These Bumblers Popped Up Last Year

THE CITY OF ALLEN PARK, MICHIGAN, is back in the news again.  One of the nation's most inept city councils voted last night (Tuesday) to balance their budget by completely eliminating both the police and fire departments.

Firegeezer readers were acquainted with these financial wizards in February of last year when they threatened their firefighters with elimination unless they renegotiated their salary structure way down.  (See the Firegeezer video report HERE.)  An agreement was made that included a tax increase on the citizens if they approved of it in a vote.  But that measure failed at the ballot twice, back in November and again this month on May 8.

You may recall that the primary act that bankrupted the city was the city council’s falling for the song-and-dance of a film maker who told them that if they would provide a suitable location for his big-time movie studios and film production school, then he would give the city $2 million to balance the city budget. The council then sold $24 million in bonds to purchase a property and industrial building that was only assessed at $14 million. The studio maven, Jimmy Lifton then took his act to Detroit without “donating” the $2 million and reneging on the deal to make Allen Park a motion picture home.  This all took place in 2009.

Allen Park's $24 million baby

The stunt led to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the validity of the city's bond sale with the threat of fraud indictments.  Ever since then the city has been drowning under the debt load of having to pay off the bonds for near-worthless property and unable to provide basic city services.

Now the council has a $4 million deficit and has decided to balance their budget by eliminating the public safety services, police and fire, and contract with a neighboring municipality to provide the services.  They voted last night to pass that budget which includes the public safety layoffs.

There is only one tiny little problem… none of the other towns are interested in taking on Allen Park's emergencies.  All of them are struggling as it is just to cover their own calls.  WJBK-TV was at the city council meeting last night and prepared this video report:

The Detroit Free Press adds:

Adding to the appearance of disarray in City Hall, the council voted 6-1 to accept the resignation of the city's top staffer, Administrator John Zech.

And still to be resolved is how the city will pay its bills this year. Appointment of a state emergency manager remains possible, city officials have said.

The city's annual budget had been projected to be $19 million in the next fiscal year, 2012-13, but must drop to $15.8 million because of skidding property-tax revenues combined with $2.6 million in annual bond payments for the city's failed movie studio, according to budget documents. The studio sits largely empty next to City Hall. "Nobody knows what's really going to happen," Mayor William Matakas said before the meeting. None of the cities that Allen Park has approached about contracting for police and fire services has responded, he said.

News Herald photo

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Driver-Only Responding

THE DRIVER OF A CHARLES CITY COUNTY fire department tanker is hospitalized in serious condition following a single-vehicle accident Sunday morning.

photo by James Bates

According to Virginia State Police, Michael Buchanan, 51, of Quinton was responding with the 3,000-gal. tanker around 5 am Sunday morning when he drifted to the right drainage ditch, then crossed over the narrow 2-lane road to the left side where he rolled over and struck a tree.

WRIC-TV

The crash destroyed the truck, breaking it into several pieces.  Buchanan was trapped inside the cab and had to be extricated.  He apparently has some serious damage to his legs and was airlifted to Virginia Commonwealth Univ. Hospital in Richmond.

WTVR-TV Ch. 6 has the STORY.

WWBT-TV

Firegeezer will attempt to get more information for an update today.

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Anybody Besides the Fire Chief and Mayor Surprised at This?

THE LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, CONTROLLER Wendy Greul released the report yesterday of an audit her department conducted into the Fire Department's response times.  Using a 2-year baseline from June 2007 to July 2009, the auditors found that after the fire station closings and rotating brownouts took place in July of last year, the response times for ambulance calls increased an average 12 seconds citywide and as much as 20 seconds in certain areas including the San Fernando Valley.  The Daily News reports:

The report found response times for emergency medical calls increased an average of 12 seconds to four minutes, 57 seconds. However, the response time to fires and non-medical emergencies dropped about 21 seconds — also to four minutes, 57 seconds.

