Stephanie is a 27 year old who decided to make a 1996 Ford F-350 diesel ambulance her home since late August. She says that Lance makes the perfect city-sized vehicle.
Kelly Grayson will quickly point out that those working for the "borg" or other system status/dynamic deployment services experience life in an ambulance in eight to 14 hour segments. Stephanie is making it an urban home.
Unexpectedly, I’d sort of spent the last year in training to transition to a living space that is less than 100 sq ft.
After moving over a dozen times in the last 8 years, I expected when I moved to Houston after graduate school that that would be the last for quite some time.
I should have known better than for life to not mess with my plans…eight months after settling in to my unnecessarily picture perfect apartment, I was packing up to head to Boston.
I found myself asking, “What do I need all this shit for?” I didn’t. One day later everything I owned was hauled off to a storage facility.
I left for Boston armed with clothes, my laptop, a toothbrush, as many books as I could fit in my car, a yoga mat, and an air mattress.
Lance's point-of-view
I had to chuckle when Lance decided not to start, requiring a tow and service visit on the sixth day of this adventure. Memories of non-starting diesel suburbans and their glow plugs.
After a two day stubborn stand down and my battery beginning to fade I finally gave in. Tow truck time. Sniffle.
Towing an 11,000 vehicle is quite an event. I have to say, for $150 I tried to get my fill of entertainment of this new experience…hell, I might as well.
The kicker? Lance started without hesitation as soon as the tow truck pulled away from the mechanics shop. One big credit card receipt later and Lance has a perfect bill of health. I guess a couple hundred dollars is worth the piece of mind.
THE TERLTON, OKLAHOMA FIRE CHIEF who along with his girlfriend, absconded with the FD's treasury earlier this month and was caught in New Mexico, has waived his extradition rights and been returned to Oklahoma to face charges. Charles Badgwell and Janet Kirby are back in Pawnee County where they will be charged with embezzlement.
See the Firegeezer reports on the crime HERE and the capture HERE.
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IT WAS ONE WEEK AGO TODAY that the Tulsa, Oklahoma, mayor suspended his chief of staff, Terry Simonson, and the city's fire chief, Allen LaCroix, for suspected collusion in giving favorable treatment to Simonson's son in getting hired as a firefighter. (See the Firegeezer report HERE.)
Chief LaCroix (left) and Simonson
Since then Simonson's son Ryan, 30, has resigned from the fire department and Terry Simonson also resigned his position with the city yesterday (Thursday). The Tulsa World has the updated report along with a good review of the entire controversy HERE.
Update, Saturday AM:
Following the internal investigation and Simonson's resignation, the mayor and city council have kept Chief LaCroix on the job but issued a formal reprimand. KOKI-TV filed this video report:
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TODAY IS THE DEADLINE for Webb County, Texas, Fire Chief Jerry Arizola to provide proof of satisfactorily passing the state management certification test in order to keep his job. (See Firegeezer report HERE.) At the time of this posting, it has not been disclosed what the outcome of that attempt is. Arizola has taken the test three times now and this is his final opportunity because his probation ends today also.
The Laredo Sun reports this morning that the Commissioners Court, which oversees personnel issues, has been strict with the heads of departments that have not done their job.
In the same situation (as Arizola) is Jaime Alvarado, director of information systems in the county, who was noted for his constant absences from work. Alvarado was instructed to report daily with Cynthia Mares, director of human resources of the county, to monitor his inputs and outputs and the hours he was in his office.
At yesterday’s meeting their reevaluation was discussed in order to determine whether (Arizola's and Alvarado's) performance showed progress as directors of two country departments.
In July, when making initial evaluations of this year, (the court) dismissed Sanchez, director of engineering for the county, and Raul Elizondo, head of maintenance.
Update, 3 pm Eastern:
KGNS-TV Ch. 8 has just reported that Arizola has failed to pass the management test administered earlier this week in San Antonio. At the time of this posting the County Commissioners have convened a special meeting to decide whether or not to retain him in the position. (click on photo to play video report.)
Update #2:
The commissioners have voted to dismiss Arizola. They will select an interim coordinator to serve while they launch a new search for a replacement.
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BECKY BRYAN, WHO IS ACCUSED OF COLDLY MURDERING her husband, Nichols Hills, Oklahoma Fire Chief Keith Bryan, was arraigned this morning in Canadian County District Court and charged with murder – first degree. (See earlier Firegeezer reports HERE and HERE.)
At the 11 am arraignment her attorney entered a "not guilty" plea and KFOR-TV Ch. 4 reported from the courthouse:
"These councilmen know nothing about government or public administration. They are shameful."
