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4 Dead in New Jersey Boarding House Fire

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A FIRE IN A PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, HOUSE EARLY Wednesday morning has left four people dead and three more in critical condition.  For several hours there was fear that others were missing, but by afternoon it was determined that everyone was accounted for.

AP

When firefighters arrived the wood-frame house was already well involved with many residents outside the house.  The fire was spreading to the house next door and threatening the home on the other side.  Before the fire was fully contained, the house of origin collapsed, completely destroyed.  The second house suffered severe damages and the third house only superficial fire damage.

Two people leapt from 3rd-floor windows to escape the flames, with one of them dying immediately from the fall and the second in critical condition from multi-trauma injuries as a result of the plunge.  Later, three bodies were recovered from the ruins of the house.  It was not immediately known how many residents lived in the several rooms that were rented out.  The owner escaped, and it was disclosed that she had been issued several fire code violations in recent months.

This aerial video from WNYW-TV Ch. 5 displays the remarkable job the firefighters did in containing the fire amidst close exposures:

Heavy equipment was brought in later Wednesday to remove the debris and assist the investigators in the search for the cause.  The 3-alarm fire brought more than 80 firefighters to the scene.

Report compiled from several sources.

Posted by on June 30, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged: ,

Around the Fire Web

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*  STATter911 has a B/P-raising story about a town in British Columbia that is beginning to think that “full-time firefighters” are a waste of money.  Calm down and read it HERE.

*  SConFire has a story that is being told more and more these days.  This one is about a volunteer rescue squad in South Carolina that is being forced to shut down after 37 years by the city they serve because they don’t have paramedics  available for every call.  After Thursday they still won’t have paramedics on every call, nor will they get an ambulance on every call.  Read how the smart lawyers botched it up HERE.

*  The Happy Medic has a great photo-story about San Francisco’s massive auxiliary pumping stations dedicated to the city’s hydrant mains.  They were built following the Great Fire of 1906.  If you want to know what happens next if all 10 million gallons are used up, then read the STORY HERE.

*  Now, I’ve been to a lot of fires, but I’ve never been to a slaughterhouse fire.  I’ve never even been to a slaughterhouse.  But Jeff Harkey at FireNews.net will show you one if you’ve got a minute to go HERE.

*  The Fire Critic is reviving his auxiliary site FireGroundVideo.  READ HERE to see what this is all about.

Posted by on June 30, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Blogs

Righteous Fire Suppression in Austere Times

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4 am Friday, July 02

“Box Alarm ….”

You smell the smoke as the rig pulls out of the station.  After a glance down the street you transmit a “Working Fire” notification.

A decade ago a “Working Fire” Box Alarm would get 29 firefighters, 7 company officers and two command officers on the fireground within 11 minutes.

Engines 2, 16, 41 and 5; Trucks 2 and 16; Rescue 5; Battalion Chiefs 14 and 3.
Engines staffed with 4, Trucks staffed with 5 and Rescues staffed with six and chiefs staffed with two.

This morning your Box Alarm response is:

Quint 2, Engine 41, Engine 60 and Engine 101; Tower 12; Battalion Chief 3.
Engines are staffed at 3, Quints/Towers/Rescues are staffed at 4.  Battalion Chief does not have an aide.

It will take 20 minutes to get the 12 firefighters, five company officers and one command officer assembled on the fireground.

from sidealpha.com

Brutal budget impact shows the erosion:

  • Lost Battalion 14 in FY 08 and removed the second chief and second truck from box alarm assignments.
  • Engine 2 and Truck 2 combined into a Quint company in FY09.  Lost the battalion aides.
  • Fire Station 16 closed in FY10. Lost Engine 16 and Truck 16.
  • Starting in FY2011, (July 01, 2010) Engine 5 cross-staffs Rescue 5.

Engine 60 used to be due on the third alarm. Rolling fire station closures, permanently disbanded fire companies and busier units makes E60 the third nearest pumper this morning.

Engine 101 is a mutual aid company that used to be due on a fourth alarm.

Rescue 5 is available but unstaffed because Engine 5 is on an EMS 1st responder run.

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

You are the “Queen on the Quint” and have an initial firefighting force that is one half the size you had ten years ago … and it takes longer to get them assembled. Calls for additional  help will get you back to a force of 38, but it will be 35 minutes into the firefight.

Camden NJ Engine 7 - 1976 Pierce Squrt

START BIG WATER EARLY

Decades ago a fire engineering professor who was also a suburban volunteer firefighter was riding with a metro battalion chief.

There was fire coming out of two windows in the fifth floor of an unspriklered Type III (limited combustible – ordinary) six story apartment building.

The first-in engine was a Squrt and the chief used the elevated master stream to quickly knock down the fire with a couple of bursts.