Pat McOsker, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, said the audit confirms his warnings over the past several years.

"You cannot cut the department by the 15 percent it has been cut and not have an impact," McOsker said. "In emergencies, seconds count and we have a system that delays the response."

Not to be overlooked in the report is this observation by the Controller:

She also expressed concern about the quality of the department's response time data, noting that about one-third of the incidents reviewed were not coded properly and it was unclear whether they were emergency or non-emergency calls.

"It's unacceptable that the LAFD has not been able to accurately track its emergency response times," Greuel said, adding she hoped the audit would lay the groundwork for city officials to make improvements.

In her report Greuel also pointed out that 650,000 of the 1.9 million incident reports they reviewed were coded "unclearly" rendering their study unable to be compared with the NFPA response standards.

KNBC-TV Ch. 4 tells more in this video report:

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, left, and Fire Chief Brian Cummings
discuss response times and deployment at a March 13 news conference.
(Barbara Davidson, Los Angeles Times / March 13, 2012)

It has been pointed out that part of the problem is created at the dispatch center where calls are taking longer to be processed before the alarm is dispatched. Again from the Daily News:

(Local President) McOsker said part of the problem is dispatchers are required to go through a list of more than 20 questions before an emergency call is placed with paramedics. The protocol was developed to try to reduce the number of calls made for nonemergencies.

"There was a time that once they determined the nature of the emergency, they could send a unit out," McOsker said. "Now, they have to go through the entire list of questions before they send anyone to the call."

Using their own resources to analyze the raw data, the Los Angeles Times has concluded:

(Times staff writer Ben) Welsh crunched data from more than 1 million dispatches from the department's database and found that the Fire Department falls far short of the standard that rescue units be alerted within one minute on 90% of 911 calls. And average call-processing time has increased, most notably for medical calls, which account for the overwhelming majority of responses.

Five years ago firefighters were dispatched to medical calls within a minute 38% of time, the analysis found. By 2011, that number dropped to 15%.

The Times also found that in the more than 250,000 medical dispatches last year, the department took 75% longer, on average, than the national standard.

You can read the entire 46-page Controller's report (.pdf file) HERE.

On March 18 Firegeezer reported on the surprising announcement that LAFD had been using phony numbers to calculate their response times.  Read that posting HERE where we also addressed the vehicle maintenance problems that are affecting the response times as well.

It was also last March when McOsker opined:  "This department is being held together with bubble gum, baling wire and duct tape."

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Horrific Crash in Germany Presents the Problem

A VIOLENT, FATAL CAR CRASH ON A HIGHWAY near Petersberg, Germany, Thursday evening created a unique problem for the police department.  Around 5:40 pm local time yesterday, a Honda Civic carrying a family of four people was going through a long curve in the highway at a too-high rate of speed.  The driver lost control and the car drifted to the right shoulder at the worst possible location.  The car smashed at speed into a stone highway bridge that carries another roadway over the path.

All photos credit Osthessen News

The impact destroyed the little car and a fire broke out immediately.

A passing off-duty paramedic stopped and managed to pull a 13-yr.-old boy out of the wreckage, but the other three people were trapped beyond help.  The boy was airlifted to the hospital, but is in extremely critical condition.

The Petersberg fire brigade was on the scene quickly, but were unable to do any more than put out the fire.  The victims were incinerated in the car which was wrecked so badly that extrication operations would have been tedious and lengthy. 

After a consultation with the prosecutor's office, the police decided that in order to mitigate the sensationalism that had created a media circus and spectator event, the car would be transported to a secure location where the bodies could be retrieved  and an investigation could take place without disruption or public display.  A roll-off container with high sides was brought in and the wreckage was placed inside and secured before taken away to the police yard.

The Petersberg Fire Brigade was very adamant in letting it be known that they did not agree with this decision.

Osthessen News has the story and an extensive, 41-image photo gallery HERE.
Osthessen TV has also posted a video report from the scene HERE.