THOSE WERE THE WORDS OF THE FORMER MAYOR of Hialeah, Florida, Raul Martinez following the city council's despicable performance Wednesday night. They had just voted 7-0 to lay off 40% of the city's firefighters in three stages over the next five months. Effective today, Friday, fourteen FF's will be let go including nine probies that are in the current fire academy class.
Hall-Mark photo
Hialeah's clueless Mayor Carlos Hernandez even had the chutzpah to publicly state that the citizens will continue to receive the same (fire dept.) services, and that he can "guarantee that rescues will be there, and trucks" by reorganizing the department’s divisions and consolidating duties, although he didn't specify how big a mirror and how much smoke he will need to do that. Hernandez is taking the coward's excuse that these cuts were necessary because the firefighters refused to take salary cuts. But the union president Mario Pico says that they had agreed to sit down with the mayor and discuss alternatives if the city would open their books and demonstrate where and how the budget shortfall occurred. However all they have gotten is a bunch of double-talk and hidden the books.
"Today they have approved a budget full of holes," Pico told the Miami Herald. "What we have always asked for is clear numbers, but all we have gotten is contradictory economic information."
The former mayor, who is running for the position again, and the IAFF Local are saying that Hernandez is playing a dangerous game of political retribution because the firefighters strongly supported his opponent in the last election. The Miami Herald continues:
Hernandez became mayor in May after Julio Robaina resigned to run for Miami-Dade County mayor. Hernandez backed Robaina; the firefighters endorsed Robaina’s opponent, Carlos Gimenez, a former Miami fire chief who thanked the Hialeah firefighters in his victory speech.
Some within and outside the fire department see Hernandez’s budget move as payback. Or "political revenge," as Hialeah Police Officer Antonio Luis, a police union representative, put it.
There is a regularly scheduled mayoral election coming up in November.
The Hialeah Fire Department currently runs out of seven fire stations operating 7 engines and 2 trucks, all under-manned with 3 FF's per unit.
It was my second trip to a national fire training conference in the mid 1980s. The organizers promoted a networking opportunity at the local fire museum. For the 2011 equivalent of $50 I could rub shoulders with movers and shakers of the fire training community.
I showed up early, along with a handful of others. The organizer of the conference showed up, made sure that the food and drinks were present, and rushed off in his customized Escalade for a private dinner with the conference headliners.
The networking opportunity was like a freshman mixer … without girls … or beer. Did not meet any of the scheduled instructors at the conference.
Here we are in the last day of September with the heat waves behind us. Still a warm day here and there, but cooler weather is definitely arriving and the leaf change won't be far behind. It was pointed out to me last week that October will have five 3-day weekends, if that's important to you. They are all Saturday-Sunday-Monday weekends and with some heads-up planning for leave requests, I suppose you could take advantage of it.
In order for this to happen, you have to be in a 31-day month that begins with the 1st landing on a Friday or Saturday. Surprisingly, it's not that rare an occurrence. More recently it happened in January of this year (don't know how I missed that) and will show up again in December of next year. Taking a quick look over the perpetual calendar in my copy of the World Almanac, it appears that you get one of these months at least once a year. But then again, who cares? I'm retired …. every day is a weekend day for me. And I'm out of leave slips.
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The posting immediately preceding this one that tells about the dangerous incident involving the All Nippon Airways 737 reminded me of a flight safety tip that I picked up many years ago. Unless you've never flown on a commercial airliner, you know that once the plane has reached a prescribed safety zone right after takeoff, the "Seatbelts On" light goes out accompanied by a musical chime and the pilot confirming that you can unbuckle now.
But somewhere along life's path I learned that your personal safety is greatly enhanced if, instead of unbuckling, you simply loosen the seat belt so that it is still coupled but not restrictive. That way if you are unfortunate enough to be on board when the plane hits sudden turbulence, drops in an "air pocket," or goes through a violent repositioning like the ANA plane did, then you will save yourself from being banged against the ceiling of the cabin or worse. Play that video we have posted on the aforementioned story and you will see what I mean.
Now it's time to check out our own seatbelts on the trucks and ambulances, so let's get started with the daily checksheet. I'm going to fire up some more coffee before we meet back in the day room.
HOW WELL DO YOU TRUST YOUR FLIGHT CREW? If you're flying on All Nippon Airways, you might have a little trust-problem with the Japanese airline after an incident that took place early in September. It has just been made public that a co-pilot mistakenly turned the wrong knob on the control panel when he thought he was unlocking the cockpit door to allow the pilot back into the flight deck. It was the rudder control instead.
