STATter 911

(Updated 5:07 PM)

Seat belts work: That's the message Chief Billy Goldfeder wants you to get from this picture from Illinois on Monday. Two firefighters survived the rollover with what are reported to be minor injuries. Go to firefighterclosecalls.com for details.

Training LODD in Florida

John Curry died during a training exercise this morning when a tree that was being cut down struck the 30-year-old Volusia County firefighter. Here are details from the Orlando Sentinel:

A Volusia County firefighter died during this morning during a training exercise at the county's training facility on Tiger Bay Road, Volusia County spokesman Dave Byron said.

The firefighters were working with chainsaws when a tree fell on John Curry of DeLand, 30, but it was not known who was cutting down the tree that hit him.

He was pronounced dead on the scene, Byron said.

The firefighter has been with Volusia County's fire service since January and was part of the firewalkers team, which specializes in wildfires. There are about three dozen members of that team. About half of the team was present when the accident occurred.

Mayday video from FL

We told you last week about the rescue of Nassau County Fire Department's Lt. Patrick Cauley after a structural collapse during a house fire. The department has now released dash-cam video and audio providing more insight into the rescue. WJAX-TV also interviews one of the rescuers, Lt. Glen Harper. Click the image above to read the story and see the video.

Charleston union leaders visit MD and another look at Piringer's role

The latest visitors to experience Montgomery County's command development training are IAFF officials from Charleston. Also, some old press releases provide a little insight into Pete Piringer's role in Charleston. Check it out, here.

New rules for New Ulm

More than a month ago there were screams and howls over the alcohol policy of a Minnesota fire company. The policy was approved by the City Council of New Ulm. Now the new fire chief has been given a new mission: draft an alcohol-response policy to replace the policy of every man, or woman, for him or herself.

Instead of each firefighter deciding if they had enough, City Manager Brian Gramentz wants Paul Macho to take a look at the guidelines of the League of Minnesota Cities Insurance Trust (LMCIT). LMCIT actually has separate, but not equal, guidelines for career and volunteer firefighters.

Read the article at Firehouse.com. Billy Goldfeder was one of the many who had something to say about the original policy. You can read that, here.

Chopper battle in New York heats up

WABC-TV is investigating why FDNY still does not have its own helicopter fleet. They point to last summer's Con Ed steam explosion where it took an hour to get an aerial view. Here are excerpts from the station's website:

When there's a high-rise fire, the FDNY must rely on the police department 's chopper to get a bird's-eye-view.

It's an arrangement that, as the Eyewitness News Investigators have discovered, could be slowing down the fire department's aerial response time.

Chicago's fire department has its own helicopter, so does Los Angeles and Miami. But in the city with more skyscrapers than all those places combined, the fire department must get a ride on the police chopper to get above the scene -- something two former fire chiefs say is inherently flawed.

After the first Trade tower collapsed on 9/11, the NYPD Aviation Unit noticed the remaining tower was unstable. The pilots communicated that to police below on their own special radio frequency.

While police knew to evacuate, firefighters never got that warning from above.

Now, whenever there's a major fire or incident a specially trained FDNY battalion chief is on board one of the NYPD's seven helicopter's so he can communicate vital information to firefighters below at the scene.

"There's inherent delay there in putting that into effect," said Peter Hayden, a former chief of the department.

Video from Shenandoah, PA fire

We already told you about the fire that began Saturday night in Schuykill County, PA. Here is one in a series of videos from the fire. The rest can be found here. WithTheCommand.com has details.

Jersey City 2nd-alarm

From Saturday, good audio and video from a second-alarm at 7 Madison Avenue. Click the image above to see Part 1. Part 2 and Part 3.

Another Western MD fire

Two days in a row for videos from Western Maryland. This time it is from Garrett County. A convenience store and gas station in Kitzmiller. Details, here.

Since I report on all of the problems of your business, here's one from my business

I work in a visual medium. Sometimes you have to go to air with the visuals you have and not the visuals you want. Such is the case above. It is from WCIA-TV, covering a barn fire in Champaign, IL with the station's tower camera. Here's what the person who posted this wrote: "It seems the rule of thumb regarding tower cams holds true here...if you want to show lightning or fires, they both stop when you go to tower cam."

In this case there were plenty of visuals

This is a fire from Friday in West Spokane, WA, According to KXLY-TV firefighters were forced to halt an interior attack due to a downed live power line. This allowed the house to burn for quite a while. Crews did rescue a dog. More details, here.

Long Island fire

Not much information on this house fire other than it apparently occurred early this morning in New Hyde Park.

Around the tangled web we weave

FireGeezer talks about one of the more interesting stories of the day, a fire chief who doesn't want sprinklers installed. Plus, he has details of an arsonist in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

WithTheCommand.com has a bunch of PA house fires and more.

SConFire.com has that awful story of the man who cut off his own arm to get away from a growing fire.

FirefighterNation.com has some clips from Rescue Me and many other videos.

VAFireNews.com has an MVA from Henrico County and other stories from around Virginia.

Firefighter Spot ventures out of New York to post all the available videos from the Houston hi-rise fire.

Firefighter Hourly has more on OT issues from Charleston.