Thursday, August 7, 2008
Quick takes
The latest on chopper crash that killed nine at CA wildfire: Click here for the most recent article from The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday's deadly crash. You will find our coverage from yesterday, including links to various reports, here.
Fines over deaths of 2 FFs in Salisbury, NC: The North Carolina Department of Labor issued $6,563 in fines for five violations in connection with the Salisbury Millwork fire on March 7. Both the City of Salisbury and the Locke Township FDs received citations.
Response from Salisbury chief and city manager
From IndependentTribune.com:
In its investigation report, inspectors found Salisbury’s first responders to the Martin Luther King Boulevard building did not adequately monitor the fire’s progression by posting crews outside to notify firefighters of any changes in its behavior.
Also, inspectors said Salisbury fire officials did not keep visual or radio contact with all of their firefighters who were inside the burning building. Safety inspectors found that on more than one occasion firefighters entered and exited the burning structure without radio or visual monitoring from the command post. One of those instances involved a firefighter who left the building to notify command his unit’s radios had quit transmitting.
Our latest video roundup: Small in number this time, but each worth watching. It includes: one old, one new blaze from Shreveport, LA; a response video from MD; and an all day fire in Manila. Click here.
(UPDATE: Sorry, I killed another video. It's been a while since I have done that. The response video from Montgomery E705 to a wires down call has been pulled from YouTube. Wonder if some of the comments have anything to do with it.)
The conversation continues about the haunted house fire: While there does not appear to be a response forthcoming from PGFD to questions posed by STATter 911 about the Six Flags America fire, plenty of other people are commenting. Some even signed their names. Read the comments.
South Bend FFs on the chopping block: The latest department to propose cutting firefighters is in South Bend, Indiana. As many as 53 firefighters could lose their jobs in some big time belt tightening. A fire station may also go and the city is talking about charging for EMS and more. Read. Watch.
Don't let the door hit you in the ... : That has basically been the message from the Wilmington, NC FD to firefighters who resign. There has been an unwritten rule that even those who leave in good standing can't come back. That policy may soon change with the new chief coming on board. In the meantime one former firefighter is waiting. Read the story.
The party circuit: A look at how PA firehouses are having some wild parties. Actually that's an exaggeration by a shameless reporter. But there are parties. And they do involve those who are underage. There you go again. You can't trust those so-called journalists. Just read the story yourself. That's it ... they report, you decide. Click here.
A chicken in every pot. A paramedic on every call: That's what some of the political leaders in Alliance, Ohio seem to be promising. Read about their EMS - Fire debate.
Promised sprinkler system doesn't appear and the council is mad: In College Park, MD the town fathers and mothers are not happy with the owner of the Santa Fe Cafe. Five-years-ago the owner agreed to install a sprinkler system by March, 2006. Mark Srour apparently didn't help his case by not showing up for the latest hearing. The Diamondback has the story.
FireGeezer can't get enough booze: Let me rephrase that. I should have said our friend the Geezer can't get enough stories about booze. There were two of them back-t0-back just yesterday. One was about a beer bath (not sure how he got one picture past his department of standards and practices, AKA the censors, AKA Mrs. FireGeezer) and the other, about a customer who is paying the price for a bartender's dragon breath. As for the Geezer himself, he never drinks and blogs for fear of getting charged with BUI.
Statter blew it, again: The other day I was chatting with DC Mayor Adrian Fenty about the fate of four firefighters accused of avoiding calls while assigned to ambulances. The mayor had recently been in a bike wreck that left him quite bruised and battered. At the end of our exchange, I asked Mayor Fenty, with a smile in my voice (my usual charming self), if he called 911 for his accident? His reply was, "No, but they would have been there fast".
Feeling somewhat sorry for the guy, I left it at that. But David Nakamura, one of the stars of the Washington Post's Metro section, is clearly not the sympathetic hack I am (or is it just pathetic?). He discovered 911 was actually called for the mayor's mishap. You can read his article here.
(Update: For the record, sources tell us Engine 1 and Ambulance 9 were sent on the call to help Mayor Fenty. It appears the call came in from DC police. Not sure if it was from the mayor's security detail. Call received at 1:23. Dispatched at 1:24 as a 29b. No on the scene time. Engine 1 is back in quarters at 1:35. No mention of the mayor in the notes.)
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