Has anybody written up a set of S. O. P’s. on this yet?
Hat tip to Mark D.
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Morning Lineup- June 23
Comments OffIt looks like the E-Reader war is on. And it seems to have been triggered by Apple’s recent disclosure that they are selling their iPads at the rate of nearly 1 million per month. While it’s true that the iPad is really a small portable computer device that costs more than twice as much as an e-reader, the iPads have the downloadable reader function built into them and those millions of sales are eliminating potential purchases of the dedicated e-readers.
On Monday Barnes & Noble announced that they were immediately slashing the price of their Nook brand e-reader by $60, down to $199. Literally within hours of that announcement, Amazon retaliated by knocking the price of their e-reader Kindle down to $189, underselling the Nook. Sony’s reader Pocket Edition is already priced at $169, but it lacks the wireless downloading feature that the other two have, relying on downloading the books through a computer connected to the internet.
With Apple, B & N, and Amazon pretty much dominating the e-reader market, several minor brands have either had to delay the introduction of their models or, in some cases, discontinue their product entireley. One thing that’s complicating the decision by the consumer of what brand to buy is the inability to transfer your personal “library” from one device to another. The formats are (deliberately?) incompatible. And Apple says that they have already sold 5 million e-books in their format. Lots of money up for grabs in this beginning industry.
Amazon is also offering free 2-day shipping on their Kindle. You can read the details on it and watch a video “tour” of the Kindle HERE.
Hey, maybe we can get our equipment check sheets posted on an iPad. Not yet. So let’s get started with the traditional method and get everything checked out while I go start some more coffee.
Valiant Rescue Effort Not In Time
Comments OffOKLAHOMA CITY FIREFIGHTERS MOUNTED A coordinated fire attack and rescue effort early Sunday morning, but the victim perished during operation. The fire was reported around 3 am and when the units arrived on the scene there was fire showing in a 2-family wood framed house.
Neighbors reported that there was somebody trapped in the upstairs residence and pointed out a window where a woman was seen prior to their arrival. The only access to the 2nd-floor dwelling is an outside stairwell that was blocked by the fire, so they laddered the window where the victim was last seen.
All photos by Larry Shapiro
Despite meeting intense smoke and heat at the window, two firefighters made it into the room discovering that the window sill was more than four feet above the floor. They found the victim in the room where they entered and the hose crew had just knocked the fire down, freeing up the exitway on the rear stairs. The rescue crew carried the victim, described as a woman in her early 20′s, out via the stairs where they were met by the paramedics.
After examining the victim, the medics (legally) pronounced her dead and left her at the scene for the coroner. Fire investigators and homicide detectives were called in and held the units on the scene until they finished their preliminary investigation. They found nothing suspicious about the fire, but the cause was not immediately known. The victim was a friend of the residents who was visiting, however everybody else escaped the fire from both dwellings.
Exclusive story and photos filed by Larry Shapiro.
View photographer Larry Shapiro’s entire 98-image photo gallery HERE.
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The Vigili del Fuoco (fire department) in Turin, Italy, completed the first Experimental Course of Basic Training Techniques for urban search and rescue service.
The course was designed to test a teaching module that can provide basic training to provide assistance to people trapped under rubble, using their equipment and rigs.
The course lasted two weeks, alternating lectures at the command of Turin, practical tests at the debris field of the national school of search dog training. The teaching staff consisted of instructors from Bergamo, Brescia, Pisa, Savona, Turin and Venice, supported by tutors and dogs.
On June 18 they completed the pilot training course based on techniques for search and rescue in the rubble, according to the methods of acceptable standards of USAR, organized by the Provincial Command of Turin in collaboration with the commands of Bergamo, Milan, Venice and Pisa.
The training program was reported on the WEBSITE of the Vigili del Fuoco 115.
See the complete photo gallery HERE (click on the “Successive” button to advance to next pages).
