Thursday, December 5, 2013  When people find out you're a firefighter, the first question they ask is: "What made you join the fire service?"

This is typically followed by: "My dad, grandpa, or uncle was on the job."

That wasn't the case for me. Instead, interest in a career in public safety came in waves throughout my adolescence. I assure you, I am a first and last generation firefighter.

It first started at age 13, when I was spending the night at a friend's house in the neighborhood where I grew up. After seeing an ambulance race down the street, we went outside to find the house two doors down on fire. The closest fire company hadn't arrived yet.

I had a front-row seat to the entire scene. I heard the sirens, smelled the smoke, saw the rigs arrive, and watched as these courageous men entered the house and pulled three people out of the fire.

They performed CPR on the victims right on the front lawn. Unfortunately, two of them didn't ma... [ more ]

Thursday, December 5, 2013  A fire department command vehicle was destroyed in a police chase Tuesday night after it was stolen from the downtown Olympia fire station.

The drama began at about 10 p.m. when the battalion chief returned briefly to the station after a fire earlier in the evening, said Laura Wohl of the Olympia police.

The chief inadvertently left his keys in the vehicle while he went inside. When he came out of the building to return to the fire scene, he found that the vehicle was missing.

Police were notified of the theft and the vehicle was spotted soon afterward by Tumwater officers as it was travelling at high speed on Capitol Boulevard, a major thoroughfare.

The police officer attempted to stop the vehicle, but the driver refused to pull over. The suspect continued to drive from Tumwater to Tenino, where officers were able to deploy spike strips.

The spike strips disabled the vehicle, which then slid off the road and crashed. The susp... [ more ]

Wednesday, December 4, 2013  It broke out around 6:07 p.m. in the 400 block of Trowbridge Street, which is near Southeastern Avenue and South Keystone Avenue.

Officials say neighbors saw smoke and alerted the occupants.

A Mayday call was made when one of the fire crew's exit was temporarily blocked. Clutter from inside fell and blocked the back door. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters on the scene say six people live in the house. The owner was not home when the fire started. Authorities say that person just had heart surgery.

The house was a total loss and damages were estimated at $80,000.

Firefighters say there were many electrical cords located in the home's basement although the cause was not immediately determined. The fire was under investigation.

Medics took two Indianapolis firefighters to the hospital after a fire late Tuesday.

Fire crews were called to a house on fire on North Bradley Avenue near South Sherma... [ more ]

Wednesday, December 4, 2013  Two firefighters suffered minor injuries battling a fire at a home just outside Naperville Tuesday, according to Lisle-Woodridge Fire District officials.

Firefighters responded to 24W700 Ohio Street after receiving a 911 call reporting smoke inside the home about 3:39 p.m. Tuesday, officials said in a news release.

While most of the fire was put out quickly, it took about six hours to work on hidden fires. Emergency units remained on scene until just after 1 a.m. today.

Three people who were home at the time made it out safely, but two firefighters suffered minor injuries, according to the release. They were taken to a local hospital and have since b... [ more ]

Wednesday, December 4, 2013  A day after an irate Mayor Bob Cashell expressed his disgust with the response to the blaze that destroyed a prominent family’s Hidden Valley home, Reno City Manager Andrew Clinger said the city remains ready to negotiate a workable automatic aid agreement with the county so that the nearest crew to a fire is called first regardless of jurisdiction.

But Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District Chief Charlie Moore, who continued to defend his department’s response, said Tuesday that Cashell’s comments have reignited lingering animosity from the ugly battle two years ago to deconsolidate the two fire departments.

“I thought we had started to make progress with melting the ice,” Moore said. “But then the mayor starts with this bombastic crap on this fire and we are right back to where we started.”

On Monday, Cashell and Reno Fire Chief Michael Hernandez said the response to the fire that destroyed the home of Richard and Debbi... [ more ]

Tuesday, December 3, 2013  A North Bangor firefighter injured when an allegedly drunk colleague flipped a fire truck can move toward trial with his claim that the fire company's lax attitude toward drinking on duty led to the crash, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Stengel refused to dismiss a claim by firefighter Stuart Mintz that the North Bangor Fire Company, Chief Frederick Farleigh and President Christopher Louszko put Mintz at risk by allowing a drinking culture to flourish in the firehouse.

Mintz suffered a serious shoulder injury in July 2010 when Assistant Fire Chief Zachary Romano, then 20, rolled a fire tanker while negotiating a turn on the way back to the firehouse from a parade. Attorneys for Mintz and his wife and the fire company did not immediately return calls Monday.


... [ more ]

Tuesday, December 3, 2013  Here is an update to what we had sent on The Secret List a few weeks ago. Needless to say, this NIOSH issue, but in particular, this US Army related testing issue, is extremely concerning. NIOSH contracts with the Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) and by all accounts, the ball was dropped there-and interestingly, it appears this may have peaked during the Federal Government sequestration. Summary in plain English: Apparently, the ECBC discovered that all chemical agent testing performed per the NIOSH regulations has been incorrect since July 2012 and performed at a lower than required concentration. This not only prevent any certification to the already delayed 2013 edition of NFPA 1981 but affects products already in the marketplace. What is ECBC? (From their website) The U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC) is the nation's principal research and development resource for non-medical chemical and biological (CB) defense. As a critical national asset in th... [ more ]

Tuesday, December 3, 2013  Chicago firefighters heard Capt. Herbie Johnson yell, “Get out of here!” before they found him unconscious on a second-story floor during a deadly apartment building fire on Nov. 2, 2012.

