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(Updated at 7:30 AM, Sunday)

Lieutenant with ADD should have been given extra time on captain's test

Read the entire decision

Connecticut's Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities says that the city of Stamford violated anti-discrimination law becaused they wouldn't give extra time on a promotion exam to David Lenotti. Lenotti is a fire lieutenant with attention deficit disorder. Excerpts from and article last week in The Advocate:

The city defended the denial by claiming a fire captain, the position Lenotti sought, must be able to read and process information quickly at a fire scene. But state officials said the city never proved that was true, never consulted with disability rights experts and does not use a promotional test that actually measures how fast a candidate can read.

"It's a very nice victory," Lenotti said. "The city has basically been shown they can't just push people around."

Disability rights experts had criticized the city's stance, saying they can deny extra time only if the test closely simulates the real-life job. The city's 100-question multiple choice test does not simulate a captain's job of reading floor plans or hazardous materials reports at a fire scene, the commission ruled.

Lenotti has been a firefighter since 1990. He was diagnosed as learning disabled in 2000 and has said he has trouble reading and visualizing things at the same time.

Lenotti asked for more time after noticing he gets more questions wrong at the end of the test, he has said.

City officials said the request proved Lenotti wasn't ready for a captain's job.

But city fire officials said Lenotti had worked more than 2,000 hours as an interim captain and performed well, according to testimony cited in the ruling.

That also contradicted the city's argument that promoting Lenotti to captain would be a public safety risk, the commission concluded.

The commission ordered the city to let Lenotti take the test with extra time and promote him to captain without an interview if he scores high enough.

If there is no captain's position immediately available, the city must pay Lenotti a captain's salary until one comes open.

The commission also noted the city had allowed several firefighters with learning disabilities to use extra time on the firefighter's exam.

The city argued firefighters don't need the same quick reading skills as captains. The commission disagreed, saying the promotional captain's exam does not test a candidate's reading speed.

"If reading quickly was truly a required qualification of the position of captain, one would think (the city) would provide an exam testing for the speed at which one reads," the commission wrote.

VA firehouse remains empty

One Virginia firehouse that had been the subject of a long dispute finally opened last week in Arlington, VA. In Spotsylvania County, they actually held the ribbon-cutting for the new Station 4. four-months ago, but no one has moved in. Dan Telvock of The Free-Lance Star has the details of a dispute with the builder, along with a number of related documents.

April 18 - historic date

It isn't just the 40th anniversary of my Bar Mitzvah (an event Judaism has yet to recover from). On April 18, 1906 the great San Francisco earthquake and fire occurred. FireGeezer Bill Schumm has compiled a multi-part history of the event. Friday's is the first of four installments. I believe you will even see some of the Geeze's own home movies (a lot more interesting than my Bar Mitzvah films).

Last grain elevator burns

It was the last grain elevator in the village of Brownlee, Saskatchewan (northwest of Moose Jaw). It burned Tuesday. Read more from the Moose Jaw Times-Herald.

WV restaurant fire

A five-alarm fire in the Charleston, WV area. Details from WOWK-TV:

Flames lit up the pre-dawn sky Wednesday as Smiley's Restaurant and Lounge went up in smoke. The fire eventually spread to the adjacent motel, forcing people to evacuate.

"I heard glass shatter and it just seemed kinda funny so I looked outside and saw crackling and saw the bar was on fire so I grabbed as much of my possessions as I could and got out," said John Hornacek from Akron, Ohio.

The blaze burned for several hours before crews could get it under control.

About 100 people staying in the motel were contract workers in town from all over the country.

Many said they were either returning from work or getting ready to go to work at the John Amos Power Plant when the fire broke out.

"We were hanging out in the bar and we left. The next thing I knew it's like 4 a.m. and my buddy's waking me up. He said the bar's burning down and I said you gotta be kidding me," said Tom Masten from Daytona Beach, Fla.

I refuse to use the obvious headline

The word "holy" was probably part of a two word phrase used by some who witnessed this scene in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral on New York's Fifth Avenue on Thursday. The second word probably wasn't smoke. Police evacuated the block. But it was just a taxi up in flames, with nothing sinister behind it. Read more from WNBC-TV.

From CantonRep.com:

The nearest fire station was less than half a mile away, but it took about 20 minutes Tuesday for dispatchers to send an ambulance to help a woman who was trapped in her car — apparently because she was at the boundary between Canton and Canton Township.

"It's basically a 911 glitch," said Canton Township Fire Chief Scott McKibben, who pledged to investigate the delay. "To create a 20-minute delay is unacceptable. ... Right now, we have some concerns about the 911 system, the way it's operating."

The incident involving Elizabeth Carpenter, 27, who spent more than four hours trapped in her vehicle, has bolstered the arguments of those seeking to revamp the county's 911 system.

"This will continue to happen until we take the steps necessary," said Stark County Commissioner Todd Bosley. "What we can all agree on is that the 911 system is broken."

Old close call: hose bursts

This one is from a few years back in Peru.

Accokeek video

A video featuring the Accokeek VFD, PGFD Station 824.

# posted by Dave Statter @ 7:30 AM