Notice: As we previously explained to you HERE, the availability of the Emergency! series expires on September 18. After 21 months of visiting Johnny and Roy every Sunday, we will no longer be able to provide you with these great, classic episodes. Beginning Sept. 4 we are running an Emergency! Marathon and showing an episode every day until the franchise expires. The only exception will be next weekend, Sept. 10 and 11 in deference to the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon building attacks. After the 18th our archived postings under Sunday Emergency will also be removed. We hope you enjoyed these shows as much as we did.
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Season Three – Episode 8
Insomnia
Paramedic Gage, despite the help of his friends, just can't get to sleep.
PHOENIX, ARIZONA, FIREFIGHTERS were on the scene of a working fire Monday night around 10 pm Mountain when a man drove his car into the rear of one of the engines that were staged at the scene.
KPHO-TV
Damage was minimal to both vehicles and fortunately the driver piled into the tailboard just before the pump operator had stepped into the area to connect his supply line.
The fire was in a top floor storage room of a 2-story commercial facility and was easily handled with a single hose line. The driver of the car was arrested for DUI and given a free ride in a police cruiser.
Firefighters Enter Into Fire to Shut Down Gas Line
A NATURAL GAS-FED FIRE IN DOWNTOWN MODESTO, California, early Tuesday morning had all the potential of becoming a major incident. The fire was reported at 1 am Pacific and the first-in unit found a growing fire in an alleyway that was being fed by a high-pressure gas line.
ModestoNews.org
While the units were starting primary searches and checking for possible extension, a hose crew was able to press the flames back enough to allow a firefighter to enter the burn zone and shut off the valve.
Division Chief Sean Slamon of the Modesto FD said that the potential was extreme for a few minutes.
ModestoNews.org had their camera crew on the scene for the entire operation and captured the dramatic moment when Captain Ryan Winton made the successful attempt to shut down the gas line:
The Modesto FD had just wrapped up from a working apartment fire dispatched 3 hours previously.
The long weekend is over, school re-opens for the new semester, and the prolonged summer heat is gone for most of us. Right now one of the big items facing the U. S. is the continuing weather attacks. The Tropical Storm Depression Lee is moving up into the heart of the mid-west and the scars from Hurricane Irene are making life miserable for the people in New England where flood waters have isolated many communities and continue to cause untold damage.
The next hurricane of the season, dubbed Katia, is moving across the ocean and the tv networks are doing their best to hype it up into a potential disaster so that you will stay tuned into their respective channel all day while they describe all the catastrophic events that just might, maybe, perhaps happen. But reality is saying that Katia will remain out to sea and eventually swing away from the coast and dissipate over the North Atlantic.
That screen cap above is from the Weather Channel's website and it is an interactive tracking map showing the current locations of both active storms, their paths to this point, and the latest projected path for them. It's updated every few hours and is the best I've seen so far for this type of graphic. Here's the link: http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanecentral/tracker . (Click on the "Lee" tab that you see on the left for the detailed map for that storm.) Go ahead and put it in your Favorites temp. folder for now if you are interested in watching the progress of severe weather systems.
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Speaking of websites, I want to point out for the benefit of the readers who have recently joined us that we have more than the six postings on this page to look at. No matter how frequently you check in to Firegeezer to see the latest that we've posted, I encourage you to continue scrolling through the site until you've caught up to where you left off the last time you visited with us. Our home page only holds six postings and over a period of just a few hours we usually post more than that.
When you get to the bottom of the page, you will see a "Next" button:
Just click on that and you will be taken the next page where the immediately-previous postings are filed. Then you just keep scrolling until you get back to your last view. Technically, you can continue hitting "Next" and work your way back through the entire 11,000 + stories that we've posted. But it's probably better if you wait until you're on vacation to try that.
Right now we have to try following our checksheets and get this equipment checked out for the day. I'm already headed back to the Bunn-O-Matic to get more coffee going for us. See you back in the day room later.