Large Fire Shuts Down Music Festival
Comments OffRENNES, FRANCE, IS THE HOME OF THE TRANSMUSICALES, a famous 3-day festival that fills the cultural center’s downtown nightclubs with musicians and patrons. Shortly before midnight Monday night a fire broke out on the third floor in an apartment in the Rue Saint-Michel, at the corner of the Place Saint-Michel, in the historic center of Rennes.
all photos via Ouest France
A police patrol saw the flames shooting through the roof and quickly evacuated the building and then the entire area of the Place Saint-Michel and the adjacent streets, crowded at that hour. All of the clubs and bars had to close and the musicians packed their instruments.
At 1:30 am, the fire was still not under control and the firefighters were still struggling against the spreading fire. Extra alarms were dispatched to help and give some relief bringing a total of more than 90 firefighters to the scene.
The fire was brought under control after 3 am. “Ten people (suffered smoke inhalation poisoning) and all residents of affected buildings have been relocated by the city of Rennes,” said Lieutenant-Colonel Portenard, who said that “five to six buildings were damaged by the fire.” He also stated that despite rumors among the public that it started on the ground floor of the building, it definitely began on the third floor.
This home video captured part of the blaze:
Ouest France has the STORY.
Ouest France also has more photos HERE.
Looking Back
Comments Off
………. Fire Engineering, February 1956
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IN THE WESTERN MOUNTAIN REGIONS OF THE U. S. special ramps designed to catch runaway trucks that have lost their brakes are a common sight. The ramp is normally located on long downgrades where constant braking can bleed the pressue tanks for the air brakes down to where they are ineffective. The usual design calls for the ramp to become a steep incline to slow the truck down with a stretch of deep sand or gravel at the end to catch the truck and stop it.
Nevada Highway Patrol are investigating an incident that happened Friday in the Sierra Nevada Mountains not far from Lake Tahoe where a runaway ramp failed to catch a truck which was going so fast that it literally went airborne off the ramp and crashed into an occupied house, starting a fire that completely burned both the truck and the home.
Sierra Sun / Jason Shueh
The incident began when Frederick Matthews, 41, was hauling a flatbed loaded with lumber and traveling down Mt. Rose Highway near Incline Village. The truck’s brakes failed and witnesses said that Matthews, who has been operating trucks for 20 years, was descending at a very high rate of speed and fighting for control as he reached the runaway ramp. The North Lake Tahoe Bonanza reports:
The truck jumped the ramp, crashing into a nearby two-story home on Woodridge Circle, near Second Creek Drive, said North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Greg McKay, igniting a large fire.
“The truck hit the ramp, it flew in the air and somehow crashed into the house and ignited the blaze,” said McKay.
Fire officials say the home and truck burst into flames, but a 19-year-old woman inside the living room at the time escaped unharmed.
Matthews initially survived the crash, but he was trapped inside the cab and burned to death.
Sierra Sun / Jason Shueh
The call was dispatched at 8:15 am and units were on the scene by 8:25. They were able to contain the fire by 9:15 and thankfully were able to keep it from spreading into the woodlands.
Photo-journalist Jason Shueh from the Sierra Sun has a 144-image photo gallery taken at the scene HERE that includes some dramatic images of the fire.
Matthews was from San Diego, California, and one of the local tv stations KGTV presented this background story on the driver and his family:
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Morning Lineup – June 22
Comments OffDo you know what a “Netcast” is? Most of you probably do because the name alone pretty much describes it. Basically it’s an internet-based “radio” show that is done in the same way as a traditional over-the-air broadcast, but the internet is the medium instead of radio waves. Netcasting is a fast-growing medium that is one of the many reasons that legacy broadcasting is going the way of stagecoach travel.
There are two big advantages that netcasting has over vintage radio, one of which is availability. Netcasting is virtually world-wide in its reach since the internet is universally accessible now, and with the growing wireless connections it reaches almost anywhere you are. The other advantage is the ability to archive the netcasts making them readily retrievable at any time for listening. You don’t have to tune it at the precise moment of the event. Instead, you can navigate to the webpage of the netcaster and select the program you are interested in and listen at any time that is convenient for you, more than once if you desire.
Two of our FireEMS Blogs colleagues have grabbed ahold of this budding technology and have set up a dedicated channel called, appropriately enough, Firefighter Netcast.
