STATter 911

(Updated at 5:48 AM, Sunday)

Pictures of the day: Jimmy Daly of MA has been a great contributor to STATter 911. This is some of his latest work. A series of early shots from the fire and rescue in Saugus on Thursday. While we have more on this fire below, Jimmy has 7 pages of pictures on his photo site DalyImages. Check them out. Thanks Jimmy.

The real Dave Statter was abducted by aliens

I am an impostor. Or so some of those who write comments to STATter 911 and on The Watch Desk would have you believe.

One of the writers says he has the goods on me and is looking for someone to report this scandal. I try to help that person along with some tips and my own, obviously distorted, account of my brief and ancient fire service career. If you really have nothing better to do, click here.

$3 million fire at car dealership

The picture above is from the Prince Frederick VFD where you will see more photos and an account of Saturday's fire at the Toyota dealership in Prince Frederick. They also have a video of the aftermath.

Here are details from the Maryland State Fire Marshal's office:

A team of Deputy State Fire Marshals is continuing with their investigation into what sparked a two-alarm fire that heavily damaged a local automobile dealership.

The 5: 45 a.m. fire damaged the Bayside Chevrolet and Toyota dealership located at 1200 Solomon’s Island Road. The fire was discovered by a passerby who notified Calvert County 9-1-1 Center. Local firefighters were dispatched to the scene for a smoke investigation. When firefighters arrived they found heavy fire conditions inside the building. A second alarm was sounded which brought additional firefighters from Calvert and Charles Counties. It took firefighters approximately one-hour to control the blaze.

Besides the damage done to the building, five automobiles belonging to the dealership and to customers suffered damage. The fire caused an estimated $3,000,000.00 damage to the building. There were no reported injuries.

Investigators have determined the fire originated in the parts room of the 80’ by 115’ block building. The exact cause for the fire remains under investigation.

"We felt like the ducks and seagulls from the Exxon Valdez"

The words of one Boston firefighter who was coated with lubricating oil during a 9-alarm fire at a Boston power plant. It happened on October 1, 2002 and now ten firefighters are suing. They are claiming serious respiratory and other health issues from the oil that rendered their SCBA useless by seeping into the regulators.

The plant's operators are on the receiving end of the suit. The firefighters claim it took them two hours to notify fire officials to shut the flow 0f the oil feeding the fire.

The pictures above and the story from The Boston Herald.

Lots of fire in CT

Rob Ladd wrote to alert me to his series of pictures of the 6-alarm fire early Saturday morning in Norwich, CT. The fire ran the open cockloft of a large apartment complex. More pictures from Rob, a video and his description of the fire can be seen at NLCFirePhotos.

FireGeezer also has a good account of this one and a bunch of links.

Below is the story from WTNH-TV.

DC FF who shot at tow truck drivers is back to work in one jurisdiction

DC Fire & EMS tried to fire Berlin Hiligh twice. Once when he was arrested for shooting at two tow truck operators in Bowie, MD. The second time when he went to jail after admitting guilt to a misdemeanor charge. But Hiligh is back driving Engine 4. Hiligh was also a volunteer in Prince George's County. He was dropped from the rolls of PGFD, but is still a non-operational member of the Boulevard Heights VFD (Station 817). Read the details here.

A reversal of misfortune for volunteer chief in Prince George's County, MD

Ritchie VFD Chief William Cunningham appealed the sentence that would have kept him from returning to the chief's spot until 2013. Ritchie VP Larry Lee told STATter 911 Wednesday afternoon, and other sources confirm, Prince George's Fire/EMS Chief Lawrence Sedgwick has reduced that sentence to just 6-months. Cunningham would be able to begin riding again and return as chief in August. Sources say there will be some monitoring requirements concerning Cunningham's performance upon his return.

Lt. in trouble for transporting patient on fire engine

KYW-TV image

Michelle Smith believes the action of the Philadelphia Fire Department lieutenant saved her life when she was having an asthma attack. With an ambulance not expected to get to the scene for as long as 15 minutes, the unidentified fire officer decided to transport Smith on the rig.

KYW-TV reports the officer is now in trouble for failing to follow policy and has been transferred.

Watch the story from KYW-TV

No one in trouble for policy that delays transporting of patients

In Columbia, SC a policy that prevents firefighters from driving or even setting foot in county ambulances is under scrutiny. A WIS-TV story indicates the policy is delaying tranports and impacting care.

Read and watch the story

MA rescue at 3-alarm triple-decker blaze

In Saugus, firefighters, on-duty and off, rescue disabled woman. The first to the woman was a prevention captain out on inspections. Excerpts from Boston Herald story:

The heroic response started when Saugus Fire Prevention Capt. Tom Nolan, hearing the call on his scanner, pulled up to the scene in his official car at about 12:30 p.m. yesterday. He ran into the smoke-filled Central Street house wearing a uniform shirt and tie but no protective gear after neighbors told him a woman with no legs lived on the second floor.