Notice: As we previously explained to you HERE, the availability of the Emergency! series expires on September 18. After 21 months of visiting Johnny and Roy every Sunday, we will no longer be able to provide you with these great, classic episodes. Beginning Sept. 4 we are running an Emergency! Marathon and showing an episode every day until the franchise expires. The only exception will be next weekend, Sept. 10 and 11 in deference to the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon building attacks. After the 18th our archived postings under Sunday Emergency will also be removed. We hope you enjoyed these shows as much as we did.
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Season Three – Episode 7
The Promotion
A major traffic pile-up on a fogbound freeway during rush hour causes problems.
A VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA, FIRE DEPARTMENT engine collided with a tour bus Sunday morning while responding to a working commercial fire. The engine, which had its lights and siren activated, and the bus crashed into each other at an intersection at 9:07 am Pacific.
CBC
Straight.com
The impact caused the bus to glance off and then crash into an occupied automobile. The bus was carrying 20 German tourists on the final day of their visit, but outside of being shaken up none of them were injured. The firefighters and the car's driver were also unhurt in the chain collision.
Straight.com
It has not been determined yet who was at fault in the crash, but several witnesses said that the bus had failed to yield to the fire engine.
Episode #10 takes us out to the world renowned Bonneville Salt Flats on the western edge of Utah.
This episode focuses on a few of the stories that come to us from the salt out of thousands that exist out there. Speed Week is an even that must be attended at least once in ones life to fully come to grasp the depth and magnitude of this event.
Walking around the pits you see so much effort, camaraderie, talent, and passion that is very tough to describe.
I had a chance to talk with Linhbergh from Speedhunters and he summed up Bonneville best by describing the event as the cleanest place on Earth and I have to agree.
The purity of the salt, the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets, and the passion exhibited by all make for an event I dream about all year.
During the (1930-1940) era the Bonneville Salt Flats was able to support the weight of 10-ton twin-engine streamliners that roared down the 13.5-mile long Race Courses. The Hot Rods roared onto the salt flats in 1949 with the first Speed Week event and have run every year since. Of course a few years were missed due to weather.
By the early 1960's the pioneers of Land Speed Racing began to notice subtle changes in the surface of the raceway. There were discussions of why the surface seemed to be getting weaker and that this unique body of land was shrinking. We were able to get only as much as 7 miles of decent salt for our courses, if we were lucky. It wasn't long before fingers were pointed at the mining industry on the south side of interstate 80. Owned by Kaiser Chemical, their operations covered some 50 sq. miles of the salt flats.
The once healthy 18 plus inches of salt had become so fragile that the Race Courses had to be moved farther and farther east. Running on the long International Race Course was no longer possible. Reilly Industries was forcing water through canals crisscrossing the flats into their evaporation ponds from which potash was extracted. It was estimated that the process was taking an estimated 850,000 tons of salt from the flats each year.
The Lay down Project was to reverse the process by pumping brine water back onto the salt flats at the rate of 1.5 million tons of salt each year for 5 years. The BLM, Reilly Chemical and the Racers embraced the plan. It was a giant step forward with Government and Industry working together. From the beginning of the pumping project racers began to notice changes in the surface.
By the end of the 5-year pumping plan the racers were able to get back to running on the old International Course. Though not as long, there was a noticeable difference in the hardness and durability of the racecourses and on a few occasions we were able to get as much as an 11 mile course.
The potash plant was bought by Intrepid Potash in 2005. The Bureau of Land Management allowed the Lay Down Project agreement to expire when the mining facility changed owners.
While Intrepid Potash has been voluntarily pumping brine back on the lake, the area appears to be deteriorating again.
Barry Newman, reporting for The Wall Street Journal, posted this report July 27, 2011
Automobile magazine president and editor-in-chief Jean Jennings sounded an alarm in her October 2011 column "Today's Agenda: Saving Bonneville's Salt Flats."
Jennings describes the differences in the current replenish effort by Intrepid, in comparison to the work done by Reilly Chemical from 2000 – 2005:
Intrepid's replenishment efforts are on a greatly diminished scale from what is needed and fall far short of Reilly agreed to do.
