Wednesday Morning – Stop and Think Before You Open Your Yap

Everybody in Fire and EMS is constantly thinking about our public image and trying to keep it "positive" in the minds of our citizens.  Even though we try our best to behave, once in a while somebody goes into action before they put their brain in gear and the results can undo a year's worth of good deeds in just seconds.  That's what happened in Union County, New Jersey, a few days ago when a police officer got a serious brain cramp and plunged his department, along with his chief, into a world-wide scorn.  Fox News sent this story out:

Frank Roder, a construction worker from the town of Winfield Park, had taken his son, Aidan, down to the Rahway River to feed ducks Thursday. But when he stopped briefly before settling on a parking space, the impatient boy jumped out and took off — straight toward a ledge 35 feet above the river, Roder recalled.

"He hopped out, and I thought that was OK, I was just going to park," Roder, 38, said, but "he just took off, made a beeline for the edge."

The panic-stricken father jumped out of the cab of his 2006 Jeep Commander and raced after the errant boy, catching him just feet from the edge.  That's when Aidan, eyes as big as saucers, looked behind Roder and said, "Um, Daddy …"

Roder turned in time to see the Jeep nosedive down the embankment and land in the muddy water.

Fox News

Roder hugged the boy and waited as Union County police converged on the scene over the next few hours. A crane pulled the Jeep out, and amazingly, it started right up, though Roder is pretty sure his insurance company will count it as totaled.

He was counting his blessings when a young cop approached him and handed him two tickets. One was for failure to produce the insurance card, which was somewhere in the waterlogged cab. The other was for failing to use his emergency brake.

That's not all.  The Loopy LEO then went so far to say that the man should have disregarded the sprinting moppet and "taken an extra five seconds" to set the parking brake.  Read the full story HERE to see how the police chief is trying to double-clutch his way out of the spotlight, but I don't think he's being very successful with that.

Maybe this cop does this sort of thing frequently, I don't know.  But somethin's gotta change soon now.  Just keep in mind, you are only a few seconds away from dropping into this sort of publicity quicksand if you don't keep your brain in gear all the time.

Let's use that sparkling brainpower now to get this equipment checked out.  I'm going to help sharpen our mental reflexes by getting some good, strong coffee going  before we meet back in the day room.  (Just don't tell anybody what you think about this.)

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NHL Playoffs – Conference Finals

The dark horse Los Angeles Kings and the Phoenix Coyotes put on a good show for the fans last night and played an exciting game that went into overtime.  Putting up six goals in regulation, they were tied 3-3 after two periods and then went scoreless in the third.  The OT winner came 17:42 in the first OT for the  4-3 win.  Phoenix had their chances to win with a 5-on-3 power play in the third period and a power play during the sudden-death overtime.  But the Kings' defense dug in an earned their pay holding off the attacks.

The Kings came into the playoffs seeded last at #8 and marched on through knocking off the top 3 seeds and only losing 2 games total in the first three rounds.  They have a week to rest, heal and get rusty before the first game of the Cup championships round on May 30 versus the winner of the Rangers – Devils series that resumes tonight.  That matchup is tied at 2 games apiece and is assured of playing at least two more games.

Western Conference – Los Angeles (8) vs. Phoenix (3)
Game One: Los Angeles – 4, Phoenix – 2.
Game 2: Los Angeles – 4, Phoenix – 0.
Game 3: Los Angeles – 2, Phoenix – 1.
Game 4 Phoenix – 2, Los Angeles – 0.
Game 5: Los Angeles – 4, Phoenix – 3 OT.

Los Angeles wins series 4 games to 1.

Eastern Conference – New Jersey (6) vs. New York (1)
Game One: New York – 3, New Jersey – 0.
Game 2: New Jersey – 3, New York – 2
Game 3: New York – 3, New Jersey – 0.
Game 4: New Jersey – 4, New York – 1.
Game 5: Wednesday 8 pm Eastern, NBCSN.
Game 6: Friday 8 pm Eastern, NBCSN.