He found his way to the woman through thick smoke, dragged her to the back of the apartment, removed a window and shouted to an arriving fire company to get a ladder.

As firefighters hoisted a ladder to the second-floor window, off-duty firefighter Bill Cross, who happened to be passing the scene, jumped out of his car, scampered up the ladder in shorts and a t-shirt behind the on-duty jakes to help rescue the woman.

Nolan at this point was overcome by smoke and had to be helped out of the building. He was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where he is being treated for smoke inhalation and carbon-monoxide poisoning. He was reported in stable condition late yesterday, said Blanchard.

Watch video from Boston Herald

Watch video from WBZ-TV

Also from MA: Turmoil on the Cape

Truro has the smallest fire department on Cape Cod. They are also facing some big difficulties. Changes at the top and budget issues in a department where the chief is a 20-hour-a-week employee. Read more.

Part of our plan was not to tell you

Another video from Monday night's hockey celebration in Montreal captures one of the police cars being set on fire. Warning, as usual, that there are many forms of the "f" word in this one.

That appears to be part of the response by management to criticism by the union representing Montreal firefighters that there was no planning for Monday's wild hockey celebration. Excerpts from the Gazette:

But the fire department says it did have a plan, and if the rank and file weren't aware of it, it's because they didn't need to be.

"We were ready Monday night and we're ready" for last night's NHL playoff game against the Philadelphia Flyers, division fire chief James Ross said.

"Some people may make different claims. But we don't publish what our plan is to everybody, and I can understand that certain people weren't advised.

"(The plan) isn't something the person on the ground has to know. It's not that it's hidden or not hidden. It's just that the people with a strategic role to play are aware of it."

Union spokesperson Chris Ross (no relation to the division chief) said that during major events like the Montreal International Jazz Festival, additional vehicles and personnel are deployed and lanes are kept open to allow fire trucks to answer calls.

"But when it came down to the hockey, absolutely nothing was planned in advance," he said.

"Nobody knew anything, nobody expected anything, and our fire trucks downtown found themselves paralyzed, unable to move, unable to respond efficiently, and (firefighters were) intimidated when it came to putting the car fires out.

"And when the city finally woke up in the middle of the night and went to Station 25 on Drummond St. and said: 'We're going to have to pull you out of there because you're going to be in trouble' ... the guys said: 'Forget about it, we're already in trouble. We're not going outside. We're surrounded by people.' "

Fire trucks and firefighters became the targets of bricks and other missiles, one piece of concrete striking a firefighter in the legs, the union official said.

Bus burns

Early video of small fire in a bus on the Autobahn becoming a big fire.

Polls out because stairs are cheaper

New firehouses in Seattle will make use of stairs rather than brass fire poles. The department says it spent $150,00 each for two poles in a recently built station and can't afford that in future structures. Firefighters aren't happy. Read more.

First norovirus, then mice and now a fire

Picture from National Harbor staff via Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department

The new National Harbor project on the Potomac in Oxon Hill, MD has had a rough start. Added to the recent discovery of both noroviris and mice at the Gaylord hotel is a fire Wednesday afternoon at another building in the complex.

A second-alarm was sounded for a hi-rise condo building under construction. We could see the thick black smoke from our camera in Pentagon City, VA. Here is what Prince George's County Fire/EMS Department Chief Spokesman Mark Brady wrote about the fire:

Just after 5:30 PM, Thursday, April 24, 2008, Prince George’s County Firefighters and Paramedics were alerted to a fire on the roof of a building under construction at the National Harbor. Firefighters arrived within minutes at 155 Potomac Passage, an 8-story condominium building, under construction, with thick black smoke showing from the roof area. Firefighters worked quickly to stretch hose lines through and up stairwells to initiate an attack on the seat of the fire. Construction and roofing materials covering about a 10-20 square foot area on the roof were well involved with fire and extinguished within 15 minutes. A precautionary second alarm was sounded bringing about 50 firefighters and medics to the scene. There were no injuries. Fire loss is estimated at $5,000 and the cause is attributed to improperly discarded smoking materials.

Today is the official ribbon cutting for the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center. Let's hope they use safety scissors.

Grimke to go bye-bye

The long time headquarters for the DC Fire & EMS Department will soon be history. Battalion Chief Kenneth Crosswhite confirms for STATter 911 that they hope to be moving with the DC Department of Corrections from the old Grimke School at 1923 Vermont Avenue, NW to the Patricia Roberts Harris Education Center building at 4600 Livingston Road, SE by July. This is supposed to be a temporary stop on the way to a brand new building.

# posted by Dave Statter @ 5:48 AM