The Associated Press relates:
ANA said Thursday that the co-pilot is believed to have mistakenly hit the rudder controls instead of the door lock to allow the pilot back in the cockpit.
Two flight attendants were slightly hurt and four passengers got airsick when the All Nippon Airways Boeing 737-700 with 117 people aboard descended sharply, veered off course and went belly up over the Pacific on its way from southern Japan to Tokyo on Sept 6.
CBS News ran this graphic animation showing what happened before the flight crew was able to stabilize the aircraft:
LA MARQUE, TEXAS, FIRE CHIEF LARRY DAMRELL abruptly quit and walked off the job Monday afternoon. While confirming the action, the city's public safety director said Damrell’s brief resignation letter didn’t give a reason for his sudden departure except to "seek other opportunities."
Chief Larry Damrell (Daily News photo)
The Galveston County Daily News reports:
Damrell, 61, was hired as the interim fire chief in January. Then, after at first saying he wasn’t interested in staying on full time, he accepted the full time post in April. At the time, the veteran Houston firefighter said his first priority was to to boost morale in a department that had been mired in turmoil because of battles with city hall, a plethora of grievances, a lengthy investigation into sexual and racial harassment charges and the disbandment of its once strong volunteer support organization.
Mike Phillips, the president of the La Marque Firefighters Association, said he and other firefighters were shocked to find out Damrell had walked off the job. "We really didn’t see this coming," Phillips said. "We thought things were going very well from the union’s standpoint. We were working together to get things done for the city."
Apparently things are not all Rosy in River City with the previous fire chief having quit following a run-in with the city manager, who just left his post last week unexpectedly. The interim city manager has appointed a veteran fire captain to be the interim fire chief.
Scott Beason, Alabama’s powerful state senator and chairman of their rules committee, has issued a mea culpa over his remarks concerning Blacks which were picked up on an FBI surveillance tape as part of the ubiquitous corruption cases that seem to plague any place where gambling is permissible. Beason was working for the FBI so he presumably knew he was being taped. Press reports indicate that the tape was played during a trial and Senator Beason has been confronted with his inflammatory remarks. Here they are:
"That's y'all's Indians," one Republican said.
"They're aborigines, but they're not Indians," Beason replied. (NYT)
His use of the term "aborigines" as an apparent stand-in for African-Americans is resulting in calls for him to step down from his leadership position, at least. The press has also called the term "racially charged."
Perhaps Scott Beason was assuming that all aborigines are black, since some are, including in Australia. Of course, aboriginal people are defined as the earliest known populations of a region, thus they may be of many other races, as they are in Canada and elsewhere.
Ironically, Native Americans (as in: "That's y'all's Indians") are American aborigines. Blacks are not only not originally from America, but were brought here forcefully and in bondage. They are the least aboriginal of peoples. Could they have gotten it more wrong?
A further irony is that in popular culture, aboriginal people, both Native Americans and Australians, are venerated for their wisdom and unique cultural folkways as in the Australian "walkabout." Thus, if the term was employed in a negative connotation, it backfired.
epress.anu.edu.au
It is true that racism properly turns on intent, but if this qualifies, it’s only by the skin of its (aboriginal) teeth. This is far more a case of ignorance run riot. Were he to be stripped of his leadership position it should be for the far more compelling reason of a desperately low IQ. (Though admittedly, if a low IQ becomes a bar to elective office, many chairs will be empty.)
In the end, the concern with the "head on a platter" approach to all charges of racism is that we will inevitably lose our sense of moral outrage at those acts of racial hatred that are truly borne of malice and premeditation.
AN ICONIC SPORTS AND EXHIBITION HALL in Copenhagen, Denmark, burned down Wednesday morning just hours before a five-day sex fair showcasing adult movies, magazines and sex toys was scheduled to begin.
Globe and Mail
The KB-Hallen arena was the capital city's primary sports, concert, and exhibition facility since its construction in 1938. The entire arena was destroyed excepting the concrete walls and foundation. "It is a disaster. It has been a gathering point for all of Copenhagen," arena director Joergen Hansen told the press.
AP
The fire was discovered around 6 am when workers showed up to open the building and found fire burning in a high stack of cardboard boxes. It was later determined that the fire began in that area when the heat from a halogen lamp ignited the boxes that were stacked too closely to the fixture. About 20 people associated with the erotica exhibition were sleeping inside the building, but they all escaped safely.
Xinhua
An adjoining building that served as an extension of the arena was saved by the firefighters who contained the blaze to the original arena. Many vendors that has set up their booths for the Erotic World Messe lost small, personal fortunes from the fire.
