STATter 911

WOW... Outstanding!!! I really like the firefighter with the chair.
 

Wow, after watching this video, I don't want to hear about Fairfax anymore. The firefighters stand and watch it burn while the citizens pull the lines for them. Oh, and by the way, are all chief officers in Maryland overweight?
 

Just me or are both of the videos the same exact thing?
 

I wish it was just you, but it isn't. I will try to get part 2 up as soon as possible. It is another 10 minutes of video. I was given a bad link and will work to solve the problem. Thanks for pointing it out.

Statter
 

That was the rear of the building right about the time the building was being evacuated. You don't flow water from the outside while firefighters are still evacuating the building via the front. Oh but wait, since you are criticizing, you must be an expert and already know that...
 

Nice of them to vent the first floor when the fire is on the second and third. great oxygen supply!! Oh, and freelancing?. It appears to be alive and well in PG. A lot of guys doing useless tasks and endangering themselves, anyone heard of having a partner??
 

Gotta love the paid men from ALL THREE COUNTIES!!!!!! They do there part to make all of us look bad. Great job men!!
 

if this was such a big fire, how come all i saw was 4 firemen actually opperationg a handline and searching. where was everyone else???
 

At/in the front side of the building. And the rest of us sat in a parking lot until someone with half a brain took charge and finally put us to work.
 

That is an AMAZING video of???? What the Hell are they doing???????
 

The only thing missing from this 3 ring circus is the Kentland Klowns!!
 

lots of people who wern't there doin lots of talkin...most the people in the video are volunteers, first off. 2nd venting the 1st floor windows and supplying o2...well incase u were watching a different video, im pretty sure the fire had comprimised the 2nd and 3rd floors (you would have heard that on the radio, if u were there) so i think breakin windows as a means of egress is an ok idea. as for the freelancing, do you want me to hold your hand at the next fire you go to, that is if you are even a firemen. ahhh trash talk
 

As a volunteer fireman in PG county, I'm embarassed at what I saw in this video. All I can say is that down in the south side of the county things are definitely not done this way. Hopefully it can be used as a learning experience... of how to NOT fight a fire.
 

Thanks for the link Dave-my server is down but hopefully will be back up in an hour or so.
 

Where do I start?? This was obviously the rear of the building, i.e no front entrance. The units I saw operating where Burtonsville (Mont. Co.), Savage (Howard Co.) and Maryland City (AA Co.). With the exception of Burtonsville, the other two departments do not have a clue of what to do, expecially when coming in to PG County. Yet another example of why MUTUAL AID doens't work. Fires in Laurel tend to be larger because of several reasons but mostly due to the delay in dispatch between the other counties. I.E. PG dispatches a call at 2200, Montgomery 2 minutes later, Howard and Anne Arundel 3-5 minutes later.

Burtonsville I believe had the RIT or Rapid Intervention Team, their sole purpose on this fire is to rescue trapped or injured firefighters. That is why you don't see them doing much work. They are allowed to vent, place ladders, and move hoselines to areas where they might need them should the need arise.

I have heard that when units from Laurel first got there they found fire in the 3rd floor (not sure about the cockloft), then checked below and found fire in the 2nd floor. Also it was in the middle of the night, so the fire got a headstart before the FD was notified. Again not sure how long they operated on the interior, but I know units were pulled out and an exterior attack was started.

People with no fire dept experience need to realize, that this apartment building is probably connected to 2-3 other apartment buildings.

As to the person who left the comment about the Kentland Klowns, had they been on the initial it probably wouldn't have been this bad. They know their job, and they do it very well.

And to the person who left the comment about the southside, try to come up here and work with 4 depts on a fire including your own. You will see how much worse the problem magnifies.
 

The majority of the fire personnel in this video were paid from Montgomery, Howard and Anna Arundel Counties. The Volunteers from PG know their stuff and do the job. For those who review the video look at each firefighter’s jacket. PG County has PG on their sleeves. You only see PG on 3 Chiefs in the video who were assigned to safety and Charlie sector. Also, PG doesn’t have the color red or pink on their jackets. PG colors are gold with silver and florescent yellow/green stripping. PG doesn’t use blue helmets either. Once you know what to look for you can get past the bull people try to misrepresent as PG Volunteers. As far as Kentland goes well all I got to say they are the best Volunteer Fire Department in America.
 

Fire doesn't discriminate between paid and volunteer........and people who have no business on the fireground are in both ......grow up....
 

This is a classic case of GARDEN STYLE APARTMENTS commonly found where? ON THE EAST COAST! The fire gets into the common pipe chases and burns the roof right off the building. Looks 10 times worse than it really is. I'm sure you know that right STATER? Weren't you from Allentown Road Slum somewhere? You 'ought to know all about them type of apartments.

