HOUSE PETERS, JR., THE BALD AND BRAWNY character actor whose image has been used in Proctor & Gamble’s advertisements for Mr. Clean products for 50 years died Wednesday in Los Angeles.

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His family made the annoucement yesterday saying that the 92-yr.-old actor died of pneumonia.  Peters started his career in silent movies and later made a name for himself with character parts, often as the muscled villain, in dozens of TV and movie westerns including “Wagon Train”, “Gunsmoke” and “The Lone Ranger.”  He retired from acting in 1967 after filming his last episode of “Lassie” on television, in which he had a recurring role as Sheriff Jim Billings.

Both of his parents were actors and his father, House Peters, Sr., has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

This video plays the first Mr. Clean commercial that was aired in 1958.  As you will hear, it contains the same bouncy jingle that is still used today:

Doesn’t every fire and ambulance station have at least one person whose nickname is “Mr. Clean?”

Some of our video links are not working properly right now (11:00 am Eastern).  The problem is at the syndicator’s, not Firegeezer’s ISP.  They are working on solving it.  If you are unable to view some of the video’s, check back later.  We will update this posting when they are operational again.

…..FG

Update, 11:50:  They are back in operation now.  Let’s hope the digital devil has been sent away.

A 2-ALARM FIRE IN DOWNTOWN LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY on Thursday morning destroyed a pair of pyrotechnic-related businesses.  One of them, Star Light & Magic is a theater and stage special-effects store that mainly caters to stage magicians.  The other business housed there is The Orlando Project, which sells products for strategic training and “realistic battleground scenarios.”

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Herald-Leader photo

The alarm was sent at 9:45 am and was contained around 1 pm.  As the FD was fighting the fire, there was a series of explosions emanating from the building.  The Lexington Herald-Leader reports:

Sales lists on the Web sites for Star Light & Magic Inc., www.starlight.com, and The Orlando Project, www.theorlandoproject.com, include strobe flares, ground mortars, pyro gel, flame projectors and something called “The Volcano,” which can shoot color flames up to 6 feet high and runs on containers with “enough fluid to make approximately 100 flames,” the Web site says. Extensive purchasing regulations and safety procedures are also posted. Other items for sale or rent include fog machines, confetti, lights and a foam machine once used for the Girls of Summer Aerosmith video.

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At a news conference Thursday afternoon, Lexington Fire Chief Robert Hendricks couldn’t say for sure what caused the explosions. Along with the pyrotechnic equipment, there also could have been compressed gas of various types inside the building, which is found in many typical house fires, he said.

Wendy Wheeler Mullins, a part-time bookkeeper for the business, said pyrotechnics were not kept at the site, but sent from the manufacturer directly to the customer. But she said there were some flammable objects in the store.

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Herald-Leader 

Fire officials have not yet determined the cause of the fire.  However, there is still an open investigation for a suspicious fire that occurred in a storage shed on the property on July 8.

The Associated Press has this video report:

THE NORTHBOUND TRAFFIC LANES OF I-465 in Indianapolis, Indiana, are still closed this morning while crews clean up following a fiery multi-truck accident at 2:30 am.

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WRTV

It all began when a tractor-trailer jackknifed after rear-ending a pickup truck.  The jacknife ruptured the fuel tank and started a fuel fire.The big rig then collided with a second tractor-trailer and both of the trailers caught on fire.  The collision ultimately included a third trailer truck.  Both of the burning trailers were carrying food products.  Aside from the diesel fuel, there were no hazardous materials involved.

The Wayne Township Fire Dept. was on the scene and it required 90 minutes to bring the situation under control.  Two of the three truck drivers and the wife of one of them were transported, but only suffered minor injuries.

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WRTV

The highway is expected to be closed until this afternoon.

The Indianapolis Star has the full STORY.

WRTV has this video report with some fire footage:

It’s been several days since we’ve travelled around the Fire Web, so let’s pick out some weekend reading:

*  SConFire has been keeping up with the ALF situation and has several recent links that tell about the bankruptcy activities.  He also covers a spate of hydrant vandalism and the theft of a Hurst tool pump from a fire engine that was parked in a repair shop HERE.

*  FireRescue1 has a STORY about a gas explosion in France that killed one FF and injured 14 others.

