Basement Dance Hall Fire Kills 4

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AN EARLY-MORNING FIRE IN A ROMAN, (ITALY) DANCE HALL killed four people when they were trapped with only one possible exit.

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La Stampa

The club was a large concrete room that had been created in an underground parking garage. The police are investigating the circumstances and what may have caused the fire. One possibility they are considering is a circuit overload from the sound amplifying equipment that was being used for the party.

La Stampa has this STORY along with a photo gallery.

In Diretta has this video report from the fire scene later today:

Posted by fireball on March 14, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, Videos, fire

Antique Expertise Requested

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ONE OF OUR READERS, Richard B. took this photo of a hose cart at the Bodie State Park in California’s Gold Rush country.

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He would like to know why that reel of rope is mounted just under the drawbar. This was obviously a hand-drawn cart, as just about all of them were, so it probably has nothing to do with harnessing.

If you know why the rope is there, please tell us in the Comments section.

Bodie is a gold-rush era ghost town. In 1962 the State of California took possession of it and preseved it in toto as a State Historic Park to illustrate the way of life during those heady years of the mid- to late-19th century. They have an excellent website HERE that is worth the visit.

Posted by firegeezer on March 14, 2010 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, antique apparatus • Tagged: Bodie State Historic Park California, hose cart

Raleigh FF Nabbed in Sex Sting

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A RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA, FIREFIGHTER WITH SIX YEARS on the job was arrested by Guillford County Sheriff’s deputies Thursday and charged with felony counts of Solicitation of a Minor by Computer to Commit an Unlawful Sex Act and Attempted Indecent Liberties with a Minor.

The sheriff’s office says that Richard Brandon Wells, 31, has been under surveillance for several months after he started communicating over the Internet with an undercover officer he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

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On Friday the Raleigh FD place him on suspension and he remains in jail under $100,000 bond.

The News & Observer has the STORY.

Posted by firegeezer on March 14, 2010 • Filed under: News, crime • Tagged: Raleigh Fire Department, Richard Brandan Wells

4 Alarms at East Bay Lumber Yard

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A 4-ALARM FIRE DURING THE SATURDAY SHOPPING TIME destroyed a Walnut Creek, California, lumber yard and home improvement center.

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Contra Costa Times

The fire was discovered around 1:30 pm when an explosion-like sound was heard and fire broke through the building housing the Piedmont Lumber Co. warehouse. The business is located on N. Main St. near the city center. The spectacular blaze brought traffic to a halt in the entire downtown area as streets were shut down to allow for the FD operations.

The fire spread into the showroom area and destroyed that as well. Ir was five hours before the fire was completely knocked down.

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CBS5

No estimates have been released yet on damages. Piedmont has three other locations including a trade-only store in Pittsburg that also had a major fire this past August.

The Contra Costa Times has the STORY.

Posted by firegeezer on March 14, 2010 • Filed under: Fires, fire • Tagged: 4 alarm fire, Piedmont Lumber, Walnut Creek California

Morning Lineup – March 14

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Edina – 4 , Minnetonka -2

That will be the front page headline of the Sunday newspapers in Minnesota this morning. Outside the Gopher state, it doesn’t mean a whole lot because the rest of the world can’t appreciate the impact that high school hockey has on the state. In the U. S. there is no other amateur or junior hockey league that has the popularity of the Minnesota State High School League. More than 150 high schools around the state have varsity boys’ hockey teams, many of them from small towns where their teams are on a par with those from the bigger cities.

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The annual high school championship tournament is followed closely by the entire populace and every game is televised state-wide and now on an internet live-stream as well. For the fans whose local teams didn’t make it to the final rounds, they are generally divided into two groups of cheering squads, the Twin Cities fans versus the Iron Range rooters. The regional rivalries add to the excitement and the tourney games are fully sold out at the two arenas in St. Paul where there are games being played from the morning through late night during the 4-day elimination playoffs.

One of the fans’ favorites each year is the team from Roseau, a tiny town of less than 3,000 way up near the Canadian border that somehow manages to put one of the best teams on the ice every year. They have won the state tournament more times than any other school, most recently in 2007. This year they finished in 4th place. Edina, one of the “Twin Cities” area teams, is a current powerhouse whose win last night gives them a total of 7 championships all-time and ties them with Roseau for the most titles. They are hockey-crazy in Minnesota.

And we’d better get this equipment checked out now. I need to get some more coffee started. The Sunday breakfast will be ready in about a half-hour.

This week’s Sunday photo art comes from Death Valley

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The Devil’s Cornfield

Posted by firegeezer on March 14, 2010 • Filed under: morning lineup • Tagged: Death Valley, Edina Minnesota, Minnesota high school hockey, morning lineup, Roseau Minnesota

“Home-Alone” Boy Saved in Illinois 3-Bagger

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Larry Shapiro photo

A THREE-ALARM FIRE IN MAYWOOD, ILLINOIS, late Friday night was punctuated by the rescue of a boy about 9 years old who was alone in his apartment. The fire in the Chicago suburb started in the rear of the first floor of a 3-story commercial building that has apartments on the upper floors. The fire began around 11:30 pm and an automatic alarm notified the FD.

When the first units arrived they were told of the boy in one of the apartments and a woman not yet accounted for in another unit. A 2nd alarm was struck shortly after.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Firefighter Tony Morrone was part of the team searching the interior when he found an 8- or 9-year-old boy sleeping in a bedroom, Maywood Fire Chief Keith Dobberfuhl said.

“The boy was under the layer of smoke when [Morrone] found him,” Dobberfuhl said. “The boy was asleep face down. Morrone carried him through the smoke and brought him down the staircase. All the while, the kid was calm and just waking up. [The kid's] dad was waiting outside,” Dobberfuhl said. The father took himself and his son to stay at a neighbor’s house a block away, he said.

Morrone has been a firefighter with the Maywood Fire Department for 15 years, Dobberfuhl said.

The 3rd alarm was struck shortly after midnight and the fire was declared out at 4 am Saturday morning. During the operations part of the second floor collapsed onto the first floor, but the entire 3rd floor remained intact and the late-19th century building is believed to be repairable. The woman who was missing at first was later found to have been led out of the fire by another tenant.

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