Pencil Pushers Have Gone 3 Years Without a Raise

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, CITY MANAGER Troy Schulte presented his proposed budget to the City Council members on Tuesday.  His $1.3 billion proposal includes a lot of cutbacks in several city services, but the one measure that has raised eyebrows is his suggestion to lay off 105 firefighters.  He told the Kansas City Star, as Kansas City’s economy remains stubbornly sluggish, firefighters should no longer be untouchable. "We have to make strategic reductions in public safety," he said.

City Manager Schulte  (K.C. Star)

In a most absurd justification, he is also quoted by the Star:

His budget letter to (Mayor) James recommended reducing the Fire Department by 105 positions because fire calls have dropped by more than 60 percent in the past 10 years. He said he believes the reductions can be made without jeopardizing public safety.

So there you have it.  The number of firefighters and fire stations is to be determined by how many fires you get, not what you need when get a fire.  By his logic, all the firehouses will then be clustered around the high-activity neighborhoods leaving those slow residential areas to stand in the front yard and watch as their rare house fires consume all they own.  As for the airport… well, a hot-line phone box will do.  How often does a plane crash out there, anyway?

But as the late Ron Popeil used to say, Wait, there's more!  Again from The Star:

Those personnel cuts would help free up about $7.6 million — money that could go toward raises for other city employees. Many of them haven’t had a pay increase in three years.

No raise in three years, but at least they'll still have a job.  This is budgetary Russian roulette.

Note:   He earmarked $5 million for police raises and the balance for other management-level employees.

The City Council at its regular session today  (Wednesday) publicly reviewed the proposed budget.  The Local had exactly 105 firefighters in the council chambers this morning making their presence obvious.  KSHB-TV Ch. 41 had their video crew there too, and filed this report earlier today:

Local 42 President Mike Cambiano believes that this just might be some sort of dance and preening on the part othe city manager leading up to contract negotiations with the FF's that begin in April.  In addition, the fire chief was never consulted by the city manager on these proposed reductions.

Later this afternoon, following the above video report, Fire Chief Smokey Dyer addressed the Council.  The Star reported this afternoon:

Dyer told the city council’s Public Safety Committee that Chicago, Memphis, Louisville, Dallas and Houston are among major U.S. cities that require at least four firefighters per pumper, in compliance with national fire protection standards. That staffing allows two people in the first pumper on the scene to begin spraying water on a fire, while two others can begin attacking the fire within a building and rescuing any victims.

Chief Dyer  (KCUR)

Kansas City began increasing its firefighting ranks and staffed up its pumpers ten years ago to meet that standard. But City Manager Troy Schulte has recommended cutting 105 firefighters, saying the city has far fewer fires now and can save $7.5 million without compromising public safety.

Such a reduction would force deployment changes and reductions to the pumpers, Dyer said.

Mayor James will present his response to Schulte's plan tomorrow.  However one councilman didn't wait to voice his opinion:

Committee Chair John Sharp said the city made a conscious decision in 2001 to beef up its pumper staffing and he opposes any change. He said the fire department has to accept cuts like all other departments, but not this way.

“I can’t imagine a worse way to make cuts in the budget,” he said.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/08/3417307/fire-officials-warn-cutbacks-could.html#storylink=cpy

The City Council will approve whatever budget is decided on in late March for the fiscal year that begins on May 1.

Read the earlier referenced story from the Kansas City Star HERE.
Read a more in-depth report on the city manager's plans HERE.

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Driver Escapes Spectacular Blaze

A GASOLINE TANKER LITERALLY CRASHED AND BURNED in Anderson County, South Carolina, Tuesday morning.

Independent-Mail / Kelly

The truck was carrying 9,000 gals. of product when it drifted off the road around 10:20 am.  WYFF-TV tells what happened:

Highway Patrol Lance Cpl. Bill Rhyne said the 2009 Kenworth tractor-trailer tanker driven by 46-year-old Jose Emilio Calderon of Easley. Calderon was wearing a seat belt, was injured and was taken to AnMed for treatment, Rhyne said.

Rhyne said the tanker truck was headed south on Shady Grove Road when for unknown reasons it ran off the left side of the road and then off the right side of the road, hitting a fence and a power pole.

The cab of the truck remained upright, while the tank turned on its side. Power lines came down on top of the tanker, igniting the fuel that was on board.

The driver was able to crawl out of the cab before it began burning and two neighbors ran over and dragged him to safety.

WSPA-TV provided some good raw video of the fire:

After the fire department had a foam supply on hand and set up, they had the fire knocked down in about 15 minutes.  About 4,000 gals. of gasoline was saved and it was later transferred to another truck.

Read more at WFYY-TV website HERE.
The Anderson Independent Mail has MORE.

