Will Also Look at  Revising Overall Policy

A COMMITTEE OF THE NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT of Transportation has voted this morning (Wednesday) to overrule a policy and recommend that a highway bridge be named in honor of Ashville Fire Captain Jeffrey Bowen who died tragically last June while fighting a fire in a mid-rise office building.  (See Firegeezer stories HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.)  The fire was found to be an arson, but nobody has yet been arrested for the crime.

A few months following the tragedy, the Buncomb County Board of Supervisors, along with every state fire agency and associations, sent a resolution to the DOT to name a bridge on the nearby Interstate highway that Bowen crossed every day to and from work.  The DOT declined saying that naming privileges are reserved for law enforcement officers.

This brought an outpouring of public indignation and the creation of an online petitiion that quickly gathered thousands of signatures.  A goodly number of politicians jumping on the bandwagon helped it gain momentum and encouraged the Roads Committee to find a way to make an exception.  This morning the committee voted unanimously to accept the request and forwarded the recommendation to the full Transportation Board that will hold a special meeting tomorrow (Thursday) where it is expected to approve the application.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports today:

(DOT spokesman Ted) Vaden said Robert Collier, chairman of both the full Board of Transportation and its Naming Committee, said during this morning’s meeting "that the community had made clear its concern and interest in having the bridge named for Capt. Bowen."

He paraphrased Collier as saying, "This may appear to some as a capitulation, and indeed it is. We recognize the will of the people and that’s why we’re here, to support the people."

Naming requests typically do not come before the full Board of Transportation until a month after the Naming Committee acts, Vaden said. But in this case, the full board is scheduled to vote on the Bowen request Thursday, and there appears to be little doubt that it will go along with the committee’s recommendation.

"This won’t actually be official until the board votes tomorrow … but there was clear, strong sentiment, unanimous sentiment, on the part of the Naming Committee to make the change," Vaden said.

The full board will also spend time over the next 90 days to consider changing the practice that led to the initial declination of the request.  During that time there will be a moratorium on acting on naming applications.

Read the full Citizen-Times STORY HERE.

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As tweeted by @Boston_FF_L29

UPDATE (6:33 am):

Pictures tweeted by @ProvFireVideos

Sad morning.

Incident timeline by @BOSTON_FF_L29

BOSTON & Needham, Ma., USA Boston Ma.Firefighter (L29). Tweeting Local, National Fire News & MY Opinions, NOT those of L29, L718 or Boston Fire. For Wx tweets follow me @L29_SNEWeather

BOSTON_FF_L29 Normally I would have gone to sleep, but this fire seemed different from the start…and got worse by the minute (7:15)

Pictures posted by Matthew Gregoire, Providence Fire Videos, @ProvFireVideos

Thanks to James for catching our headline typo.

STATter911 with additional video and media reports

Fox 25: Worcester firefighter dies in blaze (live helicopter feed ended)

ABC 5: Massive Blaze Destroys Apartment House

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

No Prior Indications of Distress

A FAIRFAX COUNTY (Virginia) FIRE & RESCUE Department firefighter died in his sleep in the station bunkroom Friday night/Saturday morning.  The Fire & Rescue Department issued the following announcement:

The Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department regrets to announce the death of Firefighter Horace C. ("Chris") Pendergrass assigned to Fire Station 41, B-Shift. Firefighter Pendergrass was an honored employee who served the residents and visitors of Fairfax County for over 20 years. In the early morning hours of October 22, 2011, Chris was found expired after shift change at Fire Station 41. Currently, all units assigned to Fire Station 41 have been placed out of service with many support mechanisms on their way.

The Fairfax County Police Department and Office of the Medical Examiner states the cause of death is under investigation and will provide cause at a later date.

FF Horace Pendergrass

FF Pendergrass, age 49, was a very popular member of the department and he had been on the job for 22 years.  Prior to that he has served in the U. S. Army.  One of his former captains described him as "strong as an ox."  He is survived by three adult children.

