Quick Takes
Five-alarm Fargo Fire briefly traps firefighters: This brief video shows fire spreading to all wings of a large apartment building in Fargo, ND yesterday evening, leaving 150 people homeless. According to InForum.com, two firefighters became trapped in a third-floor apartment after the roof caved in and the ceiling collapsed. One was rescued through the interior and the other via a ladder. Both were uninjured.
Bourne to lose, once again: Either we failed to notice or things actually had been quiet for a while at the Bourne Fire Department in Massachusetts. Not anymore. A firefighter is facing suspension for a series of Facebook messages that the chief and others have called unprofessional, inflammatory and scurrilous. According to wickedlocal.com, the posts “mocked local residents, including one that juxtaposed a picture of a local special-needs adult with a Bourne firefighter.” The chief claims others contain a slur to the homosexual community and some disparaged fire and police department members. Here’s all our previous coverage of a variety of other Bourne issues.
Not fire/EMS related but it could have been: There were DC Fire & EMS Department units standing by yesterday during the filming of scenes for the movie Transformer 3, but it was the Metropolitan Police Department that inadvertently took a leading role (at least in the news coverage). A K-9 officer in an SUV responded on a call through the area where they were shooting. The results weren’t very pretty but certainly added some additional action to the movie. Click here for the video and details.
Rescues in Virginia Beach: Details from an early morning house fire that left an infant and a senior citizen in critical condition.
Career criminal takes ambulance for a spin with crew and patient in the back: This happened in Chicago Saturday morning and a crew on a fire truck helped save the day by blocking in the runaway unit. Firegeezer has the story and the motive behind the theft.
FDNY firefighter’s SUV involved in fatal hit and run: A firefighter turned his SUV into cops about four hours after the early Sunday morning crash that left one man dead. But Pat Quagliariello did not say who was driving the vehicle at the time. Here’s the story.
Impact of layoffs: Details from a Lorain, Ohio City Council hearing looking at fire department operations following cutbacks.
Moonlighting inquiry: In Pensacola, Florida the arrest of a former fire captain connected to his off-duty work has officials asking lots of questions about the other jobs firefighters do and when they do them. Here’s the story.
Amalgamation is part of the campaign platform of one mayoral candidate: That’s what they call the proposal to combine Toronto’s fire and EMS services. TorontoSun.com looks at how that idea worked elsewhere in Canada.
Batavia, NY house fire: Fire started in the basement of a rooming house for those just released from prison. It happened yesterday afternoon.