Thanks to Christian Lewalter of Feuerwehr WebBlog.

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Seven Counts With More Possible

JUSTIN ANDERSON, 18, OF TAMA,IOWA was arrested and charged with four counts of second-degree arson and three of third-degree arson for allegedly setting fires on rural properties from March to May.  Anderson is the son of Tama VFD Fire Chief Rod Anderson and had just joined the department in March.  That was also when the string of suspicious fires began.

The Des Moines Register reports:

Damaged were three houses and a barn-type structure, all of which appeared to be vacant at the time of the fires, said Special Agent Justin Wade of the state fire marshal’s office. Three of the structures burned down. Authorities categorized the other fires as "grass fires."

Kucera said the investigation began in the middle of March when deputies first noticed signs of arson and later picked up on a pattern in frequency and location of fires.

Neither the sheriff nor state fire marshal’s officials would release detailed information about what connected the arsons and led to Anderson’s arrest, because the investigation is still open.

WHO-TV posted this video report:

Read the full story in the Des Moines Register HERE.

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Gives New Meaning to "Burning a Hole in Your Pocket"

A SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA, WOMAN is hospitalized with 2nd- and 3rd-degree burns to her leg after some rocks in her pocket spontaneously began burning.  The 43-yr.-old woman was visiting the beach with her family on Saturday and she picked up a collection of seven multi-colored stones and put them into her pocket.  Later on, they suddenly burst into open flames and burned through her shorts causing the injuries.  Her husband suffered some 1st- and 2nd-degree burns on his hands as he beat out the flames.

What caused this reaction is still being investigated, but the initial speculation is that friction caused by the rocks rubbing together as she walked generated the ignition.  At least two of the stones appear to have a quantity of phosphorus in them and are being tested by the health department.

A follow-up visit to the beach by health inspectors did not turn up any hazards related to this situation and nobody is able to determine where the stones came from.  KGTV Ch. 10 continues:

The rocks combusted and set the woman's (cargo) shorts on fire and continued to burn the wood floor of her Avenida Estrella house, according Capt. Marc Stone of the Orange County Fire Authority.

The woman, whose name was not released, was hospitalized at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana with third-degree burns to her right thigh and knee, Stone said. He added that the victim "stopped, dropped and rolled" in an effort to douse the flames, and her husband suffered second-degree burns to his hands as he tried to help.

The Orange County Health Care Agency is running tests on the rocks, but results could be days away, Stone said.

Two of the rocks were found to contain phosphorous, which can burn like a road flare when ignited, but the other five were cross-contaminated while in the woman's pocket, according to ABC7.

KABC-TV posted this video report on the unusual story:

The Orange County Register provided further details:

Her husband also tried to help and got second-degree burns when he tried to pull the shorts off, Stone said. The rocks, described as small, the size of a hamburger patty, smooth and orange and green in color, fell from the shorts onto the floor and continued to burn the wood floor and fill the house with smoke.

Firefighters responded immediately to the home on Avenida Estrella. When they arrived, the husband had successfully gotten the shorts off his wife and was hosing her down on the front deck with a garden hose, Stone said.

Paramedics treated the woman for severe second- and third-degree burns on her right leg from her thigh to her knee and on her right arm, Stone said. The husband also was treated for second-degree burns on his arm.

Read the entire report in the OC Register HERE.

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And you thought the fire service had turf wars and arbitrary rules

Spend $11,450 and three weeks at Harvard to attend the "Senior Executives in State and Local Government" program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government. You will receive no academic credit.

Possess a state or National Registry EMT-Basic card and some universities will grant three to six semester hours of transfer credit. Even if the instructor's level of education is a General Education Degree – the adult version of a high school diploma.

Welcome to the world of academic accreditation.

Click: "Academic Accreditation Details for "Firefighting 2.0" to read my article posted on the Fire Engineering website.

