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Riding The Rails

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The Past Couple of Days Have Been Rough on the Railroaders

AN AMTRAK TRAIN CARRYING 36 PASSENGERS traveling from Raleigh to Charlotte, North Carolina, struck a low-boy trailer that was stuck on the tracks in downtown Mebane, N. C., Thursday morning.  The trailer had a large backhoe on it and was not high enough to clear the slightly-elevated roadbed.  The crossing had warning signs about the low clearance.

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Charlotte Observer

The 70+ mph collision knocked the locomotive and three cars off the rails and the locomotive caught on fire, creating a real mess in the town.  WXII-TV Ch. 12 filed this report from the scene later in the afternoon:

 

STATter911 has the full story and several more videos HERE including some fire footage just as the first units are arriving.

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A NORFOLK-SOUTHERN FREIGHT TRAIN collided with a tractor-trailer rig hauling steel early this morning (Friday) in Detroit, Michigan.  The pre-dawn crash occured when the truck started across the tracks after the driver failed to see the flashing warning lights.  The truck’s driver survived, but is hospitalized with a head injury.  Three railroad workers that were on the train have been treated for minor injuries.

WJBK-TV Ch. 2 filed this video report from the scene:

 

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TWO PEOPLE, A MAN AND A WOMAN, WERE KILLED late Thursday night while they were walking along a CSX Railroad track in Barberton, Ohio.  It is not known why they were walking on the track because there is a pathway alongside that would have been safe to use.  Nor is it known why they did not hear the train approaching.

WEWS-TV Ch. 5 Cleveland has the video report:

 

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A PROVIDENCE & WORCESTER RAILROAD freight train derailed near Lisbon, Connecticut,  Wednesday afternoon sending four railcars down an embankment and landing next to a river.  The train was hauling tank cars carrying several different products from a Dow Chemical plant, but only one of them contained a hazardous material.

WTNH-TV Ch. 8 has this video report:

The Day has more details of the STORY HERE.

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A NEW JERSEY TRANSIT COMMUTER TRAIN smashed into an auto at a crossing in the Philadelphia suburb of Riverton, New Jersey, Thursday morning.  The impact injured several train passengers and two occupants of the car.

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Courier Post / Curt Hudson photo

Witnesses say that the warning lights were flashing and the crossing gates were down when the mini-van pulled up onto the track and stopped.  The Courier Post has the story and more pics HERE.

WTXF-TV Ch. 29 has the early video report:

 

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Posted by on May 14, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations, rescue, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Omaha Local Sues the City

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Omaha Fire Sta. 3

THE OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FIREFIGHTERS UNION filed a court motion against the city this week claiming a contract violation.  The current contract mandates a minimum of 658 firefighters on the rolls of the department.  In May however, there were several retirements taken and the actual roster has dropped to 649. 

The mayor has claimed that he has the authority to fill the vacancies by using current firefighters on overtime instead.  With this impasse, the Local submitted a complaint to the court showing previous state decisions that say the minimum is a contractual obligation and cannot be altered.  KETV Ch. 7 has this video report on the dispute:

The Mayor Suttle has also told the press that he doesn’t “think minimum staffing levels make sense” and continued on with some more gibberish, “We are trying to switch from statistical numbers that don’t mean anything to achieve our goal, four-and-a-half (minute) response time on ambulance, about five minutes on fire apparatus.  We’re working on that so the question is, how do you deploy your resources, be it people, be it equipment, be it meet those standards?”

Firegeezer adds:  No wonder the Local took it straight to court.  You can’t reason with nonsense like that.

On Tuesday the police union voted to give their leaders permission to sue the city also.  They are at an impasse in new contract negotiations.

Omaha Fire Department WEBSITE.

Posted by on May 14, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, labor, Videos • Tagged: ,

Morning Lineup – May 14

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Don’t ask me why it suddenly dawned on me, but it suddenly dawned on me yesterday that something you never see anymore is a local TV repair shop.  It makes sense, of course, because the things never break anymore.  Everything is “solid state” construction with no moving parts to speak of.  If they stop working it’s because they’re old and not worth the cost of getting them fixed.  Now that I think about it, I can’t even remember the last time I had a television set stop working.  It has to have been well over 20 years ago.

That wasn’t always the case, though.  When the home television receiver went into mass-production in the late 1940′s, they were constructed with a bunch of vacuum tubes mounted on a steel chassis and everything was connected with a hundred wires of all colors.  The tuner was a clunky mechanical device and the whole thing was powered by a transformer that needed its own cooling mechanism.

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tv repair c shopsign smallWhen the mystical tv’s started flooding into homes, a need for repairing them started flooding in, too.  This new technology called for special training to work on the things, but as it happened, there were also hundreds of thousands of WWII veterans demobilizing and going to colleges and technical schools on the GI Bill to get re-trained for the domestic life.  Many of them were radio operators in the service and just naturally moved right into the new field of television repair work.  As the tv sales swept across the nation like the swine flu, the tv repair shops opened up to meet the demand and a new trade was born.

