Skip to content

Archives for

See all posts in the network tagged with

5 Alarms in Newark

2 comments

THE NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, FIRE DEPARTMENT IS IN the mop-up stage of a 5-alarm fire that came in at 1:20 pm today (Wednesday) in a block of row houses.  The fire has destroyed an apartment building and involved six more houses, most of which are vacant.

WPIX-TV

An early report says that two buildings have now been destroyed.  (Firegeezer notes in the photo above another fire across the street.  No information has yet come out on that.)

At least nine firefighters have been treated for smoke- and heat-related problems.  No civilian casualties were reported.  The outside temperature is in the high 90′s today.  Several other departments in Essex County have responded to assist in the job.  It is too early to learn what caused the blaze.

The Star-Ledger has provided this brief raw video:

Fire destroys at least one building in Newark

Hat tip:  Rob L.

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

Mom, Neighbors Hear Infant Dying in Fire

2 comments

WFTV

A MIMS, FLORIDA, TODDLER PERISHED TUESDAY morning as his mother and neighbors futilely tried to save him as fire swept through the family’s mobile home.  The fire broke out around 10:30 am in the Brevard County double-wide mobile home and neighbors rushed to the the site where they found April Reid, 32, covered with 2nd-degree burns and could hear the infant inside the bedroom.

Two of them tried to enter the bedroom, but were driven back by the excessive heat and smoke.  Florida Today reports:

“The mother told us she couldn’t get her baby out,” said Orlando Dominguez, spokesman for Brevard County Fire-Rescue. “Our firefighters went inside of the burning structure and found the child. The child appeared to have perished in the fire.”

The paramedics on the scene attempted to get a helicopter to transport the mother who had 60% burn coverage, but the weather prevented any flights.  Using the ambulance, they traveled for an hour delivering her to the burn unit in Orlando where she is listed in serious condition.

Channel 6 filed this very poignant report from the fire scene:

d

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

Amazing Survival for Octogenarian

Comments Off

AN 86-YR.-OLD WOMAN WHO LAID IN A RAVINE for three days without food or water in Levens, France (near Nice), was rescued Monday in what is being called a “miraculous” survival effort.  The reclusive woman Suzanne Leglise habitually goes for a walk each evening and on Friday she tumbled 120 feet down into the ravine where she lain unnoticed.  Later that evening she was reported missing to the police and a search was started.  A large force of police, firefighters and a helicopter searched vainly for over two days for her.

On Monday morning a woman with a search dog arrived to assist and later that afternoon the Labrador retriever located her, incapacitated but well. 

“Rita” the canine heroine of the story.  (photo by Richard Ray)

She was retrieved by the local firefighters and transported to the hospital where she was found to be in good health and uninjured despite laying outside for three nights and no water to drink.

Firefighters carry the brave woman up the 120-ft.
embankment.  (Richard Ray photo)

Suzanne is already noted for her survival instincts.  During World War II she was a member of the French resistance and worked for General DeGaulle’s wife leading a saboteur group.  She was eventually captured and spent a year in a Nazi concentration camp.

Europe1 has the STORY.

Posted by on August 11, 2010 • Filed under: rescue, Rescues • Tagged: , , , ,

Train Fire Video Released

Comments Off

THE CLEVELAND, OHIO, RAPID TRANSIT AUTHORITY (RTA) has released a surveillance video taken at a station platform last Friday when a commuter train “exploded” with a fireball sending scores into a panicky evacuation.

WJW-TV

The train had a standing-room-only crowd on it when it suddenly burst into fire for a reason still unknown.  While the train was standing at a platform, the doors were closed and wouldn’t open.  The people inside resorted to pushing out the windows and escaping by bailing out through them.  WJW-TV Ch. 8 ran this video report that same day:

 

Twenty-seven people were taken to the hospital, mostly for smoke inhalation.  As mentioned in the video above, a large part of the evacuation problem was generated by the passengers’ inability to activate the emergency exit procedure for the car doors.  Apparently the fire was primarily outside the car and originating from one of the electric motors, but it rapidly filled the cars with smoke along with the frightening views of large flames just outside the windows.

Yesterday (Tuesday) the RTA released this video showing the rapidly-growing problem on the platform and coupled it with a public service demonstration on how to acivate the emergency exits.  After watching the safety video, Firegeezer can understand why nobody could do it.  It is a complicated maneuver that does not work well with excited and uninformed passengers.