The professor was surprised, assumed that the fire attack would start from the interior hallway. That city operated with mostly three-or-four person engines.

The chief explained that his goal was to immediately stop the spread of the fire by overwhelming it with water. Now the crews could enter the fire floor, conduct a search and complete the extinguishment process.

Thinly staffed fire companies do not have the luxury of starting with an incremental increase in fire line size, start with one size bigger than you think you need.

TIME AND MOTION IMPROVEMENTS

Joe Brown’s Truck 17 tillerman video featured in Sounds of the Nation’s Capital shows the increased efficiency when you pay attention to the ergonomics and time-and-motion efficiency of standard fireground activities.

When the number of bodies is cut in half, the tasks need to be maximized for effectiveness.

PRACTICE LIKE YOU PLAY

Evaluate your in-station drills and evolutions. If they were written with four person engines and five person trucks, re-write them so they work with smaller crews.

CLARIFY EXPECTATIONS

A metro chief officer retired and became the chief of a rural county.  His first working fire was in a commercial structure.  As Truck 1 showed up, the chief rattled off four fireground tasks needed to be done right away.

Truck 1′s officer radioed back “It’s just me and Joe on the truck, which assignment do you want done first?”

CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR PROPER RESOURCES

Making these changes do not mean we “accept” the significant reductions in staffing. These suggestions are to help working with today’s reality WHILE continuing the fight for proper staffing and adequate resources.

Many of our colleagues feel betrayed. The informal “social contract” each of us has with the formal fire department or municipal entity has been broken as we watch our staffing and resources erode.

It takes a real leader to do the best with the existing resources and continue the fight for proper resources.

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

URBAN COMMANDER is an irregular feature aimed at career staff working in metro-sized fire departments. It will cover topics that were too esoteric, short-term or “sharp” for the Fire Officer: Principles and Practice textbook. Click “Urban Commander” under Categories to get all of the articles.

Posted by on June 30, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighting Operations, Fires, Funding & Staffing, Technology & Communications, Training & Development, Urban Commander • Tagged: , , ,

Coffee – The Healthy Beverage

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DUE IN PART TO ITS POPULARITY, there are always scientific studies going on about the effect coffee has on  your health.  It’s already been shown to be a good source of anti-oxidents and to be helpful in preventing diabetes.  Now an ongoing study indicates that drinking 5 cups of coffee a day may help protect against Alzheimer’s Disease.

A recent report from NPR tells us: 

 ”I drink five to six cups a day religiously,” says Gary Arendash, a researcher at the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, part of Florida State University. Arendash says he’s convinced that caffeine is protecting his brain.

Arendash and his colleagues at the Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center have been studying the effects of caffeine on the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s disease. They’ve found that adding caffeinated water to rodents’ diet results in big improvements. The mice perform better on short-term memory and thinking tests. But only if they get enough caffeine.

“The human equivalent of two to three cups of coffee does not have benefits in our Alzheimer’s mice,” says Arendash.

There wouldn’t be as much interest in Arendash’s mice studies if scientists hadn’t also begun to gather some evidence that a steady caffeine habit is beneficial to people, too.

One recent study comes from Finland where researchers followed about 1,400 coffee drinkers for more than two decades. Researchers found one group seemed to benefit the most: the people who’d been drinking three to five cups of coffee a day in their 40s and 50s.

“They had about a 65-to-70-percent reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in their 70s,” says Huntington Potter, a neurobiologist at the University of South Florida.

Of course, fire and EMS workers have long known about these benefits, and others, without having to run those tedious, scientific tests.

The healthy benefits of coffee and its positive effect on your brain’s ability to function more logically have been recognized world-wide for centuries.  Part of a viable and productive coffee-therapy plan includes the proper administration of the beverage in order to get the most benefit from it.

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Firegeezer readers all over the world are improving their health, and their memory-functions,  with their own GeezerCup.  How about you?  Order your own Firegeezer Mug today (or tomorrow after you get home) and start down the road to good health now.

The price is reasonable and delivery is fast via Priority Mail (Air Mail to other countries).  Just CLICK HERE to place your credit card order safely and securely 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.

* * * * *

Posted by on June 30, 2010 • Filed under: Mug Shots • Tagged: , , ,

Restaurant Fire Cooks 3 Businesses

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A FIRE THAT STARTED IN A JAPANESE RESTAURANT destroyed three businesses in a Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, strip mall Tuesday evening.  The fire started in the kitchen around 5:00 pm while the kitchen staff were sitting out back eating their meal before the evening business.  When they came back inside they found the kitchen ablaze and spreading into the roof area.