A TORONTO, ONTARIO, WOMAN WHO may have been the cause of a 5-car crash Wednesday night wandered away from the scene and then tried to set herself on fire. The 6:30 pm crash in the North York district left one man in critical condition after a 2×4 was sent sailing from another vehicle and crashed through his windshield.
Toronto Star
The woman who was driving another one of the cars, and is believed to have been the cause of the accident, left the crash scene and walked over to the next block and into the back yard of a house where she is not known. It was there that she entered the back door of the home and went to the kitchen stove to turn on all the burners. The Toronto Star reports:
"I just went out of the house to put out the garbage and she must have come in," said an elderly female occupant who was shaken by the incident.
"As I was coming back around the corner, my neighbour yelled out to me ‘Doris, someone went in your house.’ I come in and sure enough, there’s a woman in the kitchen, leaning over the gas stove, with all the burners on trying to ignite herself."
She said the woman appeared to be in her late twenties.
After being confronted by the resident, the young woman left by the same door without saying anything, then stood in the back yard and tried to set her hair on fire with a lighter. Soon after, an ambulance arrived and took the woman to the hospital.
Whoa!! Amazon stunned everybody yesterday when they announced that their new tablet, Kindle Fire will be selling for even less than was being speculated. It is coming on the market November 15 priced at $199. Yeah, I know that's 200 bucks. But it knocks the pins out from Apple's iPad that sells for $400 with some models costing up to $800. And price is going to be a BIG consideration this year, you can bet on that.
One thing that is going push the price advantage is that these "tablets" are completely unneeded. They are toys and amusements, but serve no vital purpose other than something to play with, when you get right down to it. Molly Wood at CNet writes:
At $199, virtually any mainstream consumer is going to stand next to these two devices, look at them side-by-side, and make a price-conscious decision–and that decision is easier than you might think, as tablet usage starts to sort itself out. Sure, the Kindle Fire lacks a camera for video chat and movie-making. So what? Hardly anyone is doing that with their tablets anyway. No GPS? That's what your phone is for. No Bluetooth? Shrug. It's one hundred and ninety-nine dollars.
She also points out that tablet users are mainly streaming videos, reading emails, using them to read ebooks, and some casual gaming. So why worry aout that other stuff. The Verge has produced this handy comparison chart for the Fire, iPad, and B&N's Nook:
Personally, I think that what the Kindle Fire will do is open up the market for the people who just want to play with the gadget but are reluctant to lay out the price of a laptop to do it. And it's only $50 more than a regular Kindle that does not offer color screen images. (I'll bet that changes after the first of the year.) Amazon also has a huge advantage in book and music offerings, and they are aggressively building their movie portfolio.
I'm not ready to get a tablet yet, but I sure am being teased to try one. Maybe later.
Ok, back to business here. So let's get started with the equipment check while I make some more coffee. Yeah…. more coffee! See you back in the day room.
WPI Firefighters' Fund 7th Annual Stop-Drop-n-Roll Chili Cook-Off
When? Saturday, October 15th, 2011 10 am – 5 pm
Where? Parking lot of Bass Pro Shop in Grapevine, TX
Update: Chili Team Registration is now open!
An October Texas tradition, the annual Stop-Drop-n-Roll Chili Cook-Off brings in thousands of rabid chili enthusiasts nationwide. Admission is free, and all-day chili sample cups are $5 a pop. Every dollar contributed or donated goes directly to the WPIFF: no expenses, no red tape, and no neglected firefighters.
$20 to register your chili team, prizes awarded to winners, vendor booths, kids activities, live music, raffle, and much more!
The parade features antique fire engines, modern fire trucks, antique cars, local ROTC groups,
the Kansas Firefighter Calendar contestants, food, drinks, games and more.
Do you have a fire-related event, muster, antique show, flea market, etc., coming up? Send us the info. to: geezerguys (at) yahoo (dot) com. Be sure to include website links, graphics and phone contact, and we'll post it in our Upcoming Events listings. (Special thanks to Collectors Weekly for assistance http://www.collectorsweekly.com/ )
THE NIPIGON, ONTARIO, COMMUNITY LOST their stalwart fire chief Saturday night when Chief Roy Cross perished in a single-vehicle auto accident. Chief Cross had been a member of the Nipigon Volunteer FD for thirty years and had served the small Thunder Bay community of 1,700 as fire chief for the past ten years.
TB tv
But his passing will be felt far beyond the town. As one local firefighter explained, "Northern Ontario is a unique area in which to fight fires, we have only one full-time career department within an eight hour radius, with most departments in that area being volunteer with a few paid-on call. As a result, we get to train together often, and work together occasionally, and we rely on each other to help us out."