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Save Money and Fight Fires (or something like that)

THE CITY OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, HAS DIRECTED the Fire Chief Laura Knapp to cut spending 10% over the next three years.  So she has come up with a plan that the City Council loves to hear.  So much so that yesterday morning (Tuesday) they unanimously approved the plan and gave her the go-ahead to start implementing it.

The city has 11 fire stations and Knapp plans to replace the fire engines in three of them with "Quick Response Vehicles" (QRV's), described by the fire department as "basically a Dodge chassis with a box on the back" for a 300-gallon water tank and compressed-air foam system.

This GRFD drawing looks an awful lot like THIS ONE:

SGVN photo

The selling points for this conversion are first of all, replacement costs of $873,000 for all three units compared to a comparable price for one real fire engine. 

Secondly, the QRV's will only carry two firefighters instead of the three or four currently riding on the real fire engines.  This will allow the department to operate with 12 fewer firefighters, music to a councilman's ears.  Twelve is the magic number because the SAFER grant that the FD received to fund 12 positions runs out in three years and apparently the city does not have plans to retain those slots.

Chief Knapp projects a total savings of $21 million over the next 15 years once the plan goes into effect.

The Grand Rapids Press tells us:

Knapp hopes they will help the fire department maintain existing service levels in the face of coming staffing cuts.

About 89 percent of current fire-service calls are handled by a single unit, Knapp said. The "quick-response" units could handle those calls, she said.

"We need to better align our resources with these single-unit calls to ensure our performance is maintained (as we reduce firefighters to cut costs)," Knapp said. "Right now we don’t have a lot of flexibility in our deployment. The (‘quick-response vehicle’) is the answer for our current rigid operational system."

The firefighters themselves aren't convinced yet that fewer fire engines and fewer FF's will translate into "maintaining existing service levels."  William Smith, president of the Local tells the GR Press,  "If they’re rolled out, we’ll do what we’re told to do. There’s a question of how effective they’ll be."

WZZM-TV filed this brief video report:

Full report in the Grand Rapids Press HERE.
Local President Smith speaks more about their skepticism HERE.

Firegeezer notes:  These things became popular back in the great recession of the late 1970's.  Back then they were called "mini-pumpers" and were introduced with the same promises we're hearing from Grand Rapids.  Several dozens of fire departments jumped into the concept, but within three years they were all back to Plan A.  Why do people think it will magically start working now?  Or is this just a gimmick to get the budgeteers to turn their focus onto another agency?

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Old Buildings Wall-to-Wall

A DIFFICULT FIRE IN HECHINGEN, GERMANY, Monday evening destroyed a centuries-old home in the town center and heavily damaged four others before the firefighters could put a stop on it.  The ancient town is noted for its extremely narrow streets and alleys that are the only access to many of the buildings.

The fire alarm was sent at 4:45 pm and the Hechingen Feuerwehr found smoke showing from the top floor and three people trapped and waiting at windows for rescue.  While more engines and three additional aerials were being dispatched to the town, Hechingen's tower-ladder removed the two men at one of the windows and a 78-yr.-old woman who was at another 3rd-floor window.

The firefighters went to the upper floor to attack the fire, but the false ceilings began falling on them and the entire  circuit of live electric wiring dropped down on them causeing one to receive a heavy shock.  As the fire began running the attic and spreading to the neighboring structures, the fire commander ordered the fire building to be evacuated.  Extreme sub-freezing temperatures were also causing hose stream runoff to immediately freeze over.

This on-the-scene video report from TV24 includes some good fire footage:

With the arrival of help from other fire brigades, a perimeter was set up to contain  the fire which was then breaking through the roofs.  When it was put out several hours later, five buildings had been destroyed or heavily damaged.

Spray and runoff were immediately freezing over  (SWP)

The fire brigade remained on the scene through the night taking care of hot spots and daybreak saw the arrival of a crane to tear down the remains of the fire building and begin debris removal.  Investigators hope to be able to begin looking for the cause sometime today (Tuesday).

SWP

Full news reports are included in Schwarzwaelder HERE and SWP  HERE.

Thanks to Christian Lewalter of Feuerwehr Blog.

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"When one thing goes wrong …."

A CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, MAN GOT STUCK IN AN ELEVATOR Sunday night.  When the firefighter who was able to reach him got the victim onto another car, it became stuck and both of them were trapped and in need of freeing.

The Chicago Tribune encapsulates what happened:

Firefighters were called to the Park Monroe Condominiums, 65 E. Monroe St. about 9:15 p.m. to rescue a man who was trapped in a stalled elevator between the 21st and 22nd floor of the 49-story building, said Chief Kevin McGregor, a fire department spokesman.

WGN-TV

A firefighter went up in another elevator in an adjoining shaft, exited through the ceiling hatch to get to the other elevator's hatch to transfer the trapped man and bring him down.