Intrepid is flooding the Salt Flats in March instead of November, not leaving enough time for the brine to adequately permeate and bolster Bonneville's surface crust, and salt that should be returned to the flats after extrication of minerals is now being bagged and sold by Intrepid to municipalities for road use.
Jennings supports the efforts by Save The Salt and SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) to have BLM immediately enact a binding agreement that will ban bagged salt sales and demand permanent agreement for "mass balance" salt replenishment.
Jenning suggests her readers email Congress to support legislation to end mining at Bonneville.
A LIGHT PLANE CRASHED SUNDAY MORNING near Tehachapi, California, killing the pilot and starting a destructive grass fire. A stiff breeze with 40 mph gusts fanned the fire in the sparsely occupied area and before fire units were notified and responding, it grew to several hundred acres and consumed one home.
Tehachapi News
The Cessna 210 went down at 11:30 am killing the pilot and his passenger on impact. Initially 30 homes were evacuated, but later it was expanded to 100 homes.
The Associated Press prepared this video report prior to the discovery of the 2nd victim:
By 9:30 pm Sunday night the fire had grown to cover 3,500 acres with 0% containment. There are 600 firefighters on the scene, but extra-rugged terrain is preventing them from getting an effective perimeter around the fire. Seven air tankers and four helicopters joined the fight before dark.
The Bakersfield Californian has the STORY.
KERO-TV has MORE.
A FIRE IN AN APARTMENT BUILDING early Sunday morning in McAllen, Texas, destroyed the entire building and caused many residents to jump off their balconies while others were rescued by the firefighters.
When the first units arrived at 5:30 am they found the building fully involved and some people desperately dropping their children out of windows to people on the ground who were catching them. The first arriving companies went directly into rescue operations using ground ladders and brought an unknown number of victims down.
KGBT-TV
Five aerial streams were used to knock the fire down in about four hours. Early indications show that the fire probably started on the second floor. The building had 22 units and was completely destroyed. A second building of the complex escaped any major damage. The owners, a husband and wife, say that the building was insured, but The Monitor is reporting that land records show that foreclosure procedings have been started against the property.
A total of 17 people were transported for medical attention, two of them in serious condition.
Monday Morning – Labor Day in U. S. We've got an APP for that!
I have readily admitted in the past that I'm a self-described "digital dunce," somebody who hasn't the faintest idea what's going on with all the 0's and 1's that propel computer programs and hand-held digital devices that are changing our daily routines drastically. I'm pretty good at learning how to press the buttons or keys that make things happen, like cut-and-past passages from one document to another. But don't ask me to write something up in HTML code, for instance. That stuff just makes my brain explode amid a mighty protest against being forced to think like that.
It took me a year just to figure out what an APP is and where I'd find one. I've got a couple of them on my Android smartphone, but they're simple to use. The only reason they are on there is because they downloaded and installed themselves without me having to do anything. Same thing with "widgets," those mysterious packets of code that are necessary to run a full-service website like this one. I can drag the widget from A to B and watch it activate itself, but I need help when it comes to downloading and installing the thing. Are you like that, too? Whether you are or not, I recently came across an online article that you might find interesting. It's titled, How To Make Your Own Apps and was published in Popular Mechanics.
What caught my eye were these sentences from the opening paragraph:
Mike Raben, a firefighter in Louisville, Colo., found a more modern solution online: a custom-built calculator app for Google Android phones. He liked what he saw, and had a few ideas for improving it. So, after communicating with the app's creator—a firefighter from northern Virginia named Emmet Carolan—he built his own version….
You catch that? Two firefighters talking APP construction. How about that? In the next paragraph, the article continues: Neither Raben nor Carolan are programmers. Their apps were built with Google's App Inventor, one of a wave of new tools designed to allow people without programming experience to create apps and games for their phones and tablets. That sounds fairly simple. For me, I haven't the faintest idea of what kind of APP I'd ever be interested in creating, but it looks like fun.
The Popular Mechanics article reviews a couple of DIY app program creators and passes along some tips, so if you are interested in fooling around with it and learning how to develop your own games or job assistance app, then CLICK HERE to read the full article. And if you're successful in developing a working app, tell me about it. Who knows? Maybe you can make a quarter-million selling a 99¢ app.