*  EMS1 is carrying the STORY about Louisiana’s program to provide portable radios that will link fire, rescue and police agencies statewide.

*  PhillyFireNews always has a terrific collection of current “hot shots” taken at fires around the SE Penna./ New Jersey region.  You should check them out every day just to see the latest HERE.

*  Janet Wilmoth at the Fire Chief Magazine blog has a good commentary on how the “senior-man syndrome” is stifling firefighter safety HERE.

*  The VAFireNews continues to keep up with the latest hot shots and news from around the state of Virginia HERE.

*  Firefighter Blog, who keeps us up-to-date on the wildfire activity around the world, has a posting about  a fire in Argentina that is threatening a forest filled with trees that are hundreds of years old HERE.

*  FirefighterSpot is another one of those sites that you should be checking every day for his excellent FDNY-in-action photos as well as his champion collection of Close Call videos.  Today is no exception, so CLICK HERE and see the latest.

*  California Fire News just posted a huge stack of new articles last night including one about those pesky pine needles at Lake Tahoe.  CLICK HERE and give the site time to download, then check them out.

MORE AND MORE FIRE & RESCUE stations are installing treadmill exercise machines to help maintain fitness.

They are an effective tool to retain muscle strength and achieve a good aerobic capacity.

In our constant quest to help you in all facets of the job, Firegeezer is presenting this Treadmill Safety Video to point out important tips to remember while you use the machine.

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TRINITY UNIVERSITY OF SAN ANTONIO is 2 points behind.  There are only 2 seconds left on the clock.  So this will be the last play, their only chance to win the game and go into a tie for 1st place in the league.

They’re on their own 39-yard line, so it’s way to far out to kick a field goal.  That just leaves three choices:

1. A long pass
2. A running play
3. Make up a new play

Watch the video and see how it turned out:

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Firegeezer says:  How many did you count?  I saw 13, but the news reports say 15.

A MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA MAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED 500 miles away from his parent’s home that burned out a week ago.  The man, Darko Tomic, also lived in the house and at first investigators feared he had perished in the fire.

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His parents barely escaped the blaze which presented a challenge to the firefighters because of the roll-up shutters closed over all the windows.  When their son was unaccounted for after the fire, it was thought that he had died in the house.  But when cadaver dogs were brought in to try and locate the body they found no trace of him and a police lookout was issued.

He was arrested yesterday in Sydney and will be charged with attempted murder after he is returned to Melbourne.

Read The Age HERE.

TROPICAL STORM FELIX IS NOW ENTERING the southern Caribbean Sea and is expected to reach hurricane status by 2 am Sunday.  It is not expected to threaten any of the United States or the Gulf of Mexico oil fields.

Also, there is a growing system in the eastern Atlantic midway between the coast of Africa and the Lesser Antilles.  It is expected to grow in intensity during the next two days.

Be sure to click on the Firegeezer Hurricane Watch page regularly to keep up with these active systems.

*  The driver of the ambulance involved in the head-0n crash near Palm Springs, California Monday night (reported HERE) remains in critical condition.  Kohl Hetrick, 20, suffered a broken and shattered vertebrae, a deflated lung and multiple other broken bones.

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*  In the face of today’s rally and beginnig of job actions (reported HERE), the New South Wales government has come to agreement with the ambulance workers on one of their points.  They will now be included with the other emergency services in the death and disability benefits program.

*  In Turner, Maine the Androscoggin County Sheriff has determined that the driver who pulled out in front of an ambulance on July 5 was intoxicated.  The collision killed the paramedic who was in the back treating a patient.  The ambulance driver will be bedridden for at least a year.

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*  London’s sole air ambulance has been facing shutdown because of a lack of funding (HERE).  So they have decided to spend their money on designing a new Logo.

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AS THOSE OLD TV COMMERCIALS USED TO TELL US, “Wait!!! There’s more!”  Channel 9′s newshound Dave Statter has been covering the latest expose of the city’s fire hydrant problem.  This evening he disclosed that on the grounds of the headquartes and the sewage treatment plant of the Water and Sewer Authority, 29% of their own hydrants are out of service.

Read his latest chapter to the tale HERE.

Firegeezer wonders if the Water Authority is still operating out of the Marion Barry Procedural Manual.