For the first half-dozen years or so, just about all of the tv sets were large console models that could not be picked up and carried into the shop.  Instead the tv repair guy would come to your house, pull the set out away from the wall and work inside the set from behind  with a mirror set up in front of the console so that he could view the screen as he worked on it.  It was a blessing for everybody when the tv receiver technology advanced to the point where they could be made as true “portables” and carried into the shop.  Not only did the set owner see much lower repair costs without the house call charge, but the repairman had time then to work on a lot more sets in a week.

tv repair f shop inside pixelrandy

photo by Pixelrandy

Sometime in the 1980′s (I think it was) the solid state technology started replacing the vacuum tubes and other parts of the machine and along with vastly-improved picture tube quality, the sets became much more reliable and longer-lasting.  Fewer repairs meant fewer repair shops needed.  By then, most of the Vets who ran their own shops had been working the trade for a good 40 years and were retiring anyway.  It was a smooth progression of a trade fading out naturally and before you knew it… that neighborhood tv repair shop was closed.  As they faded away we didn’t notice because we became immersed in cable boxes and solid-state tv’s that didn’t even have manual contols on them anymore.  How do you switch from Ch. 4 to Ch. 128 now?  I’ll bet a lot of you don’t even know what the “horizontal hold” knob was for.  Or the “tint” control.

But that’s the way commerce and civilized life has progressed for centuries now.  The wheelwright disappeared over 100 years ago.  We just happened to witness the rise and fall of the tv repair man.

But human nature being what it is, people will always need fire and rescue departments, so let’s get busy and get our technologically-advanced equipment checked out now.  I’m going to get some more coffee started.  We’ll meet back in the day room in a little while.

tv repair a tube

Posted by on May 14, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup, technology, Technology & Communications • Tagged:

Looking Back

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………. Fire Engineering, February 1956

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Posted by on May 13, 2010 • Filed under: Looking Back • Tagged: , ,

We All Have Our Priorities

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WHEN SVEN BEHLING AND HIS NEPHEW were riding along a German road in his car last month, the Ford Galaxy suddenly burst into flames.  That event gave cause to bring the car to a sudden stop and a decision had to be made on what to save from the car in the few moments they had available.

Did they choose to save Sven’s digital camera?

No.

Did they choose to save the expensive GPS receiver?

No.

Instead they devoted their precious seconds to unloading…..

15 cases of Bitburger Beer.

By sticking to their true sense of values, they were well rewarded as it turned out.  Somebody else had a camera handy and took a photo of a firefighter preparing to attack the car fire from the front and showing the cases of beer stacked neatly right behind it.  Sven sent the picture to Bild newspaper and won a prize of 500 Euros for the most unusual photo of the week.

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Bild

When the chairman of Bitburger Brewery saw the photo, they knew a good customer when they saw one and have set Sven and his nephew Michael up with an all-expense-paid trip to the World Cup Finals in Johannesburg in July.  The vacation trip includes air fare, hotel, all meals, the Final game and the big Finals Party.

The moral of the story is:  Stick with your principles and Save Your Beer.

Der Bild has the STORY.

Posted by on May 13, 2010 • Filed under: beer, fire, Fires • Tagged:

Naperville Shrinks Ambulance Staffing

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NAPERVILLE, ILLINOIS, FIRE CHIEF MARK PUKNAITIS announced Wednesday a reduced staffing plan for the department’s ambulances that is designed to help reduce the FD’s budget by $1 million.  Of those reductions, just over half was saved by reducing the amount of overtime alloted.

The Daily Herald reports:

From now on, if the department exhausts its overtime allocation for a particular month, Puknaitis plans to take one or two ambulances out of service.  With two ambulances out of service, that still leaves five ambulances, four trucks, six engines and one rescue squad. Puknaitis stressed that all of those vehicles have the same emergency medical equipment as an ambulance with the exception of a stretcher.

“You can make a fire engine work in a way as a medical unit,” he said. “You can’t make an ambulance work as a fire unit.”

Because of that, he decided taking an ambulance out of service rather than a fire truck is the right move and he will continue to evaluate that choice.

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Foster Coach  photo

Read the full story HERE.
Naperville Fire Department WEBPAGE.

Posted by on May 13, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics, Funding & Staffing, labor • Tagged: , , , ,

Sinkhole Claims Entire Family

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A SAD EVENT UNFOLDED IN ST. JUDE, QUEBEC, Monday night aroud 9:30 pm when a giant sinkhole opened, swallowing an entire house, outbuildings and a stretch of the nearby roadway.  Richard Prefontaine, along with his wife, Line, and their nine- and 11-year-old daughters were relaxed in the basement recreation room watching a hockey game on the tv  when an underground landslide slipped down the hill undermining their property that immediately dropped into the chasm.