Series tied at two games apiece.

Highlights from last night's game

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A Participatory Event for Firefighters AND Spectators

THE NEW EVENT HERO RUSH is making its official debut this year.  A press release from the organization explains it all:

Hero Rush, the dynamic new firefighter-themed obstacle race and experience, has opened registration for 12 U.S. events, the company announced today. Designed for mainstream consumers by lifelong firefighters, Hero Rush will challenge participants from all walks of life to experience what firefighters face every day.

"Runners will tackle a 5K+ course studded with 15-17 obstacles that simulate real emergencies," said co-founder Dave J. Iannone. "They’ll crawl through a smoke-filled maze, scale steep roofs, drag a massive fire hose to the blaze, climb ladders and bust through windows to find victims trapped inside – and a few surprises, too."

Events are currently scheduled for Maryland, Minnesota, Michigan, North Texas, Los Angeles, Oregon, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New York, North Carolina, Central Florida and Central Texas.

Obstacle races are one of the fastest growing segments of the running industry, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article, with thousands of participants expected at each Hero Rush.

"These events have become very popular over the last two years," said co-founder Christopher Hebert. "They’re perfect for everyone, from experienced runners looking for a new challenge, to teenagers and college students, to people of all ages who just want to get out and get active."

All events will feature an Inferno Midway where both runners and spectators can practice their firefighter skills on stand-alone obstacles and challenges. Local fire departments will give demonstrations and put a fun spin on fire safety education. This family-friendly festival area will also include two kid’s courses, food and drinks, apparel and merchandise tents, music and entertainment.

Hero Rush will give back to the firefighting community through national and local fire-related charities. As the designated national charity, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation will receive a $20 donation for each runner who chooses to run in the "343 Wave" honoring the firefighters killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11.

Hero Rush will also identify a local fire-related charity in each city to receive the proceeds from the Kid’s Firefighter Adventure Course.

Details and registration are available at www.herorush.com.

Hero Rush is currently seeking local fire departments, charities and sponsors to get involved – for more information visit www.herorush.com or email resonders@herorush.com.

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Released Wednesday Morning

THE NATIONAL FALLEN FIREFIGHTERS FOUNDATION released their anticipated video to the public this morning.  It was produced in cooperation with the Chicago Fire Department and was embargoed for two weeks until all the personnel at the Chicago Fire Department and the families of their fallen members had the opportunity to view it first.  After watching it you will understand why.

It is being released with the hope that many of you will encourage your local politicians and civic leaders to also take the 38 minutes needed to view it.  It carries a lot of impact and is a remarkable report.

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FD and Newspaper Together Spread the Word

IN KINGSTON, ONTARIO, THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER the Whig-Standard will occasionally point out the fire department's message of fire safety and sprinklers.  Firegeezer has mentioned this before (HERE) and another situation arose that led to it again.  On Thursday the Whig-Standard reported:

An automatic sprinkler head is credited for limiting the damage at a Park Street high-rise apartment early Wednesday morning.

Kingston Fire and Rescue responded to the fire that started on a stovetop in a 10th-floor unit. The smoke alarm in the suite had been disabled prior to the fire, but the sprinkler limited damage in the apartment to less than $1,000.

"Without a working smoke alarm, the occupant of this apartment is fortunate to be alive today," Kingston fire inspector Del Blakney said in a news release.

Water flow from the sprinkler extinguished the fire and sounded the building alarm, alerting other occupants.

How about you?  When you have a fire that was so small that the news media wouldn't consider it worth reporting, do you turn it into a "success story" and let them know about it?

Hat tip to Mark S.

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Not A True Ambulance Emergency

THE WELSH AMBULANCE SERVICE (UK) HOLDS an annual competition for the top five craziest 9-9-9 calls for an ambulance that are not emergencies.  It is part of their Choose Well campaign that encourages people to call 9-9-9 for life-threatening emergencies only.

