Quick Takes
Fuel tanker in deadly California crash: This is video from yesterday morning on Highway 99 in Chico. The driver of the rig was briefly trapped but got out on his own. Officials say a woman was killed when she tried to pass traffic and ran straight into the truck. According to ChicoER.com, “Cal Fire-Butte County officials said the tanker was allowed to burn itself out, partly over concerns that putting water on it would spread the fuel.” Read more here. Check out this photo gallery (really good pictures).
Thanks so much for helping my friend: A man in Seminole, Florida showed his gratitude to firefighters who responded to his friend’s medical problem by sneaking into their rig and stealing a lieutenant’s helmet. Here are the details.
Fire truck turned prom limo crashes, but no pictures allowed: Taking two of its members and their dates to the Shippensberg (PA) Area High School senior prom, two rigs from the Pleasant Hall VFD pulled up to the event Saturday night. The Sentinel Online reports one of the fire trucks hit a light pole. When two photographers tried to shoot the damaged pole and truck they say they were surrounded by firefighters. Here’s what one of the photographers wrote to the paper-
“When the firemen saw we had cameras, they acted as if it was a crime or homicide scene and insisted that we were not permitted to take photographs. The driver was a bit too aggressively assertive.”
The chief of the department admits some of his people, including the embarrassed opererator of the fire truck overreacted. Here is the story.
Did chief violate privacy by telling reporters the reason a firefighter was fired?: A former firefighter has filed suit in Pasco County, Florida claiming the City of Zephyrhills fire chief did just that. Shawn Baptist, a 16-year-veteran, says the chief shouldn’t have gone beyond acknowledging the firefighter was no longer employed by the fire department. City Manager Steve Spina defended Chief Kevin Williams telling TBO.com-
“When you are a public safety officer and you get fired for a certain reason, that’s the public’s business. You know that going into it.”
Council members want to know if a new chief is really necessary: In Flint, Michigan the question is whether the expense of the new fire chief is needed considering they have had an acting chief for more than a year. There are also questions about two lawsuits the nominee, John Linker, had filed against the city that gave him more that $200 thousand. Linker, who retired in 2002 as an assistant chief, now says he actually regrets filing the suits claiming discrimination. Watch the story. Read the story.
Newborn rescued from pit toilet: Firefighters and paramedics in Durban, South Africa responded after someone heard the cries of a newborn child from amid the waste in a pit toilet. Here are the details.
Big bust in topless arson case: The headline, no surprise, is from Firegeezer (who consistently breaks new ground on ways to sneak sex into these boring fire/EMS sites). This is a follow-up to the story we both ran last June of the fire at a topless coffee shop in Maine called Grand View. Here’s the update.
Indy apartment burns again: You may recall there was an apartment fire in Indianapolis on April 23 during FDIC. The vacant building at Nottingham Village burned again this morning. A firefighter was slightly injured when a stairwell fell on him. Click here to read and watch the story.
Baltimore County two-alarm apartment fire: Michael “FirePix1075” Schwartzberg says this started out as a smoke investigation for Engine 1 (Towson) at Rodgers Forge Road and Blenheim Road around 11:40 PM last night. Soon it was a second-alarm with fire in the basement of the apartment building. One firefighter suffered a knee injury.