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Canadian Press photo

Rescue workers attempted to enter the home overnight on Monday to search for the missing family but had to stop because the land was still moving. They returned Tuesday morning and managed to enter the sunken residence again, but only managed to rescue two dogs.  The Toronto Sun reported:

Rescuers knew they were facing a race against the clock when they still had not found signs of life in the house lying at the bottom of the crater.  “When there’s a natural disaster of this size, sometimes the victims aren’t able to make it known that they’re there either because they’re injured or because they’re unable to communicate,” said Michel C. Dore with Quebec’s Securite civile.

The landslide tore the Prefontaine’s home from its foundation before pushing it about 10 metres into the sinkhole. Experts on site say the huge hole is about a kilometre long and 500 metres wide.

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Canadian Press

The Toronto Sun also has a good 15-image photo gallery HERE.

Nearly 24 hours later, Tuesday night rescuers located the bodies of the family.  “After digging and going through the rubble we found the four victims,” Michel Dore, Quebec’s emergency management co-ordinator, told the press.  “They were found very close to one another, some of them lying on the couch in the family room in the basement.”

The New York Times has a good description of the geological cause for the catastrophe HERE.

CTV, via CNN, filed this raw video of an aerial view of the site:

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Posted by on May 13, 2010 • Filed under: current events, Fire Rescue Topics, rescue, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Surgical Textbook Editing

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Relentless evolution can quickly obsolete a textbook. When I was writing about Rapid Intervention Crews (RIC) in May 2009, a technical committee was working on a new NFPA standard on the training and equipping of RICs.

This is what was published in the first print run of Fire Officer: Principles and Practice, 2nd edition in August 2009:
areYOUaRAT

It was obvious at this year’s Fire Department Instructor’s Conference that the 2010 versions of NFPA 1710 and the new NFPA 1407 changed the definition of Rapid Intervention Crew.

Wrote up the new information and put it in folder. Not happy that such a fundamental change will not show up until the third edition.

Until I got a call from Bill Larkin this week …

“ANY CORRECTIONS FOR THE SECOND PRINTING?”

Larkin, who is a Senior Acquisitions Editor for Jones & Bartlett Learning, was arranging a second printing of the textbook. This is when minor formatting and typos are corrected. There is not time or space available for any major changes to the typeset manuscript.

The biggest change we made in the second printing of the first edition was to correct a date.

Explaining that “We want to provide the most effective teaching and learning tool available ….” Larkin facilitated a big edit for the second printing.

NEW RIC INFO IN SECOND EDITION, SECOND PRINTING

This will replace the items shown at the top of page 106:

The two-in-two out rule leads to the requirement of a rapid intervention crew (RIC). NFPA 1710 Standard for the Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, Emergency Medical Operations and Special Operations to the Public by Career Fire Departments defines RIC as “A dedicated crew of firefighters who are assigned for rapid deployment to rescue lost or trapped members.”

Most fire departments add an additional fire company to the first alarm assignment for a structure fire, either as part of the initial dispatch or as soon as a working fire is reported, to function as the four person RIC.

To comply with OSHA regulations, an initial rapid intervention crew (IRIC) is required to be assembled prior to operations within IDLH environments. Two firefighters from the initial attack crew will be assigned as the IRIC until the RIC company is deployed at the incident. Both the IRIC and RIC members should meet the requirements of NFPA 1407 Standard for Training Fire Service Rapid Intervention Crews.

I think this is cool. But, I am biased :)

Buy the book!

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Posted by on May 13, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations, Training & Development, Urban Commander • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Firehouse Closed Six Months After Opening

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WTKR-TV

THE NEWPORT NEWS, VIRGINIA, FIRE  DEPARTMENT needed a new station to better serve the Denbeigh community in the northern end of the city.  So while the city planners search for a suitable location to purchase and build a fire/rescue station on, the decision was made to seek a temporary location that could be leased and put into service right away while the planning continued for the permanent station.

Unfortunately, whoever the city manager appointed to find a temporary site didn’t know that fire engines are heavy.  They found a site available on the Newport News – Williamsburg International Airport property located on the edge of an old parking lot that is paved with a minimal layer of asphalt.  After spending $650,000 to erect a metal structure with truck bays and living quarters for Engine 11 and a medic unit, the station is out of service for at least two weeks because after six months the parking lot/driveway has fallen apart.

WTKR-TV Ch. 3 visited the site and filed this video report:

The IAFF Local president Ben Burbic interviewed in the video told The Daily press:

…. the location at the back of airport property is terrible, as the fire trucks have to wind their way around airport parking lots to get to Jefferson Avenue or Denbigh Boulevard. He has said the city would have been better off saving the money and applying it to a permanent station.