WEWS-TV Ch. 5 filed the complete raw video of  the platform activity:

d

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

“You Call…” – “No, You Call…” – “No, You…..”

Comments Off

THANKS IN PART TO A CLUELESS  WOMAN WHO DIDN’T KNOW what to do if she sees smoke, a 3-story apartment building in Richmond, British Columbia, burned down Saturday night leaving one man dead and everybody else out on the street with nothing.

Vancouver Sun / Huynen photo

The woman had returned from a friend’s house along with her three young children, shortly after midnight when she found that she didn’t have her key to her 2nd-floor apartment and had no cellphone either.  So she went downstairs to an acquaintence’s unit to use their phone in hopes to call her husband to come and let them into their residence.

The Vancouver Sun continues:

She and her children thought they could smell smoke, but didn’t think too much of it.

They were unable to wake her neighbour so they went up to the third floor to see if anyone was awake.  They noticed what they thought was smoke coming from under the door of unit 305.  Since she didn’t hear a smoke detector sounding, she assumed the tenant had already dealt with the issue, and did not want to knock on a stranger’s door at 1 a.m.

The building has had numerous false alarms, she added.  “That’s why I didn’t pull the alarm at the time,” she said.

Hussani and her children – aged 14, 12 and nine -went down to the building’s underground parkade to wait in their car for her husband to return. About 45 minutes later, they heard the fire alarm sound.

Radio CKNW adds:

They found fire extending from two floors, but as Deputy Chief Tim Wilkinson explains, dousing those flames wasn’t the first priority, “Crews initially went in to rescue mode and they just rescued people off balconies for the first probably 15 to 20 minutes of the firefighting.”

Besides the fatality, nine more people had to be hospitalized, some with severe burns.  Altogether 18 apartments in the 36-unit wood-frame building were damaged by the fire.  The fire department needed 5 hours to completely extinguish the blaze and more than 90 people were left homeless.  It has not yet been determined if the building can be repaired or more likely need to be razed.

PNG photo

Read the full STORY HERE and then add it to your list of reasons why there will always be a need for the fire department.
The Richmond Review has MORE HERE.

Posted by on August 11, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires

Morning Lineup – August 11

1 comment

One of the great American cultural facets is the movie genre known as the “Grade-B Western.”  I believe they were called that because they were certainly not high-dollar productions with involved story lines and great dramatic performances.  They were produced quickly following a standard plot line and were successful due to the abilities and fan appeal of the actors.  Cranked out by the dozens each year from the 1920′s before sound tracks were invented, right up to the late 1950′s, they were largely seen at afternoon matinee showings geared to children as well as adults looking for some escapism and light entertainment.

Anyone over the age of 50 can recall the Western Movie phase of our cultural experience.  And if you are too young to have witnessed the fun of the Westerns, you can still get in on the rootin’ tootin’ action if you have cable tv.  The Encore family of movie channels has one dedicated to the Western called, appropriately enough, the Encore Western channel.  While they show “cowboy movies” of all sorts, they have plenty of the Grade-B stuff to keep you entertained where you can relive the exciting adventures of Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Johnny Mack Brown, Whip Wilson, Rex Allen, Tim Holt and dozens more.

What brought all this up was my wish to tell you about a website that has been around for more than twelve years dedicated to the western movie stars of that era.  I’m sure that many of you are former fans of the cowboys and their “sidekicks” like Gabby Hayes and Smiley Burnette (my favorite), so you will surely get a big kick out of looking through The Old Corral.

The webmaster Chuck Anderson has done a magnificent job of compiling a huge amount of information on everybody who was involved in making the old Westerns and you can easily spend the rest of the evening reading through the website.  I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s a “huge amount” either.  So strap on your spurs and six-gun and check it out.

*  *  *  *  *

I’ve got a little bit of a follow-up to yesterday’s Looking Back posting that features the ad for an Indian Tank extinguisher from the 1970′s.  Somebody commented that they didn’t realize that the Indian Tanks had been around that long.  Wow, talk about a generation gap.  I knew they had been used since at least the 1950′s, but it made me a little curious as to how long they have been available.  So it was off to the internet search engine I went. 