*  Firefighter Blog is keeping up with the Greek situation.  Today he has several videos posted HERE.

*  Roanoke Firefighters is featuring a tv stand for the kitchen of Sta. 1.  It’s made from a fire alarm pull-box pedestal and it really looks nice.  See it HERE.

*  STATter911 is following the problems that D. C.’s Metrorail system is having.  Electrical fires 2 nights in a row now.  Click HERE.

*  FireRescue1 has an interesting story on the Sun Valley (Idaho) ski resort using its snow-making machines to help fight the Castle Rock forest fire.  Read the full STORY.

*  FirefighterHourly is reporting that an embarrased ISO is returning to Charleston HERE.

*  EMS1 carries a story about how a Kansas City medic crew revived a newborn that had been put into a toilet HERE.

*  SConFire tells about a fire district board of directors that can’t bring itself to make a decision HERE.

*  Today’s Major Wildfire Incidents MAP.

FIRE CHIEF JOE ROBERTSON, WHO HAS led the Florence, South Carolina Fire Department for the past 10 years, resigned this morning effective immediately.

The Florence Morning News has a late STORY.
The newspaper hasn’t been able to find out the reason for the sudden departure and they’ve file a Freedom of Information Act request.

But all they need to do is go to SConFIRE because Grant Mishoe has dug up the reason HERE.

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FURTHER POINTING OUT THAT YOU NEVER REALLY know what you’ve got until you get there, an unidentified passing motorist had his camera with him and captured the photos of this van fire yesterday.

In Northern Territory, Australia an almost-new delivery van that was carrying oxy-acetylene cylinders developed an engine fire.  The driver immediately pulled over and bailed out just before the fire spread into the passenger compartment.  As the fire spread rapidly into the cargo area, the oxy-acetylene cylinders started venting and turned the van into an inferno.

Soon afterwards the fire burned through the brake line and the van coasted back into the woods just off the road when the fire department arrived.  The police said that the road would be closed for the next 24 hours because one of the tanks hadn’t vented and they had to stay away until it cooled down and was deemed safe.

Click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized pics of this fire.

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA’S AMBULANCE service, was in a “state of bedlam” last week when a botched upgrade disabled the service’s computer-aided dispatch system for 24 hours.

In a scene that must have been reminiscent of a Keystone Kops routine, they had several ambulances showing up at the same incident while others didn’t get anyone there.  Ambulances were crossing paths on their way to calls and nobody knew where any of them were.

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ComputerWorld Australia has the full STORY.

Firegeezer adds:  I notice in the article that the ambulance workers are represented by the “Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU).”  That sounds like another story in itself.

IF YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT IT, THE FORMAT “WAR” between Blu-ray and HD DVD has been going on for over two years.  Likened to the VHS vs. Beta competition 20 yrs. ago, the two formats are incompatible on each other’s machines and one has got to give.

We’re talking about DVD player formats that will be used on High-definition video disks to play for your HD television.  There are two competing brands like there were for the video tapes.  But this time they’re playing rougher.  In the videotape war the movie studios ended up releasing their flicks on both formats and they let the consumer decide the outcome.

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This time around, the format warriors are signing the studios up for exclusive usage.  So now you’re really stuck.  If you buy one brand’s player, you will miss out on half of the new releases.  But does anybody really care?  Firegeezer’s current dvd player has the “upconvert” built into it (just about all of them do now) that upgrades the signal from the standard dvd’s to one that is compatible with the HD-tv sets.  You don’t need this new stuff.

Gizmodo.com has just made a comparison chart showing who supports which format HERE.

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What a sad story to begin a Sunday with.  A fast-moving fire barreling through Manhattan’s eyesore known as the Deutsche Bank building has taken the lives of two more firefighters.  For the best compilation of this ongoing news event, I trust you’re checking in with STATter911.  Newsman Dave is keeping up with the story as it happens HERE.

But the story I’d like to see the New Yorkers follow up on is why the conditions were allowed to exist that permitted, even encouraged, this fire to reach such large proportions.  The early reports are saying that the building standpipes were inoperable.  Why?  They were there.  Why weren’t they maintained?  When were they last inspected?  How often did the Fire Marshal check them and insist on their being available for fire duty?

