drama leading to the final games where some positionings in the standings aren’t known until the very end. After last night’s games, the Eastern Conference looks more settled as far as which 8 teams will be moving on to the playoffs.
Just a couple of days ago there were 5 teams competing for the final 3 slots, but Atlanta went into a meltdown losing 4 of their last 5 games and effectively taking themselves out of the playoffs. The New York Rangers had a decent shot to sneak into the number-8 spot, but last night’s thumping by the Buffalo Sabres (5-2) has pretty much taken them out, although not mathematically. There are two things going on in the East to watch now. Positioning for the playoff seedings is still all up in the air. The last 3 teams, Montreal, Philly and Boston are all competing to elevate their finishing position, but all three of them have been losing more than they’ve been winning lately. Montreal did pick up a point last night in a shootout loss to the Islanders, but they have to win a game or two to stay up there in #6.
There is a real contest for the still-unsettled winner of the Atlantic Division and the #2 seed that goes with it. Before last night’s games, New Jersey and Pittsburgh were tied for the division lead, but Pittsburgh wilted under Washington’s offense and lost by a score of 6-3 while New Jersey was beating hapless Atlanta 3-0. Each of them have three games left, so it can go either way. I’d put my money on Jersey.
The Western Conference is set as far as who moves on after last night. Calgary and Colorado were competing for the 8th slot, but Calgary’s loss last night along with Colorado’s win have shut the door on anybody else moving into the playoffs. There will be some jockeying among three of the teams for the 5th, 6th, and 7th spots, but that’s all. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t say something about the Chicago Blackhawks. Just a couple of years ago they were in a 10-year run of serving as the doormats of the Central Division. With some sharp trading and good coaching, they’ve completely turned their game around and this year they have the 3rd-best record in the entire league, 107 points after San Jose’s 109 and Washington’s league-leading 118 pts. (Wow!)
Well, we’ve got our own game to take care of here, so let’s get this equipment checked out now. I’ll go get the coffee started and then in a little while we can meet back in the day room and watch this video that the NHL put together of this season’s 10 Best Saves:
A PRE-DAWN FIRE TUESDAY MORNING IN LAMBERSART, FRANCE, claimed the life of a grandmother and her 20-yr.-old granddaughter. The grandfather and husband, age 59, was taken to the hospital in serious condition with burns on his hands, smoke inhilation and shock.
La Voix du Nord
When the firefighters arrived on the scene shortly after 5:30 am they found fire showing on the 3rd floor of the row house and made immediate entry. They found the body of one victim right away, but the other wasn’t discovered until about 2 hours later. The survivor was sleeping in another room and was awakened by the fire. He sounded the alarm andvainly tried to put the fire out or beat it back in an effort to get to his wife and granddaughter.
Thirty firefighters from three departments worked the fire which was contained to the one home. The cause wasn’t immediately determined, but is believed to be accidental.
France3 TV has the story HERE and a video report HERE.
DARK LORD STOUT is A BEER SO EXCLUSIVE THAT IT’S ONLY SOLD on one day a year. And this year, Dark Lord Day arrives on April 24. That’s the day when up to 10,000 beer afficianados and metal-head rock fans converge in a Munster, Indiana, industrial park where the Three Floyds Brewing Co. makes some of the best beer in the world. It’s so good that Ratebeer.com, a renowned beer reviewing website, declared that Three Floyds is the best brewery in the world for 2010.
While you may have never heard of this micro-brewery, their reputation has been growing since 2004 when they first offered Dark Lord, a Russian-style imperial stout that carries a 15% alcohol weight and 700 calories per bottle. Mark Konkol of the Chicago Sun-Times tells us more:
If you want a taste of Three Floyds Brewing Co.’s finest flavor — a thick, potent molasses-sweet stout — your odds are never good. A bottle of Dark Lord — a Russian-style imperial stout — is available just once a year, on “Dark Lord Day,” April 24.
You have to show up at the brewery to get it. And before you’re allowed to pony up 15 bucks per 22-ounce bottle, you have to score a “Golden Ticket” online that guarantees your chance to buy it. This year’s batch of Golden Tickets sold out in less than an hour after Three Floyds announced their release on Twitter. In fact, so many people swarmed the Web site that offered the tickets that the servers crashed, creating a blog-post backlash from out-of-luck beer aficionados.