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Memorial Service 10:00 am to 12:30 pm Eastern

Live-Stream programming begins here at 9:30 am

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Candlelight Service held 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm Eastern time

Live-Streaming Begins Here at 6:15

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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

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"

Sunday Afternoon Apartment Fire

DALLAS, TEXAS, FIRE LIEUTENANT TODD KRODLE, 41, perished Sunday afternoon after falling through the roof of a garden apartment building that was on fire.

The 3-alarm fire began around 4:15 pm Central in a first-floor unit and spread through the 2-story building.  Lt. Krodle was working on the roof ventilating when he fell through into the fire.  He was very quickly pulled out by firefighters, injured and badly burned, and taken to the hospital where he died later Sunday evening.

All of his colleagues at his fire station were immediately taken off duty.

Allen Gardner, who lives in the neighborhood, put it this way:
"The emotional strain you could see in their faces," he said. "It's not a big scale fire,
but still, anything that they go to they take it as seriously as possible."
(Dallas Morning News photo)

Lt. Krodle was in the DFD for 17 years and leaves a wife and two daughters surviving him.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings issued the following statement:

"On behalf of the Dallas City Council and the entire City of Dallas workforce, we express our deepest sympathy to the family, friends and fellow firefighters of this courageous and dedicated firefighter. We must never lose sight that fire service is an extremely dangerous business and this brave man died doing the dangerous job he loved; protecting our citizens and our properties and making our neighborhoods safer for all of us."

The early determination of cause was a malfunctioning electrical appliance.

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Nice Tribute

Warren RI fire department pays tribute to the victims of 9/11 during the Bristol RI 4th of July parade 2011.

from CBEMT at IACOJ.com:

I'm on the opposite side of the street from the camera (video posted by milfordwoman) , last in line with another FF carrying water walking past me as I come into view.

Mrs. CB is camera-side. We're both pretty much visible at 00:23.

The monument at the rear of the float has the names of every FDNY, EMS, NYPD, and PAPD member killed that day, right down to Sirius the dog.

Eric Dickervitz writing for EastBayRI.com:

When the Warren Fire Department’s float, a living tribute to 9/11, passed by Rae Jodoin, she and other onlookers were moved by the image of twisted metal and the tired firefighters who stood tall alongside it.

As the float passed by Ms. Jodoin’s Hope Street home, she ran into the street to hand the firefighters a small flag bearing the name of a 9/11 victim.

She and her husband, Mike, had turned their front yard into a memorial for the people who died on 9/11.

A few nights before, the couple were joined by over a dozen family and friends in writing a name of a 9/11 victim on a small American flag.

All 2,977 flags were then displayed on the Jodoins’ front lawn.

Click on the headline to read the rest of: A spectacular Bristol Fourth of July parade

Nice float!

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward
 

Working Church Fire

Update, Thursday AM:
The firefighter has been publicly identified as FF Scott Davis, age 40.

A MUNCIE, INDIANA, FIREFIGHTER PERISHED Wednesday afternoon at a working church fire when the roof collapsed. 

Star Press

The fire was dispatched at 3:55 pm and additional alarms were struck as the fire filled the church sanctuary.  Along with the Muncie units and neighboring departments, several outlying volunteer departments were special-called to respond with tankers for water supply.

At 4:15 the roof collapsed and an announcement was made that one of the firefighters was unaccounted for.  The fire was out, except for hot spots before 5 pm.  While the location of the missing firefighter was known, they were unable to reach the body for the fire and debris.

WISH-TV

At 6:55 the announcement was broadcast that the victim had been recovered from the church building.  His identity has not yet been released.

The Muncie Star Press prepared a video taken during the early part of the fire with the camera rolling when the roof comes down.  You will see one of the firefighters who was inside escaping out a ground-floor window:

WISH-TV filed this report from their helicopter:

Sources:
The Muncie Star Press

. . . . . . . . . . Star Press .

Muncie Fire Chief Sean Burcham stated that no further information would be released until a press conference is held on Thursday morning.  The Muncie Star Press was reporting that two other FF's were injured and transported with non-life threatening injuries.

More coverage at:

STATter911 (Click here)

FirefighterNation (Click here)

Muncie Fire Department WEBSITE.

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