Patriot-News

When the firefighters arrived they found flames already showing through the roof of the wood-truss structure and spreading to the businesses on each side, one a weight-loss center and the other a flooring company stocked with rolls of carpeting and padding.

WHP-TV Ch. 21 had a video crew on the scene shortly after the roof came in:

The fire was knocked down in about an hour, but units were still on the scene at midnight working the hot spots.  You can see in the video that an effective firewall kept the fire from running the entire shopping center.  All the businesses on the other side of it are open today.

Investigators are on the scene Wednesday.

The Patriot-News has MORE.

Posted by on June 30, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged: ,

Promotional Opportunities

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GUEYDAN, LOUISIANA, FIRE CHIEF LINDSAY LEBLANC is on paid leave today following his arrest on charges relating to child sex crimes.  The Lafayette Daily Advertiser reports:

Gueydan Fire Chief Lindsey T. Leblanc was arrested Monday at the fire department after an investigation into Internet communications between him and a person he thought was an underage female.  State police detectives, working in cooperation with Immigration Customs Enforcement agents, the Lafayette Police Department and the Vermilion Parish Sheriff’s Office arrested Leblanc on Monday on charges relating to child sex crimes.

Lindsey LeBlanc

Several months ago, troopers obtained information that the 43-year-old Leblanc of Gueydan was engaging in sexually explicit conversations with someone posing as an underage female.

On Monday, troopers obtained a search warrant for the fire department, as well as Leblanc’s home. Troopers seized three computer hard drives in their search.  Troopers also obtained an arrest warrant for Leblanc on charges of computer-aided solicitation of a minor and indecent behavior with a juvenile. Leblanc was taken into custody at the Gueydan Fire Department without incident and was booked into the Vermilion Parish Correctional Center.

LeBlanc is a full-time employee of the town and has been the fire chief for 12 years.  One of the town’s full-time firefighters has been appointed interim fire chief.

Computer-aided solicitation carries a 10-yr. prison sentence and $10,000 fine; indecent behavior with a juvenile carries a 7-yr. prison term and $5,000 fine.  Malfeasance in office (another of his charges) can bring a 5-yr. sentence and a $5,000 fine.

The “sting” was initiated by “Operation Child Watch,” an organization that works to protect children from sexual predators.

2TheAdvocate has MORE.

Posted by on June 30, 2010 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, crime • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – June 30

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Wow, the end of June already and the mid-point of the year.  After this weekend all the department stores will be slashing  prices on their summer clothing with plenty of summer still to come.

Following up on our chat over the weekend HERE and HERE about the expected premium service from Hulu,  the provider of “old” tv shows over the internet, they announced the new plan yesterday.  This upgraded service will only be offered in a Beta form at first, and by invitation only.  But once those bugs are ironed out, it won’t be long until they go with full service.  As the industry people predicted, this new plan dubbed Hulu Plus will be offered for $10 a month (to start with, anyway) and will give the subscriber access to every episode, both past and current, of programming from ABC, NBC, Fox and several other networks.  CBS is expected to join the bundle soon.  Since those major networks also own most of the primary cable networks too, you will have access to just about every popular channel.

Now here’s the money part of the deal:  Not only can you downstream the shows on your home computer, but also devices that aren’t PCs, including the iPhone 4, iPhone 3G, iPod Touch, iPad, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and TVs and Blu-Ray players from Samsung, Sony, and Vizio.  It won’t be long until you will be able to watch Rescue Me while you’re driving instead of waiting for the next text message to arrive.

If you want to apply for an invitation to play with the Beta version, CLICK HERE for a request.  But act fast….there will probably be a few million applications by lunchtime today.  You can read more about it on DailyTech.com HERE.

First, we need to get this equipment checked out before we sign up for pocket television.  I’ll get the coffee started.  Later in the day room I’ll be telling you about still more health benefits from coffee that have been discovered.  So, see you there in a little while.

Posted by on June 30, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: ,

4-Alarm Pennsylvania Fire Brings Tanker Parade

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Updated Wednesday.  Scroll down.

A FIRE THAT BEGAN JUST BEFORE NOON TUESDAY in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, destroyed a large industrial building that house three businesses.  Firefighters were hampered by a lack of water in the remote industrial complex and had to wait for a large number of tankers to respond from across Bucks and Montgomery Counties as well as Hunterdon County in New Jersey.

WPVI-TV

The fire is still working at the time of this posting and there is not yet any further information on the cause, etc., of the fire.

WPVI-TV  has this aerial video report from late this afternoon:

Update Wednesday am:
The building that was on fire was completely destroyed and housed two businesses.  One a mold and die supply company and the other a firm that pulverizes metals for industrial use.  Christopher Ruvo of The Intelligencer reports:

Tankers line up at the nearest hydrant to take their turn filling up (WPVI-TV)

Plumsteadville Fire Chief Brian DuBree said when he arrived flames were already tearing through the building’s roof.