Happy holiday schedule for many of you today. But people will still find ways to get themselves in trouble, so we have to make sure the equipment's all ready for the day's challenges. I need to get some more coffee started, so I'll head off to the Bunn-O-Matic while you get the checksheet. See you back in the day room before we head out for the final day of Fill-The-Boot action.
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THE BMW AUTO MANUFACTURERS ARE apparently the first ones out of the gate with laser-beam headlight technology. The new design in lighting is still a few years away from the showroom floor, but the prototype has advanced to the point where there is not much doubt about its future. Lest you get all worried about a laser beam emanating from an oncoming car and burning out your retina, they have already provided for that by using a fluorescent phosphor material in the lens to filter the beam and make it safe for use.
Some immediate advantages were listed in CNET online magazine:
Each laser diode is only 10 microns in width, substantially smaller than the 1-millimeter-square LEDs used in car headlights today.
Instead of a large, round piece of glass, a laser headlight could shine through the cross pieces of the car's grille, and so remain hidden when not in use.
The traditional dual-headlight configuration would also no longer be necessary, as a row of laser diodes could peek out from the front edge of the hood.
As laser light is a coherent beam, it can be precisely shaped, and also changed at will. Instead of a separate high-beam lamp, lasers can be computer controlled to form a low-beam or high-beam pattern.
BMW mentions a few existing active headlight technologies, such as adaptive headlights, which use the steering-wheel position to illuminate corners, and its High Beam Assistant, which senses oncoming cars and changes the light pattern so as not to blind other drivers.
One of the main driving forces for this technology is that the laser headlamp uses but a fraction of electricty that the conventional headlamps do. BMW is rapidly bringing online a hybrid fuel vehicle and the savings on the battery drain while driving at night are significant.
BMW plans to have a laser headlamp ready for their new i8 hybrid car.
While the lasers only need a pinpoint opening for their beam, the traditional
headlight lens is still a major part of the cosmetic design on cars, so they
are remaining for the time being. (BMW publicity photo)
You can read further about the laser lights as well as the new BMW i8 HERE and HERE.
Notice: As we previously explained to you HERE, the availability of the Emergency! series expires on September 18. After 21 months of visiting Johnny and Roy every Sunday, we will no longer be able to provide you with these great, classic episodes. Beginning today we will be running an Emergency! Marathon and showing an episode every day until the franchise expires. The only exception will be next weekend, Sept. 10 and 11 in deference to the tenth anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon building attacks. After the 18th our archived postings under Sunday Emergency will also be removed. We hope you enjoyed these shows as much as we did.
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Season Three – Episode 6
Snake Bite
Gage is attacked by a rattlesnake during a mountain rescue.
A SCIENTIFIC LABORATORY IN MENLO PARK, California, was the scene of a destructive explosion Friday that killed a scientific engineer and sent another to the hospital.
KGO-TV
Adrian Martin, 56, was working in the lab at Membrane Technology and Research Co. and was attempting to transfer some methane, helium, and nitrogen from individual cannisters into one when the mixture exploded, killing him. A female colleague who was standing in the doorway at the moment was blown out of the lab but survived.
The San Jose Mercury-News reported:
Harold Schapelhouman, chief of the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, said Martin was mixing methane, helium and nitrogen for an experiment when a cylinder containing one of the gases ruptured, killing Martin and injuring a female scientist.
"We don't know what caused this blast,'' Schapelhouman said, adding that fire, police and Cal-OSHA investigators gathered evidence and photographs until 1:30 a.m. Saturday before leaving. "It could have been a variety of things. There was no source of ignition but rather an overpressure. Or there could have been a failure of the methane cylinder, which blew apart.''
At the time of the blast, Martin "was working with methane gas; that much we know,'' Schapelhouman said. "And he was doing a pre-mixture of methane, helium and nitrogen, which is done before the next part of the experiment. But we don't know if the helium or the nitrogen were involved or were inside the cylinder at the time of the blast. That will have to be determined."
