I decided to cash in some frequent-sleeper credits and stay at the Baltimore Hilton while at the Firehouse Expo.
A new luxury hotel with a walkway to the convention center and a view of the ballpark, it is almost worth the price for the convienience.
SIXTH FLOOR POLICE POST
It was 11 pm Wednesday night and I was surprised to see a city police officer on a post on the sixth floor lobby. Did not see that when I stayed in the hotel for last year’s Firehouse Expo or this year’s EMS Today conference.
Got the answer at the opening session of Firehouse Expo the next morning, as reported by Peter Hermann at The Baltimore Sun:
It seems a warning more appropriately aimed at fifth-graders than firefighters attending a national conference in Baltimore: If there’s no fire, don’t pull the fire alarms. Don’t activate the sprinklers and don’t empty the water pipes.
The warning was given Thursday morning by Baltimore Fire Chief James S. Clack, who said that last year visiting firefighters pulled numerous false alarms and flooded the top floors of the city-owned Hilton Baltimore Convention Center Hotel, causing “hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage” and earning him a scolding from the mayor. (…)
Clack reminded the visitors what he doesn’t need to tell city residents — the 757-room, $301 million hotel was built with taxpayer money, and the city is self-insured. But taxpayers won’t be footing the bill; the money to cover the damages comes from the hotel’s revenue.
read entire article HERE.
from http://tinyurl.com/3557cyh
2009 BOYCOTT
Just before the 2009 expo, the city was announcing another round of budget reductions, including the closing of Truck 2 that runs out of the Steadman House blocks away from the Convention Center.
There was a call on a few mid-Atlantic firefighter forums for a boycott of the expo to protest fire company closings.
Herman’s article quotes Visit Baltimore President Tom Noonan that the Firehouse Expo brings in $12 to $15 million in revenue every year.
The cost of repairing the damage caused by opening standpipe discharges in the hotel exceeded any impact from a late-organized boycott. Besides repairing the water damage, parts of the hotel could not be used for revenue during the repairs.
POINTING FINGERS AND MAKING ACCUSATIONS
The heat and anger is not about the incident, but about remarks made by Stephen Fugate from IAFF Local 964 . Representing the Baltimore Fire Officers Association, President Fugate attributed the 2009 action to “squirrels,” volunteer firefighters from small towns and rural hamlets.
I think he wanted to avoid concerns that disgruntled city firefighters opened standpipes on a Friday night, flooding a dozen rooms at the Hilton.
OUTTA TOWN SYNDROME
I cannot completely agree with Captain Fugate’s assessment, but anyone who goes to emergency service conferences or shows has encountered the “Outta Town Syndrome.”
When you attend a two-week residential course at the National Fire Academy part of the introduction warns against bad behavior on campus and in the community.
When I rode an ambulance at a beachfront town we met many tourists who would never behave that way at home, or drink as heavily, or think that the laws of physics and physiology do not apply.
OVERTIME FOR BALTIMORE POLICE
Returning to the hotel last night, spoke to one of the officers who said that the hotel detail was an overtime gig.
Nice that we can support our law enforcement bretheren while acting out during “training.”
This years overtime cost for police patrols in the Hilton will come from the revenue from this year’s show.
Combined with last year’s repair/lost revenue costs, probably enough to cover the staffing of Truck 2 for a few months.
Mike “FossilMedic” Ward
Also on FireGeezer…
- EMS World Expo Thursday afternoon – September 2, 2011
- Day Zero – FossilMedic at FDIC – March 23, 2011
- Minneapolis Fire Chief Alex Jackson to Retire – January 5, 2012
- Falkenhan Bull & Oyster Benefit May 13 – April 13, 2011