Firefighters initially attacked the blaze from inside the building, but the roof began to melt, forcing officials to recall firemen from the building, said DuBree.  “It was so hot, tar from the roof was dripping onto the firefighters. We had to get them out,” he said.

“The word for this fire is challenging,” said DuBree. He explained that the number of volunteer firefighters, who provided the response, is limited during the day. “We were challenged by staffing. We were challenged by the temperatures. And we were challenged by water supply.”

There were no hydrants in the immediate area and water supply was a concern. Two ponds on the building site were quickly drained and tankers began trucking in water.  DuBree said the Limerick nuclear power plant in Montgomery County activated a water line that connects from the plant to the Delaware River. The line soon began feeding dry hydrants about a mile from the fire site with water. Firefighters tapped into those hydrants.

Read the full story from The Intellgencer HERE.

Posted by on June 29, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Las Vegas FF’s Reach Wage Agreement

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LAS VEGAS IAFF LOCAL 1285 and negotiators for the City of Las Vegas, Nevada,  reached a tentative agreement Tuesday afternoon to help the city deal with a projected budget shortfall.  In a press release issued jointly this evening (Tuesday) they delineated the major points of agreement in the new settlement:

  •  
    • No cost of living adjustment in FY 2011 and a 50% reduction in step increases during the next two years.
    • No uniform allowances.
    • A hefty increase in the employees’ share of health insurance costs of an additional $90 (2-week) per pay period and instead of receiving contributions from the city for all 26 pay periods, the city will only be contributing their share for 24 pay periods, leaving the firefighters to pay the entire premium for the remaing two pay periods.
    • A reduction of the EMS documentation pay for paramedics of 50% in FY11 and complete elimination in FY12.
    • The city in turn agrees to not pursue a request for a proposal for the privatization of the EMS service for the duration of the labor contract.
    • The city will discontinue fire station “brownouts.”

“Reaching an agreement was critical based on the fact the city was facing an $80 million shortfall last year and looks to be facing another $50 million shortfall this coming year,” said City Manager Betsy Fretwell. “The ability to work with our bargaining units is the way we’ll be able to preserve services and jobs.”

Dean Fletcher, president of the Las Vegas Firefighters Local 1285, added, “We have been negotiating in good faith from the beginning. We have never had our sole focus be on our salaries or our benefits. Our negotiations have always been about public safety. Las Vegas Fire & Rescue has one of the very best records in emergency medical care in the United States and we are confident in our state-of-the-art firefighting services. We are proud that we fought with everything that we had to reach this agreement with the city to avoid brownouts that would have endangered public safety and increase response times.”

Hat tip:  Ron Y.

Posted by on June 29, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, labor

Looking Back

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………. Fire Engineering, January 1954

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Posted by on June 29, 2010 • Filed under: Looking Back • Tagged: ,

What’re Them Orange Barrels For?

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IN TULSA, OKLAHOMA, EARLY TUESDAY MORNING a pickup truck came breezing down I-244 at a high speed.  Investigators say that the driver went around a set of barricades that closed off a bridge that goes over a railroad track.  The NASCAR wannabe didn’t realize that the decking had been removed from the bridge to be replaced until he was already airborne.  When he came back down, there wasn’t any roadway there to land on and his truck went partway through the bridge, getting wedged between the support beams.

Channel 9 image

Nobody knows for certain when this happened because the worksite was vacant, but some construction workers a short distance away say that they heard a crashing sound around 2 am.  Some railway employees found the truck dangling over their roadbed at 3 am and called the Tulsa FD.

News9

After inspecting the crash site, the firefighters found nobody around, but they did see a blood trail where the driver has apparently walked away and off the bridge.

News9

The truck was eventually lowered by a towing company down to the railroad tracks after a deep bed of gravel was laid below it.  Oklahoma troopers are looking for the driver.

KJRH-TV Ch. 2 posted this video report from the scene:

Channel 9 has the story and two more good videos HERE.

Posted by on June 29, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, rescue, Videos • Tagged: ,

And They Make That Terrible “Humming” Sound, Too – part 3

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View Part 1 of this series HERE.
View Part 2 of this series HERE.

Posted by on June 29, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Wind Turbine • Tagged: , ,

Car Fire Rescue Caught on Video

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WHEN ELLIS COUNTY, TEXAS, SHERIFF’S DEPUTIES converged on a car fire Sunday night, one of them positioned his cruiser with the dash cam aimed at the blazing car.  The auto was traveling on a country road around 10 pm when it went off the roadway, rolled over and crashed, then started burning with the woman driver trapped inside.