A WAS spokesman said: "We want the public to stop, think and choose well before selecting the appropriate medical treatment for their needs. If you dial up an ambulance for toothache instead of booking in with a dentist, that ambulance might be taken away from the next call, a person fighting for life after suffering a heart attack."

Roberts / BBC

The Daily Post tells us:

Top of the list by some distance is the woman who dialled 999 calling an ambulance for her sick parrot – because she couldn’t find the vet’s number in Yellow Pages.

Following close behind was the man who called ambulance control after biting into a plastic bag. He was concerned he had bits of plastic stuck between his teeth.

The Welsh Ambulance Service’s medical director, Dr. Paul Hughes said, "Approximately 45% of the calls we receive from patients dialling 999 are for minor illnesses and injuries like toothache, sore throats, coughs and colds. Every day, these calls are putting people’s lives at risk by taking ambulances away from those having life threatening emergencies."

Read the full STORY HERE see the rest of the "bonkers" calls and some more about the PR campaign.

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Hey!  Lookit What I Can Do!

A DURHAM, ENGLAND, MAN WHO WAS playing a "drinking game" decided to go all out to win "What can you fit over your head?"  He chose to next drop a toilet seat over his head and even managed to wriggle his shoulders through, allowing the seat to become firmly wedged around his torso.

No matter what he did, the unidentified gamer could not remove the toilet seat from his middle.  So, who ya' gonna call?  Naturally, they called the local firehouse, explained the situation and asked if he could drop by.  "Yes!" was the answer and then no doubt the word went around the station to come up front and witness this next arrival.  The Sunday Sun picks up the story:

The man, from Tudhoe, County Durham, arrived at the station with his girlfriend and pal at 7pm on Thursday so the crew could use cutting equipment to release him.

Spennymore / Tudhoe Fire Station

The firefighters are keeping the man’s identity private so they don’t embarrass him, but crew manager Michael Burden said: "The man rang us first to see if we could help and he came with his girlfriend and a friend.

"He looked rather flushed when he arrived but relieved when we managed to get the toilet seat off him. He took the loo seat home with him as a memento."

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Another Misguided Move to Bring Notoriety to Your FD

Update, Friday:  The fire department has said that the incident with the Venice fire engine took place between two and three years ago, but has just recently been brought to their attention.

THE LOS ANGELES CITY FIRE DEPARTMENT is looking into the recent, unauthorized use of one of their engines, from Station 63 in Venice, that was used as a prop for some video antics featuring a porn movie actress.  KNBC-TV broke the story:

LAFD insiders recently tipped off NBCLA that several firefighters allowed porn producers to use their fire engines in two adult movies that are available on one of the world’s biggest porn websites.

NBC4

In one of the movies, shot at Venice Beach, LAFD Engine 263 is used as the backdrop by an actress performing lewd acts.  Firefighters "set it all up ahead of time" with "the film crew" because they thought it was "good clean fun,"an insider told NBC4 LA.

For several minutes of the movie, the actress appears to have free access to the engine, and asks numerous passersby to fondle her.  "Look, I think we have more friends," she says, as a group of men stop to fondle the actress.

This video report from Channel 4 (un)covers it all:

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

Fire Chief Brian Cummings does not share the belief that it was just good, clean fun and has ordered a full investigation into incident.

Read the full STORY HERE.

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"Stupid" runs from coast to coast.  Dave Statter at STATter911 has been documenting a recent YouTube folly from Macon, Georgia, that has led to one firing and four lengthy suspensions.  If you haven't caught that one yet, CLICK HERE to see what's going on with that.

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Thursday Morning – School Days in Norwich

When it comes to fund raising or generating good public relations, I'm always interested in innovative and successful ways to get it done.  Up in Connecticut the Norwich fire companies teamed up with the Norwich school system to give a little punch to the beginning of the school year and to help promote the kindergarten program.