John Mitchell, publisher of Fire Daily, and Rhett Fleitz who posts Fire Critic have teamed up to launch this programming adventure and they are off to a very successful start. They use the popular netcasting platform called BlogTalk Radio which is an exciting concept in itself. During the “live” netcast there is an open forum that shows up on your screen where anybody and everybody can log in and chat along with the netcasters or among themselves while the show is in progress. This permits you to interact directly with the hosts or the guest by asking questions or adding comments as the program goes along.
Rhett Fleitz (l.) and John Mitchell (r.) work the mikes at the FDIC
interviewing Christopher Naum (center).
The netcast is still in its infancy and Rhett and John are refining it as they go, but primarily they try to go “live” on Thursday nights. But as I mentioned earlier, you can listen in anytime later by going to the archived shows on the website HERE. Recently they have expanded the operation by introducing two new shows hosted by other fire service personalities and are done live on other nights of the week. You can imagine the long-term possibilities with this project. This is great stuff, so make sure you get acquainted with this new medium now and set Firefighter Netcast in your Favorites folder.
Now it’s time to “tune in” to the daily Equipment Check show and get started on that. I’ll go start the coffee.
Tower Work in Torino
Comments OffA BEDROOM FIRE BROKE OUT IN A LARGE APARTMENT BLOCK in May, 2009 in Torino, Italy. The fire was in the 4th floor of the 5-story building and brought a full response including a tower ladder. We have two home videos showing the tower at work that we are posting here for your enlightenment.
The first video shows the crew working at the window of the apartment in what appears to be a search and rescue evolution. The second video is much longer, running for 10 minutes, but begins just as the first units are arriving on the scene.
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Monday Shopping Tip
Comments Off
When it comes to those hurtful cuts and scrapes,
nothing helps heal them more than a
BACON STRIP
The healing power of bacon is well documented. It’s not just for culinary pleasure anymore. The sellers of these Bacon Bandages describe them:
Ouch! That smarts! Treat your minor cuts, scrapes and scratches with the incredible healing power of meat. And if a fancy bandage isn’t enough to dry up your tears, how about a FREE PRIZE! Each comes in a 3-3/4″ tall metal pocket tin and contains a small trinket to help make even the ouchiest owies feel all better in no time. The 3″ x 1″ Bacon Strips are cut to look like small slabs of bacon. Fifteen per tin.
Order yours today! The price is only $4.95 per tin, and remember that includes the free prize inside! To order just CLICK HERE to get started. And while you’re on the page, scroll down to see some other great bacon products like their bacon-flavored toothpicks and the bacon bath soap.
House Ka-Booms
Comments OffA CONCORD TOWNSHIP, OHIO, HOME WAS COMPLETELY destroyed Sunday morning when it suddenly exploded and burst into flames. Fortunately nobody was at home when the Cleveland area house rocked the neighborhood just after 8 am.
Cleveland Plain Dealer
“I thought it was lightning it was so loud,” one neighbor told the Plain Dealer. “It sounded like a cannon went off. It’s incredible. I’m just so happy no one was in there.” Another related, ”I thought a car had hit the house. We just ran and grabbed (our son). There must have been an angel. I looked over and saw there was no home next door.”
It is not yet know what caused the blast. Along with the destruction of the $460,000 home, the house next door had some significant damage. Several other houses nearby had varying degrees of damage also. No injuries have been reported, though.
WEWS-TV Ch. 5 has this video report:
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FOUR PEOPLE WERE KILLED WHEN A MASSIVE EXPLOSION in an Edmonton, Alberta, house Sunday afternoon destroyed two homes completely and damaged more than 25 others. The huge ka-boom at 1:20 pm Mountain time sent debris hundreds of feet away and knocked two more homes off their foundations.
photos by CanWest
The four fatalities were all located in the site of origin with the fourth body not discovered until Monday morning. The police have determined the explosion to be “suspicious” and have launched a homicide investigation into the tragedy that has left 70 people displaced. They have not said why they consider the blast to be suspicious and no apparent cause has been identified.
Only the basement remains of the house where the explosion occurred.
The house just to the right of it was demolished also. Two more homes
were knocked off their foundations and will be destroyed.
(CHQT radio 880)
CTV has a video and the full STORY HERE.
CHQT Radio has MORE.
CanWest has a 36-image photo gallery HERE.