When the three deputies arrived they found two other people already there trying to put out the fire and save the woman.  Between the five of them, they were able to push the flames back enough to get the car door open and pull her out to safety.  This dramatic video report from KDFW-TV Ch. 4 Dallas shows the dash cam recording of the remarkable rescue:

The unidentified woman was severely burned and is in critical condition.

Posted by on June 29, 2010 • Filed under: fire, rescue, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: ,

Commercial Ka-Boom in Detroit

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DETROIT, MICHIGAN, FIRE UNITS ARE STILL on the scene of an explosion that destroyed most of a strip mall around 3 am Tuesday morning on E. Seven Mile Rd.

The explosion was apparently centered in a hardware store and brought the roof down, collapsing the entire store into the basement.  The shopping strip housed five businesses including a dollar store, and an auto parts store.  The incident was elevated to two alarms and was fought with exterior master streams due to the instability of the entire shopping center.

WXYZ-TV has some early video that shows up following the weather report:

Arson investigators are on the scene now along with the haz-mat team.  No other information has been released yet.

The Dollar Store Conspiracy Club grudgingly commends the arsonist for his deceptive practice of destroying the dollar store by blowing up the neighboring business, thus deflecting any investigation efforts away from the true motive.

Posted by on June 29, 2010 • Filed under: Dollar stores, explosion, Fires, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Morning Lineup – June 29

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I have mentioned in the past about how much better and maintenance-free our automobiles are these days, amazingly so, in fact.  Now I don’t know what got me on the subject again yesterday, but I got to thinking about all the time and money spent in the past on keeping my cars running well.  All of them basic things that everybody had to do, but are no longer needed for the most part.  Maybe it was when I was driving by an auto parts store and I realized that I can’t remember the last time I was ever in one.  Not even to just look around at the “neat stuff.”

In my early days as a firefighter, if your schedule had you working on a Saturday, that’s when we would do some basic maintenance that many of you youngsters have never had to do for yourselves.  It was kind of relaxing when two or three of us would have our cars parked just outside the rear bay door, near the station workshop, and spend a couple of the afternoon hours doing:

  • Cleaning and re-gapping the spark plugs.  That had a big effect on your gas mileage and how smoothly the car would run.  We’d remove the spark plugs, take a file and clean off the carbon build-up, then using a folding gauge we would bend the point back to the proper gap distance for optimum spark efficiency.  Some stations had a nice torque wrench that you could use to put them back with perfect tightness.  If you were lucky, you could go 20,000 miles before you had to buy new ones.  I haven’t bought a new spark plug in more than 20 years….don’t even know if they look the same because I never need to remove them for anything any more.

  • Checking and adding water to the battery.  Required on an almost weekly basis, especially in hot weather.  And the water in each battery cell had to be brought up level with a collar built inside it…no more, no less.  Now all the batteries are sealed and you can’t open them if you wanted to.  Whereas the older batteries had a normal life of about four years, now they will last for ten years or more under normal usage.
  • Re-setting the distributor points required a helper, someone to nudge the starter every time you said, “Again…….again……”
  • Draining the water out of the gas line filter.
  • Don’t even mention the carburetor jets.  Just be thankful that we don’t even have carburetors anymore.
  • Adding air to the tires to bring them up to the correct pressure….hardly ever needed these days.  And adding motor oil….another task that has been virtually eliminated.  Have you noticed that you don’t have drip stains under your car anymore?  I change my oil every 5,000 miles and I haven’t even checked it, let alone added any, in more than 15 years.

That got me to thinking, too, about some other routine purchases at the auto store that I never need to buy anymore:

  • Brake fluid
  • Paste wax (Hallelueah!!)
  • Chrome polish
  • That stuff you poured into the radiator to stop leaks.
  • Gasoline anti-freeze
  • Gunk

Did I leave anything out?  I’m sure I must have.  Let me know and we’ll finish out this list.

But first we still have to get these big trucks and ambulances checked out.  So let’s get going with that while I start the coffee pot.

Posted by on June 29, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: ,

Not Just Any Old Yacht Fire

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RESIDENTS OF WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA, WOKE UP early Sunday morning to the smell of burning fiberglass and smoke covering the waterfront.  It was coming from a 104-foot yacht that had just pulled into a marina after an exhaust leak was discovered.  The captain of the craft La Diva had just docked when the fire broke out around 5:30 am and all seven crew members evacuated safely.

Palm Beach Post

The boat still had 3,000 gals. of diesel in its tanks as the fire rapidly engulfed the entire craft.  West Palm Beach firefighters had been dispatched to an “auto fire” and were overwhelmed on arrival.  Suppression was also hindered because West Palm Beach doesn’t have a fireboat, even though the  Intra-coastal Waterway goes through the city.  They eventually knocked the heart of the fire down, but decided to let it burn itself out.  Two firefighters were injured when they opened a stateroom door and fire blew out on them.  A third FF collapsed from the heat.