But after the transfer was made, the second elevator stalled and wouldn't come down, McGregor said.

Firefighters considered breaking through a brick wall to get into the elevator through the shaft and using ropes to bring the trapped men out, but didn't have to after an Otis Elevator Co. engineer was able to reset the elevator switch from the roof, put it in "inspection mode" and operate it manually, McGregor said.

It turned out that an electrical problem was causing the system to malfunction.

WLS-TV posted this brief video report where you get to see the building and some flashing lights:

Firegeezer adds his 2¢ worth:  If you are wondering why they didn't just open the car doors and exit onto the nearest floor the way you're trained to, it appears to have been an express elevator serving the upper floors of the 49-story building.  Therefore it was probably an enclosed shaft on the lower half prohibiting an access through the door.

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Four-Alarm Blaze Successfully Contained

A LARGE 4-STORY WAREHOUSE IN THE vacated former Mare Island Naval Station in Vallejo, California, burned down Sunday and the smoke plume drew spectators from around the entire San Pablo Bay area.

Vallejo Times-Herald

The supposedly-empty warehouse was already scheduled for demolition later this year, so after determining there was no life hazard, the FD operated a containment operation to protect the several other similar structures close to it.  The 70-yr.-old building is wood-frame construction and was well-involved and fast-moving when the FD arrived.

Times-Herald

Water supply on the unused tract is scant, so limited streams were available while the structure was allowed to burn out. 

NBC News

The fire began around 10 am and was pretty well knocked down by 12:30 pm, but the fire chief says that they expect it to smoulder for about two days.

San Francisco Channel 5 News filed this video report from the fire scene:

NBC News reported:

Smoke was visible to firefighters before they even reached the scene, and upon arrival they found the building was already 20 to 25 percent involved in flames, (Vallejo Fire Chief Paige)Meyer said.

The warehouse, owned by the City of Vallejo, is vacant and slated for demolition, but Meyer said there was a "possibility of homeless and squatters" inside.

Once firefighters determined the building was empty, however, they stepped back to a defensive position and focused on preventing the massive, fast-moving fire from spreading to neighboring buildings or vegetation.

Meyer described a hectic scene, with heavy smoke, strong winds and embers. "We had four by eight sheets of plywood flying through the air, so you can imagine the spectacular nature of the fire," Meyer said.

NBC also posted a good video report:

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

The Vallejo Times-Herald has additional video and the STORY.
The San Francisco Chronicle has MORE.

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Patient On Board

A COUNTY AMBULANCE SERVICE unit was on a non-emergency patient transport Friday afternoon in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, when it collided with a car and was knocked onto its side.

Berkshire Eagle

The Berkshire Eagle reports:

Pittsfield Police Officer Marc Maddalena said a green 2002 Volvo station wagon traveling west on Lakeway Drive drove through a stop sign and broadsided a County Ambulance unit headed south on Valentine at about 1:45 p.m.

Police said the driver of the Volvo, Elizabeth Cosci, 49, of Pittsfield, is facing a civil citation for failing to stop. Cosci wasn't injured.

Berkshire Eagle

The three occupants of the ambulance, two medics and a patient, were all taken to Berkshire Medical Center, where they were treated and released, police said.

The Berkshire Eagle also posted this raw video taken at the scene:

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A Review of Recent Incidents Involving Dollar Stores

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GASTONIA, NORTH CAROLINA, POLICE SAY that a local teenager used a lighter to set a fire in a Dollar Tree store on January 2, shortly after 5 pm.  By 10 pm Todd Alexander Bryson, 16, was jailed under a $25,000 secured bond facing an arson-related charge.

The Gaston Gazette reported:

The two-alarm fire was reported about 5:24 p.m. Monday. It occurred in the aisle where potato chips and other snacks are displayed, according to Gaston County Assistant Fire Marshal Billy Glover. Police were able to arrest Bryson before he left (the shopping center). They said he probably set fire to just one item.

"There’s no indication of any reason he’d want to start the fire," said Sgt. Jimmy Arndt with Gastonia Police Department. Bryson was standing in the parking lot with his mother and some acquaintances when taken into custody, Arndt said.

Glover said combined damage will likely exceed $500,000 and could hit $1 million.

The building's sprinkler system helped contain the blaze, but there was still significant damage to both the structure and the merchandise, mainly from smoke and water damage.  Bryson was charged with felony arson and is subject to additional charges.

The store reopened on January 19 while Bryson was still in jail.

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WISH-TV IN INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA reported that two employees suffered smoke inhalation in a fire set by a customer trying to steal items from a Wayne Township Family Dollar store on January 9.