Seven kindergarten students were selected by random drawing to win free rides to school on a fire engine on the first day of classes.  The Day followed one of the kids, Jesse Rauscher this past Tuesday when Rescue 5 showed up at his house to take him to school.  The 5-yr.-old was thrilled and anxious because school openings were delayed for six days by Irene.  The Day writes:

The Rescue 5 firetruck rounded the corner at the 61 Henry St. apartment complex at noon, and 5-year-old Jesse Rauscher pumped both fists in the air and jumped up and down.

Today, the bright red East Great Plain Volunteer Fire Department truck served as Jesse's school bus and firefighter Bill Guile, his bus driver. Guile strapped Jesse in to the front seat, and the boy quickly declared "I'm all set!"

He had to wait a minute to allow his dad to climb into the back seat and also strap in. The truck started to move forward and Guile asked Jesse to push the small black button on the control panel to say goodbye to his mother, Dawn Rauscher, who waved to the truck. The horn blasted. "I love that sound!" Jesse said.

I think you'll have to agree …. when it comes to good public relations, you will have to go a long way to beat a shot like this one:

Jesse Rauscher, 5, gives a hug to East Great Plain firefighter Bill Guile after
getting a ride to his first day of Kindergarten at Mahan School in Norwich Tuesday

Read the full story in The Day HERE.

Let's get the equipment checked out now.  If it's looking and working good, then we just might get some good hugs today, too.  I'll go make some more coffee in a quest to generate some hugs of my own.  See you back in the day room.

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A New Use For an Old Tool

FILE THIS UNDER THE "WHO YOU GONNA' CALL?" Category.  Our long-time friend Rich H. passed along this video clip on YouTube that is introduced presumably by the person who posted it, Eddie Bett.  Following is his statement that accompanied the video:

On the Morning of May 18th 2011 my wife noticed a deer in our yard that appeared to be frantically looking for something in the rocks that form a wall on property line in Brush Prairie Washington. When we first went out with our neighbors, we didn't see anything but the deer wouldn't leave our yard. We went back to our house and watched when after a few minutes the deer came back.

We went out to the area the deer was concentrating on and could hear a baby fawn crying in the rocks. We moved some of the rocks and smaller boulders and saw baby fawn's face in the rocks. He had apparently fallen in or crawled in through one of the gaps and was now trapped. The larger boulders were too heavy to move and we didn't want to have the rocks cave in on the baby deer.

We finally called our Clark County Fire District 3. The B Shift team came out and they were able to move the larger rocks out of the way with the Jaws of Life enough to be able to reach in a pull the baby fawn out and reunited it with its momma. The fawn was probably stuck in there most of the night and quickly went on to nurse off its momma. One of our neighbors took some video clips of the fire department's rescue. I edited the clips into this short clip. After sharing it with some friends they thought that it was just too cute not to share with more people. So my neighbor agreed to let me upload the final clip.

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A Lesson On How To Do It

THE BRAMPTON, ONTARIO, FIRE DEPARTMENT has apparently nurtured a good relationship with their local newspaper, the Brampton Guardian.  Following a recent apartment fire that was handily extinguished by a sole sprinkler head, this is what the Guardian's readers saw when they logged on Sunday:

The opening sentence gets the message right out there:  A residential sprinkler system saved the day for an east end resident whose apartment caught fire recently, Brampton Fire and Emergency Services reports.  Then the article fills in the usual basic information that tells the reader what happened, etc.

The chief of the fire prevention division issued the public information and kept the story on-message in a good, succinct way and the newspaper's writer even finished up the story with another plug for residential sprinkler effectiveness.

Read the full ARTICLE HERE and keep this in mind.  Good job to Brampton Fire.

Brampton Fire and Emergency Services WEBSITE.

Thanks to reader Mark S. for sending this along.

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