Thunder Bay TV posted a good video report HERE.
The Chronicle-Journal has MORE.
ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, FIREFIGHTERS faced a challenging rescue Tuesday evening at the Green Tire Recycling Center located near the Orlando International Airport. A 17-yr.-old boy was working at the foot of a conveyor belt that is used to carry scrap tires up to be dumped into a shredder when something happened that caused him to fall onto the moving belt.
Immediately his leg got caught between the belt and one of the rollers, trapping and partly crushing his leg. Fortunately the conveyor was quickly shut down as the belt wrapped around him.
The fire department was called at 5:50 pm and then the special operations squad was brought in to handle the advanced rescue task. At first they thought they would have to disassemble the machinery, but after removing the pile of tires that had tumbled onto the machine, they found that by carefully maneuvering the belt and the boy's leg that they could release him that way. They had him removed a little over an hour later.
WESH-TV documented the incident in this video report:
The youth was conscious the entire time but in extreme distress. The medics administered pain killing medicine during the procedure and when he was freed he was taken to a helicopter that was standing by to transport him. The latest word from the hospital last night was that his leg did not appear to be endangered and he will probably have a successful recovery.
SIX PEOPLE WERE KILLED EARLY Wednesday morning in a fire at a squat in the Pantin section of Paris, France.
Le Parisien
Four were burn victims, two died of asphyxiation. Four other people were hospitalized for injuries, but their lives did not seem in danger. The victims were aged between 24 and 36 years, according to a squatter who managed to escape by jumping out a window. They are probably Egyptian and Tunisian illegal immigrants.
The fire broke out around 6 am in a two-story building and was brought under control around 7:15. About thirty people lived in the abandoned flats, according to a government official.
Le Parisien
The adjoining building was also damaged by the fire. Firefighters searched the rubble in search of other other possible victims. The two buildings are owned by the government and were boarded up to be ready for demolition, making the search efforts difficult for the firefighters.
Le Figaro filed this early (French language) video report:
Le Parisien has the STORY.
20minutes/AFP has MORE.
I'm getting pretty tired of writing about that dead satellite that fell to earth, they know not where, the other day. But since the scientists claim they know where it is now, I'll post this and be done with it. The Associated Press is reporting this morning:
The dead NASA satellite fell into what might be the ideal spot — part of the southern Pacific Ocean about as far from large land masses as you can get, U.S. space officials said Tuesday.
New U.S. Air Force calculations put the 6-ton satellite's death plunge early Saturday thousands of miles from northwestern North America, where there were reports of sightings. Instead, it plunged into areas where remote islands dot a vast ocean.
NASA says those new calculations show the 20-year-old satellite entered Earth's atmosphere generally above American Samoa. But falling debris as it broke apart did not start hitting the water for another 300 miles to the northeast, southwest of Christmas Island, just after midnight EDT Saturday. Experts believe about two dozen metal pieces from the bus-sized satellite fell over a 500-mile span.
"It's a relatively uninhabited portion of the world, very remote," NASA orbital debris scientist Mark Matney said. "This is certainly a good spot in terms of risk."
And that is the last you will hear from me about this……thing.
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Sometime today, (they usually do these things around 11 am) Amazon.com will be holding a press conference reportedly to introduce their entry into the digital tablet market, the Kindle Fire. Hey, with a name like that, we have to pay attention! This gadget will not be replacing the Kindle e-reader, they won't be going anywhere. But it will be competing in the tablet fray where the iPad is currently the reigning champ. Amazon's 7-inch tablet will have their Kindle reader installed, naturally, but it will also have internet access and be designed for video downstreaming along with the usual playthings.
Word has it that this initial version will not be constructed of the best chips and stuff because they were in a rush to get something to market in time for the Christmas shopping season, so the savvy shopper will wait a few months until a higher quality product is released. Where the Kindle Fire will have its biggest impact though is in the price. Expected to be selling for somewhere around $250 (as opposed to the $400 to $500 for iPad and others), it will generate an industry-wide price adjustment downward that will benefit all the future tablet buyers. We will learn more in a few hours.
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One more item referring to something we've been following (and in my case, bad-mouthing) for a while, self-service checkout registers in grocery stores. Mark Donovan tells us that still another supermarket chain is dumping the things. Again, from the Associated Press:
Big Y Foods, which has 61 locations in Connecticut and Massachusetts, recently became one of the latest to announce it was phasing out the self-serve lanes. Some other regional chains and major players, including some Albertsons locations, have also reduced their unstaffed lanes and added more clerks to traditional lanes.