A firefighter/paramedic from Chicago Fire Engine 123 was nearby and found Johnson on the floor.

He didn’t have a radio and he couldn’t find Johnson’s radio to send a signal to notify others that Johnson was down, so he screamed the distress call to anyone within earshot: “Mayday!”

The chaotic scene is detailed in the findings of an almost yearlong federal investigation into the death of Johnson, 54. He died of injuries sustained in the fire in the 2300 block of west 50th Street. He became the first Chicago firefighter to die in the line of duty since 2010.

The deaths of all firefighters in the line of duty are probed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Firefighter Fatality Investigation and Pr... [ more ]

Monday, December 2, 2013  Two firefighters with the New Hanover Township Fire Company were taken to the hospital after they reported feeling nauseous and dizzy while responding to a call for an odor of gas Monday morning.

The owner of a home along the 2500 block of Swamp Pike called 911 around 10:36 a.m. and reported that she smelled gas in her home. When firefighters arrived, the homeowner informed them that two large pet birds, a parrot and a cockatoo, had died in the last day or so and that she was suffering from headaches and nausea, according to Fire Chief Phil Agliano.

Agliano said responding firefighters conducted a check of the interior and exterior of the home using gas meters, but their equipment did not detect anything dangerous.

After the first team that responded entered the home, two of the firefighters began complaining they did not feel well, Agliano said. A paramedic team checked out the firefighters and recommended they be taken to Po... [ more ]

Saturday, November 30, 2013  What will be a lesson for any of us driving fire apparatus, the River Forest (IL) FD had a serious mishap. More details to follow.

Saturday, November 30, 2013  A Virginia State Trooper and two Bath County (VA) FF's were hospitalized last night when the trooper's cruiser hit the apparatus. 1 FF remains in serious condition-the Trooper and the other FF's were treated and released. The crash happened around 20130 last night on U.S. 220 in Warm Springs near Virginia 39. The Trooper was traveling north with his "emergency equipment activated" headed to assist the Bath County Sheriff's Office with a domestic call. As he crested a hill, the Trooper struck a Hot Springs VFD pumper pulling onto U.S. 220 from a side road. It wasn't immediately clear if the fire truck had its lights and siren on or was headed to a call. The driver of the apparatus, Robert Leon Burke, 74, was taken to Bath County Community Hospital and later transferred to Roanoke Memorial where he remains in serious condition this morning. The other FF in the rig was T & R. The police car was destroyed.

Saturday, November 30, 2013  At least two firefighters were badly injured Friday battling a massive blaze at a Sao Paulo cultural landmark designed by late Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.

The fire department rolled out 27 fire engines to try and contain the flames at the Latin America Memorial, which broke out in the early afternoon.

Two firefighters were seriously injured by the flames when they tried to set foot in the premises, a fire department spokesperson told reporters.

Another two firefighters were treated by doctors for respiratory problems from the smoke they inhaled, the source said, adding that there had been no civilian casualties.

A Latin America Memorial spokesperson told Efe that while it is not yet known whether the works of art displayed inside the structure have been damaged, the 800-square-meter (8,600-square-foot) tapestry by Brazilian artist Tomi Ohtake on a wall of the auditorium could well have been affected.

Als... [ more ]

Friday, November 29, 2013  Two people were taken to Greenville Memorial Hospital after being pulled from a burning mobile home in Powdersville on Friday night.

A Powdersville firefighter who helped rescue them was also taken to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.

The fire on Stillwater Drive was reported by a neighbor just before 7:30 p.m.

Powdersville Fire Chief Scott King said his department got to the home within three minutes, but flames were already shooting from the double-wide's roof.

Firefighters had to make three search attempts before they were able to find the man and woman who were inside the home. Their identities were not available Friday night.

King said the man and woman were "semiconscious" when they were found. Little information was available about their conditions Friday night, but King said he didn't think they had life-threatening injuries.

"They weren't trapped in the sense of being trapped ... [ more ]

Friday, November 29, 2013  Valparaiso Fire Chief David Nondorf admits he was not looking forward to attending the opening cermony for the city's new Central Park Plaza on Aug. 6, 2011. So, he was glad when he was called away to a house fire.

The fire ended up saving his life.

While overseeing the firefighters, Nondorf said he stepped in a hole and felt something pop in his knee. He continued to work, but on the following Monday went to have x-rays taken. They showed nothing wrong with the knee, but instead what appeared to be lesions on his tibia (shin bone).

He was sent to another doctor who confirmed the presence of the cancerous tumors. Nondorf said his family doesn't have a history of cancer, but he already had undergone successful treatment for prostate cancer in 2008, which his urologist said was rare for a man of his age, which was 48 at the time.

Further tests at the University of Chicago Hospital revealed the tumors were not related to the pros... [ more ]