I didn’t stay with it long enough to uncover a history of the device, but I did find a couple of things listed in eBay that are enlightening.  One was an auction offering of an advertising  brochure from the 1920′s from the company that makes them that has illustrated descriptions of each of their hand-held extinguishers, such as pump tanks and the Indian pump.  I grabbed the illustration of it to show you here:

The other is a 1930′s galvanized tank Indian Pump, an actual one that is currently up for auction with an opening bid of $30.  As I’m writing this it only has a day and a half remaining on the auction.  You can check it out HERE if you want to add to your collection of fire memorabilia.  Have fun!

Speaking of equipment, we need to get ours checked out now.  So let’s get going with that and I’ll go start another pot of coffee.

Posted by on August 11, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged:

Looking Back

3 comments

 

………. Fire Engineering, April 1972

*  *  *

*  *  *  *  *

Posted by on August 10, 2010 • Filed under: Looking Back • Tagged:

House Burns as Hydrant Fails to Flow

Comments Off

A HOME OF A FAMILY OF NINE BURNED DOWN Monday as the firefighters struggled to overcome a water supply failure.  The house was located in the village of Lusseray, France, and was inhabited by the Leblond family including 7 children ages 5 months to 18 years.  Around noon on Monday they heard a loud popping sound coming from the kitchen.  “The electric meter had jumped, and I detected a burning smell,” explained Pascal Leblond, the father.  “The back kitchen was on fire. We tried to extinguish with water hoses, buckets of water, but there was nothing to do. “

all photos via Nouvelle Republique

The alarm was called in at 12:32 pm and the volunteers had the first truck responding at 12:38 and arriving on scene five minutes after that.  As the firefighters began the attack using the pumper’s water tank, the operator hooked up to the town fire hydrant that was about 60 feet away.  After the engine began using water from the supply line, however, the hydrant went “dry,” unable to provide the flow needed.  The family watched in shock as the fire continued to build while the hose lines stopped flowing.

A distant supply line was later established.

Assisting engines arrived and their tanks were used while another supply line was laid several hundreds of yards away to another hydrant, leaving a gap of about 5 to 6 minutes without water.  While awaiting this alternative water source, the officer in charge of the fire commanded the assisting companies use their water to protect the exposure and contain the fire to the house.  “The priority was to prevent the propagation to this adjoining building that was filled with imflammables (a puppet theater filled with stage props, etc…..ed.).  But I understand that it is difficult for the people that see their house to burn,” the assistant chief explained.  “We saved the furniture that were on the ground floor, the papers, but the rooms and all the clothes were burned.” 

The roof collapsed during the fire and three firefighters were treated for heat-related problems.

la Nouvelle Republique has the STORY.

Posted by on August 10, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires

A Winning Fish Story

Comments Off

THE 13th ANNUAL STURDIVANT ISLAND TUNA Tournament was held this past weekend in Maine.  The challenge prize of $50,000 for anyone who breaks the  current Maine State Rod and Reel record of 819 pounds for an Atlantic bluefin tuna went unclaimed again, however.  But this year’s first-place winner has nothing to be ashamed of, though.  Tyler McLaughlin reeled in a 684-pounder to take home $6,250 cash winnings for his catch.

Tyler McLaughlin (left in red shirt) brought in this lunker
for the first-place prize.  (Press Herald photo)

From Thursday through Saturday 40 boats competed, most of them as far as 30 miles offshore in the Gulf of Maine.  Under the tournament rules, participants can’t keep any fish that are less than 73 inches long.

The Portland Press Herald tells us more:

The Sturdivant Island Tuna Tournament, now in its 13th year, started with a group of friends who got together on Tuesday nights in the winter to clean and prepare their fishing gear for the next season.  One of them, Phil Grondin – now the tournament’s president – wished there was a good tuna tournament in the area and decided they should start one, said Chuck Horton, one of the founding members, who is now on the tournament committee.

The first tournament lost about $1,250. But these days, there’s a waiting list for participants, several dozen sponsors and $40,000 to $50,000 for charitable contributions. Over the years, the tournament has contributed nearly $400,000 to charity.

Entry fees pay for the cash prizes. When there are no qualifying fish, the money from the fees rolls over to the next year. An insurance policy would pay the $50,000 prize for a record breaker.

The charitable contributions, which began in the event’s second year, are funded through sponsors and an auction that tournament organizers hold before the fishing begins.

Read the full STORY HERE.

Posted by on August 10, 2010 • Filed under: culture, current events, News • Tagged: ,

Extrication Brings Concrete Results

1 comment

WHEN A WESTBOUND CEMENT-MIXER TRUCK rolled over onto an eastbound automobile Monday,  the Shelby Township, Michigan, firefighters had a challenging extrication facing them.

