YORK, PENNSYLVANIA, ENDURED a rare 6-alarm fire Monday afternoon.  Fire broke out in a rowhouse on the 300-block of East King St. in the heart of the city around 3 pm.  Even though the first-in fire units were on the scene in one minute after dispatch, the fire was already involving the house from basement to attic and starting to run the block.

First arriving units knew they had a worker (Fox43 News)

As the additional alarms were being dispatched, the FF’s mounted a massive effort on the fire and finally contained it to seven homes, including a group home for recovering addicts.

Early reports say as many as 40 to 60 people have been left homeless from the blaze.

WHP Ch. 21 has this video report:

Fox43 has the story and a photo gallery HERE.

Note: Firegeezer mistakenly identified the city as Harrisburg earlier. The story has been corrected to show the location properly identified as York.

WITH A SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY MASSEY FERGUSON ON THE BASS.

(Just love the mike positioned over the exhaust pipe)

TWO YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, THE BODY of a well-known Cleveland area dentist was found behind a dumpster two days after he was reported missing.

Dr. Robert Kalina, 70, had a reputation for being a kind and generous man without an enemy in the world.  But his bloody and battered body containing a bullet in his chest showed that somebody didn’t really care.

For days the Willoughby, Ohio, police canvassed a wide area around the dentist’s office trying to find some leads or suspects.  But nothing turned up.  The police chief of the small town, pop. 22,000, refused to give up and the force kept the case active for two years.

Finally, earlier this year they got the break they needed.  While Googling descriptions and serial numbers of some of the missing items from his office, they learned that Dr. Kalina’s Rolex watch had been sold at an auction downstate from Cleveland.  And then they were on the trail.

The story of this doggedly persistent bit of excellent police work and how they tracked down the killer has been told by Eric C. Rodenberg of Antique Week newspaper and can be read and enjoyed HERE.

For some additional background you can read the newspaper report from two years ago when the body was discovered HERE.

THE CITY CENTER SHOPPING DISTRICT IN MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, has hydraulic bollards in the surrounding streets that rise up every morning at 11:00 and effectively keep motor vehicles out of the busy shopping streets.

Police cars, fire engines, taxis and buses have electronic devices that lower the bollards so that they can gain entrance to the area.  But the electronics failed Monday morning when a fire engine was passing over the lowered barrier while entering on a routine pre-plan inspection.  While the fire truck was moving along, the bollards started rising up and literally lifted the fire engine up in the air.

Manchester Evening News

One of the bollards split the transmission casing and trans. oil started running out onto the street.  The bollards were hopelessly bent by the collision and the only way to remove the fire engine was by having a tow truck lift it off the posts.

The Manchester Evening News has the STORY and VIDEO report.

A MAN WHO WAS REPORTEDLY DESPONDENT  was injured Monday afternoon when his house, apparently by his own hand, blew up, knocking him out of the building.

Daily Herald / Zars photo

The incident took place in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove, Illinois, where a neighbor had phoned in a call to the police to check on the well-being of the man because they were worried.  A police officer, fire engine and ambulance were sent to check it out and when they got there they detected a strong natural gas odor.

As the policeman was trying to get the man’s attention by tapping on a window, the gas ignited and blew out one wall of the house and the man along with it.  The resident was transported with minor injuries and the FD had the ensuing fire out within 20 minutes.  Nobody else was hurt, but the house is now structurally unsound.

The Chicago Sun-Times has the STORY.

THROUGHOUT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE U. S. there is a seemingly endless stream of stories coming from towns that are financially strapped and on the verge of ceasing to function.  Many of these localities failed to keep up with demographic changes and shifts in their industries that had formerly provided their tax base.

NFFD Truck 1 photo by JL

But Niagara Falls, New York, is showing how to uphold a fiscal integrity and maintain their city services.  Even though they have lost countless hundreds of jobs and the tax revenue generated by large industries that are no longer there,  the city is moving forward.

No better example is that given by the fire department under the leadership of Fire Chief William MacKay.  Bucking the trend of many other mid-sized cities, the Niagara Falls FD is not only filling vacancies in the department, but they are even expanding the size of the uniformed force.

At a press event covering the public swearing-in ceremony for 14 new recruits yesterday, Chief MacKay said, “This will bring us closer to compliance with the national standards on minimum staffing.  This will give us two more rigs staffed with four firefighters 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.  Obviously, it goes without saying, it will improve our effectiveness, efficiency and safety.  It’s not just about adding bodies, it’s about adding bodies to increase productivity.”

WIVB Ch. 4 Buffalo covered the ceremony and filed this video report:

The Niagara Gazette is carrying the full story HERE.
Niagara Falls Fire Dept. WEBPAGE.
 
 

This past Wednesday we reported HERE on a house fire that burned two Evansville, Indiana, firefighters.  On Saturday the local newspaper, the Evansville Courier & Press, did a follow-up story on the FF that suffered the most severe of the injuries.

While it’s not too unusual for a newspaper to report on the progress of injured FF’s, this one was a bit different.  The paper’s reporter went to victim Capt. Jeff Crowe’s home and had a chat with him about the event and what is going on with his treatment these days.

Courier & Press photo

So instead of a dry report on Capt. Crowe’s progress, their readers sat in on a nice visit with him and heard first-hand what happened and how he’s doing.  It’s a good article and I think you’ll enjoy reading it too.  CLICK HERE to read it for yourself.  It finishes up with a touching quote:  “I had a lot of friends looking out for me. I’ve been off the pain pills for a little while now. The prayers I’ve been receiving have taken their place.”

*  *  *

Something we’ve all experienced at one time or another is the practice followed by manufacturers and suppliers of hiding price increases by reducing the size of the product while keeping the same sales price for it.  Such as when the Pam cooking oil spray can suddenly started putting only 10 oz. in the same sized can instead of 12 oz.  That kind of stuff is really irritating.