The building was being hand-demolished floor by floor and was loaded with tons of plywood and miles of plastic sheeting.  Things that would contribute to a rapid fire spread amongst all the construction debris.  Common sense and a modern fire code would have required standpipe hose packs on each floor where work was taking place.  Why weren’t there any here? 

A work project of this magnitude requires frequent code enforcement visits to insure that fire safety is being followed.  Considering the past work record of this crew, including the dropping of a large pipe 35 stories through the roof of the next-door firehouse, I would expect daily visits from the fire marshal.  In fact, there should have been a City code-enforcement officer on site at all times.  How often did the fire marshal office inspect the job site?  Judging from the results of yesterday, I would say “not very often.”

While Mayor Bloomberg is strutting around town flapping his wings about cooking oil and tobacco smoke, his own city’s enforcement crew was taking a smoke break behind the fast-food joint around the corner.  Shame!

Now let’s get the equipment checked out.  I’ll see you at the coffee table.

THE 59th RUNNING OF THE BONNEVILLE SPEED WEEK wrapped up today.  Over 400 drivers showed up last weekend to begin the annual race for new world land-speed records.

One of those drivers is a retired firefighter from southern California, 70-yr.-old Terry Haines.  Haines, who now lives in Nevada City, Calif.,  has been racing things all of his life and also has plenty of experience at the salt flats.  In 2004 he set the world record for the blown gas lakester category at 204.035 mph.

This year he entered his lakester in the blown fuel (alcohol) class with the same purpose……break the record that stood at 198.564 mph.  Using a converted dragster fitted up with a 1954 GMC military truck motor, he finished the two-way run averaging an impressive 209.595 mph in his “Saline Solution” lakester.

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Read more about him in the Grass Valley Union HERE.

YESTERDAY WE REPORTED HERE ON THE car fire in upstate New York that killed two infant girls that were riding in the back seat.  While driving along the highway, the rear passenger area  burst into flames and when the mother pulled over she was unable to get her two daughters out of the car and they perished in the fire.

Today the Associated Press is reporting:

Police believe holes in the top of a muffler could be responsible for a car fire that killed two small children.

State Police Investigator Chris Wilkinson said investigators think the fire started when welded spots on the top of the muffler eroded, causing hot exhaust gases to burn through the floorboard and ignite the interior of Melissa Johns’ vehicle Tuesday.

The 25-year-old Savona resident pulled over on the shoulder of Interstate 86, but the car became engulfed in flames before she could save her daughters; 18-month-old Izzybella Beam and 4-week-old Sinaya Beam.

The incident took place near Erwin, N.Y., 77 miles southeast of Rochester.

IN STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK (Upstate) 25-year-old Melissa Johns of Savona was driving west on Route I-86 around 5:20 p.m. yesterday when her 1999 Kia caught fire.  She pulled over and desperately tried to get her daughters, 18-months-old and  four-weeks-old, out of the backseat, but flames consumed the car.

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Rochester Ch. 13 photo

The State Police are still investigating it and have no explanation yet about why the car suddenly burst into flames.

The Corning Leader has the early STORY.

KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE HAS A CONTRACT with Rural/Metro to provide emergency ambulance service.  Part of the agreement is to arrive on scene within 10 minutes on 90% of the calls.

During the month of June they only achieved that goal 88.9% of the time during the first half of the month and 87% the second half, invoking a $81,500 penalty.  Response in May was also below agreement, drawing a $97,500 penalty.

Knoxville channel 6 has the STORY.

SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTES FIREFIGHTER BOB DOHERTY has become the town’s unofficial historian.  It all started back in 1979 when two ladies from the local historical society came by the firehouse and asked if anybody would be willing to give a talk about Somerville’s early fire history.

Bob told the ladies that he would be willing to give it a try if they would show him how to gather the history.  From that first talk, it took off from there.  Doherty’s avocation since then has been to delve into the city’s  past and pass the stories along in talks to civic groups.  And it just keeps growing.  “For every story I had about Somerville history, people in the audience had two more. It really sparked something, they wouldn’t let me go. It made people reflect on their own lives in the city,” he says.

The Somerville News has the interesting story about this FF’s contribution to the “big little city” that’s older than Boston HERE.
(Summerville News photo)