Immediately following the blast, other workers in the building dragged Martin out of the destroyed lab and attempted to shut off the gas cylinders. They were able to close the helium and nitrogen tanks, but the damaged methane cylinder continued to leak causing the FD to monitor and ventilate the area for several hours afterward. There were 25 people working in the building at the time and the 23 others were all evacuated safely.
The blast caused what was described at "catastrophic damage" to the lab and several nearby rooms in the 2-story building. Several sections of the building will have to be rebuilt, according to the fire chief.
According to its website, Membrane Technology and Research "develops and produces membrane-based separation systems for the petrochemical, natural gas and refining industries,"
SOMETHING THAT WE ARE SEEING LESS OF these days are the good, traditional decorative lettering and design work on firetrucks. Not only the burnished gold leaf lettering, but the custom logo's and designs unique to the individual departments.
Most of the scroll work around the cabinet doors, etc., are decals now. But there are still some departments, just about all of them volunteer companies, who retain the tradition and pride of equipment and have their lettering done by an artisan.
One of them is the Round Hill Volunteer Fire Company in Greenwich, Connecticut. They have recently purchased a new fire engine and while it was being lettered by Robert Whalen, 76, of Valatie, New York the local newspaper the Greenwich Time interviewed the artist.
Robert Whalen finishes burnishing the lettering. (Greenwich Time photo)
The Time writes:
Whalen said his work on fire engines is a "dying art," as fewer departments in recent years want to add such a personal touch to their vehicles.
"It is kind of dying," Whalen said. "The younger generation doesn't seem to care anymore."
Rarely working on trucks from professional fire companies, his commissions come from volunteer fire fighters, he said.
"It adds a lot of pride to the volunteers," he said. "Their pay is their pride in their community, their fire department and what they are doing is a service to the community."
The article is a good background piece on this usually-ignored part of the fire service and you can read the entire STORY HERE.
File this one under the "What Will They Think of Next?" category. The Firegeezer.com website is constantly being added to a variety of Twitter users' Following lists. Literally several each day, and I check them out to both make sure they aren't some spam or porno jerks, and to get a feel for who is following and reading our postings.
The other day we were picked up by a company that is in the business of leasing bunker gear. Not kidding, that's what they do. In fact, that's the name of their firm, Bunker Gear Leasing. Admit it…. at first glance that sounds so silly. Who uses rented bunker gear? That's like renting your socks or your bedroom slippers. But after taking a moment to check out their website (http://www.bunkergearleasing.com/) it all begins to make sense.
On their home page they tell us:
We rent to students attending fire colleges, fire training businesses and shipping firms. If you're looking for bunker gear rentals, we aim to please! On this site you can measure yourself to get the proper fit by going to our Sizing page.
Bunker Gear Leasing also sells used gear. There are many industries that need turnout gear. We can help you find a cost effective solution to your turnout gear needs. Since we are a rental company, we have gear in various stages of use. Our prices will vary due to the quality of the gear.
Now it's beginning to make sense. In fact, it sounds like a great idea, especially for the first-time students attending the basic fire school. I'm not sure what the connection is with shipping firms though, but industries and workshops that have their own fire brigades could be potential customers. And the availability of purchasing servicable clothing would be perfect for the rural VFD that has few calls and even fewer dollars to spend on running gear. Yes, I kinda' like that idea. A great example of innovative entrepreneurship. I hope it works out for them.
Now let's work our way through the equipment checksheet for this morning. I'm going to get some more coffee started for us. See you back in the day room after our Sunday breakfast.
THE MAN WHO DROVE HIS CAR into the Main-Transit Fire Station in Amherst, New York, early Monday morning was arraigned yesterday (Friday) on charges of Criminal Mischief 2nd degree and making an unsafe lane change.
WKBW-TV image
Firegeezer carried the story and video report HERE on Monday reporting on the extensive damage caused when Mark Detlef drove his car across the sidewalk, up the driveway and through the closed bay door of the firehouse. The crash damaged three of the six firetrucks parked inside and caused literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in structural damage to the fire station.