WXYZ-TV image

WXYZ-TV Detroit tells us:

Police say the truck driver was heading westbound on 22 Mile Road when he came up quickly on a traffic backup. He tried to brake and lost control. The truck hit a guardrail and rolled over onto a woman’s car that was heading eastbound.  The woman in the car was a 65-year-old resident of Rochester.

Firefighters used the Jaws of Life to remove the woman from her car. The woman appeared to be alert after she was rescued from her vehicle. She was taken to the hospital, but her condition is unknown at this time.

WXYZ also filed this video report:

d

Posted by on August 10, 2010 • Filed under: rescue, Rescues, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Around the Fire Web

Comments Off

There were some good stories that came along yesterday that we don’t want you to miss.

*  Dave Statter ruminates on STATter911 about the stressed Detroit mayor’s decision to try and control the city’s “image” instead of fixing the problems that create the image.  Typical big-city shell game.  Read it HERE.

*  Shari at Two-In, Two-Out has a strong case of “iPad envy.”  Maybe you can help her out HERE.

*  Justin, The Happy Medic is trying to find the best definition of what is an “emergency” and who should be deciding what it is HERE.

*  I missed it when the posting came up last week, but we can both catch up on Chris K.’s thoughts about cities that lay off  firefighters while spending more money on  things like “public art” at his website Life Under the Lights HERE.

*  The Fire Critic wants to introduce you to The Hydrantgirl HERE.

*  Captain Mike at Firefighter Blog (the original!) gives us an overview of how some wildland fire experts and political leaders are trying to get an investigation started into the U. S. Forest Service’s dubious, and expensive, practices at wildfires HERE.

*  Bill G. at Wildfire Today is reporting a little further on the effects of all that wildfire smoke in Russia that is smothering Moscow HERE.  You need to read this one, it doesn’t take too long.

Posted by on August 10, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Blogs

Morning Lineup – August 10

Comments Off

One of the difficulties that firefighters in large, old FD’s face is a near-paralytic bureaucracy running the organization.  After decades of political empire-building and S.O.P.’s designed to keep entrenched desk jockeys in power, sometimes the results sift down to the field where they make the worker bees look foolish and on occasion harm the citizen as well.

I’m wondering if that’s what happened in Philadelphia the other day when they had a fatal fire while the first-due engine was pulled out of service to help transfer a medic unit.  FossilMedic REPORTED HERE that when the evening shift at Engine 57 reported for duty at 1800 hrs. on Saturday, they were ordered to go out of service and travel to the maintenance shop to help Medic 9′s crew transfer their equipment to a reserve ambulance.  When I read that, my first thought was “What??”  Why wasn’t that done at the station instead of at the shop?

I know that an ambulance change-over is an all-hands task.  When I was on the job it was something that had to be done every now and then because the ambulances pile up the miles and need maintenance and repairs fairly regularly.  But we did it in the station.  The reserve ambulance would be brought over to the ambulance bay and we would all turn out to help the medic crew switch their supplies and equipment over to the reserve unit as quickly as possible to get it into service.  And the engine stayed in service the whole time.  The operation could take as long as an hour, and it was not a popular chore at the best of times, let alone at 2 am when I’d have to roust out the crew from valuable sleep time.  But bitchin’ is a well-earned privilege and after the first couple of minutes of venting, they’d pitch in and get the job done.  But I’m straying a bit.

The question keeps coming back…. why the transfer was made off-site?  It would be expected that  perhaps this was an exceptional situation that couldn’t be avoided, but not normal procedure.  But we get the impression that in Philadelphia this is standard practice.  In fact, watching this tv interview with the Fire Commissioner at the fire scene who is apparently very adamant that not only is this accepted practice, but he claims that it happens regularly “all over the city.”  This particular incident was complicated by the fact that prior to the shift change the engine had already been out of service all day as part of their firehouse roulette scheme of rolling “brownouts.”  The house fire became a 3-houses fire and a 12-yr.-old boy perished.

Now I know that I don’t have all the facts and it might not be quite what it seems on the surface.  But just the same, you can’t help but wonder about this “routine, every day practice” of putting still another engine out of service for a couple of hours so they can travel across town to switch equipment from one ambulance to another.  But you know what it’s like when you try to change something when “we’ve always done it this way.”

