Quick Takes: January 31, 2011.
Two alarms in Rockland County, New York: Ed Gray’s usual close up videography from a fire last Tuesday at a building on Pascack Road in Chestnut Ridge, NY that housed a Russian-American social organization. It’s a place I have passed many times on the way to the Chestnut Ridge childhood home of Mrs. STATter911. You can read more about the fire here. There is much more video from this fire from Ed Gray. Click here.
A reality check – a pair of articles that sum up some serious image problems for both career & volunteer firefighters: A column from Las Vegas and an article from Northern New Jersey provide insight into how some people look at firefighters these days. While each of them might make you angry, there are some important lessons about perception. On the volunteer side click here for the article that points out some feel firefighters get a pass when it comes to discipline. For the career side, a columnist makes the case that Clark County, Nevada firefighters are no longer adored by the public and they have only themselves to blame. I look at how this relates to my recent trip to Phoenix for an IAFF & IAFC joint event. Check it out.
Will the mayor’s order stop the union from being involved in the next election?: It looks like there will be some interesting doings in Tulsa, Oklahoma now that the mayor has issued an executive order that tells firefighters they can’t campaign off-duty during the next election cycle. Here’s the story.
Shift swapping in Boston gets scrutiny: The Boston Globe looks at how some firefighter are using shift swapping to spend very little time on duty in an effort to run their own businesses. Here’s one way the Globe describes it-
As has been the case with the other abusive practices, the runaway shift deficits accumulated by dozens of firefighters underscore a workplace ethos in which the personal needs of many firefighters appear to trump those of the fire service.
FireTruckBlog.com has some military fire history: Check out Glenn Usdin’s FireTruckBlog.com for news from the apparatus world and a nice video of a 1941 Ford fire engine that’s in a military museum.
Fire chief gets the blog bug and Dave is glad: “It’s Not My Emergency” is the great title of a new fire service blog started by Chief Bill Boyd of Bellingham, Washington. In the past Chief Boyd has written a couple of columns that we have been happy to post. Now we are even happier that we can regularly read the chief’s thoughts. A former PIO, Chief Boyd is always thinking about how the fire service communicates with the people it serves. You will see a lot of discussion of the role of social media in public safety. Here’s the link again for “It’s Not My Emergency”. It’s one you will want to add to your favorites and check frequently (it is also in our links).
Two-alarms in Baltimore County, Maryland: Michael Schwartzberg video of a Saturday kitchen fire that got out of hand at a Towson restaurant and bar. Click here.
An eight hour delay in calling the fire department provides the expected results: Smelling a strange odor didn’t prompt a Muncie, Indiana muffler shop owner to call 911. More than eight hours later there was still delay after it was pretty clear that the odor was smoke. Firegeezer has the story of what happened next.
Hydrants fail: No water for firefighters in Taunton, Massachusetts handling a house fire on Sunday. Nearby hydrants failed to operate. Firefighters brought some residents down on ground ladders. Here’s the story.
What some people will do for a vote: I am very happy to say my friend Willie Wines looks like the runaway favorite for fire blog of the year honors with Ironfiremen.com. He’s up there with 300 plus votes almost double his closest competitor. The voting ends on Tuesday. Willie’s formula is simple. Some ramblings about the fire service and pictures of partially naked women and men. A real crowd pleaser for sure (we often show boobs here but no breasts). STATter911.com, which tried not be a part of this, is at the bottom rung of the ladder (as well we should be). Click here to get in your last minute vote.