It is a response to Fire Engineering Editor-in-Chief Bobby Halton's March 2012, Editor's Opinion, "Firefighting 2.0."

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Did a hairdresser invent "smart" fire resistive coating?

Richard Fisher, writing in the May 16, 2012, issue of New Scientist, describes the story of amateur chemist Maurice Ward who developed Starlite.

It starts with a March 1990 demonstration at Tomorrow's World:

Fisher describes the "… tale of frustration, power and secrecy, which serves as a sobering reminder that ingenuity and big ideas do not guarantee commercial success."

You can access the article for ten days through a free registration to New Scientist by clicking HERE.

Before Ward's death in May 2011, many organizations and research facilities attempted to analyze and understand the contents of the fire resistive coating.

It appears to be very effective, but the formula for Starlite was never revealed.

Research results

Keith Lewis, head of the thin-film optics lab at the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment, was asked to analyze the substance. After a series of tests, Lewis used a scanning electron microscope.

… the surface had subtly altered in response to the heat. In particular, he saw that a network of small voids, each one between 2 and 5 micrometres wide, had formed.

"I thought 'This is it! That's why it works'," he says. Lewis realised that these voids transform Starlite's properties. They act like air bubbles in a foam, providing insulation and reducing the material's thermal conductivity by at least an order of magnitude compared to fresh Starlite. But crucially, they are small enough not to disrupt the material's ability to reflect and emit heat from its surface. It looked as if Starlite was smarter stuff than anyone had imagined.

"What Ward had done, and he didn't know it until I told him, was develop a composite material with an engineered smart protection mechanism," says Lewis. This placed Starlite in the same class as sophisticated piezoelectric materials or shape-memory alloys, which can change their properties in response to heat, pressure or electric fields.

Fisher's conclusion is disheartening:

Even though 20 years have passed since the wonder material made its debut, none of the materials scientists approached by New Scientist could name a polymer composite capable of protecting an egg in the way Starlite appeared to do. Most composites would quickly melt, burn or disintegrate.

Maurice Ward's blog

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

More Space at the Top Comes Available

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THE FORMER CHIEF OF the Caribou (Maine) Fire and Ambulance Department was indicted last week on three counts of unlawful sexual contact, one count of unlawful sexual touching and three counts of assault.  The crimes all took place in Caribou and apparently a city employee is the complainant against Chief Roy Woods, 67.

Roy Woods  (Aroostook Republican photo)

The Bangor Daily News reports:

Woods resigned in January after 44 years with the Caribou Fire and Ambulance Department, including 21 years as the head of fire, ambulance and emergency management services for the city. According to a copy of his resignation letter, Woods said he was resigning for "medical reasons."

However, Caribou City Manager Steven Buck issued a statement indicating that he accepted the resignation "in lieu of termination" after an investigation into a complaint filed against the fire chief by a city employee.

"An independent investigation into the personnel matter was conducted with an expanded scope," said Buck. "After extensive review and evaluation of the results of the investigation, my own evaluation and after reviewing these evaluations with Woods and a subsequent review of his responses, I accepted his immediate resignation."

Read the detailed story in the Bangor Daily News HERE.

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IRVING, TEXAS, FIRE CHIEF MARIO MOLINA was placed on administrative leave last week for undisclosed reasons.  However, it is strongly believed that it is connected to an FBI investigation into corruption.  The Dallas Morning News is reporting:

The move came weeks after a former mayor said two FBI agents questioned him about the chief’s alleged attempts last year to secure an employment contract in exchange for reversing unpopular disciplinary decisions against two department employees.

City spokeswoman Susan Rose did not respond Tuesday to questions about what prompted Molina’s leave or who made the decision to suspend him. Molina reports to City Manager Tommy Gonzalez. Rose also did not respond to questions about whether the chief is on paid or unpaid leave.