Employment Opportunity
Comments OffTHE FAIRFAX COUNTY (VIRGINIA) FIRE & RESCUE DEPARTMENT currently has an open period where they are accepting applications for Firefighter/EMT positions. This open period closes at the end of this week on June 25.
Minimum qualifications for entry are: High school graduation or possession of a G.E.D. issued by a state department of education. Must be at least 18 at the time of application. Must possess a valid driver’s license. Must be tobacco-free and nicotine-free at the time of appointment, and be willing to sign a Conditions of Employment Agreement to not use tobacco or tobacco products on or off-duty.
All applicants must successfully complete a written entrance exam, document review, Physical Ability Test (orientation), Physical Ability Test (exam), personal interview, psychological profile, polygraph, criminal background investigation and comprehensive medical examination and cardiovascular evaluation.
Recruits must successfully complete up to 22 weeks of paid training at the Fairfax County Training Academy and a one year probationary period.
Starting salary for Firefighter/EMT is $48,877 annually.
You can fill out the application and submit it online. CLICK HERE for the online application.
Note: If you already possess a National Registry Paramedic or a Virginia State Paramedic certificate, the application period for Firefighter/Paramedic is always open. Starting salary for Firefighter/Paramedic is $53,887 annually. Click HERE for information.
Fairfax County Fire & Rescue WEBSITE.
Chief Retires With a Multi-Alarm Fire
Comments OffPEABODY, MASSACHUSETTS, DEPUTY FIRE CHIEF JAMES COUGHLIN is now retired, as of this morning (Monday). His final hours on the job were spent at the command post of a massive industrial fire that is still burning as he cleans off his desk.
Boston Globe
The fire began Sunday afternoon around 3 pm at a mulch plant in an isolated area of the city and it quickly engulfed several mulch piles and heavy equipment that is used in the storage yard. Some of the mulch piles were more than 50 ft. high and the equipment lost included two large front-end loaders, a large wood chipper, and a 3,500 gal. oil tanker. The J. D. Raymond firm makes mulch for landscaping and wood pellets for wood stoves.
WCVB-TV Ch. 5 has this video report:
The Salem News reports:
At the mulch pile, firefighters sprayed water at the fire as a backhoe spread out the mulch. Steps away from the mulch pile, firefighters tackled a separate fire in a wood pile, a blaze that showed no signs of letting up.
Firefighters covered that fire with foam. (Fire Chief) Pasdon said the 500 to 600 gallons of chemical foam sprayed on the fire will saturate the wood pile and wood chips and burrow down to the bottom.
Multiple water tankers were called to the scene after the fire department received their first report of the blaze at 3:30 p.m.
The Peabody FD had a full call-back bringing their entire 90-firefighter force back to work. They expect to be on the scene for several days yet. The cause of the fire will not be able to be identified until well after the deep-seated fires have been put out.
Dep. Chief Coughlin retired after 35 years with the department in the way
that most of us wish we could…. sweaty and smelling of wood smoke.
(Boston Globe / Lee photo)
LAST WEEK FIREGEEZER REPORTED HERE on the extensive, 5-day mass casualty and terrorist attack drills being conducted by the Illinois National Guard in several locations around Chicago. The exercises involved more than 50 agencies and hundreds of first-responders. One of the drills was held early Thursday morning simulating a terrorist bombing on the Chicago subway system.
Last night (Sunday evening) the CFD triggered a mass casualty response to the subway’s Red Line for a fire in the tracks underground with people trapped in a train that was filling with smoke. More than 100 firefighters and 10 ambulances were dispatched on the initial response.
As smoke poured out from the ventilation shafts, people
on the streets above feared for the worst for the trapped
passengers. (CNN)
Shortly before 5 pm a fire started on the tracks and the creosote used to preserve the railroad ties began burning, putting out a thick, noxious smoke. One of the trains was stopped in the area and the conductor kept the doors closed to minimize the amount of smoke entering the passenger cars.
CBS
The firefighters evacuated everybody safely, but 19 passengers had to be transported suffering from smoke inhalation. Five of them are reported to be in critical condition. It took an hour and twenty minutes to put the fire out.