Burbic said everything about the station smacks of cheapness and inattention to detail, including a light pole in the parking lot that was difficult for the fire trucks to maneuver around. He said the pole was painted so drivers could see it better, but eventually was removed after firefighters complained. Also, a roof vent wouldn’t close after a snowstorm and snow blew into the station’s living quarters. The snow caused some minor damage to ceiling tiles, but repairs were covered under the building’s warranty.

The repairs will include a thicker paving done with concrete.

Read the entire article HERE.

Posted by on May 13, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, fire stations, Videos • Tagged: ,

Morning Lineup – May 13

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The other day we looked at the San Ramon Fire Protection District’s innovative creation of a smartphone app that connects their citizens (and anybody else who is interested) directly with the FPD in various ways.  If you missed it, read our Lineup HERE where we showed you some of the ways they’re using it.

While checking out the FD’s story on their app development, I got to looking around their extensive and very innovative official website and I’m really impressed with their product.  Not only is it using web technology in a very tasteful way, but it is relevant to the information delivery and not just a “see what I can do” blast of technology.  You can see that the moment you enter their website.  It’s the creativeness that impresses me the most.  No standard list of little page topics in a box along the left edge of the site, but an active list of tabs that literally invite you to click and follow.  You’ll see what I mean when you try it out.

sanramonhome

Besides the flash-and-dash dynamics of the site itself, what’s inside is even more innovative.  Just roll your cursor over the section tab you want to visit and then click on the semi-page that opens.  You will get complete descriptions and photographs of all the stations and apparatus along with the accreditations the department holds.  The dispatch tab will take you to links where you can listen to the live-stream of their dispatch radio channel and related links.  The tabs for Community Outreach and Recent Events are very well thought out and maintained.  And they keep the taxpayers informed about how their money is being spent in the Construction Projects section.

There is genuine dedication to the public’s education evidenced in both the Photo Gallery and Video Gallery sections.  I could go on and on with this, but it’s best if you take time and look through the website yourself.  Be aware that you might end up spending a fair amount of time looking at the work.  Interestingly, the website was put into service just 13 months ago in April 2009.  But it’s probably that fresh start that allowed them to be so innovative with it.  Somebody got in early and nailed down the champion of generic URL’s for their site: 

http://www.firedepartment.org/default.asp 

When the webpage craze first arrived several years ago, there was a big rush to get online and almost every FD, rescue squad, and even individual stations began posting “stuff” on their individual websites.  After a while,  the novelty wore off and contributors lost interest leaving a universe of stale web pages that nobody looks at anymore because they are never updated.  Some official department websites never had any repeat viewers in the first place because they were just plain awful.  No information or any other reason to look at them.

But forward-thinking agencies know the value of keeping their marque out in public, because if you can keep the taxpayer interested, informed, and proud of their local emergency agencies, then you get better cooperation and that includes funding as well as support.  I’d like to see more departments follow San Ramon’s lead and make their citizens excited over their work and accomplishments.

We’d better get  this equipment checked out now, so while you start on that I’ll go make a fresh pot.  See you in the day room in a little while.

Posted by on May 13, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup, public relations, technology, Technology & Communications • Tagged:

Discount Store Destroyed in France

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A LARGE FIRE BURNED OUT A MAJOR DISCOUNT STORE Monday night in Saint-Etienne, France.  The store was located in a shopping center at the edge of town and the local fire department, SDIS 42 was challenged to contain the fire and kept it from spreading to other shops.  About two hours into the operation the metal roof collapsed into the store.

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SDIS 42

The Maxi-Lots store occupying  1,500 sq. meters was completely burned out, but no injuries or casualties were reported.  The cause of the blaze has not yet been determined.

SDIS 42 has an 18-image photo gallery HERE.
Rhone-Alpes has a brief video HERE.

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

He is under that pile, I think

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Not FossilMedic's workspace

Not FossilMedic's workspace

I am not a neat person. When the workload gets heavy, stuff piles up.

A colleague took a picture of my office when I was the EMS boss and emailed it to everyone.

I received a Fire Prevention Notice of Violation for excessive storage of flammable materials.

Wrapping up an academic year where I attempted to be the boss AND teach a full academic load.

Not recommended.

It gets better next week, when the Summer semester starts.

Here is a tidbit from the growing pile of “gotta write” items for Firegeezer.

LOOKING FOR TWO BATTLE-READY EMERGENCY MEDICINE PHYSICIANS

Medical Director/Assistant Medical Director
Washington DC Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department – Washington, DC

The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department seeks a highly qualified Medical Director and an Assistant Medical Director. The District of Columbia is home to close to 600,000 residents and nearly 1 million daily commuters and visitors. Washington, DC also hosts 18 million visitors annually, ranging from world leaders and diplomats to schoolchildren learning about our government system and its roots. The District of Columbia is a community that is working hard to build and sustain neighborhoods while strengthening services to children, youth, seniors, families and individuals.