Sometimes, though, if you’re lucky, you can find drinkers willing to share a taste, sell a bottle or even hawk an extra Golden Ticket on Dark Lord Day, a free, daylong festival that drew nearly 7,000 people to Three Floyds’ industrial park last year.
But you’d better get there early and be patient. By the time the brewery doors open at 10 a.m., usually you’ll find thousands of people already packing the parking lot, where they can sample craft beers from across the country while rock bands play.
A group known as the Happy Hour Guys got a couple of Golden Tickets to last year’s event and made this professional-quality video showing what this event is all about:
WHEN RICARDO AMMAN AND HIS WIFE JUDITH got into a shouting match Saturday afternoon, Judith decided to hop into the car and drive away to end the spat. Ricardo, though, really didn’t want her to take the car, so he jumped onto the hood, yelling at her to “get out of the #&%@# car!”
Infuriated, instead of stopping, Judith sped away with Ricardo clinging for his life on the hood of the car. As she sped down the highway, the medics from a Bushkill Emergency Corps ambulance who were enjoying lunch saw the Ammans sail by with the unconventional seating arrangement. Sensing that perhaps the man on the hood might be needing an ambulance soon, the medics sent out a radio advisory of the lovebirds’ location and route of travel. Another Bushkill ambulance was just down the road at the time, so they started off in that direction anticipating the discovery of newly-placed street architecture.
Just then, Judith came careening down the road and smashed head-on into the ambulance, pitching Ricardo onto the ambulance’s hood as he left his own before rolling onto the roadway seriously injured. The two medics in the ambulance were slightly injured also, but they were able to immediately render aid to the man while calling for help and a helicopter.
Pocono Record
Ricardo was flown to to Lehigh Valley Hospital and Judith Amman was taken by ambulance to Pocono Medical Center with minor injuries, as were the two men in the ambulance, Ryan Felmy, 26, of Bushkill, and Joseph Bolger, 21, of East Stroudsburg.
WNEP-TV re-traced the odyssey in this video report:
JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, CITY OFFICIALS are telling all of the city employees that it would be really nice if they all took a 3% pay cut to help the city council cut their budget. But the firefighters are saying “enough” and resisting the whack to their paycheck which is set by a negotiated contract with the city. Randy Wyse, president of the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, says that the FF’s have already given up plenty of concessions and have no intention on sacrificing their pay as well. The union has also stated that they are willing to forego a raise this year in order to work with the city in closing the budget gap, but the city has refused that compromise.
The city and the firefighters have been meeting regularly to try and reach a compromise to reduce costs, but the FF’s are adamant about protecting their families’ security and refusing the pay cut. Now the mayor has gone public in an attempt to scare the citizens by saying that if the firefighters refuse to accept a pay cut, then he will close four firehouses in the city.
Fire Station 12 is one of four targeted by the city council
for closure. (WJXT photo)
Pointing out that Jacksonville firefighters are already paid less than other FF’s in Florida, Wyse says, “It’ll be up to the city at that point to make the decision if they’re going to put public safety in jeopardy, or do they want to cut some programs that don’t affect public safety. That’ll be their call.”
WTEV-TV Ch. 47 has this video report on the negotiations and an interview with president Wyse:
With all the recent news about earthquakes shaking the Western Hemisphere, most notably in Haiti and Peru, and this week along the Mexico/California border, it’s understandable when we tend to forget quakes that occurred a year ago. But it was one year ago today that an earthquake shook central Italy and hit the medieval city of L’Aquila especially hard. (See the Firegeezer report HERE.)
Reuters image
While that earthquake killed “only” 300 people, the damage to the region was immeasurable, especially if you take into account that some of the oldest buildings and artifacts in the western civilization are to be found in that area. More than 10,000 buildings were destroyed, and 1,500 churches, where towns usually store their prized artworks, were damaged. L’Aquila was so heavily damaged that the entire city was quarantined because of the instability of almost every building in the ancient town.
Unfortunately, Italy’s central government is perpetually paralyzed and today, one year later, L’Aquila is still off-limits for its residents who are fed up and restive over the fact that nothing has been done to rehabilitate their city and make is safe for them to return home. This video report shows the sorry state of affairs there:
Let’s be grateful that we haven’t reached the state – yet – where we are unable to recover from disasters like this. Although we have noticed a few localities here in the U. S. that are beginning to look like L’Aquila and acting like Rome, collecting taxes while never spending of public safety. Stay vigilant.
Now let’s get this equipment checked out. I need to get some more coffee started. A lot of things happening today, so we’ll meet back in the day room in a little while.