WPTV Ch. 5 posted some fire video:

The yacht had some local notoriety because it had previously been named Ivana when it was owned by Donald Trump and named after the most famous of his wives.  

The La Diva was owned in 2008 by Palm Beach residents Cristina and Bill Kallop. The Kallops also own the Honey Fitz, the former presidential yacht used by John F. Kennedy now undergoing restoration.  La Diva was built in 1994 in Italy and has four staterooms. In 2005, it had a sale price of $3.75 million.

Posted by on June 28, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged: , , , ,

PBR Gets New Head

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VENERABLE BEER ICON PABST BREWERY was recently purchased by a private investor from the charitable trust that had temporary stewardship of the label.  A press release issued Friday says, Metropoulos & Co., a leading investor in and manager of branded consumer products, today announced that it has acquired Pabst Brewing Company, North America’s largest privately held brewing company. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but industry insiders say that it went for about $250 million.

Pabst Brewing Company has been in business since 1844. The company produces several of America’s best-known brand labels, including the award-winning Pabst Blue Ribbon, Old Milwaukee, Lone Star, Colt 45, Old Style, Blatz, Stroh’s, Rainier, and Schlitz.  Headquartered in Woodridge, Illinois with offices in Milwaukee and San Antonio, Pabst generates annual sales in excess of $500 million.

Bloomberg Business Report filed this video report that includes an interview with Dean Metropoulis, the new owner:

In the middle of the twentieth century, Pabst was the largest brewer in the world.  After several decades of multi-brand mergers among the major labels, Pabst slipped to 5th place in sales in the U. S.  Recently there has a been a resurgence in the Blue Ribbon brand’s popularity, notably on college campuses around the country.  In the last few years PBR has been the fastest-growing brand of all domestic labels.

For the past 15 years Pabst has not operated any breweries of its own, instead the brands have been “contract” brewed at other breweries.

Read the Firegeezer video report on the re-introduction of the Schlitz brand by Pabst in this December 2007 story HERE.

Posted by on June 28, 2010 • Filed under: beer, News, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , ,

U. S. Supreme Court Affirms Gun Rights, Voids Restrictive Laws.

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MONDAY MORNING THE U.S . SUPREME COURT handed down a widely-watched decision on the rights of Americans to “keep and bear arms” under the Second Amendment of the Constitution.  The Wall Street Journal summarizes:

The Supreme Court ruled for the first time that gun possession is fundamental to American freedom, giving federal judges power to strike down state and local weapons laws for infringing on Second Amendment rights.

The court in 2008 voided a District of Columbia handgun ban, and Monday’s ruling extended that to the rest of the country. Because Washington is federal territory and not part of a state, the legal basis for imposing federal constitutional limits on gun laws adopted by states had been unclear.  Monday’s ruling elevates the Second Amendment right to bear arms to the status of a fundamental right that states can’t abridge.

“It is clear that the Framers and ratifiers of the Fourteenth Amendment counted the right to keep and bear arms among those fundamental rights necessary to our system of ordered liberty,” wrote Justice Alito in his majority opinion.

Posted by on June 28, 2010 • Filed under: culture, Guns, News • Tagged: ,

European Fire Magazine

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Our European cyberspondent Fireball presents us today with one of her occasional interviews with notable people in the fire servce:

TODAY WE ARE INTERVIEWING CARLO ZAGLIA, editor of the magazine Soldats du Feu (Soldiers of the Fire) in France.  He has written many books including: Pompiers du Monde, Héros des Temps Modernes, Véhicules de Pompiers du Monde, and Femmes Pompiers.

Fireball: How long have you been in the fire service?

Carlo Zaglia: From 1981 to 1985 I was a paid-on-call firefighter at Cernay, France.
1985 to 1999, firefighter at the French Fire Brigade, Paris.  2005 to 2010 I am a paid-on-call firefighter for the FD of the Yvelines,78.

FB: Why have you created the magazine, Soldats du Feu?

CZ: The existing institutional publications do not make the news media, much less the technical press. I wanted to create a mix between Firehouse and National Geo with exceptional photos.

I lost friends. Some of my friends have been seriously injured because they did not have information or tactics to help them at the fire scene. They had been trapped on the fireground or during calls because of this lack of information and training informations, tips, techniques. So I created this magazine Soldats du Feu, to help them better understand their job. It’s the same reason that made me pursue a career as a firefighter, following the explanations of a volunteer firefighter who told me his calls and I realized that we could help people in the FD.