The District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department (Fire & EMS) is a 2200 member, all-hazards agency providing emergency medical care and transportation (EMS), fire prevention, fire suppression, hazardous material response, and technical rescue services to residents and visitors in the District of Columbia. Fire & EMS resources are deployed from 33 neighborhood fire stations and include 39 EMS transport units, 33 engine companies, 16 ladder trucks, three heavy-rescue squads, one hazardous materials unit, and one fire boat company. 14 of the transport units and 20 of the engine companies are staffed by paramedics that provide advanced life support (ALS) care. Fire & EMS responds to over 150,000 incidents a year, an average of 435 a day.
Position

The Medical Director will provide medical direction and oversight for the delivery of medical care, emergency medical training, and medical quality assurance programs for the Department. The Medical Director holds the rank of Assistant Fire Chief and is part of the executive management team.

As a member of the executive management team, the Medical Director will participate in all phases of executive management including strategic planning, budget development and execution, contracting and procurement, accreditation, labor/management relations, and intergovernmental relations.

The successful candidate shall hold an Allopathic or Osteopathic Medical Degree (M.D., D.O.) and shall be an American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) board-certified physician in a medical specialty that represents the broad patient base that the Department serves, such as emergency medicine, general surgery, family medicine, or internal medicine, most preferably by the American Board of Emergency Medicine (ABEM). The ideal candidate will also possess at least four (4) years of substantial experience in emergency medical services, such as experience as a medical director or assistant medical director of emergency medical services, or successful completion of a recognized fellowship in emergency medical services.

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

Posted by on May 12, 2010 • Filed under: EMS Topics • Tagged: , , , ,

Flying Cars – cont’d.

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Lighter Cars … Better Spoilers … Higher Speeds = Greater Heights

Update, Friday:  Additional video added.  Scroll down.

A MAN DIED EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING when the car he was driving at a high speed started tumbling, then went airborne and landed on the roof of a commercial building in Montgomery County, Texas.

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KPRC-TV

Texas Dept. of Public Safety troopers say that Shawn Finley, 22, struck a curb and started rolling end-over-end, bouncing in the air with each tumble and landing on the roof  of a small business.  The car rolled over once or twice more on the roof and ended up partially buried in the structure.  It took firefighters and paramedics a lengthy amount of time to get to the victim because the building was on the verge of collapse.  It took several hours to extricate him from the car because they had to work off of the aerial ladder and the car was partially into the rafters.

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KPRC-TV

Montgomery County Police Reporter filed this video report from the scene:

KPRC-TV has a 13-image photo gallery HERE.
KVUE-TV has the story and another video HERE.

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KPRC-TV

Update, Friday:
Additional raw video from the scene courtesy WUSA-TV:

Hat tip:  Ricky R.
Assisted by Fireball

Posted by on May 12, 2010 • Filed under: cars, Fire Rescue Topics, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: ,

Paramedic Captain Arrested for Drug Theft

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 A CAMAS (WASHINGTON) FIRE DEPARTMENT PARAMEDIC CAPTAIN was arrested and jailed Monday evening and charged with stealing drugs from one of their ambulances.  Bradley Allen, 60, has been in the FD for 22 years and has recently been in charge of the paramedic training.

He is accused of stealing a pain-killer medication that is stocked for treating heart attack patients.  His charges also include “delivering a substance in lieu of a controlled substance,” for replacing the medicine with a saline solution.

KPTV Ch. 12 Portland has this video report:

The Columbian has the STORY.

Posted by on May 12, 2010 • Filed under: crime, EMS Topics, Videos

Updates

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Update reports on some of the incidents we’ve covered recently:

MASSACHUSETTS FIRE INVESTIGATORS and the Sudbury Fire Chief released a statement Tuesday that identified a faulty tractor as the cause for the $4+ million fire at the Cavicchio greenhouses early that morning.  (see Firegeezer video report HERE.)  They added that the  tractor had probably been smoldering for hours before the blaze erupted.

NECN has this video report that includes some interesting history of this long-established  firm in Sudbury.  Firegeezer recommends: 

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STATter911 is reporting this morning that arrests are imminent following interviews with juveniles relating to the massive fire in an empty furniture factory in Salamanca, New York, last Friday (Firegeezer video report HERE).  The story takes an unusual twist concerning an imposter on the scene who was also arrested.  The upside-down air pack might have been a clue.  CLICK HERE and then scroll down to the report for the details.