Can’t point fingers, I guess.  We’ve always checked out the equipment this way, and we’re about to do it again.  So let’s get started and I’ll get another pot of coffee going.

Posted by on August 10, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup

Who Checked to See That the Safety Bar Was Secured Properly?

Comments Off

ROLLERCOASTER RIDES ARE OFTEN REFERRED TO as “white knuckle” rides if they are fast and steep.  But on Sunday 102 people made it a “white nipple” ride as they set a new record for naked rollercoastering.  They gathered at the Green Scream Rollercoaster in Adventure Island, an amusement park at Southend-on-Sea in England.

Reuters

Besides setting the new record, they used the frolic to raise money for charity, a cancer treatment foundation.  There were so many participants that they had to make three runs to accommodate all the riders who jointly raised more than £22,000 for the charity.

Reuters

The Daily Mail has MORE.
The Sun has the “R” rated pics along with video that has a “full screen” option, and story HERE .

ITN News had their video crew there, too:

d

Posted by on August 9, 2010 • Filed under: charity, fun, News, Videos • Tagged: ,

Fire Death of 90-yr.-Old Classed as Homicide

Comments Off

A HOUSE FIRE IN WINNIPEG BEACH, MANITOBA, Friday morning left a 90-yr.-old man dead while his wife of 65 years barely escaped.  After investigation of the fire revealed that it was arson, the RCMP classed the fire death as a homicide.

CBC / Cook

An autopsy confirmed that Patrick Gallagher died of smoke inhalation.  He had just marked his 90th birthday in June and recently he and his wife celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary last month.

Richard Turkewich, acting fire chief of Winnipeg Beach, was first on the scene and said the house was “already fully engulfed in flames,” when he arrived.  Fire officials later said the blaze caused an estimated $580,000 damage to the house, its contents and adjoining structures, plus the blaze destroyed a car in a detached garage and melted siding on a garage at an adjacent cottage.

The police have not disclosed why they considered the fire to have been set.

The Winnipeg Free Press has the STORY.

Posted by on August 9, 2010 • Filed under: arson, Fires • Tagged:

LODD – Chicago

Comments Off

A CHICAGO FIRE DEPARTMENT FIREFIGHTER DIED EARLY Monday morning after falling 3-4 stories off of a ladder.  It has been reported that it was not a fire department ladder, but one attached to the building.

The CFD has announced that he was Firefighter Christopher Wheatley, 31, of Chicago.  Fire Commissioner Robert Hoff spoke at a morning press conference that was reported by WGN-TV:

Chicago Fire Department Commissioner spoke outside Stroger Hospital this morning. He said the firefighters were at Avec Restaurant at 615 W. Randolph Street aound 1:30 a.m. to put out a small fire when Wheatly slipped and fell from a ladder attached to the building.

“They had to go up to the roof to open the area where the grease chute extended through. Firefighter Christopher Wheatley was making his way up to the roof on a ladder that was attached to the building carrying his equipment. Apparently he slipped and fell to the ground causing critical injuries.”

“Firefighter Christopher Wheatly was carrying his equipment when he was making his way up . He slipped and fell to the ground. They worked to save his life, but it was too late. Firefighter Chris Wheatly was assigned to Truck 2. He left a mother, father, sister, and a fiance. He was one of our finest, and that’s all I can say for right now.”

Hoff continued, “He was very well-liked, he was a paramedic, he always had a smile on his face. He was one of our best.”

Hoff was visibly shaken and appeared to hold back tears as he spoke.

The fire department formed a convoy to escort Wheatley’s body to the morgue. Police cars, their blue lights flashing, lined the street as Ambulance 15 carried Wheatley’s body to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Officers saluted.

FF Wheatley joined the CFD as a paramedic in 2000 and transferred over as a firefighter in 2008.

WGN-TV filed this video report:
 

d

Posted by on August 9, 2010 • Filed under: current events, health & safety, Line of Duty, Videos • Tagged: ,

Short-Staffed FD Hit With Back-to-Back Multi-Alarms

1 comment

THE CITIZENS OF LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS, SAW WHAT happens when you decimate your fire department on Sunday.  Two multi-alarm fires in the same complex broke out within six hours of each other, the first one at 9:30 am in an abandoned mill complex.  The building that was formerly a paper mill quickly went to 3 alarms bringing in FD’s from 12 other communities to assist at the fire and cover the stations.  Just over a month ago the city laid off 23 firefighters.