Especially egregious was the recent change taken by the “quality” ice cream makers to down-size their cartons from 1/2-gallon to only 3 pints.  A huge 25% effective price hike, followed up lately with a real price increase.  That borders on extortion.

But the final insult came just this past Sunday.  I stopped by my local Krispy Kreme doughnut shop and picked up a dozen lemon-filled delights.  But when I got home and looked inside I discovered that there was a lot of space inside the box that didn’t used to be there.  Up until now, the doughnuts would completely fill the box, fitting snugly from wall to wall.  But this time instead of those nice big, round beauties there were a dozen of these oblong things that didn’t come close to filling out the box.  Each row was a good 1-½” short of reaching the side.

That is just plain disgusting.  It should be against the law.  If they tried something like this in Freedonia, they’d be shut down.  The whole world is spinning out of control.

Before it flies apart completely, though, we’d better get the equipment checked out.  I’ll go get the (overpriced) coffee started.

EARLY MONDAY MORNING A DALLAS, TEXAS, FIRE Department ambulance was responding to a call around 3:20 am.  While they were traveling on Singleton Blvd. a private auto crossed over the median and crashed into the side of the ambulance.

WFAA-TV / Bryan Titsworth photo

There were no injuries, but police say that the car’s driver had no driver’s license or insurance.  He is facing multiple charges.  Dallas Rescue 45 is a brand-new ambulance that has only been in service for two weeks.  Now it’s out of service again.

Fox TV Channel 4 has the STORY.

THE PRISONER GUARDS AT EALING, WEST LONDON, ENGLAND, are a bit embarrassed after a one-legged prisoner outran them and made his escape this past Friday.

Michael Hill, 28, had appeared before the Magistrates Court for a domestic burglary charge and had been remanded to jail.  Hill is an amputee with an artificial leg, but he was obviously lame and constantly using crutches to get around.  Three guards were taking him outside the court to await a prison van to transport him and he was not handcuffed because he needed to crutches to move about.

Once they were outside, Hill dropped his crutches and took off running with the three guards huffing and puffing after him.  After outrunning them for 200 yards, he vaulted a 5-ft. garden wall and disappeared in a block of apartments as the guards watched helplessly from the other side.

As of today, Hill is still at large and the Prison Service is “investigating.”  The Sun is carrying the STORY.

A FAMILY’S THREE CHILDREN ALL DIED THIS MORNING in one of those sickening fire calls that nobody likes to run.

Cincinnati Enquirer / Amie Dworecki photo

Calls to 911 started pouring in at 2:30 am Monday when fire broke out in the 140-yr.-old frame house.  Three children ages 2, 5 and 9, were on the second floor and the parents were in a first-floor bedroom.  As the fire raced through the house, the husband tossed his wife out of the building and then ran upstairs after the children.  He was only able to reach the 9-yr.-old daughter and took her out onto the 2nd-floor porch.  He first jumped down and then pleaded her to jump into his arms.  But the girl was in shock and disoriented and went back into the house.

The nearest fire station was only blocks away and they arrived on the scene within two minutes where they witnessed the girl in distress and then returning to the inferno.  Despite the FF’s hardest efforts, they were unable to get to the upstairs bedrooms as the entire house was fully involved by then.

WKRC Ch. 12 was on the scene with this video report:

The father is in the hospital with severe burns over 30% of his body.  The distraught mother is medically ok, but understandably in mental shock.

The Cincinnati Enquirer has the complete STORY.

JOHN ROBISON, 63, FORMER ALABAMA STATE FIRE MARSHAL collapsed at his home and died later at the Univ. of Alabama Birmingham Hospital.  He served in the state fire marshal office for 32 years, leading the department for 15 yrs.

John Robison

The Montgomery Advertiser reports:

He became a national figure 13 years ago when a series of fires destroyed small black churches in Dallas, Greene and Hale counties in Alabama’s Black Belt region.

The first church was destroyed Dec. 22, 1995. Within three months, several more churches were burned to the ground in the same area.

Robison spent countless hours investigating the cause of the fires and fielding questions from reporters across the country.

When civil rights leaders claimed the fires were caused by racists, Robison pointed out that more than half of the churches destroyed by arsonists over the period had white congregations.

Several arrests were made in connection with the fires, but Robison found no indication that any of them had been racially motivated.

Since his retirement 5 years ago he was a fire and safety consultant in private practice.

The Montgomery Advertiser has the full STORY.

THE BLACK FOREST FIRE/RESCUE DEPT. in Colorado was beginning a training session Saturday afternoon when a pair of eyeballs caught their attention.

The focus of the training session was stabilization of vehicle rollovers on accident scenes and for the drill they had an old pickup truck.  When they rolled the truck onto its top to begin the drill, someone noticed a pair of bright eyes shining out from inside a front wheel well.  They quickly found out that a bunny was now trapped in their drill and it gave the extrication training a new focus.

Black Forest Fire-Rescue / Kathy Russell photo

In a full accounting of the “incident” a FD spokeswoman tells Denver TV channel 7:

The little cottontail apparently had the hare-brained idea that this old truck would be a warm, safe place to spend the day. Then we came and turned his world upside down.

His wide-eyed expression said that one of us had made a terrible mistake.

“Is he alive?” We crowded around to look.

“Seems to be. He’s breathing. Nose is twitching.”

Having assessed the patient’s vital signs, we huddled to plan our rescue strategy.

We agreed that we had a clear duty to act. This victim, in mortal peril, was a legal resident of our fire district. More than that, he was our next-door neighbor. His family had probably burrowed here on the station’s property for fifteen generations.

It’s a charming tale of a successful rescue and you can read the full account HERE.