Posted by on May 12, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, investigations, News, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – May 12

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This morning we have a few notices to pass along.  First of all, we want to make sure that  all of our EMS-oriented readers are aware of the upcoming  EMS Week 2010 observance and related activities.  Some of our colleagues at FireEMS Blogs are getting involved with the gang at Chronicles of EMS coordinating a 3-city kick-off and meet-up this Saturday in San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

EMS-Week-2010

Chris Kaiser from Life Under the Lights.com is hosting the Chicago meet-up and he’s inviting all of you in the greater Chicagoland area to join him at Fado’s Irish Pub on W. Grand Ave.  CLICK HERE to learn more about it and he has information on the other meet-ups, too.  A nice way to spend a Saturday evening with colleagues.  All three of them are showing some live-streamed movies and other activities.  Check it out and if you’re in the Mid-West, send Chris an email.

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While we’re in the EMS neighborhood, I want to direct you to the new look and layout for the JEMS website, the Journal of Emergency Medical Services.  They launched a major upgrade yesterday and the newly-designed site will be adding a lot of features over the coming weeks.  From their announcement:

This week we’re proud to unveil a new platform for the JEMS.com site, which provides a great content technology platform that will enable us to vastly expand how we deliver content, community, commerce and more to emergency medical providers worldwide.

On the new site, you’ll notice a streamlined navigation that will let you connect with important topics and issues in EMS, great multimedia, jobs and more. And all of these are just the beginning, as we’ll be adding new components to just about every facet, function and feature of the Web site in the coming weeks and months ahead.

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Some of the expanded and new features are a job board, access to the JEMS magazine archives, more multi-media, greater integration with the Social Media, and many more.  CLICK HERE to read about these new plans and directions.

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And thirdly, we want to remind you to pencil in July 20 to 24 for the annual Firehouse Expo that will be held in Baltimore, Maryland.  This widely-popular training and seminar program also has the usual great exhibition in the convention hall.  And this year Firegeezer and STATter911 will team up once again with our own booth at the exhibition.  This year we will have double the space, and double the fun as we return to the same floor location where we were two years ago.  Dave Statter, “FossilMedic” Mike Ward and I will be looking forward to seeing you once again.  We have some special things planned for you, so make sure you get by.

An added feature to this year’s exhibition will be the shifting of the flea market from Sunday forward to Saturday in the convention hall, so that all of you who traditionally  make Saturday a family day-trip will be able to catch that, too.

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There you go…. in just a few minutes time we have planned your afternoon, your weekend, and your summer vacation.  So with that load off your mind, let’s get this equipment checked out and I’ll go start the coffee.

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

6 Firefighters Injured by “Mystery Blast”

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SIX VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTERS FROM EDGERTON, ALBERTA, were hospitalized Monday night following an explosion in a house being used for training burns.  The house had been long vacant and used previously for training fires with all precautions taken. 

At the property owner’s request, the firefighters were letting the house burn completely down following their training evolutions.  There were 12 firefighters involved in the training exercise and they had taken every precaution prior to setting the final blaze around 8 pm.  ”The furnace was gone, the lines were gone, the tank was gone. No water, nothing to the house at all. Completely vacant of anything like that,” Wainwright Fire Chief Steve Douglas said.  “The house was completely engulfed in flame for approximately for 10 to 15 minutes. At that point, there was a huge explosion,” he said.

CBC News continues:

Debris was strewn for 1,000 feet and the force of the blast knocked the FF’s against their cars.  The RCMP is assisting the fire investigators looking for the cause of the blast.  There never was any natural gas line to the house and electricity had been cut off several years ago.  The pre-burn inspection revealed no evidence of any clandestine drug lab or similar activity.  There is nothing left standing from the demolished structure.

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Star News

CTV has a video report HERE.

Sources:
The Edmonton Journal HERE.
CanWest News Service HERE.
CBC News HERE.

Posted by on May 11, 2010 • Filed under: explosion, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: ,

Looking Back

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029 a

………. Fire Engineering, April 1972

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Posted by on May 11, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics, Looking Back • Tagged: , , ,

School Buses Collide – 43 Injured

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A SCHOOL BUS RAN INTO THE REAR OF ANOTHER ONE just outside Sydney, Australia, Tuesday afternoon (local time).  The hard collision left 43 of the approx. 60 high school-age students on board injured.

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Sydney Morning Herald

The accident brought 23 ambulances to the scene, but fortunately all of the injuries were of the “minor” variety….cuts, scrapes, bruises and some neck and back pain.  Twenty of the injured were transported to the hospital on a replacement bus with several paramedics on board monitoring them.  Compounding the overriding confusion was a sudden influx of parents who raced to the scene and the grapvine shot the news around.

ABC-TV has a video  report HERE.
The Blue Mountains Gazette has the DETAILS HERE.

Posted by on May 11, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics • Tagged: , ,

Multi-Million $$ Flower Fire

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A FIRE DISCOVERED SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT Tuesday morning caused a $3- to $5-million loss in a Sudbury, Massachusetts, greenhouse and nursery.  The Cavicchio Greenhouses have been in business for 100 years and provides flowers, plants and supplies to gardening and landscaping businesses, municipalities, and golf courses in New England, according to its website.