Eagle-Tribune photo

Six hours later and even larger fire that went to 4 alarms started in another building in the same complex.  This time there were 14 other fire departments that responded on the mutual aid call. 

The Eagle-Tribune reported:

“We know there’s going to be a disaster,” said acting fire Chief Brian Murphy. “It kills you.”

Last month, 23 firefighters were laid off and three station houses closed due to budget cuts. Yesterday, a full-crew of 15 was on duty to protect the city’s 80,000 residents.  “We’re in trouble here in the City of Lawrence,” Murphy said.

Before the recent layoffs, fires in the city would go to three alarms before mutual aid assistance was called in. But with the reduction in manpower available to fight fires, mutual aid is now called on the second alarm.

Murphy also said when a second-alarm is struck in Lawrence, all station houses are empty and its up to other communities to come in to cover. Firefighters from 11 communities were called in Friday to battle a three-alarm fire that heavily damaged two homes on State Street and left 12 people homeless.

He said Friday it took 23 minutes for help from Lowell to arrive, adding, “There was much more damage then there should have been. We’d never see damage like this before.”

Murphy worries that repeated calls for help will tax nearby communities, who have to pay for their firefighters to respond to Lawrence. He worries one day they may say it’s too much for them to help.

“Now we’re relying on mutual aid on a regular basis and pretty soon these other communities aren’t going to be looking on us too fondly,” Murphy said.

NECN prepared this video report while the second blaze was still underway:

d

Posted by on August 9, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Videos • Tagged: ,

Ambulance vs. Car in Bavaria

Comments Off

A BAVARIA, GERMANY, AMBULANCE WAS INVOLVED in a head-on crash Sunday evening that left four people injured, one of them seriously, and demolished both vehicles.

Early police reports say that a man was exiting a church following Sunday evening services and the 70-yr.-old driver pulled out of the parking lot into the path of the ambulance that was responding to an emergency call with its lights and siren activated.

all photos via Merkur TZ

The crash left the auto driver’s wife trapped in the car requiring an extensive extrication by the Taufkirchener Feuerwehr.  The woman was then airlifted to Munich in serious condition.  The car’s driver and the two medics on the ambulance were also injured and required transportation.

Merkur TZ has the STORY.
Merkur TZ has also posted some raw video from the scene HERE.

Hat tip:  Christian L.

Posted by on August 9, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics, rescue, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances • Tagged: ,

Morning Lineup – August 9

Comments Off

The third and final chapter in the calculator saga is finished.  (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, catch up on the amazing tale of the calculator that keeps on calculating HERE and HERE.)  I got to the Radio Shack yesterday for a pair of the over-priced batteries and that did the trick.

As soon as I inserted them,  Calcy was so happy to be fed that he came on and his screen lit up before I could replace the back cover.  So now we’re set to go for another 8 years or so.  I wonder if they’ll still be making that size battery then?  And the price….hoooo, has that gone up.  As I recall, the last time they cost about $3.50 apiece.  Not now….current price is $5 each.  Which is a little too much, I think.

Is a dollar-a-year too much for a calculator?  It’s been hanging in there, doing its thing for 33 years now and still strong as ever.  I guess I’m stuck with it.

*  *  *  *  *

If you haven’t been checking in on the Firegeezer Fans page on Facebook, take a look HERE at the video Fireball posted yesterday showing the Paris, France, firefighters’ GREP team (their specialized rescue team) scaling the Eiffel Tower in a training exercise.  It’s got some interesting views in it. 

If you follow us on Facebook, take a moment to add the Fans page to your Groups list so you can see some of the things that don’t make it to the website.

And, this is Monday.  That means the longer checklist for the equipment, so let’s get started with that.  I’m going to get another pot of coffee going.  See you back in the day room later.

Posted by on August 9, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: , ,

Firetruck Rollover in Maine

Comments Off

Update, 6 am Monday:  Photo added and story updated.

A SHAPLEIGH (MAINE) FIRE DEPARTMENT VEHICLE WAS involved in a rollover Sunday evening around 5 pm. 

WMTW-TV photo

WMTW-TV Ch. 8 Portland REPORTS:

(Updated report:)  Shapleigh Fire Chief Mike Perro told News 8 the engine was returning from a call when the driver lost control and the engine rolled, coming to rest on its roof.  The driver was the only one in the truck at the time. She had to be cut from the wreckage and was flown to Maine Medical Center in Portland with serious injuries.