WFLD-TV Ch. 32 filed this video report from the scene:
Dave Statter at STATter911 has videos taken by passengers of the fire HERE.
Morning Lineup – June 21
Comments OffAnd this is the first day of astronomical Summer. But with this heat wave that’s been pressing along the Atlantic seaboard, many people will tell you that it’s already here. Something else that’s already here is the 105-day countdown to the Fallen Firefighters Foundation Memorial in the presentation box over on the right sidebar —>
It started up on Friday and each day it features a different firefighter who will be memorialized at this year’s services, 105 of them total. Also introduced this year is the virtual version of the Remembrance Banner. If you missed the Morning Lineup on Thursday, then CLICK HERE to read about these two special features and how you can add the Featured Fallen Firefighter box to your website. We are encouraging all fire/EMS-related websites to add the widget to their homepage and help spread the memories of these brave people who will be honored in October.
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Is it time to be saying, “Bye-bye, Mr. Desktop”? It looks like it when you see the sales trends in personal computers. In 2008 sales of laptops and desktops were about equal, each claiming about 45% of the market. In 2009 though, for the first time ever sales of laptops exceeded those of the desktop. This despite a slight drop in sales share of the laptop due to the rise in popularity of the “netbook” computer. Take a look at this chart:
Keep in mind that these figures are for personal computer sales as apart from business purchases. But you can see that it is projected that in just four years the big, clunky desktop will account for less than 20% of personal computer purchases. Farhad Manjoo, writing in Slate magazine, continues:
In other words, more than 80 percent of PCs will be portable. Part of this is driven by what Forrester forecasts will be the wild success of tablet computers like the iPad. In just three years’ time, tablets are projected to outsell desktops, becoming the second-largest PC category after laptops. This sounds crazy until you consider that Apple alone is already selling 1 million tablets a month. Forrester’s projections reflect the shifting definition of the personal computer. In spite of their name, desktop PCs often have several users. Laptops, netbooks, and tablets are usually single-user machines—that is, they really are personal. Modern mobile operating systems are built with room enough for one—Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android are both tied in to a single user’s e-mail, calendar, and app-purchasing accounts. Forrester’s numbers also suggest that in the future we’ll have many such machines around the house. Your “main” computer will be a laptop—and you’ll probably have several smaller, tablet-type machines that you use regularly as well.
Manjoo goes on the explain why we won’t be needing those huge towers with their large hard drives any longer. It has a lot to do with this new concept of “cloud computing” and the growing capacity of the portable devices. He explains:
In the future much of the “power” in our computers will come from the Internet. You probably won’t even need to store or edit your music, movies, and other files locally for long—we’re getting better wireless network drives and Internet-based storage systems, and soon all your media will reside in a central location (in your house or some far-off server farm) accessible to all your machines.
Joshua Topolsky, Engadget’s editor, recently called for tech companies to create what he calls the “continuous client,” a system that will enable you to leave one device and “pick up your session in exactly the same place on the next device you use,” Topolsky wrote. “Your IM, Twitter, web browsing, applications, even your windows (given the availability of such a thing on the corresponding platform) appear just as they did on the previous device.”
Interesting. It’s worth your time to read the entire ARTICLE HERE for this glimpse into the immediate future. Maybe you will rethink any upcoming purchasing plans for your personal computers.
You might even want to check out these laptops at 20% off and more
Hey, we’d better get this equipment checked out now. I’m going to start some more coffee before we meet back in the day room.
Ambulance Rollover in Germany
Comments OffUpdated, scroll down.
SATURDAY MORNING AT 10:30 LOCAL TIME, an emergency ambulance in Heidesheim, Germany, was traveling along an on-ramp to an expressway when it left the road and took a violent rollover. The wreck destroyed the ambulance and there were serious injuries reported.
The firefighters worked the accident for four hours. We don’t yet know how many were on the ambulance or how serious the injuries are. If we find out, we will update the story.
Update: There were two EMT’s trapped and injured. No patient was in the ambulance. One of the injured was airlifted to the hospital. It is not known why the driver lost control of the ambulance. It went through a guard rail and rolled 20 feet down an embankment.