Detlef had to be extricated from the wreckage amid the threat of a possible building collapse on the rescuers. Police are saying that Detlef deliberately drove into the building with maliscious intent. He is facing still more charges after their investigation is complete.
WKBW-TV has this updated story HERE and also posted this video that was produced after our earlier report:
Some Good Stories on Other Fire/EMS Websites That We Recommend
* STATter911 has the raw video of the New York police emergency squad (they take care of auto extrications, etc. up there) dropping a car on an accident victim yesterday. Dave has the story to go along with it HERE.
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* Chicago Area Fire has the photo story that illustrates why geezers shouldn't get under their cars anymore.
CLICK HERE to read about how this guy and his drinking buddy got into this situation in the first place.
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* Firefighter Spot is the leader in "close call" videos with an extensive collection that is available for training purposes. Jason has just added one from Queens, NYC, with a smoke explosion in a cockloft. Take time to watch it HERE and while you're at the site, look around his archives of hundred of videos.
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* Wildfire Today has two good stories this morning that are recommended reading. One has to do with a group of four Australians participating in an "ultra-marathon" down under who got trapped in a wildfire and were seriously burned. The other story covers the ongoing eight separate wildfires in Yellowstone National Park. CLICK HERE to the home page and scroll down to the stories.
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* Have you checked the Daily 911 Deals page for this weekend's specials yet? They are offering great deals on custom grant-writing services and breakaway safety vests HERE.
FRIDAY MORNING THE TOLEDO, OHIO, FIRE DEPARTMENT held a public ceremony to officially promote 20 members of the department to the ranks of Lieutenant and Captain. Among them were a husband and wife, Brian and Debbie Phillips who were both promoted, Brian to Captain and Debbie to Lieutenant.
WUPW-TV Ch. 10 had their camera at the function and filed this video report of the rare occurrence:
Congratulations to the Phillips' from the Geezerguys.
We're into the Labor Day weekend now, which means Summer is effectively over, schools start back next week, and the nationwide Fill-the-Boot campaign is in full operation. The sight of firefighters and EMS people standing streetside and on the corners with their boots held out to car windows has become a cultural icon over the past decades as people grab some loose change and toss it into the boots on their way by.
Even during economic downturns like we are having now, the public is always willing to pitch in to help out "Jerry's Kids," even though Jerry isn't cheering the crowd on this year. (See the commentaries from FossilMedic HERE and Firegeezer HERE.) My own Local conducts the campaign over four days each year, Friday through Monday, with a tremendous support from the county Board of Supervisors. As a result, we always finish the weekend with an admirable collection because of the great generosity and participation by all the citizens. I just read the report from the first day's collections and I can tell you that the public is being very generous so far this year. Some terrific totals were posted. The Local always instigates a little competition between platoons and stations by awarding prizes that have been donated by some merchants to the daily and total collection leaders. This year we have a recruit school in session and they were out there yesterday collecting an unbelievably high tally. It makes me think that this year is going to be a record-setter. I sure hope that your department is having as much success with your campaign. If you have any photos of your troops in action working the streets, send them to me so that I can post them over the next few days.
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We have a request from Kenneth Hout who is looking for any information you might have about the 1927 Lange fire engine. He didn't specify any particular need, so I presume he's starting from scratch with it. Personally, I have never heard of a Lange firetruck, but I'm not a close follower of the historic marques. So if you have anything to share or tips for Kenneth, send us an email to: geezerguys (at) yahoo (dot) com or post it in the Comments for him. Thanks.
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This bit of news is definitely off-topic because the only emergency service brought into the incident was a sheriff's department. But the call is so unusual, and entertaining, that I thought I would share it with you. Back on Thursday a highway crew was working along a country road in Fairfield County, Ohio just a little ways southeast of Columbus, when they came across a high number of women's panties strewn along the roadside in trees and on the ground. The number was so great that they called the sheriff to check it out and they found approximately 1,500 pairs of the panties in the general area. Some of them were used, but washed and clean, and many of them were brand new, but not in their packaging. There was no indication of where they came from, or why they had been dumped.