Carlo Zaglia

FB: What are the strengths of the magazine?

CZ: 80% of the editors and reporters and contributors are firefighters with real concerns, focused on efficency and safety in operations along with the values that I share: honor, respect, selflessness, altruism.

FB: On the cover of the magazine there is a motto,”The technical magazine for firefighters.” Could you explain for us why?

CZ: If the job is resolutely pursuing technical careers, then Soldats du Feu magazine is definitely the magazine that hits the nail concerning the job. This is to avoid having novice readers. My target audience is the technician of emergency, to help him to develop his business and to try to help him to protect himself during calls.

Soldats du Feu booth at last year’s National Firefighters
Congress in Saint Etienne, France.

FB: What are the technical/technological points which changed the French fire service?

CZ: The accidents on fireground such as: Loriol, Asnières, Plumaugat where firefighters died at the fire scene. We are not WASP, but Roman Catholics and we need to lose men before we react and do what we have to.

The main changes in equipment are: PPE, better helmets, clothing textiles, more comfortable and safer.

We train more on real fires and we began to learn from other countries including the UK, Sweden, and the USA.

Carlo recently met FDNY Chief Salvatore Cassano

FB: Being a firefighter in 2010, what does that mean for you?

CZ: Being the last knight of this land, within the meaning of the word.

FB: Thanks for your replies and your time, Carlo.

Here is the link to the website of the magazine:  http://www.soldats-du-feu.fr/

Posted by on June 28, 2010 • Filed under: commentary, culture, Fire Rescue Topics, training-fire-rescue-topics • Tagged: ,

Trooper Arraigned on Arson-For-Hire Attempt

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A FORMER PENNSYLVANIA STATE TROOPER WAS ARRAIGNED LAST WEEK on charges that he attempted to hire a known drug dealer to burn down his girlfriend’s house back in 2007.  According to the state prosecutor, Daniel Freeman, 36, of Amity, had attempted to hire Robert Merashoff to  burn down the house ostensibly for the insurance money.  In exchange for committing the deed, Freeman told the criminal that he would see that he would be left out of an ongoing investigation that had Merashoff in its sights.

Daniel Freeman arriving at last week’s hearing.

Merashoff told the trooper that while he was “heavy” in the marijuana trade, he was not an arsonist and wanted no part of the escapade.  Freeman and his girlfriend were both having financial difficulties at the time, but she was apparantly unaware of the plot.  If she had been, she could have told Freeman that she didn’t have any insurance on the house.

WTAE-TV Ch. 4 Pittsburgh has this video report that pretty well summarizes the charges and last week’s court appearance:

KDKA-TV has MORE.

The alleged plot came to light just this past December when Merashoff was arrested and incarcerated on drug dealing charges.  It appears that he used this information as a tool for a plea bargain, but that has not been declared.  Freeman was suspended when the charge was raised and he was later fired from the State Police force.  The prosecutor claims that he has more evidence beyond the testimony of the drug dealer.

Posted by on June 28, 2010 • Filed under: arson, Fire Rescue Topics, Law & Justice, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

A Battalion Chief’s Nightmare

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THERE IS AT LEAST ONE BATT. CHIEF IN THE FDNY who will be glad to see the last of EMS Lieutenant Michael Palleschi when the separation papers are completed.  Palleschi, 36, is one of those self-appointed jokesters who stepped out of bounds recently on an ambulance call and dropped his job responsibility down the priority list.  Palleschi was on an ambulance call for a woman who was complaining of a “swollen vagina” and he found that to be hilarious.  So funny, in fact, that he used his camera to take a pic of the computer screen showing the complaint and uploaded it to his Facebook page.

Michael Palleschi

Not only did it show her complaint, but it also visibly displayed the patient’s name and address, which is a serious violation of federal laws relating to patient confidentiality.  The FDNY failed to see the humor and began separation procedures on the station clown.  During the process he was delegated to another station in Brooklyn on restricted duty where he kept up his fun-loving lifestyle.  The New York Post reports:

Even as his job hung in the balance, the pudgy prankster got into hot water again — this time for an alleged joke on a teenager in the EMS Explorer program at the Brooklyn EMS station in Canarsie, where Palleschi had been exiled on modified duty, sources said.

An anonymous tipster told the FDNY that, two weeks ago, Palleschi wrote a stickup note demanding cash, then folded it up and passed it to the young Explorer, claiming it was a coffee and bagel order that he should get filled at the nearby Dunkin’ Donuts.

According to sources, Palleschi admitted he added a line about a stickup to a coffee order compiled at the station but said he ripped that part off before the Explorer ever left the building to hand it to a Dunkin’ Donuts clerk.

