Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Hey,
Once in a while we have positive information related to an
elected official who does get it.
Less than one week since (Columbus, Indiana) Mayor Kristen
Brown announced she would not accept the city owned $40,000.00 SUV
purchased by the previous mayor, the newly elected mayor announced she
would sell the vehicle at once and donate all monies to City of Columbus Fire
Department in order to purchase ice water rescue equipment and provide training
for all her Firefighters. WTF!? Seriously? Yep-seriously.
One year ago, a 16 year old lad slipped under the ice at a lake in Columbus and
died. The teenager hung on to the ice for a long time as neighbors and family
attempted a rescue. Firefighters were delayed in responding due to
dispatch issues, and just as they arrived with minimal ice rescue capabilities,
the young man tragically went under.
Mayor Brown made improving city fire department technical rescue
capabilities a main focus of her campaign and following the city council
meeting announcement last week, all 6 city fire stations on all 3 shifts have
begun in water training with new equipment.
Tuesday January 24, one week following the Mayor's announcement, Firefighters
from Fairfield, Ohio will arrive in Columbus to begin an advanced training
program on the newly purchased rescue equipment. The Firefighters will stay in
CFD stations for 3 days as they train Columbus Firefighters in this special
gesture of 'Mutual Aid'. Outstanding.
--READ THIS "FIRST HAND ACCOUNT" ASHEVILLE
FIRE CAPTAIN LODD-Followup:
The article link below, The Loss of Captain Bowen, Part 1,
from Dave Statter, are FF Jay Bettencourt's words and they come from a
Firefighter (Jay) who watched his friend die...a Firefighter who came close to
dying himself. These are the thoughts and emotions of a Firefighter facing the
biggest challenge of his life. We urge you to read every word of this
outstanding CLOSE CALL , and LODD account.
The Loss of Captain Bowen: By Firefighter Jay Bettencourt, Asheville
Fire Department http://tinyurl.com/7segew5
==OHIO DOUBLE FATAL APPARATUS CRASH UPDATE
Oral arguments in the wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the 2008 Massillon
fire truck crash that killed Ronald E. Anderson, 72, and his 4-year-old
step-grandson, Javarre J. Tate, are scheduled to now be heard next
month. The Ohio Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments in the
case Feb. 8.
HERE IS VIDEO OF THE FATAL CRASH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga_vHeGYQ34
Last August, the Supreme Court accepted the city’s appeal of a lower court’s
ruling in the case. The city is hoping the state’s highest court will grant it
immunity from liability in the May 2008 crash on Walnut Road Southeast. The
city initially was granted immunity by the Stark County Common Pleas Court in
2010, but that decision later was reversed in March 2011 by the 5th
District Court of Appeals.
The lawsuit, filed by Anderson’s widow, Cynthia Anderson, in September 2009,
argues that firefighter Susan Toles drove the fire engine at excessive and
unsafe speeds given the neighborhood and the nature of the emergency.
Firefighters were responding to a vehicle fire. The lawsuit, which is seeking
more than $25,000 in damages, also accuses Toles of violating state laws, local
ordinances and departmental policies regarding safe driving. No criminal
charges were filed in the case. An investigation determined the truck was
traveling at reasonable speeds for an emergency.
The city argued that the crash was unavoidable because Ronald Anderson failed
to yield to the oncoming fire truck as he crossed the intersection, which has a
four-way stop and a flashing red light....that the fire apparatus ran.
Common Pleas Judge Charles Brown ruled the city was immune from liability,
stating there was a lack of evidence that Toles and her supervisor, Capt. Rick
Annen, acted with “a malicious purpose, in bad faith or in a wanton or reckless
manner” and that the truck had not been operated in a manner that constituted
willful or wanton misconduct. A tragic but interesting case to watch.
==DCFD UPDATE:
GOT CARCINOGENS?!
WHY THE DCFD UNIFORM FIASCO IS A HEALTH ISSUE TO FF's AND
THE PUBLIC.
.....AND A CHANCE FOR YOU TO HELP SUPPORT THE DCFD BURN
FOUNDATION
Several comments from numerous DCFD Firefighters today is
that Chief of DCFEMS has done more to UNITE their members than ever before-but
that's not necessarily a good thing-at least not for that chief.
Several hundred D.C. Firefighters literally turned their
backs on the Chief of DCFEMS Ellerbe yesterday in an effort to send a very
clear message. The Chief of DCFEMS had just finished his "State of the
Department" speech when the Firefighters stood up and walked out the door.
Word is the time of the meeting had been quickly changed in an earlier attempt
to avoid the Firefighters arriving at the correct time, but the change got out
and plenty showed up on time. The Chief of DCFEMS is attempting to create a new
schedule that has understandably infuriated the members, in addition to a
regularly changing FD uniform policy-that does not include issued uniform
jackets for Firefighters...and do not allow them to wear ones they have
personally bought-because they have "DCFD" on them-which the DCFEMS
Chief doesn't like.
WE GET that any Chief has the right to dictate what
is worn, and the way Chiefs normally deal with that is by ISSUING uniforms,
jackets etc for all personnel, for all seasons.
Most DCFD FF's now have to wear their bunker gear from
the apparatus (as a winter "outer jacket") into homes and businesses
for EMS calls, inspections etc-to be warm-and by them wearing soot covered PPE
PROBABLY violates some public health policies, standards and/or
laws....besides, it's filthy customer service.
Today, Mr. Ellerbe had just finished his first ever
"State Of The FEMS Department" speech and had opened the floor to
questions when one Firefighter in the room shouted this
command: "D.C.F.D., attention! About face! D.C.F.D. dismissed!!
And with that the Firefighters in the room walked out.
HELP SUPPORT THE DCFD FIREFIGHTERS BURN FOUNDATION:
The DCFD Store is doing a promotion with the "DCFD
memorial" shirts as well as "standard" DCFD Shirts and are
donating $5 from every shirt sold to the DC Firefighters Burn Foundation. All
shirts in the "Support DCFD" section gets the foundation your
donation. Go to: www.dcfdstore.com
and go to the "support DCFD" section.
Additionally, you may have seen the "Grim
Reaper" DCFD t-shirts on the news today, they are not a part of the
above donation but can be purchased from different folks HERE: dcfirebye@aol.com and
here: http://www.fdtees.com
Take Care-BE CAREFUL.
BillyG
The Secret List 1-25-12 / 0700 hours www.FireFighterCloseCalls.com