As the deputies started collecting and bagging the "evidence," the highway workers started scouring along the roadway and within a 1-mile stretch they came across three more dumpings of the underwear. They were all sizes and a variety of colors and patterns. By the time all of them that were found had been collected and counted, they ended up with more than 3,000 pairs. As of this weekend, there is still no indication of who dumped them, or why. But I'll bet many of our readers can develop a good possible motive for the littering.
WBNS-TV posted this video report:
Ok, let's not get our own underwear in a twist. It's time to get the equipment checked out for today. I'm heading toward the Bunn-O-Matic to get some fresh java going. See you back in the day room.
LOS ANGELES NBC4 CAMERAMAN / REPORTER Joel Cooke was returning to the station after filing a story in Newport Beach Friday morning when the station's truck caught fire on the freeway. He was the only passenger in the truck and got out safely. They don't say anything about whether his $150,000 camera made it, though. Interestingly, this photo published on KNBC's own webpage was taken by a passerby.
WHAT COULD BE CLASSIFIED AS A HAZ-MAT incident at the Exeter, New Hampshire, post office sickened 20 workers to the point where they had to flee outside and await medical help. Six area ambulances responded to the rear of the main post office at 9:30 am Thursday where they found the victims suffering from nausea, dizziness, and chest pains. The ambulances shuttled 17 of the stricken workers to the hospital for treatment.
Exeter, New Hampshire, Post Office
The fire department went into the front lobby where there seemed to be the focal point of the hazard and their gas detectors found an "elevated volatile organic compound" which created a large quantitiy of carbon monoxide. Queries discovered that during the night an asbestos cleanup crew had used a solvent to remove the asbestos floor tiles and the solvent had seeped down into the plywood subflooring. The solvent then went into a contiuous dissipation of the vapors that caused everyone to get sick.
WHDH-TV prepared this good video report on the incident:
None of the victims were in there long enough to suffer any serious illness, but the entire building has been closed until all the contaminated plywood has been removed. All of the people who had been transported to the hospital were released later after being checked over and no lingering problems are expected.
Thanks to Mark Donovan.
Firegeezer can't help but notice the irony that the asbestos tiles were on the floor for unknown number of decades and never made anybody sick. But the crew removing them for "health" reasons ended up making everyone sick.
THE NEW HAMPSHIRE STATE FIRE MARSHAL arrested a former volunteer firefighter yesterday (Thursday) and charged him with one count of arson. John Colcord, 18, was arraigned and taken to jail where he remains while investigations continue. The fire marshals say that Colcord is connected with 13 arsons that have taken place this year and they are expecting to file more charges against him.
John Colcord – MySpace photo
Colcord was until recently a member of the Madison VFD, but he voluntarily left the department last month. Madison Fire Chief Rick Judkins said that Colcord was a member for less than 2 years. The arsons all took place in and around the towns of Madison, Eaton, and Freedom.
The Concord Monitor has the STORY.
The Conway Daily Sun has MORE.
POLICE IN BERLIN, GERMANY, ARRESTED TWO PEOPLE, a man and a woman, Tuesday after they were observed setting fire to a parked BMW automobile at 5:25 am. The car was completely destroyed and the two autos on each side of it were heavily damaged. A greatly increased police presence is in the city following the arson spree of two weeks ago when more than 70 cars were torched over a 5-day span.
The BMW from Tuesday morning. (dpa)
Firegeezer reported HERE on the activity during the past four years where groups have been maliciously burning nearly 900 cars around the city, some of them politically motivated extremist groups, while others have been copycat arsonists doing it for the fun of it. Read the article for the details of how they operate.
Early Tuesday morning a neighbor observed the two culprits looking around the parked BMW in a suspicious manner and then shortly after they walked away, the car lit up on fire. The witness notified the police and gave them a detailed physical description of the pair and they were picked up in the area shortly after that.
Berliner Morgenpost interviewed the eyewitness in this video report:
Following the outburst of arsons two weeks ago, the Federal police service moved 650 officers from around the country into Berlin for additional resources to track down and catch the arsonists. One hundred of them are investigators assisting the Berlin detectives. The two people picked up the other night, a 27-yr.-old man and a 23-yr.-old woman are not considered to be part of the political factions, but rather "free-lancers" acting independently. They were released on bond Wednesday.