A HUGE EXPLOSION ROCKED A RALEIGH COUNTY, West Virginia, coal mine at 3 pm Eastern on Monday afternoon. The blast occurred during shift change and claimed some miners as they were riding the “mantrip” cars exiting their work stations.
AP / Gentner
Rescue crews immediately mustered and entered into the mine shaft, heading for the designated rescue chambers and reaching the first one. By 2 am Tuesday morning they had retrieved the bodies of 25 victims and at least two survivors. They were then pulled out of the mine when accumulations of methane and carbon dioxide reached dangerously high levels.
The rescue teams are now primarily engaged in boring air and rescue shafts 1,200 feet down to where the four remaining miners who are still unaccounted for might be located. But mine and state safety officials have already told the families of the missing men that it is probable that they have perished.
The rescue effort now shifts to drilling boreholes 1,200 feet down into the mine into the second of the two rescue chambers, he said. A path will have to be cleared through the woods to reach the area where the boreholes need to be drilled, Kevin Stricklin, administrator for coal at the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, said.
Miners have enough food and water to last 96 hours, he said.
“As soon as we can send rescue teams back in the mine, we’ll do it,” Stricklin said.
The Associated Press has just filed this updated video report:
Massey Energy Company, owners of the mine, have just issued this press release:
JULIAN, WV, April 6, 2010 – Massey Energy Company (NYSE:MEE) is
confirming twenty-five fatalities at its Upper Big Branch Mine,
resulting from a tragic explosion. Additionally, two miners were
transported earlier to hospitals and four miners are still missing at
this time. Rescue efforts are currently suspended due to conditions
underground. Rescue efforts will resume as soon as conditions allow.
Massey Chairman and CEO Don Blankenship is on site at the Upper Big
Branch mine. Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Chris
Adkins and Vice President of Safety & Health, Elizabeth Chamberlin are
coordinating Massey’s search and rescue efforts with State and Federal
officials.
“Tonight we mourn the deaths of our members at Massey Energy,” said Don Blankenship. “I want to offer my condolences to the miners’ families who lost loved ones at Upper Big Branch. And I want to thank the rescue
teams and the Massey members who continue to work hard on behalf of our miners and their families.”
According to CBS News, Massey Energy, a publicly traded company based in Richmond, Va., has 2.2 billion tons of coal reserves in southern West Virginia, eastern Kentucky, southwest Virginia and Tennessee, according to the company’s Web site. It ranks among the nation’s top five coal producers and is among the industry’s most profitable. It has a spotty safety record.
BACK-TO-BACK 2-ALARM FIRES IN VANCOUVER, WASHINGTON, kept all ten stations busy early Sunday morning. The action started at 3:29 am when the first engine to an apartment fire found fire showing on two floors of the multi-unit building. As the firefighters began their primary search of the building, a second alarm was struck.
After a quick search, an interior attack was launched and the fire was knocked down in just 20 minutes. Only two apartments were heavily damaged by the fire and two more had some smoke damage.
The city units were barely back in quarters when another apartment fire was dispatched in another part of the city at 7:11 am. The first-in units found these units with heavy fire showing. Again, a 2nd was struck and the fire was contained then knocked down in 30 minutes. All the residents in this complex were evacuated safely also. Damages are expected to be at least $500,000.
KPTV Ch. 12 Portland has this video report that covers both fires:
REGULAR READERS KNOW THAT MAY IS THE MONTH OF THE MOOSE. Last year we documented several accounts of fire and EMS activity generated by wild moose wandering into civilization during calving season. We had them wandering through city neighborhoods, walking down country highways, and in a couple of instances jumping off of bridges.
(If you want a brief review of last year’s moose-ativity, check some of our reports HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. )
A harbinger of sorts for the upcoming Moose Season took place Saturday night in Topsham, Maine. Shortly after sunset at 8 pm a moose wandered onto I-295 into the path of a car driven by Jorge Jarez with his father Jose, 50, riding in the passenger seat. As the car struck the long-leggity beastie, the moose crashed through the windshield killing Jose immediately. The car then plunged off the side of the road just off the breakdown lane. Jorge, the driver suffered only minor injuries.
Immediately after, another car driven by Meghan Glancy, 22, plowed into the moose carcass laying in the travel lane causing the car to go airborne briefly, then landing on it’s top and skidding on its roof for more than 100 ft. along the pavement. Glancy suffered back and neck injuries and was flown to Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston by helicopter.
