Wednesday, May 16, 2012   A 70-foot Sutphen Elevated Platform suddenly retracted approximately
5-10-feet while operating in a Platform Operations class on Tuesday.
Frayed steel cables were seen hanging from under the boom, and a pulley was thrown from its housing.

At the time of the incident, the aerial was operating at approximately
65-70-degrees and was extended about 60-feet above the ground. The 3
firefighters in the Platform were not injured and all were wearing helmets and were secured by ladder belts. A student on the ground was struck by flying debris, but was not injured. The 3 firefighters in the disabled Platform were removed by another Platform apparatus participating in the class.

The cause of the malfunction is being investigated.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012  Line Of Duty Death Funeral for Brother Robert Wojczulis, Milwaukee County Firefighter who passed away Sunday after a long battle with cancer.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and co-workers.

Funeral: Thursday May 17th: 3pm to 7pm at Max A. Sass Funeral Home
4747 S 60th St. Milwaukee, WI 53220

Burial: Friday May 18th: 10am with honorary bell ringing ceremony.
Cemetery is at 3800 College Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53221

Wednesday, May 16, 2012  A Fire-Police Officer from a Bucks County fire company died in the Line of Duty after feeling ill at the scene of a large chemical facility fire this morning. Lightning apparently ignited the massive tank at Dow Chemical in Croydon early this morning, touching off that multiple alarm fire.
 
Bucks Firefighters responded to the large plant at Routes 413 and State Road in Bucks County, less than a mile from the Burlington-Bristol bridge. The county's HazMat team was also called to the scene along with mutual aid HazMat.
 
The fire started at about 0400 and a large black column of smoke extended high above the fire. We'll post more details later. Our sincere condolences to all affected. RIP.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012  According to local media, jurors in Longview (Texas) found the maker of a ladder truck from which two firefighters fatally fell — and the Kilgore Fire Department — equally at fault for the 2009 training exercise deaths.
Wrapping up an eight-day wrongful death suit, the panel reviewed the case brought by the family of Kilgore firefighter Kyle Perkins four hours Monday before awarding more than $800,000 in damages.
The finding that Perkins’ department was half to blame for the fatal accident, which also took the life of fireman Cory Galloway, means all but $192,500 awarded as punitive damages will be cut in half.
And that $192,000 in punitive damages might not stand as 124th District Judge Alfonso Charles told the jury the question leading to that verdict must have a unanimous answer. The eight-woman, four-man jury voted 10-2 that fire truck maker E-One was grossly negligent.
E-One attorney Randy Aiken said it was unlikely the company would appeal the ver... [ more ]

Tuesday, May 15, 2012  A Buffalo fire truck responding to a fire collided with a civilian vehicle and overturned on South Elmwood Avenue at Chippewa Street this morning. The driver of the fire truck was taken to a local hospital, but authorities said they believe he was taken there as a precaution after he was extricated by Rescue 1. That fire lieutenant was treated and released. The accident occurred at about 9 a.m., as two fire trucks drove down South Elmwood toward a fire at 4 Cathedral Park, at Main Street. Both vehicles approached the Chippewa intersection, but only the first one cleared the intersection. "The other tried to go around a car making a left turn onto Chippewa, but the fire truck and car collided in the intersection," Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge said. That second fire truck, an "air truck" that supplies firefighters with their air tanks, overturned, struck another vehicle and landed on its side against a building on the west side of South Elmwood, jus... [ more ]

Tuesday, May 15, 2012  A memorial in the woods honors a Salt Lake City hero who gave his life fighting a wildfire. But now, his family has returned to the Lone Star state with questions for the man's Salt Lake City bosses.

Caleb Hamm was a wildland firefighter, part of the elite Bonneville Hot Shots crew based in Salt Lake City. Hamm was in tip-top physical condition, but died of heat stroke on July 7, 2011 on the fire lines in Texas.

Hamm lived in Salt Lake City, but his parents reside in Idaho. They've visited the scene of the tragedy twice, but they say they are not getting straight answers about their son's death.

A few miles from Mineral Wells, Hamm's parents and his aunt paid their respects at a memorial, put in place by a property owner, with a flag contributed by local volunteer firefighters.

"It means to me that … they cared, and they recognized that he was here to help save their land," said Lynnette Hamm, Caleb's mother.

A ... [ more ]

Tuesday, May 15, 2012  A windswept, driving rain fell in the early morning hours of a May 15, 1937, as four city firefighters riding on a fire truck returned to headquarters.

They had just finished battling a three-alarm blaze on Downs Street that had lit the sky around Midtown.

Three of those firefighters — Ferrill Finkle, Preston DeWitt, and Peter Carey — wound up losing their lives, deaths that would rock the department’s sensibilities.

The three did not die fighting a fire, but were victims of a crash now remembered 75 years later.

Current Deputy Fire Chief Wayne Platte said the department will issue a remembrance message over radios on Tuesday at noon, the usual time a daily tone test is done and on the date the firefighters were killed.

“It is dangerous to go to calls, with lights and sirens, and this happened on the way back to the station,” Platte said.

A historical account drawn  up by fire department histori... [ more ]

Monday, May 14, 2012  A Warrenton firefighter is recovering from neck and back injuries after a chunk of ceiling collapsed on him.

The firefighter was battling the blaze that broke out just after 6 p.m. Sunday at the Columbia Point Apartments at 500 Pacific Drive in Hammond. He was transported to a local hospital for treatment.

The fire chief says the fire went to two alarms in order to bring in more resources to relieve fatigued personnel. In the end, six units in the complex were gutted by fire and sustained water damage.

STORY FROM: http://www.kptv.com/story/18371755/firefighter-injured-while-battling-apartment-fire

Monday, May 14, 2012  Illegal "covering", a term for overriding emergency radio communication, appears to have interfered with bringing appropriate area fire departments to help fight a fire at a mobile home Saturday afternoon.

According to Lebanon emergency officials, attempts to summon mutual aid to the scene to help fight the fire were met with radio interference consistent with the seemingly intentional "covering" of emergency communication lines —prevalent in the past two months,— which may have cost a family their home.

Ultimately the fire destroyed a mobile home, damaged at least two neighboring homes, killed the occupant's cat and left a man homeless, when the communication problem occurred.

While such "covering" has not occurred since the end of April, when calls requesting advanced life support were not going through during a medical emergency in town, the problem arose again Saturday as fire officials were calling for assistance to help fight the fire aroun... [ more ]

Monday, May 14, 2012  Firefighters rescued a 12-year-old boy after he was savagely mauled by his family’s pit bull in East Harlem.

Christopher Sostre was found naked with his neck torn open in the hallway outside his fifth-floor apartment by firefighters responding to a 911 call to the E. 108th St. building Saturday evening.

“There was blood all over the place,” said Capt. Charlie Roberto of Ladder Co. 26.

“He had a gash on his neck that looked like something out of a horror movie. ”

The blue nose pit bull, named Bam Bam and owned by the victim’s cousin, was back into the family’s apartment by the time the firefighters arrived.

But evidence of the boy’s struggle was everywhere.

“There were handprints and blood streaks going up the walls,” said Roberto. “He was struggling and trying to get away.”

Richard Harrington, 29, a firefighter who trained as a medic with the Marines, pressed a towel to the boy’s n... [ more ]

Monday, May 14, 2012  Four firefighters were described as “lucky to be alive” after an acetylene cylinder exploded at a derelict scrapyard.

The crew from Farnworth could have been killed had the blast occurred just 30 seconds earlier, a colleague has revealed.

The four firemen, all in their 40s with more than 80 years’ experience in the service between them, were assessed by paramedics at the scene before they were taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital for treatment to minor injuries.

They had been called to attend a blaze in Cross Street, Farnworth, just after 1am on Saturday.

The four were using ladders to scale a fence next to the scrapyard, off Wellington Street, to get nearer to the fire, the acetylene cylinder exploded.

Tony Lander, group manager at Greater Manchester Fire Service, spoke to one crew member who said he felt “lucky” and “euphoric” to be still alive.

He said: “They had been on the ladders looking over the f... [ more ]

Monday, May 14, 2012  A fire truck collides with a car on the way to an accident in Mt. Airy.

The crash forced officials to shutdown Colerain Avenue near Tranquility Lane , just after 5 p.m. Sunday.

Area roads from Raeburn to West Fork Avenue were also temporary closed for more than 30 minutes.

Police say the fire truck was responding to a near-by Metro bus accident, when the crash happened.

Information on injuries have not been released.

STORY FROM: http://www.local12.com/news/local/story/Fire-Truck-Wrecks-on-the-Way-to-Mt-Airy-Crash/u-qR5NyVS0i3-m1VI-Tlwg.cspx?rss=30

Sunday, May 13, 2012  A member of the New Market Volunteer Fire Department suffered minor injuries when a 120-year-old, three-story home burned this afternoon.

According to Capt. Sammy Solomon, Britt Turner was taken by Jefferson County EMS to Jefferson Memorial Hospital where he was treated and released.

Solomon said fire personnel were notified at 4:54 p.m. of a fire at 148 Hamilton St. in Strawberry Plains and firefighters arrived four minutes later.

"The homeowner, Jerry Fields, said his wife heard a lamp pop, smelled smoke; and, when she got back into the living room, the curtains were on fire and flames were going up the wall," Solomon said. "They got out and by the time we got there, the house was fully engulfed."

The captain said Turner and Timmy Brooks, both volunteer firefighters, were on the third floor of the house when part of the ceiling fell down and some burning embers went down the back of Turner's coat and burned the back of his neck.
more ]

Sunday, May 13, 2012  Traffic on Highway 501 southbound is slowly moving again after a wreck involving a Fair Bluff water tanker shut it down, according to Horry County Public Information Officer Lisa Bourcier.

Two 18 wheeler tow-trucks are working to remove a tanker that overturned on Highway 501 southbound between Gardner Lacy and West Perry Road Saturday afternoon.

The wreck shut down traffic southbound for about half an hour. Northbound traffic is also moving slowly as crews clear the scene.

The tanker was called in for mutual aid to work a fire that broke out Saturday afternoon.

Horry County Police, Horry County Fire Rescue, Conway Fire and SC Highway Patrol were called to the scene.

Bourcier says two people inside the truck were taken to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center.



STORY FROM: http://www.carolinalive.com/news/story.aspx?list=~homelistssearch&id=753096#.T6_LBlKnKSo