Firefighters were called to the store near Lynhurst Drive and Rockville Road just after 11:30 a.m. The first units arrived to find a small fire had already been extinguished by employees. They say it appears a would-be shoplifter set the fire as a distraction.

The suspect fled from the store but was identified on a surveillance tape.

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IN NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI, A FIRE BROKE OUT in a Dollar General store around 2 pm on January 10.

Natchez Democrat

The Natchez Democrat reported:

"The manager said everybody was in the front of the store, and when he turned around he could see smoke coming from the back of the building," Natchez Fire Chief Oliver Stewart said.

Most of the fire damage was limited to the rear of the building, but Oliver said the exact point of origin for the fire had not been determined Tuesday afternoon. "They have an office in the rear, and it looks like it started in that office," Stewart said. "We are looking there."

The fire burned out the storeroom and caused some structural damage in that area.  The firewalls between the stores in the shopping center prevented the fire from spreading into the adjoining businesses.

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MONDAY JANUARY 16, A CAR inexplicably drove through the main entrance of a Van Nuys, California, 99¢ store.  Although the car plowed right into the main egress at 1 pm, there were no injuries.  Damages amounted to at least $5,000.99.

KCBS-TV ran this video report:

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A JONESBORO, NORTH CAROLINA, TEEN WAS ARRESTED after setting a fire in a Dollar General store on January 14.  The blaze kept the firefighters on the scene for 12 hours as the building was gutted.  There was some extension into other stores in the shopping center, but none of them had major damage with most being able to reopen within 2-3 days.

A 16-yr.-old boy has been charged with the arson, but neither his identity or motive were disclosed by the police.

WGHP-TV has the details in this video report:

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This is a continuing series of fire / rescue incidents involving "dollar stores." Read previous Dollar Store Updates HERE.

Outside Bidders Excluded

A MISSOURI AMBULANCE DISTRICT OFFICIAL has been arrested and charged with misdemeanor insider information for a land-flip that he profited from in March 2011.  The president of Northland Regional Ambulance District in Platte County, Kevin Rawlings, 40, is accused of buying land and reselling it to his own ambulance authority knowing that they were planning on building a new station in the area.

Kevin Rawlings

The Kansas City Star reports:

According to court records, Rawlings purchased 34 acres in April 2010 for $130,000. He resold 1.5 acres to the ambulance district in March 2011 for $175,000.  Prosecutor Eric Zahnd said Thursday that Rawlings allegedly made $144,000 from the transaction.

Land that sold for $58,000 per acre  (NBC News)

There was no record that the agency had the land appraised at that time, court records stated. However, an appraisal in November 2011 put its worth at $30,600.

Rawlings was elected board president in 2006. He knew as early as 2008 that the district wanted to build a new station near Route U at the Camden Point exit.

According to the ambulance board minutes, Rawlings instructed the District's executive director to look for sites in the area where he had purchased the property.  When the Board "called" for bids, Rawlings was the only bidder.

The dubious activity first came to the taxpayers' attention back in March 2011 when NBC News filed this video report that detailed the entire transaction:

The Kansas City Star has more details HERE.
The St. Joseph News-Press has MORE.
Northland Regional Ambulance District WEBSITE.

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Fire is Out

Updated, Noon:  Fire is out, but plant shut down temporarily.  Scroll down for update.

A WELL-KNOWN LOCAL CANDY MANUFACTURING company in Washington County, Pennsylvania, is burning this morning just south of Pittsburgh.  The Sarris Candy plant in Canonsburg caught fire in the ice cream portion of the factory around 7 am.  The first-arriving units found smoke coming from all the top-floor windows and roof vents in that wing and called a 2nd alarm.

WTAE-TV

KDKA-TV posted this early video taken from their helicopter:

The firefighters were able to contain the fire to that one section by surrounding it with hose streams and had it under control around an hour later.

There are apartments on the 2nd-floor above the ice cream parlor and all residents are believed to have escaped safely.

WTAE-TV

Sarris Candy is a favorite destination for western Pennsylvanians who visit the ice cream parlor and the candy store.  Sarris Candies are widely used for fundraising sales by schools and scout troops.

Update,  Noon Eastern:
WTAE-TV in an update tells,

Sarris said a significant amount of Easter candy was lost, but the building was not completely destroyed. He said they're trying to reopen the building's ice cream shop as soon as possible, and chocolate production should resume within a few days.

(Canonsburg Fire Chief Tom) Lawrence said there was minimal structure damage — most of it in the packaging area, where many boxes for the various chocolates were kept. He thinks the fire may have started in the furnace area, but the cause is still under investigation by a state police fire marshal.

The fire was contained mostly in the roof and the attic, concentrated at the ice cream end of the building.  No injuries were reported, either civilian or firefighter.  The state police fire investigator is on the scene.

WTAE-TV has additional video and more early details on the fire HERE.

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