The following photos are provided by the fire department that ran the call, Feuerwehr Heidesheim:
Feuerwehr Heidesheim (Fire Dept.) WEBSITE.
Hat tip: Christian L.
Never a Dull Day at Dispatch
Comments OffTHE FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO, 9-1-1 CENTER got one of those memorable moments early Friday morning when a man called in to say he was trapped on the rear of a semi-trailer truck and couldn’t get off.
NBC4-TV, Columbus is reporting:
Brandon Farmer, 24, called 911 Friday morning and reported that he jumped on a semi trailer stopped at a red light at the split (or Y) on Court St. in Washington Court House. Farmer said he and buddy were drinking and he was dared to jump on the back of a semi as it was traveling westbound.
Brandon Farmer
According to the Fayette County Sheriff’s office, Farmer told authorities that his intent was to ride on the back of the trailer until it stopped at the next traffic signal in the downtown and then dismount.
However, Farmer was unaware that the traffic signals in the downtown area were in sequence to remain green during the evening hours unless cross traffic from a side street pulled up to the intersection and triggered the sensor to change the traffic flow.
“With very light traffic at that hour of the morning, the semi was able to proceed through Washington Court House without stopping for a red signal,” said Fayette County Sheriff Vernon Stanforth.
CLICK HERE to listen to the 9-1-1 tape.
Then the truck got up to speed on the open highway without any need to slow down or stop anymore. That’s when the rapidly-sobering-up man called in his dilemma. After getting a description of some landmarks in the area he was passing through, the dispatcher radioed the info. and a Sabina police officer spotted the truck. It was the man hanging onto the back door that tipped him off.
The truck was pulled over by the deputy and the puzzled driver had no idea that he had a stowaway on the back of his trailer. Farmer, uninjured, was taken by Sabina police to the county line, where he was picked up by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office. When deputies talked to Farmer, “it was determined that he was under the influence of alcohol.” Farmer was then arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 28.
The Fayette County Record Herald has MORE.
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A Sunday Emergency !
Comments Off
Season Three, Episode 14
Computer Error
The computer makes a mistake and paramedic Gage’s dinner costs $842.
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You Cannot Outrun a Medical Emergency
Comments OffIN KASTAMONU, TURKEY, A MOTORIST suffered a stroke or heart attack while driving in the city. As he was undergoing his emergency, his foot stayed on the accelerator and he “chased” this poor pedestrian into the Turk Telecom building in what looks like a movie trailer, but isn’t:
Luckily, the pedestrian was uninjured, but the driver died, most likely as a result of his heart attack.
3-Alarms + Rescue in Boston
Comments OffA THREE-ALARM FIRE SWEPT THROUGH a triple-decker in the Dorchester area of Boston, Massachusetts, on Saturday afternoon. The building was a group home for nine mentally-disabled men, some of whom had trouble functioning during the emergency.
Boston Globe / Nicas photo
When the firefighters arrived on the scene they were faced with a high life-hazard challenge and one man trapped in a third-floor window. They immediately laddered the window and showed the confused man how to get out and climb down the ladder. These two videos viewed in sequence show the rescue:
The fire was started when that same man was standing on the third-floor porch and discarded a cigarette that landed on the 2nd-floor porch, igniting combustibles there. The fire started spreading to the 2-family dwelling next door, leading the residents to be evacuated from there. Exposure lines knocked that fire down quickly.
The group home had just been inspected by the fire marshal office on Friday and all the smoke detectors were in working order. “Fortunately, it wasn’t a nighttime fire, when people would have been sleeping,” a fire department spokesman said.
WCVB-TV Ch. 5 has this follow-up video report:
Damages are expected to reach $900,000 and the fire marshal says that it is possible that the entire building will have to be torn down.
The Boston Globe has the STORY.
Morning Lineup – June 20
Comments OffIt is amazing how the people who plan television programming consistently take something good and, instead of making it better, they find ways to make it worse. Take for example the show Cops. This program has been on the air for over 20 years and everybody who is breathing has seen at least one episode of it. So you know what I’m referring to. It’s an excellently produced program showing the police in different communities catching the bad guys. One reason it’s popular is because it shows what is really going on “out there” that many people are completely unaware of. The fire and EMS people like it because we come in contact with those losers ourselves and we get a chuckle out of seeing their antics. And since they only show episodes where the bad guy is caught and there is a successful conclusion, everybody likes to watch it.
