STATter 911

(Updated at 8:30 PM)

Video of the day: A coin laundry on fire at 2:50 this morning in South Bound Brook, NJ

Six firefighters hurt in Loudoun County fire. Two remain at burn unit. Cause of fire, sequence of events, and construction details have been released. Press release provides hospital status on all and details on volunteers hurt.

For more pictures, video, copy of press release and other details, click here

Smoking materials left on the back deck caused Sunday's fire in Loudoun County, VA that injured six firefighters.

Chief Fire Marshal Keith Brower says the best information on the sequence of events is that the fire rapidly expanded as crews were working on the second floor. Brower tells STATter 911 there was possibly a flashover, followed by a mayday call. It appears, at this point, the roof collapsed after the firefighters got out.

Click the link above for more details from Keith Brower, including confirmation of details on the home's construction.

Two firefighters remain at the MedStar Burn Unit of the Washington Hospital Center. All other firefighters are out of the hospital.

A press release issued just short of 24-hours after the incident occurred, confirms that all four of the firefighters who spent Sunday night in the hospital are career firefighters. There is no information as to their assignments (IAFF Local 3756 reports two from Tower 606 and two from Reserve Engine 6).

The release does say that a volunteer firefighter from Sterling VFC was the one treated and released yesterday. Also, a volunteer from Loudoun Rescue was the person treated at the scene.

At 10:30 this morning, my conversation with the spokesperson for Loudoun County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Management indicates that they will not be releasing the identities of the firefighters, the companies they were assigned to, or any specifics about injuries. Again, it wasn't until 9:00 Sunday night that we were able to get them to confirm there were firefighters in the burn unit.

From sources familiar with the conditions of the firefighters, while there are significant burn injuries to the firefighter seen exiting the second floor in flames (the one in serious condition), there are a lot of indications the PPE did its job and the injuries are somewhat less than initially thought.

Here is a bit of a chilling statistic. In less than seven-months, there have been at least ten firefighters from the Washington area sent to the Medstar Burn Unit with significant injuries. While I know Dr. Jordan and Dr. Jeng like to describe their unit as a mom and pop operation, I have complete confidence they will be able to make their house payments without the additional business from firefighters. Please keep safe.

We should also note it was on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend in 1999 that DC Firefighters Louis Matthews and Anthony Phillips were killed at 3146 Cherry Road, NE. That fire almost killed Firefighter Joe Morgan. It was following Joe's story that I first got to meet some of the wonderful staff working at the Medstar Burn Unit.

Friday is the 9th anniversary of that tragic fire. Here is the link to the executive summary of the reconstruction report from Cherry Road.

Also, it turns out the person who took the video of the Loudoun County fire is an old acquaintance of mine. Tony Gil is a jazz singer. His 7-year-old daughter Annabelle had the quote of the day:

I really feel sad for them. I never seen firefighter be injured before. I always think they'd be okay.

Kentland: The trailer

No, not the kind of trailer they once talked about using to house the career EMS crew. This one is like the trailer you see in the movie theater. You know, the coming attractions.

Yes, Kentland is coming to a little screen near you. Later this year it will be part of the series The Battalion that you can view on the web.

I can only guess that the producers figured out what I quickly figured out after launching STATter 911. If you mention Kentland it attracts eyeballs. The eyeballs of those who love them and those hate them. There are a lot on both sides

Kentland VFD reports it is celebrating 13 years as an all-volunteer organization today.

Click here to see the video.

I am curious how the crew from The Battalion got around the new Prince George's County ride-along rules that came out of the burning incident at Riverdale (PGFD Station 807) to spend the time necessary to shoot the webisodes.

Pentagon book is featured

This new book on the 9-11 firefighting efforts at the Pentagon is being featured by Michael Doyle of McClatchy Newspapers. Click here to read his article and see a video that includes radio communications and interviews with Arlington County firefighters. Here's how the article begins:

Remember the Pentagon.

It burned, too, dismembered by the same terrorists who brought down the twin towers of New York's World Trade Center. Circumstances, though, have rendered the Pentagon a Sept. 11 afterthought. It's the place that survived.

At the World Trade Center, 343 New York City firefighters died. At the Pentagon, every firefighter returned home. But not all came back safe and sound. The Arlington County Fire Department subsequently lost 9 percent of its force to health-related retirements.

But still.

The FDNY battalions marched into the World Trade Center and were entombed there. The Arlington crews subdued a different beast, smaller but still lethal, and in their victory they've remained largely anonymous.

Until now.

Six years on, the Arlington firefighters and their compatriots are getting the accounting they deserve.

In "Firefight: Inside the Battle to Save the Pentagon on 9/11," authors Patrick Creed and Rick Newman detail what happen- ed after American Airlines Flight 77 flew into the nation's military command center at 530 mph, killing 189 people, including the 64 people aboard the jet.

Fire prevention in Singapore

# posted by Dave Statter @ 8:30 PM