“The firefighter that was operating the truck, hopefully everything is going to be alright with her,” said Perro. “That’s the first and foremost concern. The truck is replaceable, we’ll take care of that, in the future. We are insured for these kinds of things.”

The Shapleigh Fire Department purchased the engine in 2005 for $250,000.

An eyewitness, who was riding a motorcycle, said that the fire truck toppled after hitting the soft shoulder.  He also said the truck narrowly missed four motorcyclists.

The Shapleigh Fire Department has only three pieces of apparatus according to their WEBSITE.

Hat tip:  Tom F. and CS

 

Posted by on August 8, 2010 • Filed under: apparatus, Fire Rescue Topics, Vehicle Operations & Apparatus • Tagged: , ,

Is this a “Brown-out” fatality?

Comments Off

Philadelphia WPVI ABC Channel 6 reports on a fatal house fire Saturday night

WEST PHILADELPHIA – August 7, 2010 (WPVI) — A boy is dead and 2 firemen are hospitalized after a fire in West Philadelphia.

The victim is a 12-year-old boy who suffered from autism, according to authorities.

The fire in the 100 block of South 55th Street started just before 7 p.m.

Firefighters report that in the 30 minutes before the flames were brought under control, the fire started at 137 South 55th Street, then spread to 135, 139 and 141.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

At least one official of Firefighters Union Local 22 is blaming the recent fire brownouts for the fataility.

Action News spoke with Philadelphia Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, who said the city’s new brownout policy did not have any affect on the response to Saturday night’s fire.

Last week, the city of Philadelphia started a “brownout” policy of closing some fire companies on a rotating basis. The firefighters at the companies that are closed are then sent for training or to fill in for other firefighters who have called out sick at other companies.

Video HERE
News Article HERE

First day of scheduled brownouts (August schedule), the dispatch was at 6:57 pm, AFTER Engine 57 was back in service, but …

FWDbuff. discussing this at the International Associations of Crusty Old Jakes (IACOJ) forum, provided this info:

Box Rundown: Tactical Box originally Struck – E68, E5, L24, L13, Bn 7

Upgraded by FCC to full box: E54, E44, Bn 11, L6 RIT.

COMPANIES MISSING:
E57 FIRST DUE (to shop 2 to change over Medic 9 from first line to a spare rig)
E41 on a medic run
E16 on a medic run

Engine 57 was browned out 0800-1800. When the “A” Platoon reported at 1800, they were ordered to report to the Fire Apparatus Shop to change over Medic 9 from their normal front line piece to a spare piece.

FWDBuff wonders why Engine 57 had to go to the shop to switch ambulances. Can anyone from PFD help?

IAFF Local 22

I wonder if we need to re-think the use of in-service fire companies for administrative, training and maintenance details.

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward

from http://tinyurl.com/22k38u9

Posted by on August 8, 2010 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Firefighting Operations, News, Urban Commander, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

A Sunday Emergency !

Comments Off

 

 

Season Three, Episode 21

Propinquity

Paramedic Gage has to finish a heart attack victim’s poker game.

Posted by on August 8, 2010 • Filed under: Sunday Emergency • Tagged:

A Honey of a Fire Burns for 6 Hours

Comments Off

AN INDUSTRIAL FIRE IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY, California, kept firefighters from 7 departments busy from Friday night until Saturday morning.

CalFire photo

The fire was reported just before 7 pm Friday night when it was discovered at the Chaparral Honey processing plant in Valley Center.  When the first units arrived the 10,000 sq. ft. building was well-involved with fire through the roof and at least one-quarter of it gone.

The persistent fire continued smoldering for six hours after they had it knocked down.  Nobody was at the plant when the fire started, so there is no early indication of the cause until the investigators have time to inspect the total loss.

CalFire photo

The San Diego Union Tribune has the REPORT.

Posted by on August 8, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires • Tagged: ,

Fire Underground in Chinese Mine Kills 16

Comments Off

CHINA’S MONTHLY MINE DISASTER happened Friday night in Shandong Province when a fire broke out in a gold mine.  Over 320 miners were on the job at the time and most of them were trapped in the shaft for several hours until help arrived.  The state news agency Xinhua reports:

Sixteen miners had been killed in the accident, officials said.  Most of the casualties were suffocated after inhaling toxic smoke.  Some of them died in hospital, said medical workers at the Luoshan gold mine in Zhaoyuan City, Shandong Province.  The majority of the more than 39 miners being treated in local hospitals did not have life-threatening conditions, doctors said.