Market studies cited by the Arlington, Va.-based Food Marketing Institute found only 16 percent of supermarket transactions in 2010 were done at self-checkout lanes in stores that provided the option. That's down from a high of 22 percent three years ago.
An internal study by Big Y found delays in its self-service lines caused by customer confusion over coupons, payments and other problems; intentional and accidental theft, including misidentifying produce and baked goods as less-expensive varieties; and other problems that helped guide its decision to bag the self-serve lanes.
The often-quoted, but never seen, "industry insiders" say that this trend will escalate when a new barcode system replaces the current one and all barcode readers will have to be replaced. Most retailers will hesitate to spend the large sums to replace something that isn't being used, so at best, there may be a couple self-serve checkouts left for the people anxious to provide free labor.
Now let's start using our own valuable labor to get this equipment checked out. I will reset the labor-saving Bunn-O-Matic to get us some more coffee. See you back in the day room.
To this day, people continue to find Jackie Kennedy Onassis an irresistible icon with her refined bearing and regal features. It’s no surprise then that the recent release of hours of interviews she conducted in 1964 with Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., are creating such a stir. She was just 34 at the time so her opinions were hardly leavened with the wisdom of years but they are never-the-less interesting and sometimes telling. My favorite is her admission that President Kennedy went to Catholic Mass without fail, not because he was especially devoted but rather because as she said, "he wasn’t quite sure, but if it was that way, he wanted to have that on his side." She chalked it up to JFK’s being superstitious. When in doubt, be devout.
John Kennedy was in good company where a certain amount of religious ambivalence is concerned. George Washington much preferred to stay at home on Mount Vernon Sundays. He was also known for his characterization of God as "Divine Providence", the belief that God was more likely to be simply directing things from above as opposed to being overly interested in our earthly expressions of piety. Washington, like Thomas Jefferson, was famously tolerant of other faiths and religions, believed in religious liberty and avoided discussing his religious views in public.
"Lincoln" by Alexander Gardner
Jefferson, when writing about Washington’s ability to avoid revealing his religious views, referred to him as "The Old Fox" and "cunning." It’s hard not to conclude that Jefferson was writing admiringly. Washington’s religious slipperiness was a conscious act, a sort of 18th century Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell. Abraham Lincoln was similarly circumspect about public expressions of devotion. Lincoln’s law partner and friend, William Herndon, said that his beliefs were grounded in universal law and evolution. Lincoln had apparently concluded that the acceptance of evolution was not a bar to a belief in a supreme being.
As a Republican, Lincoln wouldn’t make the cut today. These days’ leaders of all stripes feel compelled to associate themselves with Christian symbolism and the more fundamental, the better. Presidents and presidential candidates yammer on about God, prayer, faith and church as if the failure to do so makes them less qualified to lead. More than one Republican candidate for the presidency is quite comfortable with the repudiation of evolution as the explanation for earthly and human development.
At least two issues are worrying. The first is, of course, the apparent need to inject one’s religion into government. The other is the inclination for some candidates to disregard widely respected scientific conclusions in deference to the literal interpretation of religious texts. I’m all for faith, but logic has a place, too. Do we really want national leaders who actually believe that the world was created over the course of 6 days a couple of thousand years ago?
If Abraham Lincoln, who rose to the presidency after the equivalent of one year of formal education, could intellectually reconcile evolution with the existence of God, what are we to think of the current presidential aspirants and their bloated resumes?
WEBB COUNTY, TEXAS, (Laredo area) HIRED Jerry Arizola to be their Fire and EMS Coordinator a year ago. Part of his probationary conditions were to pass the State mandated firefighter recertification test along with the department head/management certification. Chief Arizola passed the FF certification test ok, but he has been having trouble with the management test.
Chief Arizola (Laredo Sun photo)
He has taken it twice and failed both times. This Friday, September 30 is the deadline for his probation and he has taken the test again recently for the third time. He and the county officials are waiting now for the results of this last attempt.
KGNS-TV filed this video report on the situation:
Assistant Fire Chief Jose Flores told KGNS-TV that they are unsure what will happen if Arizola flunks the test again. "Well, right now, everything is up in the air. We know that he had until September 30th to have both certificates, which is management and certificate for the fire dept. We're just going to have to wait for that. It's up to the commissioners in that situation." County officials has expressed satisfaction with Arizola's performance on the job, but say that if he fails this latest attempt, then they will begin advertising to refill the position.
LONG-TIME READERS OF FIREGEEZER will recall that for the past four years we have (un)covered the annual "Boobs on Bikes" parade held annually in New Zealand. The organizer of the parade is New Zealand’s leading porn movie maker, Steve Crow who uses the exposure to tout his videos and the annual Erotica Lifestyles Expo that is held on the week of the parade.
The procession features a couple dozen of Crow's starlets riding on motorcycles along the parade route with a few more of the "ladies" perched on floats and other vehicles. We first hooked onto this event in 2008 when we got word that a women’s protest group was going to dash along in advance of the parade and pull the fire alarm boxes in the office buildings along the parade route in an attempt to disrupt it. We wanted to see how the FD handled the problem, but the police headed the protesters off and the lads missed the parade.
The big booby show is held each year around September and in a different city, visiting various regions over the years. So where is the report on this year's parade? It's coming folks, just a little later than usual. The event was first scheduled to be held in Auckland this month, but it turned out that a major Rugby World Cup match was scheduled for the same day in the city. It was agreed that it would be inappropriate for the parade to intrude on the other sporting event, so B.O.B. 2011 has been postponed and relocated to Palmerston North on December 2nd - on the same day as day before the town's Christmas parade. Don't know how that's going to work out, but we'll keep you updated. While you wait, you can review last year's parade by watching NZTV Ch. 3's five videos posted HERE. (Note: NOT a safe workplace video.)
Work always comes to a standtill when the parade passes by.
A LITTLETON, COLORADO, SNAKE BREEDING firm had a devastating fire Monday morning that killed its entire stock of more than 3,000 valuable and rare snakes.
KDVR-TV
The building apparently did not have a fire alarm system, but when the fire became so intense that it blew out the windows, that triggered the burglar alarm. A police patrol responding to the "break-in" discovered the heavy fire and turned in the alarm.
The fire broke out just after 5:30 am Mountain in the Pro Exotics facility located in an industrial park, and burned out the entire business. Five other concerns were damaged by the blaze, but not to the same extent. The business is co-owned by Chad Brown, a former NFL Pro-Bowler, who says that the loss will run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars. One of their snakes recently sold for $20,000.
Pro Exotics Reptiles is a specialized breeder that sells the snakes to other breeders and collectors around the world. Most of the snakes were stored in plastic containers placed in racks.
Pro Exotics Reptiles photo
The fire marshal expects to be on site for two days, but says there is every indication that the fire was accidental and not supicious at this point.
KWGN-TV Ch. 34 filed this video report from the scene:
The Denver Post has the DETAILS.
KDVR-TV has a photo gallery HERE.
Political advertising is worthless if YOU are not voting.
Monday's Wall Street Journal included an article about the fight over Ohio Senate Bill 5 that is up for a referendum vote in November.
This bill limits collective bargaining for all organized labor, requires public employees to pay at least 15% of their health care costs and ends arbitration for contract impasses. If passed, local elected officials will decide between their own last offer and the unions.
While this trend is national, an aspect of this fight got my attention.
I meet Mike Bell when he was the Toledo fire chief. Hired in 1980, paramedic/firefighter Bell was appointed fire chief a decade later. During his 16 year tenure as the chief, the department achieved many high profile goals. Chief Bell was appointed state fire marshal in 2007.
In Kris Maher's article, a Mayor Bell quote is repeated:
"Years ago, I lost my job as a firefighter because my city ran out of money. So as mayor, I'm working to fix my city without laying off good people or raising taxes," says Mr. Bell, who ran as an Independent in 2009, in the ad, paid for by Building a Better Ohio, a nonprofit backing the law.
I was surprised at that statement. From hundreds of miles away, his retiring with 26 years in the fire department to accept a state agency appointment appeared to be an example of professional progression.
Bell was one of 61 firefighters laid off in 1980, in his rookie year. Three fire stations were closed. The layoff of 300 city employees occured after a labor contract impasse and strike by municipal workers, including Public Safety. (PolitiFact Ohio)
Making an impact
IAFF has already spent $1 million in the campaign against Ohio Senate Bill 5, described as State Issue 2 on the ballot.
More powerful than a million dollar campaign is if all 12,000 Ohio career firefighters show up to vote. The most effective way to make your point is to vote in your local election.
Showing up to participate in the messy and emotional democratic process is more powerful than a dozen snarky posts on a forum or even a well crafted letter to the editor … or a blog article. Takes even less time.
The last decade witnessed a radicalization of political discourse, we will NOT change many opinions during the campaign.
Scare tactics are used to get people to the polls, not well-reasoned discussions. We must make sure our opinion is registered in the only way that counts.
Hope that you make it to the polls.
Your vote matters. Imagine the impact a quarter million new or renewed voters will have in November. We could have a party, Dave Statter could bring the cookies. (link)
There's a humorous posting bouncing all around Facebook this week that I just had to pirate and share with you. What makes it especially funny is that it is so on-the-mark. The best humor is always that which is based on the truth, and this certainly succeeds. It is titled for EMT's, but with just a minor tweak it can be applied to firefighters as well. I hope you enjoy it, too:
You know you're an EMT if…
1. You have the bladder capacity of five people.
2. Your idea of a good time is a shooting or a car crash/rollover.
3. You believe the government should require a permit to reproduce.
4. You refer to your favorite restaurant by the intersection it's located at.
5. You think caffeine should be available in IV form.
6. You can discuss where you are going to eat with your partner while standing over a dead body.
7. A weeks worth of laundry consists of five of the same pair of pants and five of the same shirts.
8. You've ever referred to Tuesday as "my weekend", or "this is my Friday."
9. Discussing dismemberment over a meal seems perfectly normal to you.
10. You find humor in other people's stupidity.
11. You have your weekends planned for a year.
12. You ever look at complete strangers and your first thought is "nice veins".
13. You believe unspeakable evil will befall you if anyone says, "Boy, it sure is QUIET tonight."
Whoever the original author of this compliation is, deserves a Kudo for the skill and recognition in penning this insightful checklist. I got a good chuckle out of it while all the time saying to myself, "That's right, that's right!" If you have any more truisms to add to the list, post them in the Comments for us.
Now let's get back to our own checklist and get our equipment checked out. I'm going to get some more coffee going, that's right, that's right. See you back in the day room.
THE VIGILI DEL FUOCO, National Fire Service in Italy, held another of their well-regarded international fire training exercises on September 17 in Tarvisio, Udine. This exercise included teams from Austria and Slovenia along with the Italian forces that also brought representatives from the National Volunteer Fire Brigade, some forest fire units and a mountain rescue group.
The event simulated:
* SAF (high angle rescue team) with rescue of persons in the channel of the river Slizza;
* A simulation of a search and rescue injured in an accident at work in the forest,
* The fire extinguishing of forest and interface,
* The rescue from a fire in a tunnel;
The exercise involved about 120 people. At the end there was a meeting at the Detachment of Tarvisio for debriefing and the ceremony of greeting to the Authorities and to the participants.
The Vigili del Fuoco national website carried the story and a photo GalleriaHERE.
picture by Shaun Richardson FF/PM ECFD / September 29, 2011 and posted by Fox 5 San Diego
Department of Race – A Commentary
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When The Aborigines Aren't
Alabama State Legislature image
Scott Beason, Alabama’s powerful state senator and chairman of their rules committee, has issued a mea culpa over his remarks concerning Blacks which were picked up on an FBI surveillance tape as part of the ubiquitous corruption cases that seem to plague any place where gambling is permissible. Beason was working for the FBI so he presumably knew he was being taped. Press reports indicate that the tape was played during a trial and Senator Beason has been confronted with his inflammatory remarks. Here they are:
"That's y'all's Indians," one Republican said.
"They're aborigines, but they're not Indians," Beason replied. (NYT)
His use of the term "aborigines" as an apparent stand-in for African-Americans is resulting in calls for him to step down from his leadership position, at least. The press has also called the term "racially charged."
Perhaps Scott Beason was assuming that all aborigines are black, since some are, including in Australia. Of course, aboriginal people are defined as the earliest known populations of a region, thus they may be of many other races, as they are in Canada and elsewhere.
Ironically, Native Americans (as in: "That's y'all's Indians") are American aborigines. Blacks are not only not originally from America, but were brought here forcefully and in bondage. They are the least aboriginal of peoples. Could they have gotten it more wrong?
A further irony is that in popular culture, aboriginal people, both Native Americans and Australians, are venerated for their wisdom and unique cultural folkways as in the Australian "walkabout." Thus, if the term was employed in a negative connotation, it backfired.
epress.anu.edu.au
It is true that racism properly turns on intent, but if this qualifies, it’s only by the skin of its (aboriginal) teeth. This is far more a case of ignorance run riot. Were he to be stripped of his leadership position it should be for the far more compelling reason of a desperately low IQ. (Though admittedly, if a low IQ becomes a bar to elective office, many chairs will be empty.)
In the end, the concern with the "head on a platter" approach to all charges of racism is that we will inevitably lose our sense of moral outrage at those acts of racial hatred that are truly borne of malice and premeditation.
That would be a tragedy.
………. Eric Lamar
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