Fox23 Portland has this video report:
NECN has the Dept. of Public Safety press release HERE.
IN SANFORD, MAINE, FIRE MARSHAL PETER CUTRER is taking a positive approach to public education in order to counter the real estate and home builders lobby. As they are doing in every other state, the construction industry in Maine is resorting to outright lies in an attempt to scare the taxpayers and their elected representatives. The Maine legislature is currently studying the new building code that goes into effect on July 1 with the consideration of a bill that has been offered to eliminate the home sprinkler clause. (Sound like a state near you? … Ed.)
WGME-TV
FM Cutrer recently set up a demonstration for the press including the local tv. Using a donated, vacant house, he installed a sprinkler head in one room with some sparse furnishings including window curtains and in the opposite end of the house he furnished another room in the same way, but without the sprinkler head. You already know how it turned out, but the news people were impressed and hopefully, the people watching their local newscasts were too.
WCSH-TV Ch. 6 Portland ran this story on their station Sunday:
WGME-TV Ch. 13 showed a report that Firegeezer likes better and you can VIEW IT HERE.
If you agree that this is an effective counter-campaign, then show your support for FM Cutrer and leave your comments on the stations websites HERE and HERE.
DOWNERS GROVE, ILLINOIS, FIREFIGHTERS ARRIVED on the scene of an apartment fire early Monday morning to find the 16-unit building well involved.
WLS-TV
The call came in shortly after midnight and on arriving, they called for more assistance. After first making sure that all the residents had been removed safely, the FD went to defensive measures to contain the fire to the one building in the complex.
Several people nearby reported that they think a lightning strike caused the fire, but the fire marshal hasn’t made a determination yet. No injuries were reported from the fire, but the building is a total loss.
AN AUSTRALIAN AIRFORCE PILOT TRAINEE PROVED HIS METTLE SUNDAY when the engine on his small single-engine plane failed, causing him to force a landing on a busy Tasmanian highway just after 10 am. Patrick Humphries, 18, was practicing aerobatics in a private plane when the engine stalled.
Mr Humphries chartered the single-engine Victa Airtourer early yesterday morning, practising aerobatics about 3000ft above the picturesque Ralphs Bay. During an Easter break from Canberra’s ADF academy to be with his family, he had decided to reacquaint himself with his home state.
In the terrifying instant when the engine stopped, Mr Humphries’ heart sank before his instincts kicked in. “I went through all of my checks but was unable to re-start the engine. I then began selecting a place to land,” he said. “I considered several football fields and had a look at a couple of roads but quickly ruled them out because of the cars on them.”
A nearby rugby field looked OK until, on descent, he noticed parked cars. Fast running out of time, he scanned below him … houses, river, hockey field. “When I looked at the Brooker [highway], I noticed that there were no cars on the highway as they were stopped at the traffic lights,” he said. “I decided that this was the best option.”
But as the plane dropped, Mr Humphries realised there was an overpass ahead. “I knew it would be a tight fit and I was glad I made it through,” he said. “Then I tried to slow the aircraft down as much as possible before touching down.” With little steering control, Mr Humphries clipped a concrete road divider with the right wing. He lifted the wing to force the aircraft to the left and avoid the barrier.
But the plane spun out of control after clipping a tree, breaking the left wing in two and snapping the left-hand landing gear, before an embankment near Cleary’s Gates finally brought it to a stop.
As soon as the plane came to a stop, he hopped out and ran down the road to stop traffic before they came speeding up onto the crash scene. He then directed traffic around the broken plane until the police arrived.
Looking snappier than a Virginia State Trooper, a Tasman policeman
directs traffic around the plane wreck. (The Mercury photo)
AN 18-YR.-OLD DRIVER SUFFERED MINOR INJURIES after he drove into the path of a responding fire engine in Cleveland, Ohio, Sunday afternoon. Police say that he was attempting to make a left turn and failed to yield the right-of-way when he pulled out into the road at 2:30 pm.
NewsNet5
The driver of Engine 22 had no time to brake and smashed into the driver’s side door, demolishing the car and entrapping the driver who had to be extricated.
Global Statistics for Rooster Teeth forum
If you want a taste of Three Floyds Brewing Co.’s finest flavor — a thick, potent molasses-sweet stout — your odds are never good. A bottle of Dark Lord — a Russian-style imperial stout — is available just once a year, on “Dark Lord Day,” April 24.
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