Quick Takes
Very early video in Tempe, Arizona: A neighbor grabbed his camera as he escaped a neighboring apartment from this February 16th fire at the Worthington Place complex on Hardy Drive in Tempe. He began rolling before the arrival of firefighters. A man and a woman who escaped through a second floor window were injured. The man, Alan Schuler, was seriously burned. He is a member of an improv comedy troupe. The fire occurred just after midnight.
Two firefighters struck by EMS captain in Fairfax County: An EMS supervisor pulling up to the scene of a cyclist struck in Herndon, Virginia last night hit two firefighters already treating the patient. The SUV, driven by EMS 401, was described as “slow moving” at the time of the collision. One of the firefighters was flown to a trauma unit, but both have since been treated and released. We have pictures & video from the scene, along with the radio traffic. Click here.
What happens in Las Vegas leaves Las Vegas: This includes a memo from City of Las Vegas Chief Greg Gammon. Firefighter Nation alerted us to this story from the Review-Journal. The paper’s Lawrence Mower reports, “The Las Vegas Fire Department chief is urging his firefighters to avoid spending time at the gym during work hours and not to ‘abuse sick leave’ as his department battles poor public perception during its stand to avoid pay cuts and layoffs.” There is much more. Read the memo. Read the article.
Lots of opinions on the border war: It seems like I spent most of yesterday moderating comments about the story of the dispute between Anne Arundel County and Calvert County’s Dunkirk VFD. More than 50 comments so far. If you missed the update, Dunkirk’s wagon driver, David Stream, has been charged by Anne Arundel County police in the February 14 collision with Tower 40 that has brought many issues to the surface. Stream is also a career firefighter in Prince George’s County. Here is our coverage and all the comments.
Driver of ambulance responding to his own burning home charged: Ron Young alerted us to this follow-up to a really tragic story. Joseph Sims Jr. has now been charged with careless driving in the crash that occurred while he was responding in a Middle Township, New Jersey ambulance to a fire at his own home. That fire trapped and killed Sims’ elderly father. Officials say Sims responded on his own with lights and sirens and not in an official capacity. That played a role in the decision to charge. Read the latest. Click here for our earlier coverage of the crash and the fire.
Three UK fire officials in custody over deaths of four firefighters: The November, 2007 fire at a vegetable packing plant in Warwickshire has resulted in the arrest of three men described as fire service staff and members of the union. The three turned themselves at a police station to be “questioned on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter and offences under health and safety laws.” More from the BBC.
53 days later, burned Modesto firefighter walks out of the hospital: Fire Engineer James Adams is now home and his colleagues who were by his side through his ordeal made sure Adams’ departure from the burn unit was celebrated. Adams had been there since New Years Day when he and Firefighter Jason Clevenger fell through the roof of a burning home. Read the story. Watch the raw video. Click here and here for our previous coverage of this story.
Chief cuffed: The other story that has people talking is the February 15th incident where a battalion chief was handcuffed by a member of the California Highway Patrol at a crash scene. If you didn’t see the latest version of our story we added interviews with the CHP spokesperson and the Montecito fire chief. Click here for our coverage.