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A security guard reported the alarm that eventually brought 80 firefighters from 15 FD’s to the scene.  The fire consumed about 120,000 sq. ft. of nursery greenhouses representing 30% of the company’s facility.  When the FD arrived there was fire showing and it had gotten ahold of the ground pallets and fertilizer, spreading fairly rapidly through the greenhouses.  Complicating the operation was the lack of nearby hydrants, the nearest being a half-mile away.  Yard hydrants had neither the flow nor pressure to be of any good to the FD.  Two pumpers went into drafting operations at the company’s standing ponds.

The fire was brought under control by 4 am.  WFXT-TV Ch. 25 shot this raw video after daybreak showing the damage:

The Boston Globe has the STORY.

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

Assorted Updates

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NEW YORK CITY FIRE INVESTIGATORS had determined the cause of the deadly, 7-alarm fire in Chinatown on April 12 (see Firegeezer video report HERE).  The New York Daily News reports:

The Daily News has the details HERE.
The Wall Street Journal has more plus some background on the building’s owner HERE.

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TWENTY PEOPLE HAVE BEEN CONVICTED  and sentenced to prison terms in China for setting off illegal fireworks that started a deadly fire in a new high-rise building.  Firegeezer covered the story in February of last year HERE and HERE.  The fire completely destroyed a 44-story luxury hotel that was almost ready for opening and cost $800 million.  There are several good videos on the links, so check them out if you missed them last year.

China Hotel Fire

China Daily is reporting:

Xu Wei, former director of the broadcaster’s construction office, was sentenced to seven years in prison, while the remaining 19 offenders received three to six years behind bars.

Xu pleaded guilty during the trial in March, saying he was sorry for causing the big loss to the country and tarnishing the image of the State broadcaster.

In February this year, the State Council said that an investigation into the incident revealed the firefighting systems in the brand new CCTV tower were dysfunctional.

The television network and its contractors had failed to fix broken emergency sprinklers and did not carry out various other tasks that could have brought the fire under control, according to the State Council.

A total of 71 people have been found responsible for the fire, the central government said.

The building’s structural integrity was so damaged that the entire structure needed to be demolished.

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Following up on Friday’s 3-alarm apartment fire in Lauderhill, Florida (see Firegeezer story HERE), the mayor of the city divulged on Monday that the complex is a condominium and that, unbeknownst to most residents, the homeowners’ association had recently canceled their insurance policies as a means of saving money.  This despite the fact that the condo owners were still paying for it in their dues.  WPLG-TV reports:

“The tenants have no hazard insurance, even though they were paying their monthly maintenance fees,” said Ann Marie Emmanuel, whose mother, Rita Clark, lives at the building.  Clark bought her home in the building 10 years ago. She has been paying condo fees every month since then, and she was surprised to find out that they were not going to building insurance.

Linda Meyers was on the homeowners’ board until recently and said she had no idea the building was not insured.  The building is already condemned, unlivable and dangerous to anyone who might venture inside. Now, the residents might not be able to move back in. “The tenants have no hazard insurance, even though they were paying their monthly maintenance fees,” said Ann Marie Emmanuel, whose mother, Rita Clark, lives at the building.  “I haven’t seen the statements or banks or the reserve, and for the last three years, and they didn’t provide a budget,” Meyers said.

 If the residents want to replace the building’s roof, they will have to pay for it themselves. They are not covered under any policies, and since a natural disaster did not cause the damage, they cannot ask for federal help. 

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WSVN-TV image

The building is already condemned, unlivable and dangerous to anyone who might venture inside. Now, the residents might not be able to move back in.

Investigators have sent forensic evidence and are waiting for word from the chief investigators on the cause of the blaze. Officials would only say that the fire, which destroyed the building’s top floor and roof, began in Apartment 304.

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Posted by on May 11, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Fire-ology • Tagged: ,

Morning Lineup – May 11

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With the rapid conversion from clunky old ordinary cell phones to the so-called smart phones (iPhone, Droid, etc.), there have been literally tens of thousands of downloadable accessories called “Apps” created to enhance the phones’ usefulness.  On a few occasions we have talked about apps that were specifically created to assist firefighters and EMT’s such as the one that makes a metronome-sounding cadence to help maintain a good compression rate during CPR.  Of course, there are some useless ones like the “pump pressure calculator” for determining pressures for hose lines.  I call that one useless because if somebody isn’t capable of quickly calculating pump pressures in their head, then they don’t have any business operating the pump in the first place.

But the App development field for fire/rescue departments has just taken on different use entirely.  The San RamonValley Fire Protection District in California’s East Bay area is showing some genuine resourcefulness and progressive thinking by creating their own App that the citizens in their district will be able to download for free when it’s made available in a few months.