Well, success breeds imitation in the tv world, and over the years there have been many copycat programs produced to try and piggyback on the success of Cops. Mostly they’ve been short-lived because they not only didn’t have the quality of the original, but they were just copycats. I recall there was one that was only state troopers doing the same thing, and others about other police departments. But none of them lasted long.
Then there were attempts to put a twist on it and show variations of law enforcement, one of the more popular being Beach Patrol. The program showed police officers detailed to, yep, the beach where a non-stop parade of drunken adolescents keep finding ways to get in trouble. (Whatever happened to that show? It hasn’t been on in a couple of years now.) Of course, everybody remembers the phase of ‘bounty hunter’ reality shows.
Then the search for a new twist to the format really took a plunge recently with something called Repo-Man. Now we can follow the adventures of an automobile repossession crew as they find ways to sneak up and snatch the cars from people who skipped too many payments. This one focuses more on the subterfuge that the repo-man uses to get to his object and I have to admit that it has its entertaining moments. One guy has his towing arm built into the bed of his pickup truck and it hydraulically folds up into the bed. You don’t notice it and it looks like any other pickup truck and has no clue that it’s really a tow truck. He pulls up in front of the target car and literally within 5 seconds he has the towing arm positioned and in less than a minute, away they go. Very innovative.
But I think the reality show producers have genuinely hit the bottom now with their latest, Mall Cops. I’m not kidding you, it’s a real show about the exciting adventures of shopping center security. The drama of connecting lost children with their parents, and detaining a shoplifter. Oh, yes…. the dedication of the guy in the parking lot in helping people find their cars after they forgot where they left them. Unbelievable. Gripping. The other night I witnessed the challenge they face when a crowd shows up for an author’s book signing event. They had to deploy guards from other areas of the mall to organize the line of people and keep the exitways clear. They pulled it off ok, though, like the true professionals that they are. They probably earned another campaign ribbon for their shirts after that one. Yes, they have campaign ribbons. You don’t want to miss this one. But hurry, they won’t be on the air for long.
Now let’s hurry over and get this equipment checked out. I’m going to get the coffee started and see how the Sunday breakfast is coming along. See you back in the day room.
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A Little Obesity Can Be A Good Thing
Comments OffA BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, WOMAN SURVIVED A potentially six-story plunge down a trash chute Friday morning, thanks to her “extra girth.” The fully-grown woman won’t explain how she got into the trash chute, but there is speculation that it may have been a suicide attempt. She somehow entered the chute on the 6th floor of the mid-rise residential building and immediately got stuck between the 6th and 5th floors. The chute is only 2 feet square and empties into a trash compactor in the basement.
A police officer used his belt as a “rope” to hold her until the firefighters arrived, then used a rescue rope to try and secure her. Just then she started sliding down again and dropped to the 4th floor level. The FF’s then tied the rope off, keeping her suspended and unable to drop any further. Next the cut a hole in the side of the trash chute and extracted her out through it. Fire officials said that her extra size probably saved her life by preventing her from dropping all the way down when she got into the chute.
She was taken to the hospital, but apparently suffered only cuts and bruises.
WABC-TV has the story and a good video report HERE.
Updated, scroll down.
AS A WAVE OF VICIOUS STORMS PASSED THROUGH the Chicago, Illinois, area Friday afternoon, several fires were started by the lightning attacks. One of these was a large stand-alone commercial building in the suburb of Palatine. The large, block building with a bowstring truss roof housed a “resale” shop that sells used clothing and small appliances, etc., that are donated for the charity that operates it, an organization that helps victims of domestic violence.
all photos by Larry Shapiro
When the firefighters arrived on the scene, there was some fire in the shop and they started an interior exterior attack. But as the fire grew, the Command Officer pulled them out back because of the tendency of bowstring trusses to have a quick failure. The power line feeding the building dropped off the pole and energized the entire building, calling for a more distant pull-back. During the cessation of extinguishment the fire took off, quickly involving the entire shop.
photos by Larry Shapiro
After several minutes, the breakers on the power line tripped and the transformer blew, cutting off all the power and permitting the flow of water again. But by then the building was lost.