This same thing happened a few months ago in Berwyn Heights when they failed to check a building and later that night 3 buildings burned down. Same effect. No one complained then. Why now?

Don't blame the first two companies for this incident going down hill. Blame Mutual aid companies not understanding or knowing our(PG's) policies and procedures. Had MOCO companies not been free-lancing all over the place and AACO letting "non-firefighters" pull their lines this video would have never made the news. First in companies on the first alarm were inside making an aggressive PG style attack while that movie was taking place.
But you don't see that, because this retard of a cameraman was hiding out in the rear of the building where police couldn't get to him.

Hey squirrel, next time you show up to a fire in PG report to side alpha (that's the front of the building) and report to command (that's where all the white helmets are gathered) so the whole world(the general public) can see what really happens on a fire ground(the fire goes out and EVERYONE GOES HOME!), not the massacre that you're portraying to everyone.

People should be able to trust the fire department knowing that they will do the best they can to stop someone's possessions from burning. That's exactly what happened here, it's just a shame you portrayed Laurel to be a joke.

Those are some dedicated individuals staffing 2 or more pieces of apparatus at each station Laurel Fire and Laurel Rescue most nights of the weeks and not to mention the entire weekend. Not to mention the amount of EMS that is handled by both stations simultaniously.

Statter, get a life, stop trying to boost your ratings, because when it all boils down you are making yourself look bad to the only people that are commited to save YOUR LIFE FOR FREE!

Words of wisdom to a person that is destroying the place that put him where he is now.
 

To the last person who made a comment, what did I say and why are you dragging me into this argument?

I think if you look at the story I did for TV, and anything I have written about this fire, you will find I have made no comments or raised any questions about tactics. Zero. All of those comments were made by your fellow firefighters who have posted on this forum.

For the record, I was a member of 21, Oxon Hill, not 32 or 47. Yes, most of the fires were in garden apartments. If my memory serves me correct, former Fairfax County Fire Chief Glenn Gaines, in preparation for his book on garden apartment fires, spent some time in Oxon Hill in the 70s doing research.

As I have said before, some of the fires went out because of us, and others went out despite of our efforts. I was a part of some good operations and some bad ones. One of the bad ones was at 914 Palmer Road in about 1975. It prompted a County probe into the fire that resulted in a scathing report about the volunteers. The Prince George's Journal newspapers covered it extensively.

I run the raw video of significant events because we often get complaints, that when we edit things, we don't show the reality. No motive from me other than to show good, early pictures of a fire in progress. I will let everyone else make their judgments about what they are seeing.

There was no editing of the tape, except I lowered the audio in 4 or 5 spots to cut out some f-bombs. You will hear that as momentary breaks in the audio, but the video remained intact.

Now that I have presented the facts, let me give you my opinions about one person you mentioned (not by name). That would be the photographer, Tom Yeatman.

I don't think your comments could be more wrong. You can ask just about anyone who has met him, Tom Yeatman is a true gentleman. I have know him for about 20 years.

He does not work for Channel 9 or any TV station. He sells to all of us. Most of our union photographers have tradionally not been very fond of the freelance guys like Tom. But, like me, they have the highest regard for Yeatman, because he is an honest, easy going, hard working guy.

I doubt that you will find Tom sneaking around anywhere. I saw side C of that building a day later and know where Tom was standing. He was out in the open, just before the handful of well separated trees. It appeared to me he was trying to stay out of the way and still get his job done. It seems to me the firefighters were very aware Tom was there.

I haven't talked to Tom about this, but I assume he went to Side C for the same reason I would have. That's where the good pictures were. I have often told the photographers I work with, if see you see smoke showing in the front, check the rear for fire.

Most of the access problems we have in the news media come from police and not firefighters. The firefighters usually welcome the cameras to show the public what they do. And they often later ask for our video for training purposes.

If there is any sneaking around that we do at a fire, it is to avoid police, who in some cases try to prevent us from even going where the general public is standing.

Some of you may recall a video from the 1980s that the late Sheldon Levy took of rescues during a house fire on Missouri Avenue, NW (I believe it was the 300 block, odd side). Firefighters pulled 3 or 4 children out of the second floor, and, along with EMS crews, revived most of them.

It happened at the time of the IAFC convention in Washington. It was some good news after much bad news about the D.C. Fire Department during Chief T.R. Coleman's reign. But this great publicity for DCFD, and the City as a whole, almost didn't happen. That's because while Sheldon was shooting, a police officer kept getting in front of Sheldon trying to prevent him from taking pictures.

My point is, while it may not be as tough or as important as being a firefighter, doing the work the photographers do, trying to get the memorable pictures, is difficult. And there are a lot of people and things that get in the way of anyone doing that job.