“We smelt a pungent odor and suspected something might have gone wrong. We closed the vents and waited to be rescued,” said Lu Ming, a miner being treated in the People’s Hospital of Zhaoyuan.

Local officials said the sudden fire broke out at the mine at about 5 p.m. Friday after an electric cable caught fire. A total of 329 miners were working underground at the time. The underground blaze was put out hours later and power supply gradually restored.

One of China’s highly-experienced mine rescue teams
prepares to descend into the gold mine to
retrieve more than 300 trapped vicitms.

The last group of survivors were lifted to safety at noon on Saturday.

Posted by on August 8, 2010 • Filed under: fire, Fires

Medic Improvises Incubator

2 comments

A BRITISH PARAMEDIC’S QUICK THINKING saved the life of an infant that was born 14 weeks prematurely in the back of his ambulance.  The story began back in February during a blizzard when Emily Thomlinson, 29, started going into labor three months ahead of schedule.  Her husband called for the emergency ambulance in Oxfordshire and one soon showed up with Paramedic Rob Dalziel on board.

After a quick assessment, everybody was loaded into the ambulance and started the trip to the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.  But the trip had a change in scheduling when Mrs. Thomlinson’s baby decided that it was coming into the world right away instead of waiting until they got to the hospital.  The ambulance pulled over and within moments she delivered a baby girl that weighed only 1-lb., 15 oz.  Dalziel immediately recognized that this early-bird needed an incubator quickly, so he grabbed a plastic medical-waste bag and put the baby in it to keep her moist.  Then he wrapped her with blankets to keep her warm and began an oxygen flow into her lungs while the ambulance continued its run to the hospital.

After two weeks in the intensive care unit, the baby now known as Sophie was transferred to another hospital for specialist care.  Last week, after nearly six months of hospital care, Sophie was brought home weighing a healthy 9 lbs., 11 oz. and with a great prognosis.  Paramedic Dalziel was brought by the Thomlinson home for a visit and photo op. with Sophie and the chance to share in the happy ending to the remarkable story.

Paramedic Dalziel added,  “I’ve worked on the front line for the ambulance service for nine years and Sophie is the 11th baby whose delivery I have assisted at.  She’s by far the smallest and quickest birth I’ve helped with. I’m delighted she’s now back home with her parents.”

The Mirror has the STORY.

Posted by on August 8, 2010 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics, News

Morning Lineup – August 8

Comments Off

The saga of the sick calculator moved along to Chapter 2 yesterday.  (If you missed yesterday’s Lineup, click HERE to catch up with the tale.)  After letting the project rest for a few hours, I returned and gave one more brief try with the screwdriver, but the results were predictably the same.  So once again I gave a close inspection of the case, looking for any hint of how and where it separates to expose the batteries.

I don’t know why, but I decided to try and insert a fingernail between the covers and what do you know?  It came apart with little effort…almost fell open.  Now that still puzzles me.  How is it that a forged-steel screwdriver blade won’t do anything to open the case (except by destroying it) whereas my fragile, bendable fingernail pops it right open?  I should ask Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor about this phenomenon, but he’s retired and not answering any tool mail at tim@morepower.com.

Anyway, the case is now open and I try my theory about the unseated batteries.  Pressed them firmly into place, put the covers back together and switched the circuit “on.”  Nothing.  Still a blank screen.  So next is a trip to the basement to retrieve my battery tester and I run a test on the batteries.  Not a whisper of a mili-watt in either of them.  Apparently they ran like a racehorse, giving it their all until they literally dropped dead on the track.

Looking at them closely, I see that one of them has small signs of corrosion around it, too.  So I have cleaned off the inner battery seats and contacts, making sure that all the little spots of corrosion are gone.  It looks like I will have to buy replacements after all.  I am hoping that the problem was the batteries and not the historic calculator because those tiny things  cost about 5 or 6 bucks for a pair.  Frugal me would be pained to buy new ones and then find out that the calculator was still dead.  So it’s on to Step 3 today …. a dedicated trip to Radio Shack for new batteries.  I’ll let you know tomorrow how the case gets wrapped up.

Before we head out anywhere though, we have to get this equipment checked out.  I’m going to see how the Sunday breakfast is coming along and get more coffee started.  See you back in the day room.

*  *  *  *  *

Posted by on August 8, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup