Wednesday, December 11, 2013  This ugly 15-minute video of firefighter recruits in Wuhai, Inner Mongolia has gone viral among Chinese internet users. The recruits are seen being slapped, stomped, and belt-lashed by their superiors, who have been suspended after local authorities verified the video's legitimacy.

Wednesday, December 11, 2013  Five people, including four firefighters, were injured during a house fire in Batavia Tuesday morning, officials said.

Randy Banker, deputy chief for the Batavia Fire Department, said a firefighter who was on a ladder extinguishing flames in the attic lost his balance and fell down some stairs, taking three others with him.

“(It was) sort of like a domino effect,” Banker said. “The stairs had developed ice, so that didn’t help.”

None of the injuries were serious. One of the four firefighters was transported to Delnor Hospital in Geneva and had been released by the afternoon, according to Banker.

One of six occupants of the house suff... [ more ]

Monday, December 9, 2013  At about 6:15 p.m. Hoboken firefighters withdrew the last hose pumping water on a stubborn three-alarm fire in a five story building which left one firefighter injured and displaced all residents of the 10-unit building today. Firefighters responding to 327 Adams Street on a 1:40 p.m. alarm found fire in the walls and ceilings of the fourth and fifth floors, triggering two more alarms and bringing firefighters from Bayonne, Jersey City and Kearny to assist fighting the flames or man emptied Hoboken fire houses, Fire Chief Richard Blohm said.

By the time the fire was under control about 90 minutes later, the top two floors had suffered moderate to heavy fire, smoke and water damage, Blohm said. The building will remain empty until an engineer determines if it structurally sound, and even if so, it will require extensive repairs before being habitable, Blohm said.

A Hoboken fire captain required eight stitches to close a wound to his hand cause... [ more ]

Monday, December 9, 2013  The Texas State Fire Marshals Office has released their investigative report regarding the Line of Duty death of 46 year old Fire Captain Neal Wade Smith of the Atascocita VFD. Here is a summary---the entire report is linked below. RIP.


On September 16, 2012, Captain Smith collapsed during training at a training facility located in Beaumont, Texas. The 20-hour, multiple-task training class, called Smoke Divers, was conducted over two days during the weekend of September 15 and 16, 2012. Smoke divers training is a physically and mentally demanding firefighter survival course, with an emphasis on becoming familiar with and mastering the use of self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA). Captain Smith was nearing completion of the second day of the course when he collapsed during the final drill on the second floor of a six-floor training tower.

Captain Smith attended the two-day class, which consisted of various drills on firefighter survival techniqu... [ more ]

Monday, December 9, 2013  A raging fire that ripped through a building in Upper Manhattan seriously injured seven people including four firefighters on Monday, authorities said.

Smoke-eaters raced into the six-story building on W. 166th St. in Washington Heights around 1:45 p.m. to battle the blaze that tenants said started on the third floor, authorities said. 

The fire was snuffed out just before 3 p.m., fire officials said.

Three civilians and four fire fighters suffered serious injuries and were rushed to New York - Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, authorities said.

All are expected to survive, authorities said, 

Fire officials do not yet know what sparked the blaze but are investigating.

Monday, December 9, 2013  Firefighters battled a three-alarm fire that began Monday afternoon in an apartment on the 15th floor of the Parker Imperial residential building on Boulevard East, authorities said. The fire, which began shortly after 1 p.m., sent smoke billowing into the air around the building and caused some residents to leave their apartments. Authorities said residents of the apartment where the fire began and the one above it might have to stay elsewhere Monday night. The fire was under control at about 2:30 p.m., said a spokesman for the township, Paul Swibinski. One firefighter went to a local hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation, but his condition was not considered serious, said Michael DeOrio, the co-director of the North Hudson Regional Fire Department. There were no other injuries, he said. Authorities said they are looking into whether the fire might have been caused by a space heater, but have not determined that to be the case. DeOrio said a man who lives in the apartmen... [ more ]

Monday, December 9, 2013  Four firefighters were injured today while fighting a major fire on Fallbrook Street, Carbondale Fire Chief Chris Pezak said. Two firefighters were trapped after the second floor collapsed on them. They suffered serious chest injuries, he said.

The fire at 96 Fallbrook St. was reported shortly after 11 a.m. The property is a single-family home, according to Lackawanna County assessment records.

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/chief-four-firefighters-injured-while-fighting-carbondale-blaze-1.1598042

Monday, December 9, 2013    Franklin County Circuit Judge William Alexander ordered during a court hearing Friday that two new trials be held tied to an emotional lawsuit involving the circumstances that led to the deaths of two volunteer firefighters in Rocky Mount more than three years ago.Trial dates have not been set.

Alexander said Friday that he had erred during a three-day jury trial that ended Sept. 25 because he failed to allow specific testimony offered by an expert witness for the plaintiff, Christie Altice-Weaver, the daughter of one of the firefighters killed that day, and related portions from a training manual for operators of emergency vehicles.

Tony Russell and Kathleen Wright, attorneys for Altice-Weaver, had asserted in court filings that the jury should have been allowed to consider that evidence and had asked for a new trial to determine whether Posey Dillon, the firefighter driving the fire truck, was negligent the day the collision occurred. Dillon had b... [ more ]

Monday, December 9, 2013 

Fire Chiefs Talk Suicide Among Firefighters



by Betsy Jibben, Reporter
December 08, 2013 4:26 PM

More than 40 fire chiefs from across the state met in one place this weekend. The annual South Dakota Fire Chiefs Association Conference is a time for the chiefs to bounce ideas off of each other, learn new leadership techniques and see the latest technology. They’re not just talking about fighting fires but the fight against suicide among firefighters.
     
When you think firefighter, you picture putting out fires and saving lives but there's a lot of stress that comes with the job.

"It might be after the call or a week or month later that those stress with calls can start to weigh on a firefighter and the chief needs to un... [ more ]

Monday, December 9, 2013  Australian fire services will need to double their numbers of boots on the ground by 2030 to cope with the increased bushfire risk caused by climate change, a new report says.Be Prepared: The Changing Climate and Australia's Bushfire Threat is the first report from the privately funded Climate Council, born out of the axed Climate Commission.

At the report's launch in Sydney on Monday, co-author Professor Lesley Hughes warned the "context" of fire in Australia was changing.

"We've had since the 1960s ... a doubling in the number of extreme hot days," she said. "And when we get extreme hot days the risk of bushfires is greater."

Australia's south-east and south-west were experiencing "a long-term pattern of drying", putting large ... [ more ]

Sunday, December 8, 2013   In an article today by NY Times writer Michael Schmidt, the headline reads: "In Mass Attacks, New Advice Lets Medics Rush In" Well.....Not Exactly.
His article (link below) states that instead of following long-established protocols that call for firefighters / EMS to take cover and stage until a threat is over, Federal officials and medical experts who have studied the Boston Marathon bombing and mass shootings like the one in Newtown, Conn., have concluded that MANAGED aggressive emergency medical response could be critical in saving lives.


That DOES NOT change the fact the fire and EMS personnel must still size up prior to taking action. The new guidelines also address the issue of all involved personnel being equipped with proper PPE: body armor. And bei... [ more ]

Sunday, December 8, 2013  Three SFFD commanders who directed firefighting and rescue efforts after the crash of an Asiana Airlines jetliner at San Francisco International Airport in July had never taken a training course required of rank-and-file first responders at aircraft disasters.
Unlike the firefighters they were supervising, two of the San Francisco Fire Department commanders were not required under Federal Aviation Administration rules to take the course because they were not stationed at the airport. The third, a captain who oversees firefighters at SFO, was scheduled to be trained but had been on the job for just one month.
Although the federal rules don't require commanders to take any special aircraft-disaster training, fire departments around the country have typically chosen airport supervisors from among firefighters who have taken a basic, weeklong course, experts say. In several other countries, all fire commanders must undergo both basic and advanced training.
The S.F. Fire De... [ more ]

Sunday, December 8, 2013  More than 40 fire chiefs from across the state met in one place this weekend. The annual South Dakota Fire Chiefs Association Conference is a time for the chiefs to bounce ideas off of each other, learn new leadership techniques and see the latest technology. They’re not just talking about fighting fires but the fight against suicide among firefighters.
     
When you think firefighter, you picture putting out fires and saving lives but there's a lot of stress that comes with the job.

"It might be after the call or a week or month later that those stress with calls can start to weigh on a firefighter and the chief needs to understand how to implement programs to make their firefighters safer," said Sioux Falls Fire Rescue Chief Jim Sideras.

That's why these Fire Chiefs meet each year. A way to talk about how to not only keep their communities safe but help one another keep their crews safe from things like suicide.

“The ... [ more ]

Sunday, December 8, 2013  On Sunday, December 8, at approximately 2:10p.m., Rescue Engine 141 from Newburg volunteer Fire Department was responding to a motor vehicle accident in St. Mary’s County.

While responding to the call the engine lost control and struck a guardrail, it continued down an embankment, coming to rest on it’s roof.

No other vehicles were involved.

Five members were on board, all were transported to an area hospital to be checked out, at least one minor injury was reported.

Sunday, December 8, 2013  A ceiling collapsed on five Redmond firefighters Saturday as they were working to divert a water leak from an apartment complex. One firefighter was injured and transported to Evergreen Hospital. He has since been released.Firefighters had responded to several water-related calls due to frozen pipes thawing Saturday, and one group was working in the third-floor master bedroom in a building at The Heights at Bear Creek complex off of Avondale Road Northeast when the entire plaster-board ceiling collapsed onto the crew.

After uncovering themselves from the debris, four of the firefighters found one crew member was still buried due to injuries to his left shoulder and leg.

The injured firefighter was evacuated from the building, then evaluated and treated by Redmond firefighters and paramedics  before being taken to Evergreen Hospital, according to a news release.

“Initially we thought his injuries were a lot worse because the pain he was in – ... [ more ]