The Daily Herald has the story along with a video report from the scene that includes an interview of the charity’s manager HERE.
Chicagoland fire photographer Larry Shapiro was on the scene and has a 155-image photo gallery posted HERE.
Update: The fire investigators are saying that lightning struck the transformer on the pole next to the building and the high-voltage lines dropped onto the shop starting the fire. When the FD arrived they began with exterior hose streams through the windows. When the lines began arcing they discontinued and pulled back farther.
Dave Statter has a video taken during the same time frame posted on STATter911 HERE.
A week doesn’t go by that we don’t read about some sort of problem that begins at the dispatching center, either the call-takers or the radio operators/dispatchers. It’s normal activity, though. Because of the nature of the messages coming in and going out, there is a rapidly-changing dynamics of information flow (how’s that for high-tech talk?), that naturally lends itself to mishap and misunderstanding.
A lot of that misunderstanding can be lessened if the dispatchers and the units on the street know what each other are doing. I always felt that more people in the field should spend some time in dispatch and vice-versa for that very reason. I spent 10 months in dispatch as a shift supervisor for a 6-person crew, part uniformed and part civilian, and it was more enlightening than I can describe. You can’t imagine how a call can be won or lost right at the beginning until you’ve taken the citizen’s call for help yourself a few times.
I realize that it is impractical for everybody to rotate through the dispatch office, but it is possible to give everyone some exposure to it. Small departments, say one to six stations, usually get this cross-training exposure because the dispatch office is close by, sometimes in a fire station even. But the larger a department is, the farther apart the two functions become, and more effort is needed to maintain the kind of cohesiveness that I’m talking about.
I was fortunate in that I worked for a municipality that is very open to training and improving work results. There always has been an ongoing policy of having all the dispatchers and call-takers spend some time on ride-alongs. We have a joint police and fire communications system and almost on a monthly basis each one would ride along in a police car or with a battalion chief. The clerks who were EMT certified could ride an ambulance if they wished. Not only would they get to see what it looks like out there, but they had the opportunity to meet and interact with the people in the field that they had been talking to all the time.
Conversely, working in dispatch is also a convenient place to send light-duty people while they recuperate. Once they get their basic training on call-taking, they help bolster the on-duty force in the center. Not long before I retired, the department ran a training operation whereas each company would make an appointment, usually at night after dinner, and go out of service for 3 or 4 hours and then travel to the dispatch center where they would be given a 15-minute tour and explanation. Then they would fan out and visit with the communications clerks where they could ask questions and listen to the incoming phone calls, or monitor the radios at the dispatching positions.
I cannot over-emphasize how valuable this kind of cross-training and interaction can be. If you’ve never had the opportunity to experience the “other side” of the radio, them make an effort to do it. Better yet, take the whole company. You will definitely be a better firefighter or medic after that.
Now let’s get this equipment checked out. I need to get the coffee started, then we’ll meet back in the day room.
San Remo News photos
THE LOVELY CITY OF SAN REMO, ITALY, has one less jewel today. At 6:30 am Friday a passing garbage collection truck saw smoke and fire in the historic downtown bar “Big Ben” owned by Andrea Di Baldassarre. When the Vigili del Fuoco arrived on the scene, fire was showing on the facade of the first three floors of the building and spreading into it as evidenced in this brief video taken as the companies were still stretching hose:
On arrival, the firefighters immediately evacuated the building and those on each side of it. This is being credited with the result of no injuries being reported from the fire.
Preliminary investigation indicates that the fire began outside on the front terrace, then spread into the public dining room before traveling into the upper floors. Considerable property damage was done by the fire.
Big Ben is located on one of the most famous squares in San Remo where a major festival was scheduled for tonight.
Investigators are saying that the fire was probably set intentionally. The owner says that he believes it was set as a means to “frighten” him, but he will not be driven away and will reopen the famous bar.
This brief video clip was taken before the arrival of the FD and shows a family escaping from the building next door:
The San Remo News has the STORY.
Riviera24 has a 14-image photo gallery HERE.
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