The head of Palleschi’s union local isn’t trying real hard to defend him either.  Read the full story HERE.

Posted by on June 28, 2010 • Filed under: EMS Topics, labor • Tagged: , ,

Morning Lineup – June 28

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We have an out-of-the-ordinary announcement to pass along this morning.  It has to do with firehouse cooking, which is rather ordinary in most cases.  A group of firefighters has put together a television cooking show based on firehouse cooking and they have already advanced to the point where they have a top production company involved and are being considered by one of the major networks.

They have sent out a “Casting Call” for a program host and are looking for an experienced firefighter to fill the role.  Here is their announcement that was sent to me:

Are you currently or were you a firefighter? 　Know your way around a kitchen? 　Then we want to see you. 　An up and coming television series is looking for a firefighter to host their show. 　This person must be somewhat athletic, know how to cook simple meals, and know what firehouse life is about. 　If you think you fit that bill, then we want to see you! Complete and send the application form, head shot, and a 3 to 5 minute video introducing you and your personality to cookingfirefighters@gmail.com or to P.O. Box 826, Garrisonville, Virginia, 22463. 　Information must be post marked by July 9, 2010. Remember, we want to see who you are and your personality. Acting experience is preferred, but not required.

I got the impression from their email to me that they want someone with several years of FD experience, probably for their ability to speak knowledgeably about the business.   Another requirement appears to be the ability to devote quite a bit of off-time to the project, so keep that in mind, too.  I don’t have a link to their downloadable application, so you’ll need to contact them directly to get one.  Get yourself a can of hairspray,  set up the home video cam, and get started!

First, we’d better get started with the equipment check though.  Chef Firegeezer will get the coffee started and then later we’ll meet back in the day room to swap recipes.

Posted by on June 28, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: ,

Philly Four-Bagger Sunday

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WPVI-TV

Update: Video added.  Scroll down.

THE PHILADELPHIA (PENNSYLVANIA) FIRE DEPARTMENT was struck out for a warehouse fire just after 2 pm Sunday afternoon in the Strawberry Mansion part of the city.  Initially the call was belived to be for the Sun Chemical building and the  first alarm was upgraded to a haz-mat response.  On arrival the units found fire in a warehouse building and canceled the haz-mat.  The fire was well involved and it quickly escalated to three alarms.  The 4th alarm was struck at 2:39 bringing a total of 130 firefighters to the scene.

WPVI-TV

The fire was declared under control at 3:55 pm, but there is a section of the building that the roof collapsed and has fires trapped underneath of it.  At the time of this posting the units remaining on the scene were still trying to extinguish the hidden fire.  There is no indication yet on how the fire started. 

WPVI-TV has more information and a 17-image photo gallery HERE.

WTXF-TV filed this video report from the scene:

Hat tip:  William W.

Posted by on June 27, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged: ,

Detroit EMS Facing More Cuts

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WXYZ-TV

THE CLUELESS MAYOR OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, wants lop off even more EMS workers and reduce the already-understocked ambulance fleet on July 1.  The union that represents the Detroit Fire Department’s EMS workers held a rally outside city hall on Friday protesting the reductions.  The Detroit News reported:

Wisam Zeineh, president of the Detroit Emergency Medical Services Association, said Detroit should have 35-45 ambulances in operation at any time. Today, there are about 17 or 18, not including disabled ambulances. With the layoffs, he expects 13 to 15 will be ready at any time for the city’s 900,000 residents. Police officers have been told to get ready to start transporting injured residents from crime scenes to hospitals, EMS workers said.

Mayor Dave Bing blames the Detroit City Council, saying drastic cuts are necessary if a deal over the budget stalemate isn’t reached. 

In addition to the EMS job losses, there will be 100 police layoffs, the closure of 77 parks and two neighborhood city halls, along with the reduction of services such as childhood immunizations.

But city union officials say that the blame rightfully lies with Bing.   “He just wants to get the citizens outraged at City Council … and to scare the senior citizens,” said Catherine Phillips, lead negotiator with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25, which represents about 3,200 city workers. “City Council is not to blame for this.  It’s about an administration that doesn’t know how to administrate.”

WJBK-TV has this video report on Friday’s rally:

The president of the EMS union also lambasts the fire chief saying that he lied when he told the public that the job reductions would come from administration.  At the last minute, he shifted the rif’s from admin. to the field.  Zeineh unloads on the fire commissioner in this video report from WXYZ-TV:

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Posted by on June 27, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics, labor, Videos • Tagged: , , , ,

A Sunday Emergency !

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Season Three, Episode 15

Inferno

The paramedics are trapped in a raging fire.

Posted by on June 27, 2010 • Filed under: Sunday Emergency, Videos • Tagged: