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Morning Lineup – September 14

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Wednesday Morning – Where Are My Sweaters?

This is the time of year that I really get antsy for some nice, chilly weather.  This summer was especially brutal for hot days (and nights), but every year is always  discouraging by the time you get into August and you're expending time, effort, and hard-earned cash just trying to keep cool.  This is nothing new, it happens every year.  And by the time March gets here, I'm begging for some nice warm days where I can go out without having to bundle up or scrape ice off my windshield.

I think most of us are like that, right?  I believe the human animal just naturally seeks joy in bitchin about something all the time and the weather is certainly the handiest target.  If I had to choose between living in a warm climate or an area considered a cold climate, I would choose the warm zone without pause.  That's just the way I am.  I have never looked forward to getting outdoors and strapping on the skis while enjoying having my breath crystalize and freeze on my face.

But despite that firm preference of mine, I like wearing sweaters and heavy shirts.  Especially the sweaters.  They really add some variety to your personal fashion-sense and with their varied patterns and colors you can "dress your mood" or go outside with your favorite sports team's logo splashed across your chest, like some kind of nutso fanatic.  It's acceptable now to do that.  But I also like the comfort that a sweater, or an L.L. Bean chamois shirt give when you are outside.  Yes, I'm ready for a change in the weather.

Speaking of fashions and style, a large shopping mall in East London, UK, has just undergone a major renovation  and as part of their advertising campaign leading up to their grand re-opening yesterday they ran this novel video.  It's a time-lapse sort of production that shows the changing clothing fashions over the last 100 years.  They compress 100 years of fashion into 100 seconds of video time.  Excellently done, and a lot of fun that includes even the dance crazes of the periods.  Before you get started, here's a tip for you.  Watch it twice….first time concentrate on the woman, and the second time concentrate on the man.  It's much easier to follow the changes that way and a lot less confusing to the brain.

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100 Years of Fashion Style in 100 Seconds

 

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Ok, let's dance on over to the apparatus and start our daily check.  I will pull on my sweater and start some more coffee.  See you back in the day room.

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Posted by on September 14, 2011 • Filed under: culture, morning lineup, Videos

Fire Chief and Bank Account Leave Town at the Same Time

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Suspicions are raised …

THE CITIZENS OF TERLTON, OKLAHOMA, AND THE Pawnee County Sheriff are all interested in talking with Fire Chief Charles Badgwell today.  It seems that an undisclosed amount of money is missing from the volunteer fire department amid "charges of impropriety" that the sheriff began investigating on Thursday.

KJRH-TV

It's a shame, but now even small communities like Terlton have to get acquainted with concept of background checks.  It has come to light that Badgwell has served time in prison for possession of stolen property and false impersonation.

Charles Badgwell

KJRH-TV Ch. 2 has the details in this video report:

 

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Posted by on September 13, 2011 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, crime, Fire Rescue Topics, News, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Fireworks Factory Ka-Boom in Italy – Several Dead

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Family-Run Business Totally Destroyed

AT LEAST SIX PEOPLE WERE KILLED Monday afternoon in Frosinone Province, Italy, when a family-run fireworks factory suffered a massive explosion.  The owners of the firm, Claudio Cancelli, 65, and his two sons John, 42, and Joseph, 45, were also killed as the blast leveled two of the three buildings in the mountain complex.  Killed also were at least three other employees and a seventh person is missing, but was known to have been on the premises.

La Stampa

None of the victims had any chance of survival as they were blown to pieces.  "Machinery curled, cracked walls, blocks of tufa and concrete hundreds of feet from the building. The factory was almost completely razed to the ground." – described another witness, the commissioner of Arpino Anthony Venditti.  Everybody in the region knew the Cancellis.

La Stampa

The blast also started a good-sized woods fire in the surrounding area.  Initial firefighting efforts were slowed by a continuing series of small explosions in the storehouses.

La Stampa

Investigation is underway to find the cause for the blast.

La Stampa has the STORY.
Il Tempo has a photo gallery HERE.

A neighbor captured some home video from a distance shortly after the explosion:

 

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Posted by on September 13, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, Fires, HazMat, Videos

Another Suffolk County NY responder needs media training

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Sussex County (NY) HazMat Incident

From the YouTube post:

A WNBC Cameraman was attacked by a Suffolk County EMS officer at a Haz-Mat seen in Bohemia New York.

The cameraman was filming the aftermath of a chemical spill inside a commercial building that unleashed fumes. The accidental mixing of chemicals sickened 54 workers at a cellphone refurbishing plant in Bohemia.

The cameraman did not cross any police lines and was within his rights to film.

The EMS Person is yelling at the cameraman that he will have him arrested and is trying to rip the camera out of the cameraman's hands. The camera was damaged during the confrontation.

Suffolk police can be sean in the video and took no action agains the EMS office who attacked the cameraman. Police escorted the cameraman down the block and erected police lines to keep the media back.

Scmuck Alert

Stewart Pittman, in his Viewfinder Blues blog, commented on the situation in today's post Schmuck Alert: Dumb and Dumber:

… a clip has surfaced of an EMS official accosting a WNBC photojournalist. " I told you to stop!" the medical technician yells, mistaking his dangling walkie-talkie for the Sword of Grayskull.

The photog appears as perplexed as we the audience, but that's a natural expression when an otherwise mild-mannered first responder tries to wrestle your livelihood from your grip.  

Hey, you don't see us media types snatching stethoscopes from the necks of unsuspecting medics, do you? Do you? 

Hyperbole aside, I'm most troubled by this last clip, as we news shooters have great respect for emergency medical technicians and work hard to stay out of their way.

I mean, we expect longshoremen to go ape-shit when the big words start to fly, but an EMT? Must be more to that story and we here at the Lenslinger Institute are anxious to hear it.

Kirsten Berg, writing for The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press issued a news media update:

Just weeks after the arrest of a freelance videographer by a Suffolk County police officer was recorded and posted on YouTube, yet another cameraman’s confrontation with authorities over filming in a public place was caught on video in the same Long Island town.

In the most recent incident, an emergency services official responding to the scene of a chemical spill in Bohemia, N.Y., was filmed attempting to wrestle a camera away from a WNBC journalist.

The string of occurrences has raised concerns among civil liberties advocates and journalists over what they said are repeated violations of the right to film in public places.

click on Journalists worried after second interference incident to read the rest of the update.

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Related stories from Dave Statter

August 30, 2011: The First Amendment lives. U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston says there is nothing illegal about shooting video of police doing their jobs.

July 31, 2011: What country is this? A look at some recent incidents where the police become news editors & decide what is & isn’t okay for us to see.

Posted by on September 13, 2011 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, culture, EMS Topics, HazMat, News, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Lineup – September 13

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Tuesday Morning – Arrrrr!

I want to give you a little heads-up this morning to remind you that this coming Monday, September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  Most of you don't have any idea of what I am talking about, but I know that some of you do because every year I always get a couple of posting comments written in pirate talk.  This year I decided (to be honest, it's because I remembered in time) to let you know a week ahead so that you can brush up on your pirate lingo and fit right in with the gang down at the tavern Monday night.

Talk Like a Pirate Day is a fairly recent, contrived holiday that was developed and promoted in the mid-1990's by a pair of swashbucklers in Albany, Oregon, Mark Summers – "Cap'n Slappy" - and John Bauer – "Ol' Chumbucket."  At first it was just a funfest for the Matey's pals and wenches where they enjoyed a night of frivolity that spawned a few local parties.  In 2002 the nationally syndicated humor columnist Dave Berry wrote about the fest and it took off from there.  Here we are just nine years later and all around the world TLAPD parties are being planned for the 19th.

Here are the posted locations for this year's parties.  Undoubtedly
more will be added.  Dynamic map is posted on the TLAPD website.

If you are going to one of the parties, or just want to join the fun at the station all day, you really need to develop your pirate vocabulary.  To give you an introduction, here are Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket with a brief video lesson on how to get you started:

 

Now you'll want to expand your vocabulary, so CLICK HERE to broaden your range to include such phrases as, "Show a leg!"  which means, "Wake up!" ( "Show a leg!, it be dawn, you scurvy lubber!").  Wi' some practice, matey, you'll fit right in.  Arrrr….ye don' want to be keel-hauled now, do ye', ye lowly bilge rat?  Take time to click onto the TLAPD official website HERE for even more information and lessons.

Avast, ye lubbers…. we be gettin' this equipment checked now afore we set sail today.  I be fillin' the grog bucket fer ye whilse you charge into it.

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Posted by on September 13, 2011 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged:

40K Bottles of Beer On the Road, 40K Bottles of Beer……

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A 53-ft. TRACTOR TRAILER ROLLED ONTO IT SIDE Monday morning in Sacramento, California, tumbling its load of 35,000 lbs of bottled beer, namely Bud Light Lime. While most of the 40,000 cans and bottles seemed to have survived the rapid relocation of their packages, quite a few of them broke and provided a steady stream of beer washing down the exit ramp.

KCRA-TV

The truck had just exited Interstate 80 and was turning left off the ramp when the driver lost control and rolled it. With that large and heavy a load, it was not possible to pull it back upright with tow trucks due to the probablilty of the trailer walls not being able to contain the weight. So first a pair of flatbeds and a busfull of laborers were brought over to offload the beer cases first.

Channel 13 News covered it in this video report:

 

KCRA-TV has more plus a photo gallery HERE.

Firegeezer notes:  Bud Light Lime?  Bud Light Lime?  It wasn't driver error that caused that wreck, it was the invisible hand of Bacchus himself reaching down from the heavens and knocking that load of swill over.

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Posted by on September 12, 2011 • Filed under: beer, current events, News, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Build a Deck, Burn a House – Costly Fail in Ottawa

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Know Where Your Pipes Are

AN OTTAWA, ONTARIO, MAN STARTED a do-it-yourself project Sunday at his townhome that did not go the way he had expected it.  The 47-yr.-old man wanted to build a deck behind his house and at noon he, along with a friend of his, started using a ground auger to drill post holes for the deck supports.  However, one of his taps went through the natural gas line serving his house and the high-pressure leak ignited, sending flames 20 feet into the air.

Ottawa Citizen

While waiting for the FD, the two men tried to put the fire out with a garden hose, but ended up with 1st- and 2nd-degree burns to their arms.

When the firefighters arrived the fire was already encroaching into the house, so hose lines went inside to protect the home while out back other lines were used to contain the fire until the gas company arrived to shut off the supply.  The situation was under control by 2 pm and most of the fire damage was limited to the exterior in the estimated amount of $30,000.  Another $20,000 of damage was done inside by water.

The two men were treated on the scene by paramedics.

The Ottawa Citizen has the STORY.

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Posted by on September 12, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fires • Tagged: , ,

Downtown Arsonist Strikes Twice Overnight in Tulsa

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No Suspect Yet

TWO FIRES LATE SUNDAY AND EARLY MONDAY in downtown Tulsa, Oklahoma, are both considered arsons.

The first fire was around 11 pm Sunday night when it was set outside a vacant structure.  There was a negligible amount of damage caused by it, though.  About five hours later, at 4 am another fire in the same area was reported at a cabinet and furniture business.

KOTV Ch. 6

The Tulsa World reports this morning:

When they arrived, firefighters found heavy fire coming from inside the building toward the rear of the structure.

The electrical system was arcing due to the fire, so crews had to back off until the power could be turned off, (Admin. Chief Jeremy) Moore said. It took crews about 30 minutes to get the blaze under control.

Investigators were able to determine that the fire started somewhere outside the building where there was sawdust piled up toward the back of the business, Moore said. Investigators also believe the fire was intentionally set, he said.

A business in the adjoining building had extensive smoke damage as well.

Investigators have not come up with any suspects yet.

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Posted by on September 12, 2011 • Filed under: arson, Fires • Tagged: ,

Updated: Nuclear Plant Explosion Kills One

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Not a Power Generating Plant

Update, 3 pm Eastern: 
No radioactive involvement in accident.  Scroll down.

AN EXPLOSION MONDAY MORNING in a nuclear storage and processing plant in southern France has killed one person and injured at least three four more people. 

Marcoule nuclear plant.  (CBC News)

Early reports are still sketchy, but the facility is described as specializing in the "treatment of radiological material."  The blast occurred in an oven and officials are initially saying that there is no radioactive leakage from the plant.  The Marcoule nuclear plant is located near the city of Nimes in the southern region not far from the Mediterranean Sea.

It is also being described as a nuclear waste management site that does not contain any reactors.  A report from CBC News says the plant is involved with the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, and operates a pressurized water reactor used to produce tritium.

Update, 3 pm Eastern:
Despite the prior warnings from the state nuclear regulatory agency, there was never a radiological hazard associated with the accident.  The France24 News agency now reports:

"This accident has no radiological risk or need for population protection," the ASN said, adding that it had suspended its crisis cell dealing with the incident.

The blast hit the Centraco nuclear waste treatment centre belonging to EDF subsidiary Socodei, said a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Commissariat (CEA).

"Initial reports suggest there was an explosion in an oven used to melt metallic low- and very low-level radioactive waste," the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) said.

An EDF spokesman said: "This is an industrial accident, not a nuclear accident. In this kind of oven, there are two sorts of waste: metallic waste such as valves, pumps and tools and combustible waste such as technicians' work outfits or gloves," the spokesman said.

An expert at the Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety in Paris, Olivier Isnard, said radioactive levels in the oven were only around 17 becquerels per kilo — "very, very low" — at the time of the blast.

The further said that the death and the injuries were solely caused by the explosion and there never was any radioactive leaks or emissions.  As you would expect, there are many detectors in all areas of the grounds inside the facility and none of them recorded any activity following the accident.  The emergency has been officially declared over.

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Posted by on September 12, 2011 • Filed under: explosion • Tagged: , , ,

Morning Lineup – September 12

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Monday Morning – Got Anything You Want to Sell?

For the most part, the 9/11 memorials, remembrances, dedications, etc., are behind us now.  Many people may think that it was overdone this year, primarily because of the news media's wall-to-wall coverage for nearly two weeks leading up to yesterday.  But I suppose they can be excused this time since the combination of it being the 10-year anniversary tied in with the dedication of the memorial park at the WTC site on the same year, helped make it a bigger event than usual.  I believe that from here on out, the anniversaries and observances will become a lot more low-key and kept on a local level of observance.  And that's fine with me.  While the events of that day should be remembered and honored, they shouldn't be glorified either.

We know how to do it for ourselves, just give it back to us, ok?

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"And now for something completely different…." as Monty Python was famous for saying.  I came across a thought-provoking viewpoint / opinion the other day that makes a lot of sense to me.  I'm always interested in reasonable predictions of societal trends and changes to the way our culture evolves and with the widespread increase in unemployment, not just here, but in most of the industrialized world, this caught my interest.

Under the heading "Are Jobs Obsolete?" came an opinion piece published by CNN's online news site where the writer, Douglas Rushkoff wrote in part:

New technologies are wreaking havoc on employment figures — from EZpasses ousting toll collectors to Google-controlled self-driving automobiles rendering taxicab drivers obsolete. Every new computer program is basically doing some task that a person used to do. But the computer usually does it faster, more accurately, for less money, and without any health insurance costs.

We like to believe that the appropriate response is to train humans for higher level work. Instead of collecting tolls, the trained worker will fix and program toll-collecting robots. But it never really works out that way, since not as many people are needed to make the robots as the robots replace.

I am afraid to even ask this, but since when is unemployment really a problem? I understand we all want paychecks — or at least money. We want food, shelter, clothing, and all the things that money buys us. But do we all really want jobs?

We're living in an economy where productivity is no longer the goal, employment is. That's because, on a very fundamental level, we have pretty much everything we need.

From there blogger Phil Bowermaster, who writes about emerging technologies, picks up the thought and extends it while using a new term, Jobsolescense.  He writes,

Do the majority of the population become welfare recipients? Does everybody get the same amount? Do the remaining workers get more, seeing as they still have to work?  These are tough questions and if jobs truly are becoming obsolete we will have to face them.

But it’s not clear to me that jobs are becoming obsolete, at least not any time soon. Douglas Rushkoff, the guy who wrote the linked article, apparently still has a job. I’m actually performing my job writing this blog post. And of course, many of you reading this are doing so at work.

(R)ight now it feels as though we’re losing old jobs faster than we’re gaining new ones.

Automation is eliminating jobs. Machines are doing it. They are fast, efficient, and relentless. Creating jobs is a whole different matter. Creating jobs requires developing new business models, which means identifying market needs — figuring out what is important to people, what they will pay for. It is a fundamentally creative activity — one that machines can’t perform.

His posting that you can read in its entirety HERE opened my eyes to what we've been observing without realizing it for quite a few years now.  We have been gradually returning to the same employment model that carried us through 1,000 years or more before the Industrial Revolution came along and started creating demand for workers to run the machines.  Before then, people would use their own talents to produce goods or services on their own to eke out their livings.  The more successful you were in tapping into a need by the potential consumer, then the more money you would earn.  That is putting it very, very simply.  But you get the picture.  Think for a minute …. in the past 30 years or so, have you not seen weekend flea markets in vacant lots, or perhaps organized Craft Shows where artisans in shopping mall concourses and school gymnasiums set up their tables to hawk their creations or market goodies that you haven't seen elsewhere?

Handcraft Unlimited

These are people who are not looking for jobs, they are creating their own revenue source.  And it looks like that is going to be the best "employment model" for the next few decades, or more.  In other words, don't expect to "find a job" when you should be looking for an opportunity.  As I have stated several times before on this forum, "Everything that is old becomes new again."  Hmmmm….. this deserves some more thought.

Getting this equipment checked out also deserves some thought now, so let's get started with that.  I'm going to head over to the Bunn-O-Matic and get another pot started.  See you back in the day room.

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Posted by on September 12, 2011 • Filed under: morning lineup

9/11 Commemoration … Firegeezer is Looking In From the Outside.

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Fairfax County firefighters lower the flag over the Pentagon
as soldiers salute.  (Washington Post photo)

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There's something significant about 10-year anniversaries, but I'm not sure what it is. Anyway, everybody seems to be in agreement that it's enough to lead to this being the major milestone for the recognition of the tragic events of the horrible day of September 11 ten years ago when our country was attacked by a hijacked air force and two of the three bombers found their targets.

The terrible, gruesome results at the World Trade Center in New York City are beyond description. As the first firefighters on the scene were met with not just "smoke showing," but also a steady rain of falling bodies. When the nightmare was over, we had lost 343 firefighters, 60 police officers, 15 EMT's, and one bomb-sniffing dog. The magnitude of that loss was recognized immediately by firefighters everywhere because we could transfer those numbers to our own departments. Relatively few FD's even have as many as 343 firefighters total, and of the few large departments, only a handful have that many on duty each day. Yes, we could feel it because those were some of US that "bought the ranch" that day.

Of the nearly 3,000 other victims, all of them left behind families and friends without a moment's notice and the collective grief was nationwide. But many people wonder why the fire and police seem to generate so much more sympathy than the innocent office workers who also perished. It's because the average citizen doesn't comprehend the cohesiveness that firefighters and police officers have worldwide. We don't call each other Brothers and Sisters for nothing…. we are FAMILY. And while most of the other victims left perhaps a dozen total of their family members behind, each one of the police and firefighters left more than half a million of their family behind.

That's why it was so outrageous when New York's insane Mayor Bloomberg packed the seating assignments for today's Ground Zero commemoration (without once mentioning the word of God) with political appointees and selected representatives of this and that. Yes, there were some relatives of the WTC victims there, but the mayor said that unfortunately there would be no room for any firefighters or police officers. No room. Sorry. Maybe later.

Some have pointed out that ten years ago there was plenty of room for 418 first-reponders, and they weren't invited back then, either. On that one day when all the Federal goverment agencies who are supposed to protect us failed, (FBI, CIA, INS), the only agencies that worked were the local fire and police departments. But the mayor can't find enough room for them today. Plenty of room for the Federal bigwigs, though.

A couple of weeks after "the day" when the story of flight 93 came into the public, the rallying cry for the entire country emulated the brave passengers and Todd Beamer whose last words were, "Let's Roll!" Military units mobilized and a grateful populace echoed the slogan. Let's Roll! But in the New York City Hall, the slogan has become, "Let's Roll Over!" For shame.

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Posted by on September 11, 2011 • Filed under: commentary • Tagged:

Al Mullins Remembers 911 – Part 2

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Note:  This is the conclusion of a 2-part posting.  Read Part One HERE before continuing with this entry.

Remembering that day, September 11th…

No day in modern history holds as much pain for the American people as September 11th. Granted, December 7, 1941 is as FDR proclaimed a date that will live in infamy! But 9/11, well that is our Pearl Harbor and that is the day we will always remember and those of us who know what happened that day and are part of the fraternity of firefighters who charge up those stairwells will forever carry that scare. The FDNY is one of the best fire departments in the world and I was fortunate to know a couple of those guys who put on their gear that day for the last time. Terry Hatton for one was a real character; I met Terry when he was a firefighter at Rescue 2 in Brooklyn in 1988. His legacy and work in the FDNY was impressive and will live on……… Thank God for people like that…

Back to my recollections, I left off at the barbershop where my twins and I had just witnessed the first collapse and all I wanted to do was get home because I knew that I was going to work that day. I settled with the girls and guys who cut our hair that day and headed home, all the time keeping a wary eye on the sky. Got the boys home and my wife had gone and gotten my daughter so the entire family was at home… However, nothing, the recall never happened so I was stuck watching all the activity in New York and Arlington. I went to bed early because I felt that the next day might be interesting.

September 12th was a carbon copy of September 11th and I headed in to work early, earlier than my usual 0630 I think I actually got in to work at 0600 and relieved the B shifters. Looked up at our staffing and was thinking about what the day would be like. Working at Fire Station 23 in West Annandale I felt like we would be well out of the activity that day and really I was Ok with that, with the bulk of the fires taken care of I felt that any work at the Pentagon would be tough. If you have never found a burned up person I think you are lucky and I hope you never do because it is ugly, in many ways. Being a firefighter getting burned is that one thing you are always looking to avoid, yeah we get the occasional hands, face, ear and neck burns, but the really bad burns those are tough to behold and truly tough to get through and God Bless the brothers and sisters who have to go through that pain. Back to the story! Yes I would have been happy to answer local calls and other "minor" incidents that day but at 0645 I get a call from the battalion chief telling me that our engine was part of a task force going to Arlington to assist with the operations at the Pentagon.

Take another look at the crew, not a bad collection and one that would do a good job when we got there. Let the guys know what was going on got some extra stuff (gloves, hoods, etc) to ensure we had enough to last us through the day and headed to Fire Station 8 in Annandale to get placed into a task force for the Pentagon. As we were getting out of 8, the department’s behavioral specialist was there and he was letting us know we were heading to something that might be a little tough to see and to take and that he would be available when we got back. We mounted up and then proceeded out of the parking lot. The one thing I really remember is that we had a weird mix of units but when I looked at a lot of the drivers and officers, I saw people I had known for years and who were good firefighters and that really gave me a bit of comfort. So here, we are a procession of units responding in a solemn column down Columbia Pike to the Pentagon.

Cresting the hill and coming down to the Pentagon was surreal, movies are great and we have such a grasp on verbal communications today that I thought I would be ready for what I was about to see. As we got closer, the real magnitude of the scene unfolded before us and we knew that it was going to be a long day. The fires in the roof spaces had started up again and the smoke coming out of the building was impressive. As the units got to the staging area all of the officers were directed to report to the fire operations "command post" so I hooked up with the other OIC’s and we headed over there. The ICP was right in front of the collapsed section of the building and I could feel the pressure of the building. Not sure of the dynamics there, but I really felt a pressure being that close to the collapsed part of the building.

We get our marching orders and I am assigned to the roof division on side David of the fire to "stop" the roof fires. Evidently there was something important up there because we were told that we would stop the fire, I am good with that give me a task and set me to work… The task was further enhanced when we were placed under the leadership of Battalion Chief John Gleske. John Gleske and I went to recruit school together and had studied together with Mike Godbout, Jerry Roussillon, and Boots Elmore for almost every promotional exam since then. In addition, I have said and still feel that John Gleske is one of the most competent and schooled tactical fire officers I have ever worked with…. Yeah I did beat him in a couple of those promotional tests, but yeah he is better. Now I am good, I am working with a tough crew and I have an excellent fireground officer to watch over us, not too shabby.

Really, there isn’t much to tell here, a lot of tough work. The area we worked on had a slate roof and we had to tear off the slate, pull up the wood (I think there were 1×6 inch boards supporting the slate) and get to the fire. Not easy but not impossible, but it is time and labor taxing and since I had already entered my 40’s I was working hard and feeling it. A couple of really weird things did happen while we were working on the roof. The first thing was that we were on the D-Ring, there are five rings at the Pentagon and the D ring is the second to last one before you get to the courtyard. I only had my crew at first so we were working pretty good while other crews were stretching a line to where we were at. As the crew and I were basically tearing off the roof a propane bottle below us blew up, that caused us a little excitement. I looked around at the other crews especially at the E Ring and saw Captain Tyrone Harrington (maybe a bit better that John Gleske, that speaks volumes) and he looked over at me waved and laughed. We went right back to work and with all the help we finally got we actually put the fire out, but it was tough work.

As the fire goes out and we are cleaning up and doing some overhaul work we are all sitting up on the roof and just thinking and talking about what happened and about what we knew was the loss of hundreds of firefighters in New York. Suddenly my portable radio went into the "Oh Shit" mode, the evacuation tone was going off. I looked at the other guys and really couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Then the message came in that an unidentified plane had been spotted and was coming towards the Pentagon. The Combat Air Patrol was 5 minutes away and the unknown plane was two minutes away. The radio message was to evacuate the building as quickly as possible. Ok, based on what had happened yesterday I am heading for the spot where we left our ladder truck. We jog over to that spot and to our amazement there is no ladder truck. The crew had a blown gasket and the ladder was actually set down next to the truck. Well the language was a little colorful and we all decided to just look and see if we could spot the plane, I actually had a halligan in my hands and was trying to decide if I could get the pilot before he got me, yeah I know sounds good but I am really a terrible shot so I know who would have won…..

Well that is about it, we really worked hard up there and yes when I was told that we were going that morning that really didn’t make my day. Would I change it? Not on my life. I have been a firefighter for over 30 years and pride myself on having done a good job. While my part may have been small that day I was proud to have been there and proud to have worked with my brothers as we fought the fires at the Pentagon!

………. Al Mullins

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Posted by on September 11, 2011 • Filed under: Al Mullins, commentary • Tagged:

Fireball Feels the 9/11 Spirit Across the Ocean

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Writing about 9/11 is never easy. I guess that everyone remembers where he or she was the 11th september 2001. How could we forget? Many numbers come on my mind when we talk about 9/11:

343 firefighters died that day.

8.48AM: American Airlines flight 11 crashed into north tower of world trade center

9.06AM: United flight 175 crashed into south tower of world trade center

9.43AM: American flight 77 crashed into Pentagon

10.10AM: United flight 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field.

More than 3,000 thousand people died that day. But numbers are not just numbers. We must not forget that beyond each number there is a human being who died or tried to save another, it is important to put faces on names.

Personally, I can give some names: Battalion Chief J Pfeifer, James Hanlon (ladder 1; engine 7), Jules and Gedeon Naudet….those people are still alive but they help me to remember the fallen. But today is a day to remember and pray, so let us pray together and have a moment of silence for all the victims. May God with his blessing hand help us to be able to pray stronger and to believe in His everlasting Love. I will never forget what happened on 9/11/2001. For the families of the victims, life will never be the same. I also discovered on 9/11 that Evil exists but also that United the USA stands.

Today, Sunday the 11th September, 2011, ten years later we must not forget the firefighters/paramedics who got sick after working at ground zero.For them each day is a fight against different diseases and against complicated situations, such as the lack of money for their treatments ……

9/11 is related to the word "heroism,"the 343 fallen firefighters who were inside the towers and who tried to rescue people, who gave us a lesson of humility. Who would accept to trade their own life against another? These 343 Men did it. "That is part of the job" as many firefighters said. On this day of remembrance, why do we not we accept to let hope come inside our hearts and make us better towards our fellow humans? 9/11 is a day of commemoration but also a day to make us closer.

………. Laurence Delorme, Vaugneray, France

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Posted by on September 11, 2011 • Filed under: commentary • Tagged: ,

A different Fire EMS blogger meet-and-greet

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PGFD 9-11 Memorial Stair Climb in Greenbelt, Maryland

You will read about it later, but this photograph from a Prince George's County Fire Department press release shows Iron Firemen, Backstep Firefighter and The Fire Critic waiting in line.

It looks like Captain Wines is carrying more than a fire company of members with him!

Lieutenant Fleitz and former Hyattsville VFD Lieutenant Carey are right behind the captain.

The proceeds from this event will go to the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation.

Great support from "doze guys."  Click on the press release to see additional pictures, including a special one of Captain Wines.

I cannot wait to read their posts. 

Press Release

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Posted by on September 11, 2011 • Filed under: Command & Leadership, Fire Rescue Topics, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, News, Urban Commander • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Engineer Sam Tells About a Local Observance That is Special

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Every year at this time 9/11 is memorialized in some fashion, which as it should be. On the first anniversary there were a great many observances, and again on the fifth. This year, the tenth, there seems to be many more than in past years. One of our local fire companies, Hartsville Fire Co. (Bucks Co., Pa. Station 93) has held a memorial every year without fail. They set out 343 American flags in their station lawn and invite the public to stop by and reflect on the events. That evening, they hold a service which includes the reading of all of the names of the firefighters whose lives were lost.

But they do something additional that is very special in the local area. Across the country, whether directly as a result of 9/11, many firefighters joined one of the branches of the Service. Some of them have since lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Two of them were members in local departments.

One was John Kulick, a volunteer Assistant Chief in Hatboro, Pa., just across the line in Montgomery County from Hartsville. John was also a career firefighter in Whitpain Township, also in Montgomery Co. He and my son Randy served together for a time in Hatboro and were particularly close friends. The other was Tristan Smith, a young Lieutenant in my department, Bryn Athyn Fire Co. in Montgomery Co. Tristan was the nephew of then Chief Kris Smith.  John and Tristan were serving as enlisted men in the U.S. Army and both were killed in action in Iraq in separate incidents, locations and times.

In addition to all of the FDNY members lost, Hartsville Fire Co. makes it a point to memorialize John and Tristan each year as part of their observance. Additional flags are placed for each of them, and their names are read as well.

Earlier this year, Hartsville Fire Co. received a piece of steel from the twin towers, to be used as part of a permanent display at their firehouse. There will be a wall which will have the names of all the firefighters lost. Included in the display will be two plaques, one for John Kulick and one for Tristan Smith.

The memorial is to be dedicated at 6 PM on September 11, 2011

………. Sam Yardumian

Posted by on September 11, 2011 • Filed under: commentary, Engineer's Desk • Tagged: , , , , , ,

My 9/11 Story – A Ringside Seat to That Terrible Day …. by Steve Marshall

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In September of 2001, I was working as a photographer and editor in the news department of an ABC affiliate TV station. My normal shift ran from 10 pm to 8 am. and my primary job was to edit together the hundreds of the various elements that make up a 90 minute morning news show.

I had gotten into bed a little late on the morning of September 11th, having worked overnight and then covered a small news story before trying to get some sleep. My teenage son was home sick that day, or else I would have slept through the whole attack. He woke me up right after the first plane hit and I went right back to sleep. He was back at my door soon afterward, telling me that a second plane had hit the other tower.

Of course at that point it was obvious that this was far more than an errant plane flying into a building. I got up and watched the first 20 minutes of TV coverage and called my News Director to see if additional help was needed to cover the local angle of the story. He told me that all news personnel were being recalled to work EXCEPT the night-side staff. They were to stay home and try to get some sleep because it was going to be a long night ahead of them.

By now, the attack at the Pentagon was making headlines, although for some strange reason, one network kept saying the attack was a car bomb at the State Department even though we could plainly see it was the Pentagon.

I tried to go back to sleep but it wasn't going to happen. Finally at 6pm I headed for the station, prepared for total chaos. What I found at the station was un-nerving. It was eerily quiet as everyone was standing around watching the story unfold on TV. The Network had taken over with a Level 1 Break-In shortly after the attack and local news was sidelined for the most part. We would be given a 10 minute time slot for a local report and that was all for the 11 pm show…and the morning show was canceled altogether. No one knew how long the Network would remain at Level 1 and in control of our airtime.

My first assignment was to head to our local airport and try to catch some interviews with passengers from a commercial airliner that had been forced to land while en route to another city. By the time we got to the airport, the passengers had been bused to a hotel for the night but the pilot was still there. Even hours after the fact, the pilot was still white as a ghost, obviously terribly shaken up. He told me he had been told via radio to sit his plane down RIGHT NOW at the nearest airport. He asked for clarification, and was told to sit his craft down right away or risk being shot down, as the entire continental United States had been declared a "no fly zone" and was given no other info. He said that the only thing that he could figure that would cause such an order was a nuclear attack on the US and when he landed, he was sure that was exactly what had happened. He actually was somewhat relieved to find out it was only a terrorist attack. We returned to the TV station for further assignment, driving through totally deserted streets, as America hunkered down in front of their TVs and waited for the next blow.

Back at the station, my instructions from the News Director were clear. I would babysit a set of 6 videotape recorders that were constantly receiving live satellite feeds from all over the world, but especially from New York. I was to review all of the video coming in for "suitability". In other words, I was to eyeball every foot of that footage we are now all so familiar with and decide what would make air and what was simply too graphic. I would be archiving the entire event as it happened, fed live from Ground Zero, Shanksville and the Pentagon.

WJET-TV newsroom

As the night wore on, more and more footage was turning up, not only of the attacks, but of the

collapses, the rescue efforts, and the reactions of the Nation.

There exists far far more graphic video footage of the attacks than you could possibly imagine. Most will likely never make air due to the shear emotional power of it.

In my opinion, the most disturbing footage came in from Afghanistan. The locals were dancing in the streets in celebration over the attacks. Right then and there, I decided it was probably a good thing that I had not been the President that day, because I sure as heck would have blown that country back into the stone age.

Late in the evening, our Live Truck and news crew that had sped to Shanksville to cover the Flight 93 crash, returned, totally exhausted. They tossed me their videotape and went home. For the most part, all we could see of the Flight 93 crash, was the now-familiar smoking impact crater, but it was enough to tell the story. It would be weeks before the true story of Flight 93 would come out.

In the early hours of the 12th, the station's General Manager came into the newsroom and pinned up a memo from the Network. It was a very sternly worded order listing about 20 different video clips that were banned from airing on the network. They were the most graphic of the footage. The list included the shots of bodies falling from the towers, close ups of live victims standing in the windows waiting for rescue before the collapse and a number of other shots that were way beyond anything we would even consider airing in our conservative small market. The order included a threat that any station airing any of these clips would be in danger of losing their network affiliation.

The "powers that be" in New York had spoken. The 9/11 attack was being sanitized for Main Street America.

I would continue to archive the footage for the next 7 days. Every foot of the video that ABC, CNN and FOX had fed to the affiliates via satellite, was safely hidden away on tape. At my station, I am the only one that has ever seen all of it.

For the most part, as I watch the replays in the run-up to the 10th anniversary, I can tell you who shot what clip, where it come from and when it was shot. It's burned into my mind. I hope someday the worst of it will be forgotten in the fog of years gone by.

…….. Steve Marshall

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Posted by on September 11, 2011 • Filed under: commentary, Gnome Report • Tagged: , , ,

“Mountain of Chickpeas” Explodes, Burns

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A LARGE FIRE ERUPTED LATE FRIDAY NIGHT inside a Walla Walla, Washington, seed company warehouse that involved hundreds of tons of stored chickpeas.  The call was dispatched at 11 pm and the arriving units found two buildings, each 80-ft. by 40-ft. in area, well involved. 

Union-Bulletin photo

Neighbors reported hearing an explosion, but it is not yet clear if the explosion started the fire, or whether the fire triggered an explosion.

The upgraded response to the fire brought three separate departments to the Blue Mountain Seed complex where the flames were reaching 40 feet in the air or more.  The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin reports further:

Nine hours later, the fire still remained active. Smoldering sections deep in stacked apple bins or loosely piled mounds kept firefighters continually dousing the smoky areas on Saturday morning.

An inversion trapped smoke, forcing a white cloud to cling close to city streets and fan out to the northwest as far as the Washington State Penitentiary.

Union-Bulletin

The most severely affected neighbors live just east of the seed company's mounds, Walla Walla Fire Department Capt. Steve Sickles said. No injuries were reported, and damage to neighbors' homes was limited to cracked paint or melted siding, he added.

The fire department is treating the blaze as "suspcious."  The mound is still smoldering and is being taken apart so that water can reach the remaining fire.

Read more at the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin HERE.

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Posted by on September 11, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fires • Tagged: , , ,

Shock … followed by purposeful action

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A brilliant and terrible Tuesday morning

Fourteen months into retirement I am teaching a Fire Officer II class at the Reagan National Airport fire station. The classroom is also their kitchen. The kitchen has a television.

The acting battalion chief steps in, apologizes for the interruption, and turns the television on. 

Good Morning America (ABC) is covering the breaking news of a plane that has hit the World Trade Center.

As the news camera focuses on the entry hole, many of the experienced air-crash-rescue guys are speculating on what type of plane hit the tower and the issues facing FDNY.

After a dozen minutes I try to restart the class. Agree to leave the television on with the sound turned down. I get one or two sentences out when we see the second plane hitting the tower.

Class over!

You do not need a Formal Announcement to Mobilize

As FDNY Firefighter James Hanlon (Ladder 1) points out in the opening of the Naudet Brothers documentary 9|11:

… there were days we would go to the Trade Center five times in a single shift. My point is, we knew those towers as well as anybody. But nobody, nobody, expected September 11th.

When the civilian editors of Fire-Rescue Magazine and Journal of EMS were vetting my article, Attack on the Pentagon: The Initial Fire and EMS Response (April 2002 issue), they struggled with the concept that hundreds of emergency responders initiated action without receiving a formal notification.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Fire Department never expected a 757 to be used as an assault weapon against the Pentagon. When the second plane struck in New York, the dozen off-duty members attending the Fire Officer class joined the 16 on-duty members preparing for the unknown.

They were not alone.

Most of the senior staff and urban search and rescue commanders in my department started purposeful action when they heard of the second plane in New York City. The information came through radio and television, informal digital networks and word-of-mouth.

Rapidly deploying 72 USAR members and 75 tons of equipment

It takes dedicated action by dozens of staff, support and non-USAR firefighters to make a deployment happen.

A point of pride is the ability to assemble the team well within the response deadline for domestic and international response. A deployment represents an administrative five alarm event.

A small role I had while assigned as a company officer at the Fire and Rescue Academy was to respond from home to get the facility unlocked on evenings, weekends and holidays. The Academy, with six classrooms and a large training bay, is the point of staging and assembly for the team.

Far from high tech. The tasks included moving apparatus out of the bay, properly configuring the "quad" – a large space with movable walls to create smaller class spaces, and powering up the facility.

Have to do Something

Ten years ago I also had a part-time job as a civilian Fire Instructor III at the Fire and Rescue Academy.

American Airlines Flight 77 struck the Pentagon shortly after I left the airport.

I was stunned. What could I do? No fire gear in the car, not in uniform, my "retired" fire department ID card did not provide KardKey access to headquarters or communications.

Headed for the Academy. Maybe they are assembling a fire crew with Engine 407.  I was at the Academy in 1982 when we loaded up a Suburban with EMS gear and responded in near-blizzard conditions to the Air Florida 90 crash at the 14th Street bridge.

Not this time. All of the on-duty uniformed staff are away, either responding to the Pentagon or the anticipated USAR deployment. None of the remaining staff experienced a USAR deployment. 

I looked up in time to see the South Tower collapse on live TV. 

Purposeful Action – Setting the Academy for USAR deployment

No more wondering what to do.

Without asking for authorization, started moving academy apparatus out of the high bay building and up the hill. Configured the quad. Tried to set up the communications equipment, but no one had the key to the cabinet.

Before the 11 am official federal mobilization notice, the academy was ready …

… and I was on my way home, satisfied that I did something worthwhile in reaction to the unthinkable.

An Inherent Orientation to Action

Emergency service folks are hard-wired to take action.

To validate the impact of our Citizen CPR program we tried to identify the background of every person who performed CPR prior to the arrival of the department. More than half of the citizen responders were off-duty or former police, fire, ems and health care staff. 

The same orientation that motivated Jeff Simpson, a Dumfries-Triangle Rescue Squad volunteer EMT who was near the World Trade Center. 

From the National EMS Memorial:

"I have no doubt whatsoever that, while I was stricken with disbelief and inaction, Jeff was figuring how he could help.

It was clear in the few minutes we were in the plaza that thousands of people had and would continue to be injured. There were many police, fire and EMS squads arriving at the scene and it was toward these and the injured that Jeff was headed the last time I saw him.

Frankly, there was no other reason for him to go towards the World Trade Center. His hotel, work site and safety were in the opposite direction.

With the second plane hitting the tower, Jeff would have been thinking about the increased number of casualties. I believe Jeff was caught in the collapse of the towers.

I do not know if he was inside the towers or working at one of the triage stations that had been set up close to the towers. In either case, he was doing what he was trained to do and spent his final hours helping the victims," stated Joseph T. Finnegan.

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Earlier 9/11 essays:

2011: Remembering 41 EMS responders who died at WTC, including a hero from Prince William County, Virginia

2010: A Terrible and Brilliant Blue Sky Morning

2008: Reprint "The Anger Never Dies"

Posted by on September 11, 2011 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, aircraft, Command & Leadership, commentary, communications, EMS Health & Safety, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, Firefighter Safety & Health, Firefighting Operations, In the Line of Duty, Line of Duty, Major Incidents, Mass Casualty Incident, Rescues, Response times, Special Operations, Technology & Communications, Training & Development, Urban Commander • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Lineup – September 11

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Drew / AP

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Today we will continue posting the remembrances and reminiscenses of our Geezerguy family.  We started yesterday with three of them so far and will post six more today along with our usual Sunday mix of fire and rescue stories.  If you were away from the computer yesterday, I encourage you to scroll down through the Saturday postings and read our essays.

Holiday routine today along with sufficient time to reflect on what those events from ten years ago mean to all of us.  First we still have to take care of the daily equipment check, so while you get started on that I'll get more coffee going and see how the Sunday breakfast is coming along.

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Posted by on September 11, 2011 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged:

Al Mullins Remembers 9/11

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Remembering That Day …. September 11, 2001

I barely remember the day that JFK was assassinated. I remember my Mom watching the news on the old black and white television and her crying, but that is about it. Fast forward to September 11, 2001, well yes I remember it like it was yesterday. How can you forget that day, and how we have changed in that time?

Like everyone else on the East Coast, we woke to a pristine fall day, clear blue skies light humidity and a gorgeous day. Our daughter was in kindergarten so getting up and getting her out to the bus was the big activity that morning, that and the fact that I had a couple of errands to run that day with our twin boys. After walking my daughter up to the bus stop and seeing her off, I headed back down the street to get my boys and head out on my errands. Twin boys are very cool, everyday that I spend with them is just amazing and this day started that way.

Our first stop was at the bank, I had to drop something off at my bank (well before online banking) so I grabbed the guys took them out of their car seats and headed into the bank to take care of the transaction. As soon as I did that, I was headed to our favorite barbershop to get everyone a haircut, but as I was walking out of the bank, a woman who was walking in stopped and told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Now she did not have to fill in the rest since I naturally knew where they were and what they were. In fact, I am a native New Yorker and as a young boy, I watched the WTC or twin towers being built. I lived up in the Catskills, but had relatives in New York so we would often come down to visit.

I heard her say that the WTC had been hit by a plane and my love of anything FDNY (Fire Department of New York) reminded me that something like this had happened before in New York. A Mitchell B-25 (Twenty Seconds over Tokyo or the twin-engine bombers in the movie Pearl Harbor for the younger crowd) flying to Floyd Bennett Field had gotten lost in the fog and had crashed into the Empire State Building. I looked up again at the sky and I just thought that some wayward general aviation plane had really messed up; I did not even consider a terrorist attack. I really dismissed what she had said and drove over to the barbershop.

Stopped the car got the boys out of their car seats and walked in to the barbershop where I stopped dead in my tracks. The 55-inch rear projection high definition television in the barbershop was showing pictures from the WTC and I really knew right then that this was not a general aviation plane or a mistake. I also knew that every firefighter in New York was going to this fire. If I was at the firehouse and this came in, I would have done the same thing. Yes I know and you know that this is wrong, but back then… yeah I was going.

This was like no fire I had ever seen in my life, First Interstate Bank and Meridian fires in LA and Philly paled in comparison (and they were both huge fires). I also knew this was going to be the toughest fire these guys would ever have to handle, especially since all the elevators were out and those guys had to walk. I have had to go up 10 and 20 story buildings with full gear and equipment on and know that was tough, but almost 100 floors OMG!

Then as I was watching the second plane hit, I could not believe it now I started to get nervous since one was bad, but two was worse and I thought that two would not be the end of it. Shortly after (at least what seemed to be shortly after) the second plane hit the twin towers I called TROT (Technical Rescue Operations Team) central. Fire Station 18 in Fairfax County is really TROT central and as a former shift member there, I knew the number by heart. The driver on the shift answered the phone and I asked him if they had seen the news and were being geared up, as I was talking to him the third plane hit the Pentagon and FS18 actually were toned out on the response… I said a quick good bye and was a little worried, since I knew all of those characters and was concerned for their well being.

Now I turned back to the TV and saw a humongous cloud of dust in New York, and my blood turned to ice water. I knew what had just happened and I knew that many firefighters had just died. As a former member of the TROT group in Fairfax County I had gone up to Baltimore in the late 1980’s to work with the folks from Montgomery County in a drill at the Francis Scott Key Medical Center. The medical center was dropping one of their 14 story buildings and we were going to work on it after it fell. As a young sergeant on the rescue, I was really forward to getting an opportunity to get some good experience on this structure. Battalion Chief Mike Tammillow and Captain Chuck Jarrell, two of the more senior members of the team were kind enough to give me a video camera and put me in position to catch the falling of the building. I grabbed the camera got as close as the security folks would let me and started filming, it was really a great vantage point and I got to see and hear the entire demolition of the building from a close vantage point. Now remember that dust? I had no clue about the dust in the late 80’s, heck I was still listening to Journey… So I am filming the building coming down and watching the dust come towards the camera and not really appreciating what was going to happen next when I couldn’t breathe anymore…. I know how the people on the ground felt that day and I knew the significance of the dust.

(To be continued tomorrow…)

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Posted by on September 10, 2011 • Filed under: Al Mullins, commentary • Tagged:

9/11 Thoughts of Eric Lamar

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343

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Ten years after, the number continues to defy believability in its astounding size.

Never before had the profession of firefighting experienced such an extraordinary cataclysm. It was beyond the realm of imagination, contemplation or nightmare.

Today that same sentiment or feeling remains. It is true that life has gone on and they say that the Fire Department has been re-built but the stunning magnitude of the loss will stay with us always, immune to the passage of time.

Those numbers, three-four-three, define the before and after of our profession, a gigantic breach eluding comprehension.

In our minds and indeed in the minds of most Americans, firefighting has always been associated with a degree of selfless service which extends beyond the notions of job, work and profession. Those 343, in their collective sacrifice, transcended the expectations of mortals, even of the heroic men.

On this tenth anniversary we can struggle to do them justice by remembering their individual uniqueness while at the same we will forever marvel at their sense of duty and commitment on a day that both defined our greatest loss as well as the bravery and courage of firefighters, for all time.

………. Eric Lamar

(Note:  This is the third entry of Eric's 9/11 trilogy.  You can read the first two HERE and HERE.)

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Posted by on September 10, 2011 • Filed under: commentary, Eric Lamar • Tagged:

Bedroom Vodka-Boom in Wales

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Too Much Proof Blows The Roof Off

A 43-YEAR-OLD INVENTOR and tinkerer was tinkering with his home still Friday afternoon.  The bedroom cooker was set up to make vodka and he was experimenting with a new recipe when the thing blew up on him.  All of the home's windows were blown out as well as a hole in the roof directly over the hard-hat area.

When the South Wales fire brigade arrived they had fire coming though the new roof opening and the victim was across the street in his boxer shorts getting cold water run over his extensive burns.

Daily Express photo

The Daily Express reported, in part:

Ten neighbouring houses had to be evacuated and Mr Toms was found wandering in the street in his blackened underwear.

Gavin Rees, 28, who lives next door, said: "I had just put my five year old to bed when I heard a massive explosion. I looked out of the window and saw my neighbour in the street in his boxer shorts with all his skin burnt off his arms. I took him in and ran his burns under the tap until the paramedics took him away."

Mr Toms runs his own company called Real Cool Futures. One of his products, made from sheep droppings, is gift wrap and stationery which has been presented to Prince Charles.

Susan Minty, 52, said: "He is definitely old enough to know better. He’s going to wake up with one hell of a hangover. It’s crazy. You don’t go making something like that in a terrace street, especially when there are kids about. The firefighters told us we were lucky the whole street didn’t go up."

Police say that it is not illegal to brew your own hootch, as long as you don't sell it or profit from it.  Toms might have violated a fire law or two, however.

Read the entire article in the Daily Express HERE.

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Posted by on September 10, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, Fire Rescue Topics • Tagged: , ,

Special Parade Tribute in Northern Minnesota

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The Laurentian North Fire Fighters Mutual Aid Coalition is hosting a Silent Parade commemorating those lost or injured in terrorist attacks on our nation on September 11, 2001.

Apparatus will muster in Tower, Minnesota at 1130 with the Silent Parade commencing at 1200. Parade route will travel through the Coalition service area with brief stops in Breitung, Eagles Nest, Morse-Fall Lake, Ely, Babbitt, Embarrass, Pike-Sandy-Britt, Vermilion Lake, Greenwood and Tower.

Expected parade travel time is about 3 hours. No sirens or bells – this will be a Silent Parade of tribute. Fire, EMS and LE invited. For more info contact: Geoff Galaski 218-750-7800 or Dave Durrant 218-248-0228

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Posted by on September 10, 2011 • Filed under: current events, Fire Rescue Topics, parades • Tagged: , ,

9/11 Remembrances of Patrick Mahoney

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I've been struggling with what to write for this group 9/11 discussion. Should I take the easy route and write about where I was and what I was doing that day? Should I take the contrarian (pageview-bait) route and rail against the appropriation of 9/11 in the fire service outside the FDNY? Should I bitch about the cheapening of 9/11? I don't know. All of those things are easily said and just as easily dismissed as so much noise.

What I would like to do instead is tell you about my friend Ash (that's short for Ashley, but he is a he). Ash has been a volly fireman in Connecticut and Texas for probably around 20 years. He's a white collar investment type and has lived in San Francisco, Australia, Connecticut, Texas, and maybe a few other places. This is the sort of guy who wears Brooks Brothers and windsurfs. But he's also a good fireman and drives a truck and hunts. He has a great labrador named Bucky, too. He is one of those guys you want to hang out with and who has an interest in people. He's a good guy.

Ash's brother, Robert, worked for Cantor Fitzgerald in one of the towers and, like so many with that company, he died on 9/11. I haven't seen Ash since maybe 2003 but every year around 9/11 you can see the outpouring of love for him on Facebook. Despite not seeing him and rarely talking to him for these many years, I still hold him as a friend. I know he misses and loves his brother; indeed, I know he is sad. Like many, many thousands of others, Ash lost someone who was not a firefighter but was no less keenly missed.

I think the fire service has tended over these ten years to claim 9/11 as its own. We would all do well to remember Ash and his brother.

………. Patrick Mahoney

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Posted by on September 10, 2011 • Filed under: commentary, FireHat • Tagged: ,

Omaha Firefighters Still Without Contract

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Last One Expired December 2007

THE OMAHA, NEBRASKA, FIREFIGHTERS HAVE BEEN at odds with the city for nearly four years as they try to hammer out a labor agreement.  But the slow-moving results have been constantly interrupted by court challenges.  The most recent one was settled Friday when the state Supreme Court dismissed an appeal and cross-appeal that both sides filed last year regarding minimum staffing numbers.

The Labor Court had ruled in the union's favor in preserving the current 657 uniformed positions, but the city protested that.  However in February the labor court issued a contract order giving the city final say on staffing issues.  The Supreme Court said that decision had made the previous appeals moot.

KETV posted this latest turn in the never-ending story of the fire department's bargaining HERE.

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Posted by on September 10, 2011 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, labor, News • Tagged: ,