Chief Molina

At a politically explosive council work session in March 2011, Molina accused council members of putting political pressure on him to reduce the punishments of two firefighters that angered rank-and-file department employees. The meeting preceded council elections. The firefighter association’s political arm was considered a major force in city elections at the time.

(Former Mayor) Gears, who was up for re-election, said Molina offered to "take care" of the discipline issues that angered firefighters if he would help provide the chief job security through an employment contract.

The Dallas Morning News goes into greater detail about the chief's conflict with his firefighters in their STORY HERE.

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A FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE FIRE CHIEF was sentenced to jail yesterday (Monday) after pleading guilty to a Christmas Eve arson.  Bradley Eldridge, 51, was the fire chief in West Ossipee, N.H., until March 28, 2011, when the West Ossipee Fire Precinct Commission removed Eldridge "for cause" during an executive session.

The Boston Herald tells us:

Eldridge was sentenced to three years with all but 90 days suspended for setting a fire in the barn of William Day Jr. on Porterfield Road in Porter.  Day wasn’t home, but a family across the street called the fire in and was able to extinguish it before firefighters arrived, according to Assistant District Attorney Joseph O’Connor. No one was injured and the animals in the barn survived.

O’Connor said Day was dating Eldridge’s ex-wife, and that Eldridge had made threats that he would "make Mr. Day suffer." A camera caught a man pulling up in a car that looked like Eldridge’s car and entering the barn just before the fire was reported.

When questioned, Eldridge admitted to setting the fire, and admitted he had been drinking heavily when he decided to start the fire, O’Connor said.

Read the full story in the Herald HERE.

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Wilmington Rolls Out the Trailer Squad

WHEN THE PENCIL-PUSHERS IN THE WILMINGTON, Delaware, Fire Department decided to lay off 17 firefighters, they worked out a plan that looked oh, so good on paper.  They will just park the two, now-unmanned rescue squad trucks behind two of their front-line engines.  And then when an alarm comes in that calls for a squad in the box, the two firefighters will drop back and bring the squad.

Not so fast, says the union Local.  Their contract plainly states that there will be a minimum of four firefighters on each piece of apparatus.  An arbitrator agreed with the Local and it was back to square #1 for the pencil-pushers.

Lou Angeli, publisher of the commentary blog Fire-Rescue-EMS Around the World tells us what happened next:

In a somewhat bizarre effort to meet the arbitrator’s demand, the Fire Administration has proposed purchasing three (3) 18-foot trailers, which would carry rescue and haz-mat equipment to incident scenes by towing them behind the existing Squad Pumpers (Squads 1 and 3) and the Haz-Mat pumper (Engine 6). The city says that such a change would allow the 4-person crew to remain together on a common apparatus, while at the same time carrying the tools needed for technical rescue.

This is a Rescue Squad  (Lou Angeli)

Fire administration supports their decision saying that the use of pumper-trailers by fire suppression units is "a popular trend" among the nation’s departments. It is true that the concept of using trailers to haul specialty equipment has been around for several years now, however the towing vehicle is never a pumper with a ball hitch, but rather a dedicated vehicle like a Ford F-550 or even a small 5th wheel tractor.

This is Not a Rescue Squad  (Lou Angeli)

Lou goes on to point out the folly of trying to convert a pumper into a tow vehicle, including some things the pencil-pushers never thought of, such as installing the auxilliary trailer air brakes in the fire engine, for example.

Read the entire story in his fire BLOG HERE.

At least one of the City Councilmen isn't impressed.  The Wilmington News Journal quotes him:  Councilman Stephen L. Martelli said the idea of large vehicles towing trailers "seems to be a bit problematic off the jump,"  That same article quotes the Local president as saying that pulling an 18-ft. trailer would be a navigational nightmare.  (not to mention prohibiting the pumper from laying a supply line.)

Read the News Journal's story HERE.

Firegeezer is not familiar with this "popular trend," as the pencil-pusher calls it, of pumper-trailer combo's springing up across the USA.  Can anybody help me out here?

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