But, as always, I appreciate your comments.

Statter
 

# posted by Anonymous : July 25, 2007 6:23 PM
Fire doesn't discriminate between paid and volunteer........and people who have no business on the fireground are in both ......grow up....

Why not say all the laws of science are not depended on any financial status it is applied to. For example the value of air is not depended on the financial status of who breathes it. What you are really saying is WAKE UP AMERICA; the science of fire can rage or go out and is not depended upon who is being paid or who isn’t while extinguishing agents are applied. So, the best value to combat the science of fire and save communities from rising taxes would be to stand up and support an America institution that was setup by our founding fathers (The Volunteer Fire Departments) and is now being hijacked by some greedy union people and or persons in the position to raise the number of billets in a particular government that otherwise can be fill by non financially support resources. I like it, good suggestion. Well said, you are surely a person well verse in the needs of America. Spoken like a true patriot! You did open my eyes, now all we have to do is get our message out. Thanks!
 

To the individual telling us how wonderful PG is. If your county staffed its' stations properly you wouldn't have to rely on the other "mutual aid companies" What a load of crap with your PG firefighters know their stuff! You have some really good companies and alot of BAD ones. You have hardly any paid staff and some companies can't get their volunteer units out. If you were so Squared away on the Northside, You should have had 2 engines and a tower out of 10 and an engine and squad out of 49. But no, you were lucky to gat an engine and truck out of the 2 stations. Maybe you should train with the mutual aid companies some more since they have to show up and save your sorry a** on every run on the Northside!
 

How do you know it is just on person?
 

ahh...the pee gee guys burn some apartments down and of course, it is some other counties fault. if there are so many companies running into your county that don't know what to do, then fix the problem. if aa or montgomery weren't there, who would you blame it on then? I know, the career folks right? we wouldn't expect any of you asses to own up to anything. grown up already.
 

gotta love the clown sliding down the ladder after venting the 2nd floor....
 

I am a 2 hatter; I see both sides and I don’t like a lot of what I see but this a perfect example of a volunteer pointing out what is obvious to firefighters but not the public. Comments on the discussion were how bad the volunteers in pg looked in the video. Then someone pointed out that the people operating on this fire ground were not pg volunteers at all. But true to form my union buddies jump in here and create a volunteer vs. career issue of it. The guy is right in what he pointed out. He didn’t say anyone else was a bad career or volunteer department outside of the county; all he said was pg volunteers know their stuff and sung the praises of Kentland big deal. If anyone needs to MATURE would be the career goons who thing they can over take any discussion, run off volunteer and generally make a complete mess of relations between volunteers and career personnel. A little less defensive attitude would make the career side look just a littler more professional. Being a professional does not require receiving a pay check. In the final analysis we all have to work together.
 

glad the taxes i pay dont go toward 49's funding to come "save" me or my belongings...how lazy do you have to be to not drop a line on the way in?
 

it is amazing how quickly all of the pg vollies get so defensive and immediately blame the career folks from their own county or just anyone from surrounding counties. you guys are real quick to monday morning qb everyone else. can't accept the blame when it happens in your 1st due huh? too damn funny. no wonder why the volunteer service in pg has been going to crap.
 

I can see why the PG Vollys are on the way out...Just read this board to get he feeling in the county.
10 years and counting down..Its your own fault.
 

It did look bad but in York,Pa it is S.O.P.. We are losing Volunteers because only carrer people can be promoted. The guy that is Chief now has not want vols since he became a carrer person in the 1970's. He became Chief in 2000. Even if it is burned toast he hits a second alarm and calls people in on OT and lets the vols atand there.
 

Fighting like stupid little children. I can't believe what I was reading. It's the same crap after 30 odd years, volunteer verses career. It has to stop, it's nonsense people. Are you all forgetting what the first objective is when responding to an occupied apartment complex?? It's to get the residents out safely and to keep your own self safe. That's why you are trained in fire safety. You all need to stop bickering and get back to basics and stop showing your ass and do your job. Weather paid or volunteer if you don't want to be in the line of work you need to leave and find something else to do with your spare time. Someone needs to speak up and tell you what's what. Now, grow up and be greatful that wasn't you living there like I was. I remember a fire fighter busting down my door yelling "get out" I would like to make a suggestion to that person. I would have said "fire, get out". I never heard the word "fire" mentioned at all when getting everyone out of the buiding in the middle of the night. Most people were sleeping at 2:10AM and not really knowing what was going on. The word "fire" should have been yelled loud and clear and understood. I thank God for the fire fighters that responded on July 22, 2007 I will never forget the day I became homeless they did what they could and no one was hurt. So, please stop all your fighting and get along with each other.