This new service for the taxpayers/citizens is a digital super-scanner.  According to the F.P.D.’s website:

iPhone users can look forward to the FireDepartment.org iPhone application that will provide a virtual window into the San Ramon Valley Fire’s 9-1-1 dispatch center. This application will allow users to have real-time access to emergency activities occurring in their community.

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Users will be able to view active incidents, including the response status of emergency vehicles being dispatched to the call. The application will even have an interactive map that will pinpoint where the incidents are located.

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This application will allow users to choose to be notified of incidents as they are dispatched. Then they will have the option to listen in on the live emergency radio traffic on what will now be the modern version of a traditional fire scanner. Users can also select the type of notification they receive on their iPhone, for example, they can select to get only structure fire notifications or vehicle accident information.

“The Fire District will use our new iPhone application to communicate with residents and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) members during a disaster,” said Fire Chief Richard Price. “We are dedicated to keeping our community informed and I am very excited about adding this new tool to the many ways we are communicating with our residents.”

This initial App is being created for the iPhone, but it will soon be adopted for the Droids and other smartphones.  The fire district utilized a computer training class in Northern Kentucky University who developed the App for free as a part of their training.  No doubt after being used in the field for a while there will be some refinements and additional features added to it.  But what I like most is the forward-thinking of the FD’s top staff and their aggressive action in keeping up with the rapid advances in communications.

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How many fire departments today are still posting those dull and uninformative press releases on their static websites, or leaving a 30-second recording on a P.I.O. telephone line?  Almost all of them.  Is there any wonder why nobody logs on or dials in to those outdated devices?

Well, outdated or no…we still have to get this equipment checked out.  So get started on that while I go fix some more coffee.  See you back in the day room in a little while.

Posted by on May 11, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup, technology, Technology & Communications • Tagged: ,

Firetruck Rollover in Texas

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A VOLUNTEER FIREFIGHTER IN LIBERTY COUNTY, Texas, was injured Monday afternoon when the fire tanker he was driving crashed and rolled over.

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KHOU-TV

The 30-yr.-old FF was alone in the truck and suffered head and leg injuries when he was ejected from the cab as the truck did a complete rollover.  It has not yet been disclosed if the tanker from the Cypress Lakes VFD was responding on a call or driving under non-emergency conditions when it crashed around 3:30 pm Central in a rural area.  The victim was flown to a hospital in Houston.

KHOU-TV filed this raw video from its helicopter:

No other information has been released yet.

Update:
Firefighter Close Calls is reporting that the tanker was responding on a mutual aid call to a working barn fire.

Posted by on May 11, 2010 • Filed under: apparatus, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus, Videos

Patient Dies in Ambulance Rollover

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IN NORTHERN MINNESOTA FRIDAY NIGHT, it was snowing when a Med1 ambulance was transporting a 76-yr.-old man from Grand Rapids to Duluth when it started skidding on an icy bridge.  The ambulance slid across the oncoming lane brushing a Jeep Cherokee before it climbed a guardrail and rolled over on the embankment.

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KBJR-TV image

The patient, who was being transferred from one hospital to another for a medical procedure,  died in the crash and the two ambulance workers were treated and released.  Nobody in the Jeep was injured.

KARE-TV filed this video report:

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Posted by on May 10, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances, Videos • Tagged:

Flaming Crash at Uncontrolled Intersection

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TWO PEOPLE IN AN AUTOMOBILE were leaving the North Weald Airfield, in Essex, England, Sunday afternoon when an errant 2-seater airplane crashed into it, demolishing both “vehicles” and unleashing a spectacular fireball.  Astonishingly, nobody was killed and the two car passengers were able to immediately jump out and drag the injured pilot to safety before the fire consumed the plane.  There were no other passengers in the plane.

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Essex County Fire & Rescue Service photo

A fire service spokesman told The Daily Mail, “An onlooker who saw the incident told us that the plane appeared to come in to land but immediately took off again, banking over the top of a hanger before coming back to try a second landing and clipping the back of a brand new Volvo with two people inside who were driving out of the airfield.”

It appears that the car passengers saw the plane coming and they jumped out just before impact, leaving them able to snatch the pilot just seconds before the fire engulfed the plane.  He (the pilot) suffered facial, leg and back injuries.  The car occupants escaped without a scratch.

Another bit of fortune was the presence of a fire engine on the field at the same time.  One of  the runways was closed and being used for a drag racing program and the volunteer fire brigade had a pumper in location for standby duty.  They were able to respond immediately and knock the fire down with a foam cover promptly.

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Essex County Fire & Rescue Service

Read more details and the full story in The Daily Mail HERE.
Essex County Fire & Rescue Service WEBSITE.

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