Thanks to Christian Lewalter / FWNetz
Autogazette STORY.
ASK ANDY SCHILLING OF NEW ATHENS, ILLINOIS, why he bought a retired fire engine three weeks ago and that's what he'll tell you. But his toy came in mighty handy this past Monday when his son's home had a fire in the basement.
Andy Schilling and his new toy. (Post-Dispatch photo)
Schilling bought the 1987 Ford pumper equipped with a 750-gallon booster tank for $5,000 from the O'Fallon Fire Department in southern Illinois and before he drove it away, they showed him how to put the pump in gear and charge the line. Fortunately, as it turned out, he left the tank filled because he primarily wanted the truck to clean off heavy equipment at his hog farm and other chores, as well as having some fun with his grandkids.
But on Monday his whimsical purchase was repaid when fire was discovered in his son's home also located on the farmland. The fire was in the basement, apparently started by a clothes dryer, and Andy, his son Michael, and a farmhand broke out a basement window and aimed the nozzle at the fire, knocking it down. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch tells:
Michael Schilling's wife, Nicki, spotted the fire when she returned from an errand. Farm employee Nick Mercer rescued the couple's cat, Charlie, from the house. Michael Schilling ran for the firetruck. His father raced there in his pickup.
"I'm glad we knew how to operate it, because a firetruck is pretty complicated," said Andy Schilling. "It can empty its tank in less than a minute. We put the nozzle on 'spray' and got some good water through the window."
Michael and Nicki Schilling, who were married less than a month ago, are staying on a family property near Marissa while their home is being repaired. Andy Schilling said he had dealt before with small fires on the farm. Having a personal firetruck is a big improvement, he said.
"It seems like I'd grab a fire extinguisher that never worked," said Schilling. "What we have is a play toy with a purpose."
When the first units arrived from the Smithton Fire Protection District, they were surprised to see a pumper from O'Fallon, which is 20 miles away already on the scene.
After returning from a fire or haz-mat incident there is always a determined effort to clean off our running gear and tools, etc., partially as a means of decontaminating the clothing and equipment. Most conscientious firefighters are aware of the possible transfer of carcinogens and other nasties that are brought back from the incident on their clothing. Not only does the practice of cleaning up has the potential of extending your own life, but it works to prevent you from carrying the contaminants home to be spread among your family members.
But how about when you get back from a medical assist, or ambulance duty? Does everything seem to be ok because it looks clean? Think again. An article in the September issue of the American Journal of Infection Control talks about nurses' and physicians' attire as possible sources of infections. Laura Martin, MD reviewed the article for WebMD and summarized some of the findings that turned up in a concentrated study done in Israel. She writes:
Uniforms worn by hospital personnel often are contaminated with the superbug MRSA and a variety of other bacteria, Israeli scientists report. They swabbed white coats and uniforms worn by doctors and nurses and found potentially dangerous bacteria on more than 60% of items they examined.
Doctors’ uniforms were a little cleaner than nurses’, with 60% containing potentially dangerous bacteria, compared to 65% of what nurses wore.
The researchers checked the sleeves, waists, and pockets of 75 registered nurses and 60 doctors at the 550-bed Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. One thing that surprised me was that only 58% of the people tested said that they change their uniforms daily. Using that as one of the criteria, they found that the rate of contamination with antibiotic-resistant organisms was 29% on clothing changed every two days, compared to 8% on scrubs and cloaks changed daily. Other similar research has shown that watches, rings, and neckties can also harbor dangerous bacteria.
Everybody's clothing, not just hospital workers, carries a certain amount of bacteria. But the primary method of prevention is still frequent washing of your hands. I will repeat that: The primary method of prevention is frequent washing of your hands. This is crucial not just when you return to the station after a call, but periodically through the day.
Now let's get the equipment checked out while I go wash my hands and then get some more coffee started. After you clean up, we'll meet back in the day room.
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