Tuesday, April 1, 2008
5-alarm hotel fire; Playing Battleship in Boston; Vision 20/20; Fiery truck crash caught on video; Earliest OC video; Videos from CA, DC, TN, WA
Video of the day: From Edmonton a truck traveling the wrong way on Yellowhead trail plunges off an overpass and bursts into flames around 1:00 PM on Monday. The truck driver was killed. The truck ended up on the CN tracks below. Read more on the crash.
(Update at 9:53 AM)
5-alarm IL hotel fire
The picture, this video and the story below from WBBM-TV:
Downtown Lockport was shut down Tuesday morning due to an extra-alarm fire a historic hotel now used for transient lodging.
As Kris Habermehl reports from Chopper 2, the fire was reported just before 4 a.m. at the Towpath Inn, at 933 S. State St. in Lockport, which is now used as an apartment hotel. By 6 a.m., the fire had been raised to the 5-alarm level.
By just before 7 a.m. hour, the fire was under control, and firefighters had prevented it from spreading to nearby buildings.
But firefighters still had to search the building for people who might have remained inside. Fifteen people were believed to be in the building at the time, and as of 7 a.m., 10 were accounted for.
At least one person was injured in the fire and hospitalized, authorities said.
The entire Lockport business district has been shut down. Service has been stopped on the Metra Heritage Corridor line, and the freight and Amtrak train lines leading out of the Chicago area through Joliet.
The fire spread from the first floor up through the upper floors, and by 5:15 a.m. was stretching right across the tar paper roof. Heavy wood timbers were being consumed by the flames inside.
Firefighters were preparing for a likely collapse of the roof as the flames weakened the structure.
The Towpath Inn is one of many buildings in downtown Lockport that date from the 19th or early 20th century. Lockport is located at the beginning of the historic Illinois & Michigan Canal.
The building is now used as a residential hotel, WBBM Newsradio 780's Julie Mann reported. The building also includes a bar-nightclub called Dreams and several other businesses on the lower floor.
Three trains on the Heritage Corridor line have been canceled as a result. Instead, commuters have been advised to use the Rock Island Line to get around the problem.
Boston battle continues
The Boston Globe profiles Boston Fire Commissioner Roderick Fraser. The lead to the article by Donovan Slack gives you a good hint to where it is going:
A week before former US Navy commander Roderick Fraser Jr. took over leadership of the Boston Fire Department, the head of the city's firefighters union issued a stern warning: If Fraser didn't support the union's goals, Local 718 President Edward Kelly publicly declared, "We will sink his battleship."
Fraser responded by presenting Kelly with a copy of the children's board game Battleship and a clear message: Let's play.
Eighteen months later, the battle is blazing. The Fire Department is deeply divided in a bitter war over its future. Fraser is attempting to impose long-sought reforms including random drug and alcohol testing of firefighters. But the powerful union is resisting and has turned the effort against Fraser, calling him an enemy of the rank-and-file.
Vision 20/20
I was able to sit in on a very interesting session last night at the Washington Hilton about fire prevention efforts around the world. This was part of Vision 20/20, which I wrote about yesterday.
The panel included Mick Ballesteros, Epidemiologist/Team Lead, Home and Recreation Injury Prevention Team, Centers for Disease Control, Injury Center, Neil Graeme Bibby, Chief Executive Officer, Country Fire Authority, Victoria, Australia, Philip Hales, Area Manager, Head of Community Safety, Cheshire Fire & Rescue Services, Winsford, Cheshire England and Phil Schaenman, President, TriData Division, Systems Planning Corporation. Bill Kehoe was the moderator and Jim Crawford played Phil Donahue with the microphone.
Fascinating information that reinforces what many of us know about how far behind the rest of the world we are in prevention efforts.
Don't have much time to write about it this morning, so for now, check out Susan Nicol Kyle's article on Firehouse.com covering the daytime events.
Early OC video
This is a short clip, but if I am looking at it correctly it may be the earliest video so far from the 9-alarm fire Sunday on Ocean City, MD's Boardwalk. It appears to have been taken before the tower arrives on Side A (all I see is one of those "fire SUVs" in front). Looks like fire in Quadrant C on the second floor of the building that housed the Dough Roller.
If you missed the earlier videos and pictures from the fire, click here.
Note from LA on LODD
STATter 911 received this from Caddo Parish Fire District 5 about the LODD of Firefighter Eric Speed:
We are deeply saddened to report the loss of our brother Eric Speed.
Volunteer Firefighter Eric Speed was only 33 years old and a 12 year member of the Caddo Parish Fire District 2, when he died Friday March 28, 2008. Eric was answering a mutual aid call with Caddo Fire District 1 for a mobile home fire when the tanker he was driving left the roadway, struck a tree, and partially rolled over into a ditch. He was trapped in the wreckage for 45 minutes. The Shreveport Fire Department as well as other Fire Districts sent units to assist in his extrication. When he was removed he was airlifted by Life Air Rescue to LSUMC where he was pronounced DOA. Eric leaves behind four children. A memorial fund has been established and donations can be made:
In Memory of Eric Speed
c/o Professional Firefighters Credit Union
6015 Hearne Avenue
Shreveport, LA 71108
Some CA fires on YouTube
No date on these fires recently posted. The top one is a second-alarm warehouse fire in Los Angeles County. The bottom is an asphalt plant fire in Long Beach.
WA house fire
Reported to be on Plum Street in Cheney, WA on Monday.
Car fire somewhere
I love the comments from those watching the firefighters in action
Little garage fire
Compared to some of the conflagrations DC Fire & EMS has handled lately, this is just a small garage fire at 5520 C Street, SE with Engine 30 and Truck 17.
Mack gives us these details for the fire:
13:55 5520 C ST SE 3/29/08 box alarm E30, 27, 19, 18, 8, T17, 13 ,R3, B2, B3.
Might need to call hazmat in for decon
Down time at the Memphis FD brings a cinnamon challenge and a less exciting cracker challenge. Click here to see another video added recently that shows a busier time in the Memphis area. Its an April, 2007 fire.
box alarm E30 27 19 18 8 T17 13 R3 B2 B3
theres your date and time for the dc video
mack
: April 1, 2008 12:33 AM Links to this post:
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